I have also since then had some summer work experience at a little restaurant here in town, called 'The Wesley Street Restaurant'.
Summer has also been a time to rejuvenate, spend time sleeping in, eating breakfast on the porch with my girls, having BBQ's, sleeping in, spending time at the outdoor pool, reading books, enjoying being at home, more family time and friends time,...
Now that the summer holidays have come to an end, I am back at the university, back in the kitchen, back to a busier routine.
During my first week back at school I was able to sign up to help at an oyster bar, for a private function at the new university campus in Duncan BC.
I had never shucked an oyster before let alone eaten one. This was a good opportunity to do both.
The oysters we were serving came fresh from Fanny Bay, which is located about an hour north of Nanaimo. They were harvested the night before.
When you eat an oyster raw, you will be able to detect flavour differences depending on where the oyster comes from. Our oysters are mainly called pacific oysters, but as I was told, they were imported form Japan and China in the mid nineteen hundreds.
The brine in the oysters reflects the area where they come from and just as you can have different flavours in wine or cheese, depending on the area, your can have different flavours of oysters.
I tried my first raw oyster. Definitely had a taste of the ocean and would fall in my opinion under the category of acquired tastes (who likes coffee the first time they try it?).
My first rotation back at the university is the bakeshop and I am thrilled to learn all about gluten development, creaming methods, geletanization, yeast fermentation,... I often think about my childhood. There are so many visual and sensory memories I have about growing up in a bakers house, and I am realizing that I want to preserve some of the things that are part of my heritage. I want to be able to bake and cook the things I remember growing up and build on those recipes and develop them into my own.
Dessert Presentation: Plum Tart, Plum Compote and Mascarpone Cream
Today I made Brezeln, with the help of some of my classmates and I also baked Baguette and Potato Parmesan Bread.
I got some encouraging feed back from my baking instructor, Chef Gower, today.
I am proud to be my fathers daughter!
