Women About Town

As part of our first module, we have to complete a worksheet after speaking with pastry chefs at 2 different establishments, and we're given 6 hours to do these interviews. Because of scheduling and the way things worked out, we've been given half a day today and half a day Tuesday instead of one whole day.

So, today started off with dividing ourselves into 4 groups of 5, discussing extra questions we might like to ask, and deciding what establishments we'd like to visit. Then we had the chance to have our utensils engraved, if we wished, but otherwise, had the rest of the afternoon to do our fieldwork. Seeing as I am the only person in my group with a car, I was the designated chauffeur today. I wasn't too keen at first, but my teammates convinced me, and it was fine.

We first went to an industrial-style bakery, Duquette, which supplies just about everything imaginable (cakes, breads, doughnuts, pies, etc.) to most of the grocery stores in the area, as well as depanneurs and some restaurants. The pastry chef, Jean-Philippe, was super nice to us, answering all our questions and even offering some advice for our future careers.

Finding a second place to visit proved a bit more difficult. We called 3 or 4 places, but none had the time or interest in speaking with us, and we were very discouraged, but one said to check back in the afternoon. So we went back downtown and had lunch at Caffucino, which was absolutely delicious! Most of us ordered dessert afterwards... All in the name of research, of course! ;) One girl had to leave after lunch because she had some errands to run, and the rest of us hung around Wellington until 2:00. Then we went to Le Bouchon, a restaurant specializing in French cuisine. The pastry chef there, Gabrielle, is a former student of our school, so she was very sympathetic to our mission and gave us some good answers, as well as advice - to buy our uniforms a bit bigger in anticipation of the pounds that will be gained... *sigh*

After that we called it a day and went our separate ways! Bonne fin de semaine - woohoo!

I also wanted to share some photos of my "fancy" tool kit...!

Massive Mastercraft toolbox...

Full...

So, starting with things supplied by the school (box included)... pastry bag, tips, and nail...


scraper, rubber spatula, and various other types of spatulas...

bread knife, peigne triangle (something to do with icing cakes), zester, brush, and paring knife.



Things I had to buy on my own... kitchen timer, electronic thermometer, scissors, and utensils for taste testing!

And also dishcloths and an electronic kitchen scale.


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