Guinness gets me internet.

I'm sitting at a cafe/bar around the corner from my apartment. I thought I'd give their wifi a shot. And it works. And it's much better than McDonalds. First, it's closer. And second, they have stuff I like, like Guinness. Better than coffee at night.

Today was good, and I'm exhausted. But I suppose that comes with early morning call times. It has felt like bedtime since about 4pm to me.

It's non stop working in the patisserie. As soon as I waked in (just after changing into my vest and massive black pants) I was handed a knife. There was a box of fresh quince in front of me and a huge empty pie tarte. When that was filled, I moved onto strawberries and raspberries. Then I topped slices of gâteaux and put them in their plastic wrap. Then it was on to dejeuner (lunch stuff). I chopped up poached chicken and mixed it with mayo, lettuce, mushrooms. There was also tuna salad and smoked salmon on baguettes and brioche. After les snacks were made, i was given a vat of pâte d'amande (almond paste, aka marzipan). Beside it was a bucket of tiny square piece of nougatine. It was my job to cut out little circles of the marzipan and form a pyramid on top of each piece of nougatine. I think I did this for a continuous two and a half hours.

As I formed pyramid after pyramid, the shop's originator, M Litzler chewed my ear off. He has been working as a pâtissier for 70 years. He comes in every single day and starts work at 5am. He's 85 years old. He had a million questions for me and shared many stories. I think I caught about 1/5 of each. At one point I think he was telling me about some inter-racial marriage. I really don't know what that was all about. Then he told me about another Jacqueline that came there from another country, but ended up staying and marring a French man and becoming French. This story was repeated and I was asked more than once if I was going to stay. Then I got an entire history lesson about the Alsace region and all the different dialects in and around the area. If I understood correctly, he can speak French, German, Swiss German, Swiss French and Alsacian. He was very patient with me as I tried to speak and understand what he was saying. It's really nice to get a glimpse a multi-generational family business.

So we worked from 6-12:30. I won't lie. I was hungry and very thirsty. I must remember to bring some water with me. And maybe sneak a banana too. Lunch is served family style and the whole kitchen eats together upstairs above the bakery. Only problem is, I'm in meat country. So I had some plain noodles and a couple pieces of bread. Looks like I'll be bringing my lunch from now on.

Then after lunch, we went up two more flights of stairs. The top floor is comprised of several different rooms, all with cots and blankets. And there's a tv room too. So you can nap with the rest of your lunch break. It's truly a bizarre scene. The building is old. Like 15th century old. And the cots were circa 1930's maybe? Everyone was practically asleep by the time I walked in (just 2 minutes after them). But I couldn't sleep, it was all too new and strange. My guard was up way too far. Napping was out of the question. So I watched the Simpsons (in French of course) with the time left on our hour long break.  I think I"ll bring a book for tomorrow.

So then after lunch we all went back to work. But I only work for an hour in the afternoon. Really, if I could, I'd rather just work through the meat laden lunch and take off an hour early. But I don't think it works that way.

Overall I think I'm in a good place. I saw all kinds of stuff being made in just one day. Tartes, chocolate bars, macarons, ganache, puff pastry, it's all happening at Litzler-Vogel. And I know my French is going to improve. I think I already spoke more French today then I have the whole time I've been here. That's probably why my head hurts so much.

Okay I'm going to finish my beer and pass out now.

Bonne nuit!

Wish I ate hamburgers.

I've been scouring Strasbourg for free wifi and my best bet is McDonalds. But the only thing I eat here is ice-cream and coffee. After coming off a pastry binge the last few weeks, I opted for a coffee. However, given that I start work tomorrow at 6 am, maybe I should have ordered ice-cream. Oh well. I'll only drink half.

So. So far so good. I love love love Strasbourg. And my living situation is a dream come true. All except the lack of wifi. But that's just fine. It gives me an excuse to get out and mingle with the local teens after school. Maybe I'll pick up some slang while I take in the smell of greasy french fries. 
No. It's really great that McDonald's provides free internet, but me and my battery-sucking laptop wish they also provided sockets to recharge, too. Am I being greedy? Maybe.


So I'll have to be quick. Just an update to say all is well. My apartment is less than a 4 minute walk to work. I managed to find a few different grocery stores to feed myself, including a health food store that sells a variety of lactose-free milk. Yay! I went with a rice/hazelnut option today. It's so nice to be in a bigger city with a university. That always means a good variety of cheap tasty eats. I found a great little Greek place for lunch, on my search for the grocery store. I thought it best not to shop with my stomach screaming so loud. And there's a fantastic smelling breeze that passes by my living room window courtesy of the Indian restaurant at the end of my block. Think I'll be checking that out soon. Oh and I also found a little Armenian grocery store around the corner. Nate will have to let me know if it's any good when he gets here next month.


So that's what I'm up to. Just getting my bearings and figuring stuff out. Although I don't think I'll ever figure out how the French shower without a shower curtain. I'm not into squatting while I wash. But if I don't, I end up washing the entire bathroom. I don't know.


Okay my battery is yelling at me and I should go walk off this coffee. My goal is to be in bed by 9:00, for a 5am wake up. EVERY DAY. God help me.


Bye for now....


Oh and I'll post pictures next time.

Commencement and a little kudos.

We did it. We are the first international French Pastry Arts students to graduate from ENSP. We might be small, but in the end, after five months together in the lab, I do believe we're strong. It's the end of lab work, and the beginning of real work.

The ceremony was also small, but very sweet. All our professors came to to watch us receive our certificates. It was nice. And it wasn't that long ago that I questioned if this time would ever arrive. I'm sure it seems like it has all flown by, but for me, it has felt like a full five months. As I've said before, time moves a bit slower in Yssingeaux. But that's as it should be. It's given me the opportunity to take it all in. And at this point, I feel good about everything. I think coming here, going to school, taking the time to learn a new skill, I think it's what I'm supposed to be doing. No regrets.

Left to right: Thea, Chef Jean-Marc, Chef Jacqueline, Chef Sebastian.

Chef Sebastian kept it together through most of the ceremony. After all the certificates were handed out, he praised us all again. But then it was time to announce the meilleur (best) student, the valedictorian. And the sobbing began.

"The best student started from nothing. Her french was bad and she knew nothing of pastry. I remember she asked 'What is an eclair!?'" he whimpered." "But she work very hard (sob), and that's why she is the meilleur (sniff)."

Again, I was slightly horrified with his blubber of emotion. Then I was absolutely shocked when I realized he was blubbering at ME! I am the valedictorian! Who would have guessed!?

So after adding up all our quizzes and exams and weekly work scores from the whole course as well as the presentation, I had the highest average. Crazy.

So that was Friday. It's now Sunday morning. I'm writing this from my hotel room in Strasbourg. After graduation we drank a few bottles of champagne, cleaned up the lab, and went home to pack. We had to check out of our apartments Saturday morning at 10, and the bus for Lyon left at 11. Needless to say, there was not much sleeping going on. We were all exhausted. Running on sugar, we managed to have a party that night and pack up the last five months. Tam, Flo and I went to the post office first thing in the morning and shipped what we couldn't carry. Again, I am amazed at how much stuff I seem to acquire. I think I could really be a hoarder if left alone long enough.

Anyway, we caught our bus to Lyon and then the girls helped me and my stuff get on the train to Strasbourg. It has been a while since I've put on a heavy backpack, and I did not miss it. I found my seat and passed out. It was one of those beautiful fall days. Sunny, even hot. And the train was a direct smooth ride into Strasbourg. I woke up at every station just long enough to glance at my bags to make sure they were still on board. Then I nodded off again when the train resumed motion.

Arriving in Strasbourg felt great. I was immediately relieved to be in a proper city again. It feels good here.

Now that I'm rested and showered, I need to get out the door and go meet Regis, who is lending me his apartment for the month. It's time to start the second phase of my pastry adventure. And this phase has to speak French. Eeek.

Oh and he doesn't have internet at his apartment (oh mon dieu!), so I'll do my best to check in when I can.

Bonne journée!

Finally, the final.

So this was it. Our final final. The one that really counted. All those crazy practice tests were merely to prepare us for this week. Our technical exam was Monday and I think it went just fine. There wasn't anything on the test that caught me off guard. And it was a good thing I memorized all the sugar tables and charts, because as I suspected, they were waiting for me on the test.

Then Tuesday and Wednesday we had our practical. 13 hours. And honestly, compared to the last exam, this was easy.

Our mission:

• Brioche Nanterre
• Tarte Tatin
• Pâte de fruit à la noix de coco
• Une plaque de bonbon en chocolat de couverture noire avec une garniture de ganache framboise
• Galette à la crème d'amande pour deux personnes
• Omelette Norvégienne pour six personne à la crème glacée vanille et éclat de nougatine
• Support en chocolat pour disposer les pâtes de fruit détaillé et les bonbon en chocolat
• Entremet frasier moderne 

Et...

• Dresser trois dessert à l'assiette individuel avec:
• fond de biscuit breton
• disque de bavaroise vanille
• disque aux fruits rouges
• boule de sorbet
• coulis de mure

 Oh, and it's Valentine's theme....

Here's my chocolate support for my dark chocolate bonbons filled with a raspberry ganache. Apparently they were pretty good because when I came back after the judges, they were all gone. Not a one to be found. The white squares are my pâte a fruit de coco (coconut fruit jellies). We all ended up doing this recipe twice as three drops of citric acid isn't enough to keep them together, three grams works much better.

Here's my broiche. I was really worried this was going to be too dry. I baked it on the first day, against the recommendation of chef. However I can only assume it was good because it too was all gone when I returned after the judges' viewing.

This is my sad looking ice cream cake. I think it's pretty much a baked Alaska. There's a delicious vanilla ice cream with chunks of nougatine. It's all encased in a white cake box. Then an Italian meringue with egg yolks is pipped on the outside. This looks messy because I didn't whip my meringue enough and it just didn't hold up as I was piping. I would have redone it, but it was the last thing I did and had no more time. It tasted good though, and that's most important.

Tarte Tatin. Sugar, butter and apple on top of puffed pastry. That's it. Ooey gooey sticky yummy.

Galette. These are puffed pastry filled with almond creme. It's a very basic French dessert. Or sometimes breakfast.

This is my modern fraisier. This had a layer of white cake, an insert of strawberry gelatin stuff, and the rest was filled with a bavaroise vanilla cream. Oh and then all covered with a glaçage. Here, have a look.

Then we had our plated desserts. Again. I'm SO glad I don't want to work in a restaurant. Plates are super difficult, and I don't have the patience to get it right. Or neat. This one had a cookie bottom, a red fruit disk, then a disk of the bavaroise cream then a scoop of strawberry sorbet. Oh and the big heart is blackberry purée.

So yeah, that was it. Not so terrible. Not like last time anyway. Or maybe it's all just getting a little bit easier.

After the exam we all waited patiently. All a little nervous about the results. But the officials were impressed and passed on words of praise. I guess in just five months, we really have all come a long way. I know I certainly have. Chef was actually moved to tears. Or sobs, rather. I've never seen a grown man cry like that. I'd like to say it was sweet, he was overwhelmed with pride. It brought out tears in a few others as well. Me, I just felt uncomfortable and a little horrified. But maybe that's just me. Maybe I have a cold heart. Or maybe it's just another cultural difference. I guess French men bawl when they're happy. Sweet. (Not really.)

But look what was waiting for us upstairs! That sure was nice. Although cleaning the lab after this reception. Ouch. Motivation levels took a serious dive.

What does impossible look like?

Apparently Chef never intended for us to finish his impossible challenge. But I did. Although I think at first glance at the to-do list, or even fifth glance, no one thought it was possible to finish in time.

So Wednesday morning we were presented with this challenge:

• 8 croissants (55g/pièce crue) 
• pain aux raisins (avec le reste de pâte)
• barre de céréales aux fruits (dimension 3cm x 3cm x 1 cm)
• 10 religieuse chocolat
• bonbon moulé chocolat noir avec une garniture ganach lactée caramel
• 1 tarte abricot-noisette sur pate brisée
• 4 tartelettes framboise à la mousseline pistache sur pate brisée sucrée
• 1 flan parisien 
• entremet "Le Lauraguet" finition glaçage caramel
• vacherin vanille / café
• réalisation d'un présentoir artistique en chocolat pour les bonbon et les barre de céréale
• dessert assiette - dresser trois assiettes avec un moelleux chocolat cœur coulant chaud accompagné d'une glace café et d'une sauce crème anglaise vanillé. 

Vous plaisantez?!  Are you joking?!
Non. He wasn't. The French don't joke. Or when they do, I don't ever get it or know when I'm supposed to laugh. So I just went to work.

Pain aux raisin left, croissants right.

In my rush I manhandled my croissant dough and crushed my layers. So again, I made something that looked more like brioche rather than a flaky butter layered croissant. However, the pain aux raisins were good, just not big enough.

Flan Parisien

This is a tarte filled with pastry cream then baked. Sometimes raisins are involved. But a Parisien flan is simple. However, color on top is preferable. I swear I baked this for what seemed like an eternity to me. But no color. I suppose an eternity isn't long enough.

4 Tartelettes Framboise

So these turned out pretty cute. And pretty good to eat, too. Little tartelettes filled with a pistachio mousseline. Can't really go wrong there.

Tarte Abricot-Noisette

Sometimes I don't understand the flavor combinations in France. I think the elements of this tarte would be okay if eaten individually. However all in one bite, not so much.

The base is a tarte baked with a hazelnut cream and apricots. Fine, that tastes alright. Maybe even good if accompanied by a scoop of ice cream. But that's not the end of it. See that tan colored disk on top? That's a gelatinous hazelnut cream insert. And those chocolate triangles around the top? Yep, dark chocolate! I was suspicious about this tarte the whole time I was making it, but just went along with the recipes trusting it would all make sense in the end. I got to the end and took a bite. My suspicions were confirmed. Yuck! I think that's actually what I said with my mouth full of mismatched food. The flavors and textures were all wrong.

So technically this tarte should have had a glossy nappage, or apricot jelly painted on top. I ran out of time. So I guess I didn't finish EVERYTHING. Sue me. But I don't think it would have made much difference. There's no glossing over this terrible recipe.

Dark chocolate octagon surrounded by cereal bars and dark chocolate bonbons filled with a milk chocolate caramel ganache.

Chef is crazy about these cereal bars. And normally, I am too. The marshmallow recipe we used for this one was different than we've made before, and it was impossibly sticky. I know marshmallow is sticky but this was insanely frustrating to handle. I think I'll stick to my other recipes.

The chocolate bonbons were good and I didn't have too much trouble. The backs, are not so smooth and shiny. But I just learned on Friday how to solve that problem, so all future bonbons will be shiny all over.

Vacherin

A vacherin is an ice cream cake with two layers of baked meringue.  This one is vanilla and coffee. The outside is covered with chantilly cream (which as it shows, was pipped on in about 20 seconds). And the cacao powder mess on the outside, well that was me trying to follow the valentine's day theme in my last 10 seconds. I had prepared a stencil and tried to make a row of three small hearts on top. But powder went everywhere so I threw out the stencil and well, this is what mild hysteria looks like. When the judges cut in, they had to cut through the plastic band as well. Oops. But that ice cream was GOOD! I know because I ate most of it after the judges left.

Le Lauraguet

Uggg. This dessert is a pain. Four different recipes. One for the apricot mango mousse. One for the violet flavored apricot insert. One for the dacquoise biscuit on the bottom. And one for the caramel glaçage for the outside. You basically have to make the inserts first so they can be placed inside when the mousse is sufficiently firm. Then fill in the rest. Chill the whole thing (or freeze it like me) and then pour the glaçage over top. However if you choose to freeze it, make sure you have ample time to thaw before serving. This is not a frozen dessert. Fine. Now I know.

10 Religieuse Chocolat

These came out better than my normal religieuse. They're filled with a chocolate pastry cream inside. And they have a chocolate fondant on the outside. However when making, I wasn't happy with the light color and I decided to add a bit of coffee syrup to darken up my fondant. So mine became chocolate coffee. Not a bad combination. But technically not what the customer ordered. AND I opted for chantilly cream instead of butter cream for the decoration. Even though this isn't exactly what Chef had in mind, I believe I only made improvements. 

So here it is. The impossible.....

The buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you don't see here are the three plated desserts we had to present one hour before all this. On each plate there was a molten chocolate cake that oozed when you spooned into it. With a scoop of coffee ice cream on the side and decorated with a vanilla creme anglaise sauce on the plate.  How'd it turn out? Well, let's just say my cake certainly oozed. Maybe even before it should have. There's definitely an art to timing plated desserts. I'm SO glad I won't be working in a restaurant and have to deal with this kind of thing every day. Not my cup of tea. (I don't think I've ever written that expression. What does it even mean?)

Anyway, the day was mad. We were all running around, each frantic in our own way. Spilled sugar on the floor we learned, is as slippery as oil. Out of the corner of my eye I saw hands and a measuring container fly up and Flo was rendered horizontal. She was fine, but that had to hurt. And ten minutes before the end, while trying to finish her ice cream cake, Simona flipped it on the floor. "Hmmm. Present it with a taste at your own risk note," I suggested? We were all chaotic. But most of us finished. And I do think that this was some sort of not so funny French humor from Chef. Like he just wanted to see us scramble. And scramble we did.

So from all this, I've learned that on our final final exam this week, I know I'll get it done. Whatever it is. It may not be perfect, but nothing ever is. At least not so far. And that's just fine with me. I'll do my best. C'est la vie.

But OMG. I really hope this was a joke and our final won't be quite so ridiculous. We'll see.

Balloon intermission and some great news.

There was a hot air balloon race in Yssingeaux last week. I'm not sure how many contestants participated, but the sky was full. Also, I'm curious as to how one wins a balloon race. They don't seem like a particularly speedy method of travel to me. But they sure are pretty.

Now for the news. You can all stretch out your cramped fingers and toes because I secured a place to live in Strasbourg! I'm seriously overwhelmed by the kindness of friends and soon to be friends. I will be living in an apartment all by myself just a four minute walk from the bakery. It couldn't be more perfect. It belongs to a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. The owner will be studying sign language in the Alps for 6 weeks (why not?) and is trusting me to take care of his place. I just hope he doesn't have plants. My green thumb has a terribly high mortality rate.

Anyway. I can't wait to get to Strasbourg. I owe a huge thanks to Jeff and his wonderful friends for helping me out. Thank you!

Examen Blanc #3

The aftermath of practice test three.

Our challenge:

• 1 Saint Honoré
•  Sorbet fruit rouge
• 1 Charlotte à la poire
• Brioches individuelles aux pépites de chocolat noir
• Praline noisette et chocolat au lait
• 1 Oeuf chocolate noir avec inscription "bye bye grandma"
• 1 Tarte abricot 
• Present 1 slice of said tarte with a scoop of sorbet

Okay so even though this was just over a week ago, I can barely remember how it all went down. We've had a marathon of baking as we prepare for our final exam which is finally upon us. So in the last two weeks we've had two examan blancs.  I guess what I have learned is that when I need to, I can move quickly. I have also learned that for the most part, things turn out okay. But overall, I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Brioches aux chocolat

My brioche was a little dry due to me not wanting undercooked bread (mission accomplished). But it was still edible, so not the worst.

Tarte Abricot

My apricot tarte as we'd say in English was good. However, it could have been cooked even longer and had more apricots. But definitely edible.

Charlotte à la Poire

I don't know what you'd call this in English. The outside and middle insert is a fluffy biscuit that's a little bit sweet. The center is a pear flavored creamy mousse. This is not the most flattering photo, and I didn't get the angle where you could see that I over-whipped my cream which caused it to begin to separate. I thought I was okay when I filled the biscuit (all my ingredients were getting along), but by the time the judges got a taste, the fat from the cream had started to withdraw from the rest of the party and exposed my mistake. Note to self: whipped cream can and will throw you under the bus, so watch it.

Saint Honoré

 This is the quintessential French pastry, and I can't stand it. Ha. But this one turned out alright. The cream is called crème chiboust and is really easy to screw up. It's not all that difficult, but you have to be diligent with your timing, otherwise you'll end up with something that looks more like clumpy scrambled eggs. I don't mind making it but I don't love the taste. Neither flavor or aesthetic. So it's hard to get inspired. But it is challenging, and that's something I enjoy.

Praline Noisette et Chocolat au Lait

 That's a fancy way to say chocolate covered hazelnuts. You roast them, then give them a few layers of milk chocolate. It's pretty simple, just can't leave it til the last minute as the chocolate has to be stirred on in several layers.

D'un œuf Chocolat Noir

"Bye bye grandma." Yeah, I don't know. I think chef was trying to be funny. But this is a good example of humor getting lost in translation. For our final exam, we will draw one of three possible themes: St. Valentines, Music, or Grandmother's Day. So this egg has something to do with the last option.
Molding chocolate is something I've been lucky with. I don't think I'm particularly good at it, but I've just avoided any major mishaps. But it can happen, and when it does, it eats up all your time. And in these exams, time is an ingredient in short supply.

So there you have it. I'll be back with more pics of test four in a few....