Adrenaline is an amazing thing. I have been flying on that alone for well over 24 hours. So I got “Mia” (names changed to protect the innocent) to cheat for me, and one of Marcelo's friends who works in the basement kitchen snuck around for us and said the only exam thing he could find was trout. I was thrilled because the trout recipe was SUPER easy. It remained a mystery as to the second dish...

I got to school this morning, and Tulio and I sat in the garden, going through the recipes, studying the obvious choices and skipping the ones they would never put on the exam. At 8:30 sharp, I went upstairs, picked my green chip out of the hat, and set up in the spot the chef directed me to. In my mind, I had the trout. I was fully in the mindset of trout. Easy. Then the chef said, "The blue chip is the trout, and the green chip is...the chicken."

The chicken??? Are you joking? CHICKEN? The recipe is called Basque Chicken, but it is totally chicken cacciatore, this dish my mom has made since she and my dad got married. I was stunned. Ten minutes prior I had said to Tulio, “Poulet Basquaise? Skip it, it’s too easy. They’ll never choose that one.” I was floored for a minute, and then I was plain, old-fashioned psyched. They might as well have handed me a box of Mac and Cheese! I finished early, my hollandaise, the technical portion of the exam, was perfect, and my plating was decent. Hooray!

I am still in denial that they chose chicken. So obvious why “Eric” couldn’t see what else was on the exam- there are always chickens downstairs for stock, etc. Chicken. No one orders the chicken.

As for pastry…I pulled the Douceur Chocolat. It is a yummy cake, and, when put together well, it is stunning. It involves tempering milk chocolate to make disks and decorative items to top the cake. I was fine until it came to the disks. I rushed the tempering and my chocolate wasn’t very shiny. Then, it was too warm when I tried to cut the decoration and it came out pretty ugly. It wasn’t my worst work ever, but I hold my title as pastry chef for the blind. I know I passed and I am pleased with my work.

After the Basic exam, I was ready to just pack away my knives and give up. This time, however, I am itching to get back in and do more. Maybe that’s the adrenaline. Nothing I say or do now (2am - that makes 4 days of going to sleep after 1) is based on sleep or reason.