Claymation Workshop
This week the Elements animators has a big step up in their ambition. They went from 2d to 3d and dealt for the first time in Clay Animation. We used midubot armatures wrapped in plasticine tondevelop our characters and hen created some simple narratives from there.
Thai green Curry with Chef Ris
Today we had a visiting Chef teach students how to make authentic Thai green curry. Students were shown how to make the curry paste from the scratch and them use the paste to make their individual curries using their favourite meat. At the end of the session Chef Ris, with the help of Mr Clarke test/tasted all the curries to find out who had made the most authentic dish. This proved to be a tall order, because everyone had done their best to follow the process, despite the length. In the end, it was unanimously decided that for this week, everyone was a winner.
If the choux fits! (Star Bakers – Anya, Jessica, Leanna, Charlotte and Vanessa)
This week was the most technical yet for this group of Sweet indulgence student, with the Choux pastry challenge. The students excelled in making selections of eclairs, profiteroles and puffs and it was evry difficult to choose the star bakers. However it vwas decided that Anya worked independently to make mini Paris Brest and Jessica, Leanna, Charlotte and Vanessa for using their skills they learnt in previous classes to decorate their products.
My Hong Kong
This weeks challenge was to use wet market ingredients, to make a dish which showed individual interpretation of Hong Kong cuisine.
Custard tarts, noddle soup, dumplings, steamed and pineapple buns, siu mai and stir fry are just a few of the fantastic dishes that were produced. But in the end Brianne, Jaimie and Chloe took cooks of the week title for the most authentic char siu, custard tarts and milk tea. Priya and Jordyn were commended for sourcing the best wet market ingredients. 
Pies, tarts and puffs – Star bakers (Katarina, Charlotte and Catherine)
Sweet Indulgence this week was all things pastry, with students either making their own shortcrust or using frozen puff pastry as a standard component. We had a vast array of dishes on offer, from Egg Tarts to Apple Pies, to Mille Feuille. the star bakers, Katarina, Charlotte and Catherine were awarded for the professional working practices whilst collaborating to make perfect chocolate plaits and a seasonal pumpkin pie.
Creative dessert Collaboration – Chefs of the week (Aika, Agastya, Justin)
This week in Lord’s Kitchen, students we asked to bring their favorite fruit or sweet treat, then they were put into random pairs or trios to design and a make a dessert, using their ingredients combination. After 20 mins brainstorming and planning the studesnt got down to making the different components of their desserts and the kitchen was a frenzy of cakes, meringues, mousses, sauces and souffles. The Chefs of the week Aika, Agastya and Justin were decided by Ms Leung who came to give her professional opinion of the presentation and deiced that these three had collaborated the best and had challenged themselves, as they had even tried some molecular gastronomy to make coffee spherifications to go with the chocolate and pomegranate dessert.
Placintas, Plachie,Goulash and succulent zagrebacki
Can you name the countries where you would find these dishes ~ Placintas, Plachie, Goulash and zagrebacki?
These are just a few of the dishes we tried this week. Students worked in teams to research cuisines from Eastern/Central Europe. They were also given an ingredient that is mostly used in the cuisine of their given country and asked to translate this into a dish using ingredients available in class. Teams worked hard on their dishes but in the end Rachel, Valerie and Piyas Croatian zagrebacki and waffle cake won the the challenge. Sharon, Barbie and Jordyn were commended for their creative lasagne muffins from Czech Republic
.
Enriched Bread Doughs – Star Bakers: Jorja, Vanessa, Natalie, Catherine & Anya
Sweet Indulgence this week saw the student getting down with the dough, making products like doughnuts, Chelsea buns and bagels. Students learnt about the science behind perfect enriched bread dough and gluten formation, as well as the importance of uniformity of the products if they were to be sold.
It was extremely hard to decide on Star bakers this week, so we ended up with 5 students getting the accolade. Jorja and Vanessa for attempting the very challenging Rainbow bagels, which they baked and fried to do a comparison. Natalie and Catherine for their Halloween themed pumpkin and chocolate ring doughnuts, which looked fantastic and tasted great and Anya who worked indiscreetly to make both chocolate doughnuts and Chelsea buns, which had the perfect texture.
Animators Get Going with their First Character Animation
For the last few weeks the Elements animators have been building up their skills and understanding of animation practicing basic exercises to help refine their understanding of the process of stop motion.
In the last session we developed this into a simple character with the “story” of them jumping off a high platform onto a trampoline. This gives students the chance to practice some of the key principles of animation such as stretch and squash, arcs of motion, easing and anticipation. Here are some of the examples of what they created. Enjoy!!
Risotto Challange – Chef’s of the week (Nathaniel, Justin and Steven)
Well done to Nathaniel, Justin and Steven, who were awarded Chef of the week in Lord’s Kitchen for their Risotto. Students were shown how how to make a basic risotto and then were tasked to elevate it to restaurant standard, with their own ingredients and the way they garnished the dish. Nathaniel has the best flavoured risotto as he used seafood stock, prawns and scallops and Justin and Steven had the perfect texture and great presentation for theirs, with a Parmesan crisp. All the students were looking forward to making it again at home to perfect it.
