Pastry Pro I: Final Exam

The Pastry Pro I final was on August 19, 2009. I have been putting off entering this post for weeks. I had to leave for a week a couple days after class for business, then we had a week of vacation in Santa Fe. I'll make it short since I have now started the final semester and need to catch up on that one as well.
The pastry class final was hard. We were given a list of items we could make for certain point values and we worked in teams. My partner was Tela, who is very skilled and low key, an easy person to work with. I decided to make pie crust, blitz puff pastry, stirred custard, chantilly cream, and then create a chocolate cream pie and some type of turnover with the blitz puff pastry. Tela made a cake, muffins, and a few other things. Over all everything I made was just OK. My pie filling was a little undercooked and had a "flour" taste. I didn't fold the blitz puff pastry quite right and it was not even when it rose. The berry turnovers I made with the blitz pastry were a little overdone and the filling got burnt. I did manage to finish all my items but the quality was not what I wanted. One problem was the heat in the kitchen. August, ovens, people--all made for hot air. Trying to make pie crust in a hot room is very challenging.
We could have used the outer kitchen if we were thinking clearly--but we didn't.
I am glad pastry class is over and ready to move on to the final semester. I learned a lot of techniques and skills in pastry but I have been trying to move away from a lifestyle that uses a lot of the things we learned in pastry. As much as I love to make pies, cakes, and pastries it is not something I will spend a lot of time doing, although I will use what I've learned to make whole grain and healthier pasties, pizza crust, pie crusts, etc.