Patisserie Day 1

This past week has been as if the kitchen staff was playing "hot potato" with me. I am just bouncing all over the place.
So today I was placed in patisserie, and what a crash course it was. Not that today was very busy, with a full dining room of just four people... but that it is the second to last station that I have not yet learned. It could also be considered the last station, since I highly doubt the Chefs will attempt to put Emma or I on Saucier.
Anyway, today I made my first batch of petit fours. Including fruit tartlettes, chocolate tartlettes, jelly lollies, and an array of different chocolates that Chef Florian calls praliniens. But what he is referring to is the standard Belgian Praline. This is a chocolate with a hard outer coating, a softer inner or sometimes liquid filling. Not to be confused with American pralines which everyone from New Orleans and myself just love. Of course, I had to do a little research to know all this.

Afterwards, I was sent to the deli slicer or cutting machine as we call it at the Burg to make a component of a dessert called Ananas Carpaccio. Ananas is pineapple in English. Not bananas without the "B" like I thought at first. This is a long tedious process of thinly slicing the ananas on the cutting machine, and carefully layering it, over lapping some, onto a large sheet tray. Make six of these large sheet trays and put them in the shock froster, or freezer as we say. The comment of the day was... "This is a day job isn't it?" Yes, yes it is. It took me about 2 hours. At least I have a ton of songs memorized in my head so I could sing to myself to pass the time.

While standing on one spot for two hours, I did notice something that was rather humorous to me. Since spring has sprung, the insects have come out to play. And like the kitchens in Florida, the fruit gnats swarm. I was happy to see some of the oh so familiar and annoying bugs. At least I know that German kitchens have the same issues we do in Florida. Or it could be our fault... the Pommelos do come from Florida here.