Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum

Allez, allez, allez!!

Vite, vite, vite!!

Pastry boot camp - that's how I'd summarize the pastry practicals we had during the first week of school. A word on the class format: each lesson begins with a demonstration session where the Chef would teach a new recipe then show several recipe variations, for example, the first lesson was on shortbread pastry - the Sablés (French butter cookies) and Chef demonstrated up to 5 different types of variations on the shortbreads.
Only the ingredient lists are included in the student manual, hence it's mandatory to attend the demonstration classes, try to stay alert (and awake) during the 2 1/2-hour demo sessions and take detailed notes, otherwise one would be at a total lost of what to do during the practical classes. "Do I add the butter last? Should the butter be melted first? What's the baking temperature and how long is the baking time?" Now, these are exactly the questions
you do not want to be asking the Chef during the practicals! By the way, Chef will not specify the exact baking time during the demos; you need to watch the start-stop times on your own; "I left my watch at home", said the Chef, "and so should you!. You've got to learn to rely on your senses - visuals, smells and touch" That, I suppose, has to come from experience, something that us basic pastry students do not yet possess.

We've had 3 demo classes so far and I've enjoyed every one of them. The Chefs - we've had 2 different ones this week - were great at what they do and have been quite accommodating, not as intimidating as I'd read but granted, it's just the first week of school.
However, what got my adrenalin pumping were the practical sessions. That's when we break into smaller groups (mine's  made up of 14 students), get hands-on and bake in a real kitchen! The first practical was somewhat intimidating partly due to the militaristic approach that that particular Chef had adopted with us. Safety. Organization. Hygiene - both personal and kitchen workspace. Speed. Teamwork. Those were the drills that day, over and over and over again. "When I say something, you must respond 'Oui, Chef' - whether you like it or not. Comprendre?" Oui Chef ! I've somehow mastered, during this short time, how to stay focused in the kitchen while the Chef was rambling away en Français, then remembering and knowing exactly when to respond "Oui Chef"! A bit mindlessly at times, unfortunately. Coming from a corporate world where one would not typically say "oui, oui, oui" to anything all the time but would be expected to, usually, challenge the status quo, this is still something that I'm still struggling to get used to. Nonetheless, the one thing that I really like was the emphasis on teamwork in the kitchen. Teamwork has always been a corporate mantra but less of a lip service when it comes to the kitchen. Well, at least, that's my impression after this week. We were ready to start measuring our ingredients for the first bake, and I noticed that we've been given regular granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar that was listed on the recipe, understandable error since the class assistants were new. So I had to ask the Chef to reconfirm. He sent me upstairs to fetch a box of powdered sugar for the whole team. I asked where to get a mixing bowl. He pointed to the back of the kitchen, then reiterated, "You all must work as a team. You get the bowl not only for yourself but for your team - the closest 3 other students". "Oui Chef".
We've only had 2 practical sessions  so far and I'm slowly getting into a standard routine of documenting and photographing the demo, then coming home to review my notes, upload and collate the photos, then re-create a detailed step-by-step instruction, along with photos of the key steps and techniques not only to help jolt my memory in future, but to get myself mentally prepared for the follow-on practicals. Quite a lengthy chore but helps fill up my time in-between classes.
I've made sablés,

   the diamants we made in class this week
pâte brisée, pâte sucrée and some variation of tarte aux pommes before,

                            the tarte aux pommes I made yesterday
so the baking part wasn't difficult for me.  Learning the special techniques, kitchen tricks that professionals do and informational nuggets on the science of baking are what I came here for. I know I won't be disappointed. J'espère.