Category Archives: Crafted Based Learning

Too much to say

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In Cologne

It has been far too long since my last blog post and so much has happened since then.

We all went off on mid-term break in the first week of April. One of the beauties of being in Switzerland is that travel is very easy and getting around Europe is not difficult at all. I made a weekend stop in Cologne, Germany to visit a friend and then took a train to Paris to spend the rest of the holiday. Both cities were absolutely beautiful. The weather was not great but a little break was good and it is always fun to spend time with friends. I even met up with a Jamaican friend in Paris by surprise!

From the Eifel Tour

We came back to school and went straight into the kitchen at the formal dining restaurant Le Tacot. For two weeks we worked as a small restaurant would. Each person worked in a station and completed a part of the dish all coming together for plate presentation. The first week was lunch service and we created a set menu each day. The second was dinner service where guests choose from an a la carte menu. I helped with cold kitchen, but was in charge of the dessert station, and I can now make very good crème brulée and chocolate mousse. Our proudest moment was receiving 100% for our dinner exam!!

Plates of cold appetiser for a Banquet one evening

After that we had the hottest night of the year: Auction Night. The graduating class makes different efforts to raise money for their graduation celebrations. Auction night involves bidding on each other to share a dinner date. I was “bought” for 175 CHF. The evening is always fun and we had a blast this year dressing up and having a laugh with everyone involved.

The girls at Auction Night

This past weekend a few of us braved the Lausanne 20KM run. Only 5 were brave enough to go for the full 20KM and the rest completed the 10KM. It was a very challenging run for us all but it was a good day and we made it back to Bluche safely.

After all of this and in between all of this we are working towards our final projects, assessments and exams. It would be safe to say that Bluche is very busy at the moment.

Market Place Kitchen

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Market Place Service (2011)

Last semester when we were all in HOI, or Bsc P1 to be exact, we had Market Place Service for two weeks. We made it to work for 6 am each morning for a week, and for the second week we were the last to leave after dinner.

This semester we are doubly proud of ourselves as we have now completed Market Place Kitchen.

We considered this as a wild and wonderful place last year as none of us were allowed into the Kitchen. This year we tackled it head first and made the most of our time there. As it turns out, all the shiny machinery and large stoves are not as scary as we thought, and it is actually quite a lot of fun.

The time is divided into a lunch shift and a dinner shift. We had menu briefings and each of us was in charge of one element of the meal from salads to soups to large pieces of meat (dessert is taken care of by the pastry team). Each day we had to create a production plan to make sure that our timings and methods for preparing the food were correct.
We worked very hard at cooking and then cleaning. One day I scrubbed four different, very large pieces of cooking equipment, we were all responsible for the cleanliness of our stations.

I am happy to report that my class is still enjoying our good luck in not having too many cuts or burns. Wish us luck in our academic cycle!

Cold Kitchen preparing salads and cheeses

Dinner with the service team

Cleaning up after pan frying 200 pieces of meat

One of our great chefs

the whole team

 

PGDip Event: Memories on Broadway

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Each semester, the Post Graduate Diploma II class puts on an event. This event is an integrated project and counts as 40% of each of their 5 subjects: Planning and Development, Marketing, Events Management, Yield and Revenue and Performance Management.

 This year, the 60 students were divided into teams and each team came up with an event proposal along the theme of “Memorable Moments”. The teachers then came together and decided which event was the most feasible and the winning group became the management team overseeing every detail of the function with the help of their classmates. “Memorable Moments from Broadway” was the winning team. The event included a four course dinner with an aperitif and wine and excellent decorations, service and entertainment. Of course the PGDip students took care of all the elements from the cooking, to the serving, to the dancing, to the cleaning up. 

To include the rest of the student body, they asked for participants in their entertainment group and I was able to dance to some of the classic tunes from Broadway. We were also joined by Ayeshah , an HOIII student, who sang and performed the most beautiful version of “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls and the funny duet of Nina and Ayush, who were the announcers. It was a wonderful event with about 125 guests which ended on a high with everyone dancing up a storm on our makeshift dance floor in Market Place.

Watch the video to get the feel of the event!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj1FxxEa3jg&feature=channel_video_title

Pictures: from Pothen Cherian and various students

PGDip Event: Memories on Broadway

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Each semester, the Post Graduate Diploma II class puts on an event. This event is an integrated project and counts as 40% of each of their 5 subjects: Planning and Development, Marketing, Events Management, Yield and Revenue and Performance Management.

 This year, the 60 students were divided into teams and each team came up with an event proposal along the theme of “Memorable Moments”. The teachers then came together and decided which event was the most feasible and the winning group became the management team overseeing every detail of the function with the help of their classmates. “Memorable Moments from Broadway” was the winning team. The event included a four course dinner with an aperitif and wine and excellent decorations, service and entertainment. Of course the PGDip students took care of all the elements from the cooking, to the serving, to the dancing, to the cleaning up. 

To include the rest of the student body, they asked for participants in their entertainment group and I was able to dance to some of the classic tunes from Broadway. We were also joined by Ayeshah , an HOIII student, who sang and performed the most beautiful version of “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls and the funny duet of Nina and Ayush, who were the announcers. It was a wonderful event with about 125 guests which ended on a high with everyone dancing up a storm on our makeshift dance floor in Market Place.

Watch the video to get the feel of the event!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj1FxxEa3jg&feature=channel_video_title

Pictures: from Pothen Cherian and various students

Working in Market Place

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Here at Les Roches, the Market Place is the major Food and Beverage outlet, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to a large percentage of the students and staff each day. It is a very important part of our training in HOI as service students and HOII as kitchen students. Because it is the largest and busiest of the outlets, there is an element of pressure and working quickly and efficiently is very important.

We spent two weeks working in Market Place, one week on breakfast/ lunch shift and the other on lunch/ dinner shift including a class on Service Concepts. Each day we were allocated a section and a number of tables in each section. Each morning we set the tables for lunch with special napkin folds, after lunch we set for diner and after diner for breakfast. There we had to give a menu explanation, take orders, serve water and clear the plates when the guests were finished.

The goals of our practical training were learning about 6 major points:

  • Teamwork- this is important in any group activity and more so when there are a number of tables to be served and the work load is shared.
  • Guest interaction- you have to make small conversation with the guest that you are serving and begin to get to know them so that the next point becomes easier.
  • Anticipation- this is where you pre-empt the guests wishes and act before they have to ask.
  • Observation- you have to be aware of all you tables and their needs and also see where you teammates need help.
  • Communication- is developed and is a necessity with you team mates, teachers and of course the guests.
  • Organization- in a pressurized situation it is necessary to be well organised. A trick we learned was never make a trip to a table or back to the side board empty handed, always pick up a plate here or there and bring a water jug to top glasses up.

In service concepts we learn a range of things from using kitchen equipment, cutlery and plates to flower arranging. Each day we had a different topic to cover and we managed to fit a whole lot into two weeks.

Les Roches – The importance of living in an International environment

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Time is going by so quickly and according to the changing weather around Bluche most of us think that the summer is literally over.  It’s good though, the change of a season means that things have to follow a cycle as well and we have to move on, continuing with new experiences and more challenges, trying to get the most out of every day that goes by.

In the last few weeks I have had the chance to talk with people from so many countries, some countries of which I had heard a lot about before and also a few that were quite unfamiliar to me. It has been a very international experience in these past weeks and it is only getting better.

classmates enjoying the view from the balcony

Within the tourism and the hospitality industry you start to quickly understand the fact that nowadays we are actually citizens of the world. Working in hospitality is indeed a conjunction of activities involving guests and people from everywhere abroad. There are so many interesting cultures of which you can always learn something new and in one way or another the international ambiance here at the school prepares you on a higher level to face the industry while working. It may help you to face or solve a situation with a guest or a particular client sometime or confront work pressures with people from other countries.

At the school and during activities outside the school especially during meals and through classmates, you learn a bit about each different culture. It could be the special cuisine they might have, interesting and touristic places in their home countries, weather differences, salutations and greetings in their languages, they share stories with you about other places where they have been and so on.

Here I attach some recent pictures of my classmates while celebrating the birthday of one of our classmates from Thailand, of course eating at a Thai restaurant in Montana, we learned for sure a lot about Thai food, the ingredients they use and main dishes in Thailand!

In some of the classes, we are also learning about beverages and service. This class is called Food Production and Service Operations; it is definitely one of my favourite classes with Mr. La Sala where we have started learning about the basics of the production of beverages.

We started this time with different types of appetizers, short drinks, long drinks, cocktails and so on. Attached is a picture of us during this class where we learn right away how to make, mix and serve these types of beverages and the attitude of bartenders and waiters while they are serving.

It is really nice to be able to make them and not only see how to make them. We really learn right away the origin of different liquors, how they should be mixed and how all types of drinks should be served and decorated.

Academic and Practical classes in Les Roches !!

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Classes have started and things are getting more serious now!! We have acquired all of our books and uniforms for the practical classes and all of the teachers have introduced their classes as well.

During the first weeks, it is important to get all sorts of information regarding the right class schedule, the meal times, the activities organized by the school and the formalities that have to be followed, so it gets easier to go along with everything that happens around the school.

It takes a bit of time, but it is better to get rapidly familiarized with the classrooms locations, the names of your teachers and classmates, and also the people you have to talk to if something comes up. I have to admit that sometimes you get a little lost because of the massive information, but all you have to do is ask! There are always people at the reception desk that can help you if you have any questions or if you need something like charging credit on your cell phone or if you need to know the location of a certain department.

Attached there are some pictures of some of the buildings around the school like the basketball court and the football field and also the building where I live, Peters Farm 2.

Football and basketball courts

Peters farm building

The highlight of this last week has definitely been the practical lessons! As PGD students, we have practical lessons only once a week either in kitchen or in service so we have to make the best out of it, taking advantage of the time we get to be in these real situations where we learn so much. This is more intensive in other programs. In our case, this is how it works: for example my group was first divided into Service and Kitchen to serve and cook in “A la Carte” restaurant of the school and every Wednesday we attend classes about either service or how to cook following the standards of this type of restaurant.

I was assigned to be in the kitchen first and we all had to be dressed with the proper uniform and ready to start with the instructions.  Before I knew it, I was already preparing the ingredients for the orders that we were going to receive later on that day, from real guests! We get orders from students and members of the faculty at the school who are eating there.

Since we are in a real kitchen of a restaurant of this standard, we are supposed to serve nice dishes anyway, so we really have to do our best. The Chef and his assistant are great and also very patient because a lot of people do not know how to cook at all!  The time really flies as you are working in a real kitchen and when you finish it is unbelievable how much you have learned in only one day!

Attached are a few pictures of my group in the A la Carte kitchen in the cold starters and the desserts sections.

Craft based learning 1

Craft based learning 2

Craft based learning 3

It is amazing how much we learn during all the classes and I am impressed with this methodology because you learn as you practice and the performance counts a lot in this industry. I am very excited about the future classes and to see how my knowledge progresses!