Proof!

First day back in London. Rainy and wet but there are signs of a spring soon to come.



Today we began with an easy introductory to the second semester of pastry. Just when I thought I had finally gotten over the exam embarrassment of my wet pate a choux and burnt pastry cream, what is our first recipe? Gateau St Honore (a cake composed of non other than pate a choux and puff pastry). I hoping this was not done in my honor, or should I say in my memory…

We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow.

Despite a two hour torturous reminder of the past, I received a sweet reward that made it all worth it:



Pain is Beauty





Darcy Jones

Judgement Day

En early Monday morning wake-up. What a surprise: I couldn't sleep.

After taking our written theory exams in the morning, I took a walk to kill the time and clear my head of anything food-related before hearing how I did. As I wandered throughout the sunny streets the first signs of spring were popping up everywhere

But despite my mind clearing efforts, sometimes fate won't allow you to avoid the inevitable...


Store Window One


Store Window Two

Yes, that's a french bean bundle pillow and a crab chair. No comment.

But more importantly, after an excruciating 72 hours waiting for the verdict, I got my results... I passed!

See you in 2 weeks for Part Deux: Intermediate Cuisine and Pastry.
I will also have some delectable details from the divine food of St. Barths so stay tuned for more sweets and savories this Spring!



Darcy Jones

Case of the Cordon BLUES

A gloomy peace this morning with it brings. And what a tearful 24 hours it has been. As you may have guessed, the cuisine exam did not go well. And now you know that I am a rather dramatic mourner of all things lost in testing situations.

I was given a break, or so I thought, and pulled the beef as my test recipe. I will spare you the long drawn out details of how and where I went wrong, how I couldn't get anything right, and how despite getting the easiest of the 3 recipes, I still managed to run 2 minutes late (costing me 2% points per minute off my score). This is all acceptable, until the shocking news arrived: the judges had made a horrifying discovery on my plate. It arrived to the table with a hair hidden in the carrots... Not only could this hair never have come from my head, but there was absolutely no sign of it when I checked the plate prior to leaving the kitchen. Eat your heart out lemon sole; when chef returned with this news, I was the gutted one.



And so this morning reared it's ugly head and for the first time, in I can't remember when, I had to forgo contacts for glasses.
Assessing the damage done to my living room from the previous post-assessment evening: a kicked bottle of Bordeux, two bloodied and beef-jus-stained aprons, a cell phone convulsing on the last legs of low battery, and a barrage of increasingly depressing and indecipherable text messages to anyone and everyone who would listen, I realized I was acting more like a carnivorous beast than the distinguished culinary student I am supposed to be.

With that (and with a big fat Please Forgive Me gift in route to my husband's office) I stumbled into my kitchen to resurrect another fallen hero...



With a clear disdain for travel of any kind (see their previous appearance), these pate a choux swans have become my Stay-at-Home-Swans. Let's just hope that if I get these Homebody Birds on the pastry exam they'll be suffering from a rare case of cabin fever and relish an outing to the schools patisserie...


Chantilly Crack


Ducks in a Rows


Squawk Box


Love Birds


Darcy Jones

Fish, Fowl, and Fumet: A Study Guide

Study Materials

It’s that time of the season: the weather is getting a little warmer, the days a little longer, and even here in dark and damp London the skies are threatening to get a little brighter. Spring is upon us. Or so they tell me…



It’s exam time at Le Cordon Bleu, and this being my first introduction to tests without blue books or bubble sheets I am down right terrified. I am sure that I’m only one of many students round the world right now who feel this way. But while they’re hauled up in a library, I’m cooped up in my kitchen, nose in a stock-pot instead of a text book.


Fish Stock at Work

Although I’ve traded binders for bain-maries and reviews for recipes, the process is just as stressful, in fact it’s more so! So I’m mad at work practicing our possible examination recipes. The exam format: We’ll draw one of three recipes from a hat and have a few minutes to write the recipe and method, hand that in and get to it. On the menu:

Fillet of Lemon Sole braised in White Wine with a Pommes Duchesse Border



Supreme of Guinea Fowl stuffed with Provence Herbs, Tomato Beurre, and Courgette Spaghetti



The Roast Beef and it Traditional Turned Vegetable Accompaniments



So you can imagine that I am currently the picture of calm: as coiffed and camera-ready as any celebrity chef. Hardly. I’m drenched in fish stock, covered in feathers, and smell of fat drippings.



As glamorous as Giada, right? Except this hardly looks like the set of Everyday Italian: it’s more like an audition for Kitchen Criminal.

Homework tonight? SoleFood

Our Fallen Friend


Fragrant Fish Fumet


C’est Fini!


This kind of preparation is physically punishing and my patience is wearing thin.

Test day is tomorrow and I am just a bundle of nerves. Too bad there isn’t a recipe for removing mine like there is a Guinea Fowl’s.

Merde (in both senses of the word).


Darcy Jones