Class final tomorrow.

The rest of week 5 was more cooking, and we actually got to deal more with recipes. Unfortunately, we also had to deal even more with personalities, and let's just say it wasn't pretty. In all honesty, we probably are all a bit at fault, but I don't understand why our group, out of all the groups, has had so much trouble getting along. In fact, today some people even asked me if I was OK, because they'd heard how some of the people in the group had talked to me at the end. Just for the record, it wasn't my fault that we were still waiting for the cream sauce at the end - I had asked several times if we shouldn't use a bechamel. The sous chef said several times that he wasn't going to use it, and then about an hour before presentation, he changed his mind. I didn't blow up or anything at any point, but I tried to tune things out when they kept asking me if the sauce was ready. It's a lucky thing for me that I knew exactly how to make the bechamel, even without looking at the recipe. Could anyone in my group today have done it at that point? Anyway, we got it done, so that's OK.
All I can say is that at least it wasn't as bad as it turned out yesterday. What an absolute disaster! We made veal and ravioli. Or should I say we tried to make veal and ravioli. It was edible, but by the end I really didn't want to eat what we'd made. I ended up talking to somebody in my group for a couple of hours, and I also told some of my friends about it over the phone. It was definitely a matter of inept leadership and cooking skills. Person X of the group came in late, to start with, and then insisted on being sous chef. That was rather less than an auspicious start, and it pretty much went downhill from there. I may never want to see another ravioli again. At the same time, I have gained some confidence in my skiil to season things, and to remain focused on my task in the midst of chaos.
Monday was at least a good day in that I got my skills sheet finished off nicely. I had a couple of cuts and some eggs left to do.
On our pasta day I got started a bit late, because I was doing some other stuff, but I ended up doing a pretty interesting pasta which I cooked off and brought home to eat later in the week. I finished off my concassee on another day while working on one of our other dishes. On Thursday I was sous chef again, and we were definitely on time - on Wednesday we were late and chef got very upset. I worked on an aioli with someone. I wish I could have brought it home, but... It was really good though. I made the Mornay sauce for spinach on Friday, which I did bring home to put over potatoes over the weekend. I also stayed behind and finished off my hollandaise. It was beautiful, and I was able to help two other people because they needed to break the hollandaise and fix it.
So what have I learned so far? Maybe this is something I already know - I do still have the ability to remain within myself. But I've also learned who are my friends in the class. Tomorrow is our exam, and then we get a break and go to the main building. Wow.