Meanwhile in between dough resting we also made kouign amann. I thought I had already made awesome ones in the past but the ones we made at school that day were amazing! We added some vanilla powder and kapow! they became even more super tasty. My cat loves butter and will come from a different room when he smells butter and he could definitely detect butter in these.
On Tuesday we baked our croissants and pains au chocolat, the look of mine were not bad.... I made worse looking ones but of course they were far from perfect! I have a list of things I found wrong in them but chef was much more lenient, he said the shapes of my croissants were mmhhh not good, lamination not bad but the butter must had cracked and pains au chocolat shapes were irregular. At home I cut open each and everyone and he was right, I rolled the croissants too tightly and the one he said was correct had a nice crumb (below) the rest mmhhhh I'd rather not show. One of 8 correct is a definite fail for me but I passed the evaluation though. So gentle my chef haha.
On that day we also made Polonaises which I had never had nor heard before, they look so retro and they are rather good. Wednesday we started by making croissant dough again! I was excited because I thought I would have a chance to see if I roll the croissants lightly and don't press them too hard they would be wonderful but chef said NO when I asked if I could make some with the dough. So maybe one day before the weather turned too summery I would try make some AT HOME. Anyway, so I ended up with 8 super fatty pain suisse that I didn't want and 8 escargots pistache chocolat. We also made that day, some amazing looking and very delicious brioches feuilletée but I gave away everything.
On Thursday we went on another school excursion, to flour mill Moulins Bourgeois Verdelot outside Paris. We went with people from group B and it was a rather nice day because the weather was beautiful and the village is quaint and charming. The factory was quite amazing, I like watching production line and it was quite fascinating to see and to know how flour comes about on the supermarket shelves though this particular mill only supplies in bulk to several artisan bakeries in Paris. Here is a photo of group A looking cheery and well pleased with their goody bags.
Us and group B.
Friday we made tarte tropezienne, and there went another week. I think on Monday I had reached my fat quota for the week already but I took this tarte home. Love it!
The week after was the week before spring break and it was another week of entremets. It was honestly, perhaps my least favourite week so far.. from the start. If I was a soccer player I felt like I had the ball in the penalty area, someone tackled me we both fell and I was the one given the yellow card. That happened on Monday, quickly forgiven and forgotten but then on Tuesday I got another reprimand which I'm sure this time it was my fault but I couldn't remember what. From then on, I was like a player who was just playing careful not to make a mistake and hit anyone and so ran slower dropped the ball etc. Focus was just practically gone and plus there were so many elements we made on the same day for different entremets so I was just carrying on autopilot following what everybody does. NOT good because I was feeling a bit lost as to what was going on.
Only on Thursday after we finished everything I finally could sum up in my head what elements were in which. That week we made 6 entremets in 4 days :
1. Douceur Feminine (so good! biscuit noisette, cremeux citron, chantilly mascarpone vanille)
2. Garigues (top left, biscuit chocolat, cremeux clementine à la basilic, compoté mara des bois, mousse au chocolat à la basilic)
3. Entremets peanuts (my favourite, biscuit chocolat, cremeux tonka, mousse dulcey, crunch cacahuète)
4. Tea Time (biscuit chocolat sans farine, cremeux framboise, mousse chocolat lait thé earl grey)
5. Noumea (biscuit noisette, mousse banane ananas)
6. Praliné Citron (pain de gênes, mousse praliné, cremeux citron)
Then Friday came, we had another demo but I kept losing interest. Maybe it was because I had holiday already in my mind, maybe because it was a week where I wasn't feeling my best, but in the end I think it was because I had too high hopes after the last demo. As with everything, I have to learn to not have any expectations and just let things to surprise me. That was a nice segway for me to explain that last year I went to Iceland without any expectations and I was quite blown away. A few days ago I came back from a quick getaway again to Iceland, this time of course I knew already what I was in for, but again Iceland stepped it up one notch.. it was even better than I remembered it.
I stayed at the same hotel next to the blue lagoon and the hotel had been redone and I loved it even more. Last year I found the surface of the blue lagoon was rough and rocky and I found that they had made it more pleasant and smooth. I found the people kind and friendly... the food fresh and delicious, the colours a palette of vivid and sombre unlike anywhere I had seen. The weather was amazing especially the day I visited the blue lagoon.
I can't wait to go again, but meanwhile... school restarts tomorrow and I'm all refreshed body and mind. The whole week we will be with chef from group D which I'm not especially happy about... because no matter how, I am still very fond of our chef and think that he is the best. But I suppose variety is good and I shouldn't have any expectation plus it is a very short week... where we will have another art class!! I am looking forward to the second half of our course but definitely not looking forward to the end. I am definitely going to try to make everyday the best day ever and not to think and worry too much about anything. Except for maybe, the art homework.
Melinda x
Ps. Wednesday before the holiday, some of us took a picnic rug and snacks to Parc des Sceaux. As pretty as I remembered it with all the cherry blossoms.
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