Le Cordon Bleu Day 2- Boulangerie

Bread comes in almost every size, shape, and color imaginable, but I will let you in on a little secret, it all starts out the same. The basic ingredients for breads are wheat flour, water, salt, and a leavening agent, most often yeast. Using these four basic ingredients, we were ready to start making some dough. Each bread followed a slightly different procedure. Sometimes that meant changing the method of leavening and others adding additional ingredients. But in the end it always needed a little time to rise. Making the perfect bread starts with the perfect dough, it is all about how it feels. Our bread was beginning to take shape, literally. The most difficult part of the class was trying to keep up with the Chef as he demonstrated the two different steps of shaping the bread. He shaped the bread so fast that we struggled to make our dough look like his. Once again, we were waiting for the dough to rise. While the bread was resting, we weren’t. We were constantly working on something new, another baker’s secret. Now it makes since, how we can make so many breads in such a short time.

Le Cordon Bleu Day 1- Boulangerie

Boulangerie, A real “Pain”!

What rice is to the East; bread is to the West. Not a day goes by where Western’s don’t indulge in a delicious meal featuring our favorite staple food, bread. I recently had the opportunity to participate in a short course specializing in Boulangerie: The Art of Bread making at the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. This course gave me an experience I will never forget, taught me some professional tricks, and gave me a little slice of home while being so far away.
The tradition of Le Cordon Bleu originated with a special group of King Henry’s knights. They received their name from the blue ribbon they wore and established a reputation for excellence for the king that extended to their feasts and ceremonies. Thus, the blue ribbon became a symbol of distinguished cuisine. In 1895, the name Le Cordon Bleu became the home yet again for esteemed cuisine. This time in the form of a magazine. As a result of the magazines success the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school was started. Today there are 30 schools in 15 countries one of which is Thailand. The school here in Thailand was established in 2007 and is the only school to have a program in the local cuisine.
On the first day of the class, each student received an apron, chef’s hat, notebook of tips and recipes, and a breadbox. Little did I know how important this breadbox would be. Every day it was filled to the brim with the decadent pain; the French word for bread. As we walked into the baking room, I caught my first glimpse of the menu for the week. As a foods teacher, I am no stranger to the kitchen, but at first sight, I was overwhelmed. How could we make 15 types of breads in four short days?

Activity Specialist

As of today that is my new title. I just sat though a meeting were the head of academics pretty much said I was being too academic in my class. I have just been demoted from teacher to activity Specialist.WOW! I am so glad that I went to university and obtained my degree so that I could teach handy crafts to high school students. Well that was 50,000 dollars well spent. I should have gone the extra mile and done chemistry- what other options do I have to teach if Family Consumer Science was my major-NONE! This new title will really come in handy when they start to cancel classes. Tomorrow's lesson plan: The topic is Family- do a project- due next week!

Happy Birthday!!!!

So it has been a while since we posted because things have been a little overwhelming lately. So I was looking forward to today. It's my birthday and a Wednesday. Which means I normally only have one class and then the rest of the day to get things done. But today my class was cancelled so I had ALL day to do as I please. I still worked, but that's okay. On your birthday, at our school the clock in machine sings happy birthday- its pretty funny. I just finished my grades and realized how many of my students didn't do so hot even though I tried desperately hard this term to get them to pass. I've had one of those months were you work til your heart bleeds and then work some more and still nothing seems to really make the difference and you wonder why are you here and why are you a teacher and if anyone even notices that you are there-literary. No one can see me at my desk (you hear a lot of good gossip that way, but still you would like people to know that you are there) Until this afternoon...

I have kept my birthday pretty quiet (crazy I know I am the queen of this is my Birthday WEEK!) only the song from the clock in machine this morning and telling my Thai teacher a few weeks ago or so I thought. This afternoon Master Jay comes in and says that there was a problem with one of the students in 8 B and if we can all talk...I immediately start wondering who the kid is and that all of them turned in their work and there really should be any problems and then he brings over the kid... Okay not a bad kid one that has improved so much over the last year what could be the problem? Then I see some other kids from his class and I'm like wait we having a serious talk here and then I look up to see that the entire teacher work room is filled with grade 8 and 9 students and they all start sing me Happy Birthday (the Thai version). And my Thai teacher with two huge ice cream birthday cakes. It was so loud everyone got up and were signing and clapping. A few other groups of students came in later for their own rendition. It made me feel really good to know that so many would come in...just to surprise me and wish me happy birthday!

I guess I am doing a little better than I thought. No one else has kids that come to them in such force to wish them happy birthday! I will see if someone got some pictures to show.

Well I think Ed and I are off to a birthday dinner. We have to come to work on Friday for "Sports Day" for the teachers no kids but I think some of us will sneak away for a Pad Thai lunch to also celebrate my birthday - ( I got more of the week to celebrate)

P.S My Thai teacher told everyone I was turning 24...I guess I will really be able to stretch this being 29 thing out for a while!

Cookin' in the classroom

Today (back in March) I set out to conquer spaghetti and meatballs with grade 5 students in their normal class room with no kitchen equipment. I say conquer because this was our second try at the lab. Something told me yesterday that I should stop the lab and try again another day- that something could have been the children yelling things a crossed the room- in Thai of course or the kid bouncing the ball all over the place and asking me every 5 seconds if he could eat a cracker or just maybe the kids chasing each other around the room with gunky meatball hands trying not to lose their meatballs while I was trying to cook (mostly burning) the huge meatballs I had already captured? Not sure which one it was, so you can take your pick. I have really lost my touch here- I haven't cooked with kids in almost 10 months and these kiddos don't understand everything I say so I needed to reevaluate my plan. So today I came in with some new rules and better directions to help win the battle of the meatballs. We added some more spices and crackers to our lumps of meat and finally got them into balls. Then for the cooking. We have one grill/ pot combo hot plate to cook on and twenty plus kids. So I have noddles going in the pot and six kiddos cooking their meatballs on the grill- pretty amazing we had something good to eat at the end and no one got hurt. It only took us two days and four class periods. Mission accomplished- finally. I clearly have some things to work out before cooking during the normal school year!

Check out some of the pictures. Some of them have their chefs hats we made the first day on. They think they are pretty cool when they have them on while cooking- it's pretty cute.

Aftershocks

Found this article while reading the news yesterday. It is just a short Q & A. Some interesting answers.

Bangkok Post : Is Bangkok safe from earthquakes?

Another unrelated question from my news reading... why would a kindergarten student need to bring a loaded handgun to school? Why wasn't it locked up? How could a 6 year old have a handgun in his pocket and nobody notice?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7528178.html

Eduardo

Earthquakes

Earthquake in Bangkok?  I don't think so.  The epicenter of the Earthquake was in Myanmar, 500 miles to the north of Bangkok.  Tremors could be felt in Chiang Rai, a beautiful part of Northern Thailand we visited over Christmas.  Apparently tremors could also be felt in Bangkok.  Christelia and I wish we would have known, then maybe we could have panicked??  Unfortunately we'll just have to take it easy and enjoy the 35+ Celsius weather.  The only earthquakes we've experienced in Thailand we bought from DQ.

Yes Mom and Dad, we're safe.

Eduardo

Funny shit... I mean shirt.

Some background to start.  We are in the midst of summer school here in Bangkok.  During the regular school year, the students wear a uniform, have their hair cut short for the boys, and braided for the girls.  No one comes to school out of uniform, and if your hair is not the proper style, Master Jay will see to it that your hair is cut to a more appropriate length.  The school uniform consists of blue shorts and a white shirt with your name, id number, and grade embroidered on the left.  Summer school is a different beast all together.  Students may wear whatever they would like.  The Thai's call this "free style."  Hair is left as you want it, and you can put on whatever shirt makes you happy.

After school today I was walking my munch-kins down the stairs to be picked up by their parents.  I happened to stop and chat with Master Jay while we waited with a handful of students who's parents just don't love them as much.    I turned around and to my surprise there was a child wearing rainbow plaid shorts and a bright turquoise t-shirt with fluorescent pink letters that read:

FRANKIE
SAYS

F*CK IT

I have to admit, I burst out laughing on the inside.  This student went an entire day without a teacher or student commenting on his shirt.  I whispered to Jay that he should turn around and look at it.  He did a  double take and said "uh-oh."  Jay spoke to the kid in Thai, and I'm not sure what he said, but I would guess it had something to do with "never wear that shirt to school again."  With the kid's t-shirt in mind, I've decided to wear this t-shirt to work tomorrow to see if anyone notices...

Frankie says "have a great day!"

Eduardo

The last one there...

...is a rotten egg. Whoever made up this saying was completely cruel! What an awful thing to say to a person! This leads me to my summer school cooking story... I am teaching grade 5 home economics and we are cooking. The last time I talked about cooking with students was during October course and I had my Thai partner to help and bring in supplies. We were also cooking on the floor- not quite my style so I am trying for a little more sanitation. During summer school however, I am on my own. So this week I have had the pleasure of going shopping not only for food but for equipment as well. I am not sure how much I will be reimbursed for so I am trying to keep things simple and my costs low. While buying food, Ed and I found that eggs are never refrigerated here so we asked our friend why. His reasoning was that eggs move much quicker here. They are in the stores for a few days, then out in the street market and consumed pretty fast there for there is not much reason. But I disagree!!! Not only because of all the things I know about eggs and safety and sanitation BUT as a result of todays lab! We were making French toast (we are talking about food around the world and I am using this for France- I know this is NOT French at all and have explained that to the kids. I do feel a certain level of shame for doing this because I know so much better especially after my bread making class[ more to come on that soon], but I am working with a very limited about of equipment and supplies. We are making French toast in a sandwich maker for peat's sake!) I have the kids in groups working on their desks and we start by breaking their eggs into their bowls and then... This awful smell starts to fill the room and one group is yelling Teacher Teacher what do we do? I rushed over and found the source of the smell... a rotten egg. It had exploded when they broke it. I was all over the kid, the desk, his books. What a mess!!! I have never seen or smelled a rotten egg before so this was quite an adventure. I sent kids to clean and they started over- but the smell stayed. Telling someone they smell like a rotten egg is a pretty server insult!

Spinach, Mushrooms, and other fine dining

Last week we finally got to "take" one of our friends out for dinner to give them their Christmas/New Years/ Chinese New Years/ Valentine's Day/ whatever other holiday may have fallen in there since we asked them. We really didn't take them out since they paid- but nonetheless we got to go out with them. This is always an exciting evening because they don't really speak English and we don't really speak Thai- Our friend's wife always orders all the ingredients for us to make the soup in the hot pot, so we eat what she orders. Here in Thailand they have many vegetables that I normally don't eat; and they are always cooked making them even less appealing to me. For example they have bean spouts in almost every soup- and I don't like them- not one bit. (If you do like them then you would love them here-very flavorful) So I usually pick around the things I don't really like like - I'm pretty good at it too. I can pick even the smallest onion out and with chop sticks! But that night I felt adventurous. I decided that whatever she ordered I was going to eat. And I did...and I liked it. They had these neat little nests of spinach and what is called ear mushrooms- they look wrinkly like your ear, but are a dark almost purple color and a little crunchy. I am becoming more adventurous with food- I always let Ed try if first and then if his face is okay I will give it a try. (I learned my lesson in Japan)

Well I tell this story tonight to also share that I am starting a different food experience tomorrow! Tomorrow I start a short course at the Le Cordon Blue - Sawadee. My course is on "The Art of Bread-Making." I am so excited (and scared) to be studying at a real and very well known cooking school. I will try and post how class goes and some of the things I make this week.

Long Overdue

I am currently done with all that needs to be done at school. My finals have been written, all of my unit plans and evaluation rubrics are done, and I am just waiting to finish lessons so that I can mark them and return them. I have no idea what my summer school schedule looks like or even what we are doing next so I am just waiting. As a result, I have some free time to do some things that I have been meaning to do- like edit some videos and update the blog. Here is what our apartment looks like or looked like before we filled it with our stuff. Look forward to more videos, not good videos, but videos nonetheless.

Like Clock Work

Like clock work is how the seasons change here. If the end of the rainy season is the end of October then on November 1 there is no more rain. This has held true for winter. I use that term loosely because I know many of you are still suffering form what a true winter has to offer. It is now February and this starts the building of heat until the rains come back in April. Today has a high of 37 degrees Celsius. Normally I really like things to work like clock work. I am a big fan of schedules and lists, but I am not sure this applies to the seasons. Well if you are tired of winter, know that somewhere in the world (Thailand) is hot- so there is hope just around the corner.

Christelia

Let's Celebrate!

Celebrating has been a theme here in Thailand. The Thai's love to celebrate anything, everything, nothing! This has lead to many of our frustrations, crazy right! Celebrating being frustrating? But it's true. There have been many times that we have come to school or gone to class to find there are no students because they are celebrating something- a brothers birthday, (not a homey- brother but a Catholic brother) the opening of Christmas celebration, the school's 50th anniversary, sports day, and one of the latest a talent show. This bothers me more than Ed- I have a schedule and a plan we need to follow.

For this talent show everyone in the entire school prepared a dance for it. Who knew soooooooo many students were great at dancing? Well they didn't come that way- that type of showcase needs practice! So when do we practice? After school? No way! This is going to take some serious class time to practice for! After all we need to be prepared to celebrate, what else would you use class time for preparing for a test? So that is what happened. For the WEEKS leading up to the the big show classes were cancelled or rearranged (all while teachers were writing finals). One week I only saw half of my classes and still only half of the kids in the classes I has- it's okay they had a pass. All in all it was a big deal- there were 20 rows with 20 tables with 10 chairs at each table. Each chair (ticket) cost 500 baht or about $17.00 USD. OMG!!!! There was a huge stage and lights and speakers like a rock concert. When stuff like this happens you can't fight it! I mean they have the right to P...A...R...T...Y!

Last week was no different- it was Chinese New Year. This of course meant a celebration was in order. It's the year of the rabbit! So they decided that there should be no classes on Thursday, we have many families with Chinese Heritage and so many will not come. Very true! On Wednesday I had one class with 19 students absent and a different class with 16 students absent. I teaching though correspondence now.

So maybe the students haven't learning much the last few weeks but I have or trying to. It is to relax a little and just celebrate anything, everything, nothing!

Chrristeila

Grocery shopping in Thailand

After our wonderful experience of studying with Homprang at the massage school , we learned how much better we felt if we ate something good for breakfast and ate more vegetables. As a result we decided to start eating breakfast at home instead of at the school canteen. So for breakfast we are eating granola, yogurt, and fresh fruit with snacks of vegetables. This leads us to our story...the adventure of grocery store shopping in Thailand. As with most stories this has a very valuable lesson and some comic relief. Our first experience of shopping went pretty well but recently we have had some different experiences.

Last week we went to the store for carrots and a few other things. Most fresh produce in supermarkets here come packaged up into reasonably amounts, however this day we found some carrots much like you would find at home (select your own) and placed them in the bag and headed to check out. We emptied our items on to the counter. When the lady came to the carrots she began searching for the bar code on the carrots. Finding none she placed them aside for them to be returned to the store. When I inquired about getting the carrots (that was the reason we came after all) she called someone over and they took them away! Lesson: if it doesn't have a bar code you are not getting it! Okay point taken- we'll get carrots next week.

So this week when we went to the store we were sure to only pick up items that had a bar code, but this left us with no less interesting of an experience. We go to check out and there are two young ladies working the cash register. They are wearing university uniforms so this may be the first time they have ever worked. (In Thailand the parents take care of everything until they are out of university and possibly even married- to the point of spoon feeding their kids well into elementary- literary. Their main focus is on school and very few work until they are completely done with school- very different than us) With that being said this is what happened...They started ringing up our items and when we got to the produce something happened- they were ringing the items in but it was not adding to the total. I noticed but they had no idea. Then we get to the bananas, they were in a package with a bar code but they wouldn't ring up. The girls were trying to fingure out what to do and asked a more experienced lady next to them- she must have told them they need to go find another package and try and ring that up because one of them left with the bananas in hand out into the abyss of food in search of more bananas. She clearly had never done this on her own before because it was some time before she returned with more bananas to ring. Then as they were trying to ring them up they closed out the transaction and we had to pay for them separate. While all of theis is going on we notice a sign right behind the girls with the price of the bananas. Moral: two are not always better than one and work experience is really important! Hope you all have enjoyed your trip to the store this week as I am sure it was an experience as well getting stocked up before the blizzard. Don't forget to check for bar codes!