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Chapter 25: Battle of the Gardens
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It was yet another busy Monday in the Institute of Culinary Education. The class has started and Chef Austin gave them two hours and thirty minutes to work on their loaves. As he starts his timer, everyone in the room immediately started working on their loaves.
Time was ticking and they start to feel the pressure knowing that making the loaf itself will take time. Conrad, Alfred, and Olivia decided to divide the work according to the skills they learned from their hands-on lessons last week. Even with work divided, it was still time-consuming. Their only choice is to make their loaf bread as fast as possible and cautiously. If they skipped a step or missed an ingredient, their loaf bread won’t turn out as beautiful during their practice.
Everyone gathers the ingredients and equipment they needed for their loaf of bread. After that, Olivia starts to incorporate the ingredients needed in a big mixing bowl. She uses the electric mixer for an efficient result of mix
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Chef Austin had finished judging everyone’s work. During those judging moments, the groups who reached or surpassed Chef Austin’s expectations received a high score. While the group who didn’t reach his expectations received an average score, but Chef Austin told them that they needed to work on their skills more. Overall, no one failed but, Conrad was still skeptical about Chef Austin not telling them about the two groups doing the same bread.Once the bell rang, Chef Austin dismissed the class, and everyone was longing to go home due to their exhaustion. As everyone went out of the room, Conrad tried to talk to Chef Austin about the test they’ve done today. Unfortunately, Chef Austin told Conrad that he couldn’t speak to him since he has an urgent meeting with the faculty. Once Chef Austin left the room immediately, Conrad felt discontented by the outcome. He wanted to know the reason behind the test today.Alfred and Olivia came up to C
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The car ride to Olivia’s apartment was quiet. Maybe it’s because of the exhaustion or it could be from the awkwardness that Conrad is feeling. Conrad kept thinking about Olivia’s feelings towards him and couldn’t say a word about it since he’s the only one who has seen it.Once they arrived in Olivia’s apartment, Olivia invites them into her apartment for some homemade honey cake and tea as a sign of gratitude for dropping her off. Alfred and Conrad agreed and all of them went inside her apartment.Going inside Olivia’s apartment, Caroline was watching on their television. Seeing Olivia arrive with Conrad and Alfred, she immediately stands up, approaches them, and introduces herself to Conrad and Alfred. Alfred starts to talk gibberish after meeting Caroline.“I’m Caroline, nice to meet you, Alfred…” Alfred said. “I mean, nice to meet you, Caroline, I’m Alfred.”Caroline
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Realizing that their lips touched, they both felt ashamed out of it. Olivia pushes Conrad away from her to prevent from something happening between them. She starts to think that what they did was wrong and tells Conrad to forget what just happened.“I need to go…” Conrad said. “Alfred still has dinner plans with his father.”“Sure thing,” Olivia said. “Take care, I guess…”They went out of the room and were surprised that Caroline and Alfred are getting along well. Caroline shared that they have a lot in common. Alfred told them that they’ll be having a date this Friday night. Conrad and Olivia are proud of them. But Olivia couldn’t help but be a little jealous for them. Conrad notices her jealousy for them and wishes that he’d come up with a solution that will make Olivia feel better.They said their goodbyes to one another as Conrad and Alfred left the apartment. While they
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By the time Chef Austin told everyone that it’s time for them to present their Croquembouche, he tells everyone that he and Alfred will go first. Alfred brings out their Croquembouche, some of them were mesmerized by it, while most of the students were clueless about their Croquembouche. Alfred tells them that their Croquembouche is inspired by the Filipino Culture. And what they see in front of them is not purple chocolate, but Ube; a popular and favorite flavor in the Philippines.Chef Austin invites everyone to taste their Croquembouche. Everyone goes in front and takes a piece. Once they have taken a bite of it, everyone imagined themselves being a part of the Filipino Festivities. They were also surprised that the custard inside is also Ube, and to them, it was creamy yet tasty to their taste buds. He asks everyone if they have comments and suggestions about it. Olivia tells them that it melts in her mouth. While Conrad, tells them that every time he takes a bite,
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