Happy Anniversary, Merry Christmas

I've been playing with hot sugar again...

On Wednesday it was 1 year since the fateful day I lost my job with EH. As I was a working at Crema on Monday, rolling out shortbread crust, I was thinking about how lucky I am. I remembered how stressed and unhappy I was working in the "corporate" world. That feeling of being trapped in a dead end and wanting to be doing something more fulfilling is finally a distant memory. I also remember the feelings of uncertainty, the worry of getting into school, making ends meet, and finding new jobs.

Slowly everything gave way to a new and exciting journey. I was learning to make beautiful pastries, making new friends, rediscovering the joy of time off during the week. An early spring visit to Paris to reconnect with a special friend turned into returning for the summer to work for for a great cafe. Once you start to follow one dream, it seems to make all your dreams possible, or so I'm discovering. I feel I've recreated myself, but really I've just become who I was meant to be all along. The food lover, pastry maker was always hiding inside, I just had to dig a little deeper and get a little push to let her out. I've never been happier.

Wednesday was also my official "last day" of school. We had a great seminar on Tea. I learned about what makes White, Green, Oolong, Black, & Pu-Erh teas different from one another. It was a nice class to finish the year with. After wards, I went out to have drinks with my classmates and reflect on our year of learning together, and to discuss what our future's hold. Everyone is looking for jobs, but in different capacities.

There are some down sides of chasing this dream of mine. Chefs are truly artists. We create beautiful, delicious things with food as our medium. And for the most part, we earn the artists' wage. I don't plan on being rich, I desire more to have a fulfilling life, but money is necessary to pay rent, and afford a few creature comforts. January is going to be a busy month, as I intend to be job searching. I will continue to work for Crema, but not sure if they will be able to take me on full time, so I need to line up another part time job, or find someone who can offer me full time employment. I am also going to be searching for contacts and opportunities to go back to France. What better place to get a job, and continue learning?

Classes are done....however there are still finals looming, 3 in fact! January 4th is the practicum. If you recall my midterms, this is similar, but even more challenging. We still have blindly pull a card. This time that card on contains a dessert name and description, there is no recipe. The recipe has to come from my head. I'm confident on being able to recreate any of the possible items, once I can recall the recipe. I'm going to be spending a lot of the next few weeks memorizing recipes, lots of recipes.

On January 5th, our creative practicum is due. I'm actually excited about this one. The sky is the limit, we just have to create our own dessert using techniques we had learned over the year. The key is, be creative. I think I can handle it.

January 9th, is the written exam. Lots and lots of questions covering everything we've learned over the past year. Slightly nerve wracking, but at least some of it will be multiple choice. And then I am done. January 23rd is graduation. And of course I have to turn in my portfolio.

In the meantime, between cramming recipes in my brain, looking for jobs, and continuing to work, I'm going to try to enjoy my Christmas. I'll be headed to Ohio with lots of goodies to share with my family and friends. I'll be baking a special Pear & Chocolate Buche de Noel for a guest who is flying all the way from Paris on Christmas day just to see me.

A Festive Poinsettia Piece for a Festive Time of Year

The lovely photos you are seeing are of my final creative work from school. It is another sugar work piece, made of pulled and blown sugar. I suffered several blisters from making it, but when it was finished, it was totally worth it. I'm starting to really love sugar work. I felt it was appropriate for this time of year.

I'm off to enjoy my Christmas. Going to take a little break and I'll be back after January 9th, to let you know how I survied finals.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year. I hope this time of year brings magical things to your lives.

The Entire Sugar Piece

Crack in the Mouth

Bittersweet Sugar Flower Decorations

Crack in the Mouth; that is the meaning of the French word Croquembouche. The name only describes the sensation of biting into one of the crunchy caramel coated puffs after you have pulled it from the tower of sugar. It's beautiful and delicious, and pulling it apart is at least half the fun of eating it. I can see why it is a cake made for Wedding celebrations in France, it is festive. My Croquembouche was not shared at a wedding, but it was shared with people I love very much.

I almost didn't finish mine. I was in a hurry, and it was the final day of class before Thanksgiving. Originally my plans were to celebrate my favorite holiday, in Massachusetts, with my brother. A saddening phone call from home briskly changed those plans. My brother and I decided at the last minute to drive to Ohio after I finished class, so we could spend some short, but invaluable time with our family. What was I to do with a tower of cream puffs and delicate sugar flowers? My roommates would both be gone to their respective Thanksgiving celebrations and it would be no good by the time I returned from Ohio. I decided it was going to have to go with me. In that case, I took lots of photos, fearing the worse of it's 12 hour commute in my brothers truck to Ohio.....

I did not design a fancy sugar stand for my Croquembouche. Playing on the safe side, I made a simple plate out of poured red sugar and adorned it with some orange sugar circles to match the orange and red Bittersweet flowers and vines I had pulled the day before. Everything was glued together with lots of hot caramel. Chef assured me it would hold. I had my doubts. I held it on my lap on the short drive back to my apt. I set it on the kitchen counter and went to finish packing my bag and think up a plan of how to transport the Croquembouche. I was starting to think I was just going to have to leave it to my roommates.

Close up of the Decorations on the Piece

At 3am as I was getting ready to leave, my roommate Leah suggested a way to fashion a box around my masterpiece that worked amazingly well. My brother gingerly carried it to his truck, placed it in a corner, and surrounded it with a blanket and pillow to hold it in place. I crossed my fingers and climbed into the passenger seat. See you in Ohio Croquembouche!

We arrived at my sister's house just the next day, tired and and ready to be off the road. My brother retrieved the box from the back of the truck. I carefully undid the tape that was holding the box together to reveal what was inside. It looked perfect. Only one or two flowers had lost some of their petals. The piece was otherwise solid......but not for long. My sister, brother and I admired it for a few mins and then after dinner, the real damage began. We only ate about 1/3 of the piece. The next day it was removed from the fridge and packed again into the truck for another hour and a half drive. By this point, I was obviously no longer concerned for how it looked, I had photos to show.

The Finished Croquembouche

By the end of Thanksgiving day, the Croquembouche had made it's rounds to 3 houses. Family members began lovingly calling it the "croaking bush". We had a lot of good laughs because of it. There were definitely more turkey leftovers then cream puffs the next day.

Most times when I travel back to home I fly. Taking an elaborate pastry treat with me is not an option. This was a rare and special trip. I'm really happy that I was able to finish the piece before leaving for Ohio. I'm even happier for the joy it brought to my family. This is really what making pastries is about to me; the look of joy and delight on peoples' faces when they see and eat the desserts I have prepared.

It is not an easy task to comfort people in difficult times. Often times words fail me (a crack in my mouth?), but I have found cooking/baking is my best way of showing my love. If I'm cooking for you, it most likely means you're someone really special to me.

A late posting for Thanksgiving, but hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and have much to be thankful for this year.

-Jenni

Sugar, sugar

Strawberry and Mango Lollipops

The pastry overflow is slowly tapering off. A few weeks ago I came home with boxes of lollipops and candies, and announced to my roommates that this was the last of the white pastry boxes. They were simultaneously sad and relieved. I feel the same way too. The candy and confections class was a lot of fun. I enjoyed making the marshmallows the most. Yes, you can make marshmallows at home, and they taste soooo much better than the store bought ones. I flavored mine with coffee extract, to give my hot chocolate a nice mocha taste. Crema is now serving in-house-made candied ginger marshmallows on their hot chocolate, and it is to die for.

Hot Chocolate with Coffee Marshmellows

Of course when making candies we can't forget a popular French treat. We made two kinds of Nougat; regular and chocolate. I had seend a lot of nougat in the shops in Paris, but had never tried it. It's actually pretty tasty; though I'm still not too fond of any candy, no matter how delicious, that sticks in my teeth. My classmates and I were a little suspicious of the paper that is used to cover the Nougat at first. Chef brought it out, tore a little piece off and stuffed it into his mouth. He then explained that it was made of rice and completely edible. We each tried a little piece too. It was pretty flavorless. After we made the Nougat and I realized how sticky it is, the paper coating really made sense and you can barely tell it is there.

Nougat and Caramels

Despite my lack of funds, everyone on my Christmas list this year is going to get some great gifts. Who doesn't like a box of handmade sweets? Candy making is definitely more fun then frantic Christmas shopping. Sweets are one size fits all, and I don't think there will be any thoughts of returning, exchanging or re-gifting. I witnessed members of my family fighting over a box of my chocolates at Thanksgiving, more than once.

Lollipops Ready to Eat

Cake for a Cause

Close up of the Top of "The Gift of Hope" Cake

It's been a while since I've decorated a cake. Most of my cooking/baking time has been focused in other areas lately. I was very excited when I received an email from the school asking for students to take part in a cake decorating contest for a special place in Boston called the Hope Lodge. The Hope lodge opened 1 year ago as a free place for family members of cancer patients to stay while their family member is undergoing cancer treatment in the Boston area.

The American Cancer Society, as part of a new initiative called "Celebrate More Birthdays", had a birthday cake recipe contest. Culinary students from the CIA submitted recipes to be judged to become the official birthday cake of the American Cancer Society. Alexandra Mudry's "New Red Velvet Cake" was chosen as the winner. Her cake is a healthier take on the traditional Red Velvet cake and uses Red Beets for the color and apple sauce instead of butter or oil.

The challenge for the decorating contest was to use the New Red Velvet Cake recipe and design a birthday cake for the first Birthday of the Hope Lodge in Boston. My idea popped into my head pretty quickly. I wanted something that looked like a birthday cake, had the American Cancer Society colors, and something to represent the Hope lodge and the hope of celebrating more birthdays. I made a quick sketch of my idea and named my cake, "The Gift of Hope".

Quick Sketch of My Design Idea

I spent the wee hours of last Wednesday night coloring fondant and making some of the decorative elements. All day Thursday was spent baking off 4x the recipe to make the cake the sized I wanted, letting it cool, making the chocolate raspberry ganache for the filling, mixing cream cheese frosting and rolling fondant. I worked on the cake for about 9 hours straight and then drove it over to school to drop it off. I had to work on Friday, so I would not be able to deliver it to the event myself.

Fondant Heart and Rose Stem for the Top of the Cake

On Friday I rushed home from work, quickly changed into my school uniform, carefully packaged the top to my cake (I didn't leave it with the cake in fear it would break in transit) and headed to the Hope Lodge. When I arrived, I asked where the cakes were. I was told they would not be displayed till 6:30pm; I arrived just after 6pm. I was informed that they were already in place, and they were afraid mine had been smashed a little in the moving. It wasn't smashed, it was just because the top piece was missing. I was shown to the room where the cakes were sitting and I placed added the final piece to the top of my cake. The photographer had to come back and re-photograph my cake.

After an anxious half hour of waiting and talking with the other students who decorated cakes also, the attendees of the event were shown in and the voting commenced. Then the cakes were taking to another room to be sliced and served while the ballots were counted. Each of us students were giving a certificate for participating and then the winner was announced. It was a close vote, however I did not win. However, I received lots of great comments about my cake. Many people loved the colors and the design. It was a fun challange to come up with the design and see it all come out so well. I need to work on my fondant skills, but it is the first time I have made a cake of this size. I never thought I would be one for competing in competitions, however I really enjoyed this one and am really glad that this one was for a good cause.

The Gift of Hope

Around the World in Several Desserts

Mochi

Between work, school and numerous side jobs I'm finding less and less time to write. However, I'm not giving up, there is still lots of exciting things going on in school and at work to write about. Work goes well for me at Crema. I'm getting to know the team, the ins and outs of the kitchen and learning to work in close quarters. I'm eating my way through the sandwich menu at Crema (got to have lunch you know) and so far nothing has disappointed me. The soups are pretty tasty too. If you're thinking of stopping by, I also recommend the newest addition to our croissant line up: Ham, Cheese & Apple with Mornay Sauce. It's a wonderful savory combination wrapped up in a flaky crust, and perfect for breakfast, lunch or anywhere in between.

School has been a challenge mentally and physically. It's challenging working in a noisy kitchen for most of the morning and early afternoon and then only have an hour and a half time to go home, change from kitchen work clothes into school uniform kitchen clothes, put my feet up, have a snack and sometimes make a video call to Paris. Then I'm off again to school for up to 8 more hours on my feet. Thankfully I only do this one day a week now, but it is tiring.

This is why sugarwork is painful, those are heat lamps above my hands

My Sugar Roses

In the classroom we are being pushed to be more creative and taking on more challenging aspects of pastry. Chocolate is "temper"mental. Sugarwork is so beautiful and painful. Plated desserts not only have to taste good, they have to look like a work of art. We are still learning new stuff, but we're also taking many elements from previous lessons and combining them to make more elaborate desserts. We have several large projects in the upcoming weeks and I am brainstorming for ideas.

Nougatine (it was a little hot too)

The last two weeks of classes have taken us around the world, appropriately starting with French Tarts, followed by Italian Tarts. Then we traveled through Asia and Latin America, and returned home to the good old USA. French Tarts were not suprising. They used typical elements of pate sucree crusts, custard fillings, soaked genoise, and beautiful garnishes. Italian desserts followed with more use of nuts and some cheese. Latin American desserts are not a far cry from European desserts, but they have their own native twists. I made a Guava cheesecake. Asian dessert are probably the most different from any thing we have learned. They are not as only sweet and sugary and some like the Onde Onde contain some savory elements and are rolled into a mixture of Salt and sweetend coconut. When the American desserts class came up, I wasn't very excited, most of the desserts were things I have easily made on my own. But it turned out to be comfortable and relaxing class to prepare things that I was familiar with.

Tart Valentino

Onde Onde

After a few introductory classes to Chocolate and Sugarwork, we'll be returning to these works again in the upcoming weeks. These classes will lead to completion of final projects: a Sugarwork showpiece and a Wedding Cake with a Pastillage cake stand. The weeks are flying by.

Pastry Chef for a Night Follow-up

A Peek into the Kitchen at EVOO

I want to say a big, big Thank You to Peter McCarthy and the wonderfull staff at EVOO for a fantastic experience last weekend. The kitchen at EVOO is cozy, warm and welcoming; a great reflection of the people who work there. I enjoyed planning my desserts and executing them in such a fun and energetic environment. Thank you also to my wonderful supporters who showed up that evening and ordered my desserts.

Cayenne Spiced Chocolate Pear Tart with Sweet Cinnamon Ice Cream

I wish I could say my desserts were wildly popular last Saturday, but EVOO has a pretty good regular dessert line up with which I had to compete. However there were many orders for my desserts as well as EVOO's offerings. I received many great comments, and even a 2 thumbs up from one customer. The EVOO staff eagerly gathered around my desserts to have a taste also. At the end of the evening, I sat down with a nice glass of red wine and my own serving of the Chocolate Pear Tart and was very pleased with how everything came out.

Pumpkin Pot de Creme with Toasted Hazelnut Tuiles

I apologize that my photos of the evening are not super fantastic, but I was a just a bit busy making and plating desserts.

It's funny the questions and reactions I get when I tell people I am in school, training to be a Pastry Chef. I've gained a lot of new friends, had a few marriage proposals and heard such comments as, "how do you stay skinny?" People almost always want to know what I want to do when I am finished. In the Boston area, a lot of people ask if I want to work for Finale. Ideally, some day I want to open my own small European style patisserie. Will my shop be in Boston?, Paris?, it's hard to say. I am well aware that before I can do that, I need some experience....ok lots of experience. Food establishments come and go. They have a high rate of failure within the first 5 years of operation. I want to get as much experience as I can before I venture out on my own. (I'm also going to need to either find an invester, a sugar daddy, or save a lot of money too). I want to do as much as possible to set myself up for success.

The things I am doing now, may make it seem like I'm all over the place. One day I'm working at a cafe in Paris, next month I'm making local and organic based desserts for Cuisine En Local, running a one night stint at EVOO, working my now regular job as Crema; I even do some personal pastry chef-ing here and there as needed. I'm trying to soak up as much experience as I can. I don't want to settle with just getting my feet wet, I'm trying to get completely immersed in the whole pastry/culinary experience. I'm searching for my niche. I can't remember ever in my life feeling so passionate and driven about one thing. I'm running around like mad, getting little sleep and eating way too much sugar.... but I'm loving every moment of it.

Pastry Chef for a Night

As promised, and in case anyone was waiting to decide if they were going to trek out to Cambridge based on my menu, here is what I have planned. I have been given the green light on two desserts. Drum roll.......

Chocolate Pear Tart with Sweet Cinnamon Ice Cream

Fresh Pumpkin Pot de Creme with a Toasted Hazelnut Tuile.


I'm sad to say I have not eaten at EVOO yet, but it is one of the restaurants on my ever growing list of places to try. Peter, the owner, is a very friendly and takes what he is doing serious. During our meeting on Wednesday, when I decided I wanted to serve Pumpkin Pot de Creme as one of my dessert, Peter picked up the phone and called his local farm to inquire about getting a fresh squash for me to use. I love that they are focusing on local and seasonal foods. It's a growing trend in restaurants and I applaud it. Their menu looks fantastic and I do intend to have dinner there very soon.

Hope to see some of you Saturday at EVOO!

A special thanks to my two awesome roommates who have put up with me taking over the kitchen for hours at a time and have kindly taste tasted many versions of my desserts, consumed large quantities of sugar and butter, and provided invaluable feedback. You are the best!

See Jenni Bake

Making Moelleux au Chocolate at Le Cafe du Commerce

Coming to a restaurant near you......

Upon my return to school, I signed up for a chance to participate in a program called, "Pastry Chef for a Night", that is arranged through the CSCA. A local restaurant agrees to host a student chef for an evening. The student creates a few desserts for the restaurant to serve and then they work at the restaurant for the evening preparing and plating the desserts. Students are not eligible to sign up till they are in their second semester at the CSCA. I am now a second semester student, and with my working experience in Paris under my belt, I figured I was ready. When I got the email announcing my name had been draw for the next event, my first thought was, "oh crap".

I've pulled myself together, spoke with the owners of the restaurant, am in the midst of testing my recipes and I'm feeling pretty good. This means, if you are dying to try some of my desserts, well you now have an oppurtunity. Here are the details:

Pastry Chef for a Night at EVOO
Saturday October 3rd, 2009
EVOO Restaurant

I will post my menu after I have met with the chef, but expect some fall inspired, warm and spicy desserts.

In other news, I have said my farewell to the world of retail and Sur La Table. It was wonderful working with the crew there. I had a lot of great interactions with the food loving customers. I'll definitely be back to shop in the future. I have accepted a new part time job at Crema Cafe as a pastry cook. I'm very excited to be joining the staff at this great and innovative place. If you stop by, you won't see me, I'll be busy working behind the scene; but try the food, it's all made on premise and great!

Bowl Full of Chocolates

Finished Chocolates: Whiskey Truffle, Marguerite, & Tea Lemon

My classmates were surprised to see me walk through the door of E kitchen at the CSCA Monday evening. They thought I might have decided to stay in France and not come back. I have to admit, coming back to the US was tough. The French way of life was starting to agree with me. Once Chef finished his lecture and we donned our hats and aprons and moved into the kitchen, I started to feel more at ease and happier about my return. A few things have changed at the school, some new doors, progress on the kitchen space next to E kitchen and a large group of new students (I'm now one of the "seasoned" ones). Much has not changed; Everything is in it's place, Chef flawlessly shows us how to execute the recipes and then watches us ameatures try to replicate his work. He gently teases, and still yells, "Maintenant!" when he wants us to move quicker. I find myself responding to him in French, and feeling a little more confident in the kitchen. It's good to be back.

Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

Chocolates were fun, and tedious. I chose two recipes to make: The Whiskey Truffle, and another confection called a "Tea Lemon". The Whiskey Truffle is what is sounds like. A dark chocolate ganache truffle with a potent punch of Whiskey (we used Jamesons). Instead of dipping it in dark chocolate, chef had me dip it in White Chocolate and roll it in a instant coffee granuale and sugar mixture to give it an "Irish Coffee" taste. I prefered it without the White chocolate, but it gave it a pretty sandy looking finish. My roommate unknowingly had one for breakfast the following morning. Then asked what flavor it was. When I told her, you could see the light go on in her head. "Oh, I thought I knew that flavor!", she replied.

Whiskey Truffles before Rolling

The Tea Lemon turned out to be my favorite. It is a square confection made with 2 ganaches coated in Dark Chocoalte. Melted White Chocolate is stirred into a hot Lemon Curd like mixture to make a lovely creamy ganache. Then I infused some black tea into some heavy cream before adding Milk Chocolate and Giandujia for the second ganache. They are layered one over the other and allowed to set. A light layer of melted chocolate is spread over one side to help with the dipping process (so your dipping fork does not go through the confection and you loose it into the bowl of Chocolate for coating) and once it sets, it is cut into small bite size squares. The squares are dipped and then laid to rest on a transfer sheet with colorful patterns set in cocoa butter. When the Chocolates are dried and removed from the transfer sheet, the pattern stays on the chocolate, giving it a pretty design. Both ganaches are light and creamy. The White Chocolate mellows the acid of the lemon, and the tea taste is just slightly present in the other ganache. It's almost like sitting down for a cup of milky tea and lemon, with perhaps and piece of Chocolate on the side.

The tediousness came from the dipping of the chocolates. Each piece was done by hand, and with tempered chocolate, you have to keep checking the temperature and reheating as needing to maintain the shine and snap when it dries. We finished quite late that night, but the chocolates turned out delicious and I'm inspired to make more.....

Chef Demonstrating Filling the Chocolate Molds

Chocolate Mold Ready to be Scraped and Filled

More exciting news coming up. Let's just say: if you are in the Boston area, or plan to be the first weekend of October, keep the night of October 3rd free....you might have an oppurtunity to try some of my creations!

Back to School

I'm back on Eastern Standard time, and back to work at Sur La Table. I'm currently living in the land of brown moving boxes, but my school kit is unpacked, my uniform is washed and ready to go. Since I've returned to Boston, I've done very little cooking. I have an adequate kitchen in my new apartment, but readjusting and unpacking has taken precedent for the past week and a half. If you can imagine, I'm very eager to get back into the kitchen and get busy. School starts tonight!

Less is more: As I am settling into my new apartment, I'm trying to reduce the amount of junk I own. I'm also trying to reduce the junk I put into my body. A recent trip to the grocery store took me half and hour just to buy 3 items. Sounds crazy, but I'm reading the labels and trying to buy more natural products. I had a craving for some ice cream and had seen an ad for Haagen daz's new 5 ice cream. Finally some food manufacturers are getting the idea that you don't need to pump your products full of artificial and chemical ingredients to produce something good. I bought a pint of the Vanilla 5. The ingredient label was awesome: Milk, cream, sugar, eggs, Vanilla. Really, what else do you need to make ice cream? The taste? -Smooth, creamy and great Vanilla flavor, but without all the extras. I can't wait to try some of their other flavors. They have Ginger!

Tonight's class is chocolate. We'll be making chocolate truffles. I'm looking forward to learning how to temper chocolate. I understand the idea of it from my previous work at a Chocolate shop, but haven't been very successful in the past trying to temper it at home. The importance of tempering is so the chocolate dries/hardens and looks shiny and retains it's snap. Poorly tempered chocolate will look dusty because the cocoa butter has seperated from the chocolate, ie it's not pretty. I'm ready to learn some more.

Sweet Reflection

It has taken me almost a week to write this post. I think everytime I sat down to write it, I had so many thoughts that it was difficult to organize them. Another thought was that writing this post meant that, yes, indeed my time in Paris has come to an end. I have hundreds of photos and just as many memories and stories from my time here. Some of these may surface after I return to the US. But for now............

They say time flies when you are having fun. I've had a lot of fun during my 2 short months here in Paris. Thankfully, thinking back on it, I don't have the feeling of "where did the time go?" As I recount the desserts, the meals, the trips and all the experiences, I feel like I made good use of my time here (though I wish I had managed to take some language courses). I remember my first day in the cafe and feeling overwhelmed and unsure about being able to understand everyone. I boiled over a saucepan of fruit juice I was trying to reduce on the induction cook top. It made a great sticky mess and I was very embarrassed. Not only did I need to learn the language....there were many other things for me to learn as well.

Wednesday was my last day of work at Le Cafe du Commerce. I'm amazed at how much I did, and how many desserts I made. Mostly, I am grateful. I can't say it enough how fortunate I have been to come to Paris, to work with such great people and to make good friends. I am thankful for the kindness that was shown me. This is an experience that will always be with me.

The Wonderful Owners of Le Cafe du Commerce and Me

For my last day, I made one last Tiramisu for the dessert du jour; this one with pears. Business is picking up at the cafe after the summer holiday lull. Working with Mme. Guerraud, we made 50 glasses filled with lady fingers soaked in espresso and Amarreto liqour, topped with a light and fluffy mascarpone mixture, fine diced pears, and a generous dusting of cocoa powder. I hoped with 50 glasses, some would be remaining by the time I returned that evening with friends to have dinner. I asked twice that evening if any was remaining just to make sure, but no they had all been served at lunch. I guess it was good.

Pear Tiramisu

Leaving Paris, is leaving a way of life I have come to know and enjoy in the past two months. Walking to work each day, climbing the stairs to the pastry kitchen each morning, the routines of preparing the regular desserts, having lunch with the staff before the cafe opened. I'll miss the Fruiterie next door. I won't forget the day I dropped my barquette of raspberries and they splattered all over the sidewalk. The man at the counter kindly gave me another one. While I did not develop the taste for strong Camembert and St. Marcellin cheese, I will miss Pate, Rillettes and Cornichons. It will be strange going to the grocery in the US. No more bottles of Creme Anglais, tubs of Taboule, lots of saucisson, and the yogurt aisle alone will be sorely missed. I will really miss Poupart-Picquet, the boulangerie/patisserie on Blvd de Grenelle. The morning I had the still-warm-from-the-oven pain au chocolate is burned into my memory and tastebuds. The list goes on and on.

I remember telling Romain that sometimes I needed to be a little bit American, even though I understood many of the French customs. To my American friends: I may need to act little bit French when I return.

Hanging up my Coat at Le Cafe du Commerce

What is next? is the big question on my mind. I return to Boston in 2 short days, and start school the following week. Prepare for more late night posts from a chocolate covered and overly sugared Jenni. Then challenge now is to make sure the second half of my schooling does not fly by, to look for opportunities to gain more work experience, and really push myself creatively. Oh, and to continue to learn French.

A bientot!

It's not all about Pastry.....

Soy Ginger Glazed Salmon with Oven Roasted Green Beans

My undying love and passion for pastry is obvious, at least I think it is. However my time here in Paris has not just been spent sweating in the pastry kitchen at Cafe du Commerce, I've been doing a little cooking on the side. Ok, a lot of cooking. Several dinner parties have been held at Chez Romain over the past two months, featuring the works of Chef Moi. On nights when I am not going out to dine on yummy French food, I can be found in the tiny apartment kitchen, listening to music from my itunes, and cooking dinner for Romain and myself.

Paris has not just inspired dessert ideas. I visit the grocery store several times a week and also frequent the Fruiterie next to the Cafe. I go on Tastespotting.com a lot for dessert ideas and end up bookmarking just as many entries for savory meals as I do desserts. I find myself thinking so many ideas/recipes, but just so little time. Some of our dinners here have featured: Quiche Lorraine, Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto, Hand made Pizza, Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots, Pan Seared Steaks, Veggie Fajitas, Omlettes with Mushroom, Cheese and Tomato, Cod with Lemon Caper Sauce, Salmon with Creamy Cabbage, Macaroni with Chedder and Gruyere Sauce, Stuffed Zucchini, Carbonnade Flamande, Soy Ginger Glazed Salmon, and lots of refreshing salads, fresh veggies and fruit. Some how I have managed not to gain any extra weight being here.

The Round Zucchini

One day as I was visiting the Monoprix, I saw these funny little round zucchinis. I had never seen them before and immediately I wanted to buy them and make stuffed zucchini for dinner. I bought two along with some mushrooms, spinach, and shallots. At home, I hollowed them out with a spoon, sauteed the shallots, mushrooms, spinach, the interior of the zucchinis and then added some shredded emmenthal, halved cherry tomatoes and some seasonings. I filled each zucchini to the top with the filling, placed them in a baking dish with an inch of water around them and baked them for about 40mins till soft. When I presented them for dinner, Romain asked, "they don't have any meat in them?" He seemed a little unsure about them. We sat down to dinner and he finished his before I finished mine. I guess he liked it.

Baked, Stuffed Zucchini

And then back to pastry.......

Quentin left for vacation last week, and Mme Guerraud returned this week. I've been having a wonderful time working with Marie in the pastry kitchen. We made some nice desserts this week for the dessert du jour. On Wednesday we served Chocolate Glace Croquante. It was a recipe Quentin and I had tested, but did not win approval for from Olivier. When I told Marie about it, she wanted to try it out. It is a simple recipe that makes a frozen, mousse like chocolate ice cream, but without the ice cream maker. The Croquante, or crunch, comes from pepites (bits of chocolate), or from crumbled up cookies that are stirred in before it is frozen. We decided on cookies, and I made an espresso shortbread cookie exactly for this purpose.

Espresso Shortbread Cookies

The recipe starts with cooking egg yolks and sugar over a bain-marie, the egg mixture is then cooled and melted chocolate is stirred in. Then whipped cream is folded in. The crushed cookies are added last. We piped the mousse like mixture into small custard dishes and placed them in the freezer to set overnight. The next day the dessert was like a light, creamy and very rich ice cream, punctuated with bits of buttery, espresso flavored cookie bits and small flecks of dark chocolate. It was very good.

Chocolate Glace Croquante
(Crunchy Chocolate Ice cream)

Although it was my last Friday at the cafe, (my final work day is next Wednesday), I am very much looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow morning Romain and I are headed to Reims. If you don't understand the significance of this trip, go take a look at the label on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Reims, along with being a historic city in France, is the capital of the Champagne region, and the hometown of many Champagne Houses....Veuve being one of them. So far we have visits scheduled for Veuve Clicquot, Tattinger and possibly Ruinart. I can't think of a better way to spend one of my last weekends in France.

Moelleux Remix

Orange Moelleux Test 1

Look out Mayonnaise, I might have a new summer obsession; but if you have taken the time and tried the Moelleux au Chocolate recipe, (as I have suggested) you might understand why I am so taken with this dessert. The cafe staff seems to be just as charmed because it was requested by Olivier (Quentin's supervisor) as the dessert du jour for yesterday.

When I arrived in the kitchen yesterday, Quentin was busy slicing orange supremes.
"Q'est que c'est pour.....?" I asked. He then explained that Olivier wanted us to put slices of orange in the middle of the Moelleux before we baked them. We tested one out and were satisfied with the results. Apparently Olivier was also; Quentin said his only word when tasting the "test" Moelleux, was WOW. We then prepared a nice Creme Anglaise and an Orange sauce to serve with the Moelleux. Adding orange slices to the Moelluex got me thinking about other additions I could make. Cherries? Spices? Caramel? Not only is this recipe simple and amazingly delicious, but it's turning out to be quite versatile also. I hope you are not tired of hearing about the Moelleux because chances are, it will be back again, just in a different form.

My time is slowly winding down at the Cafe. My flight to Boston leaves Paris on September 2nd. I will work for the Cafe for another week or two and then take a few days to enjoy some time to myself in the city before I have to say goodbye. A few more patisseries and chocolate shops I need to visit. Surprisingly, I have not been back to Pierre Herme since I've been here this summer, and I love his Macarons. I'm sure there are some new and inventive flavors to be discovered. I might just have to take a trip there this weekend. So no worries, there are still a few more blog posts to be written from Paris.

Orange Supreme Moelleux

P.S. the link for the recipe is Here

The Building of a Tart

Start of the Chocolate Passion Fruit Tart

People often ask me what my favorite dessert to make is. I actually have to stop and think about it. There are so many choices, but I suppose I would have to say Tarts. I love the simplicity of them, but also the flexibility. Tarts allow for almost unlimited flavor combinations and can be made as a large tart to be cut into many servings, or my favorite- little individual sized ones.

This week I was searching for more ideas for the daily dessert du jour at the cafe. I scanned a few of my favorite blogs for inspiration, while running a mental cross check with ingredients available to me at the cafe. We have made a few tarts so far, but they have been rather standard. Apricot tart, Pear Tartlette, and Flan Patisserier. So when I found the recipe for the Chocolate Passion Fruit Tart on Tartine Gourmand's Blog, I decided this would be a good way to change up the tart for the dessert du jour.

Chocolate Pate Sucree

The Baked Shells

A Little Bit of Custard

I made a few changes to the recipe to suit my tastes and needs. The original Chocolate Pate Sucrée was gluten free, so for anyone with a Gluten intolerance wanting a chocolate crust, I highly recommend Tartine's recipe. When it was presented to the chef at the cafe for tasting, it received immediate approval for dessert du jour. To add a little color, I stuck a piece of Valrhona Dark Chocolate into the custard and sprinkled some chopped pistachios on top. Voila!

I think it may be my new favorite tart.

My Chocolate Passion Fruit Tart

French Holiday

It is August now, the month when Paris beomes nothing but tourist because the majority of French people take their summer holiday and escape the city. I too have taken some holiday his week as well and am visiting the lovely nothern city of Lille. I am without my computer, but of course not without my camera. I will return next week with photos and stories to share.

A bientot

My Works of Art

Fresh Strawberry Topped Panna Cotta

There are a lot of Art Museums in the world. Almost every large city has one. Paris has several, including one of the most well known, the Louvre. I got lost in there when I visited in March, and will probably go back before I leave in September to see the things I might have missed. There was just so much. ART.

Last week I visited the Musee d'Orsay for the first time. I kicked myself for not visiting in March, but was glad I went this time. The collections were amazing. I found myself walking though the Art Noveau wing with my mouth dropped opened. The Musee only has artwork from a short period of time, but still it's collections are large. It is maybe, quite possibly now my favorite museum; but then again, there is the Pergamon museum in Berlin, which is quite impressive also.

A few weeks ago as I strolled through the Centre Pompidou's current exhibit of Wassily Kandinsky's work, I was struck by the thought of how many paintings, drawings, works, ect. he had created in his life. This exhibit surely wasn't even all of them. Looking at the description plaques below the photos, you could see the works in the exhibit came from all over; different foundations and museums had loaned their own personal "Kandinsky" for this exhibition.
Wow, I thought. He must have had to have been constantly working, painting everyday of his life to be able to create this many pieces to fill such a large exhibiton hall, and yet there is more still out there. But isn't that how it is with artists? Isn't that why they are artists? Nothing is as fulfilling for them as taking the brush, or pencil, or pastel to the paper or canvas and unleashing their creativity. Then it occurred to me. If I could collect every cake, tart, tiramisu, batch of cream puffs, cupcakes or cookies I had ever made and put them on display, you bet I could fill the Centre Pompidou for one tasty show. This is my art, my creative unleashing, my passion. Somedays I make my art and I'm amazed at what I can do, and other days I'm disappointed in myself, but vow to do better next time.

The challenge here in Paris is, I'm not just baking for myself or for the sake of art. I have an audience, a paying audience. And just like the Paris Salon disapproved of Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass" the year it was first exhibited; sometimes my creations are not well received by everyone. The French take their food seriously, and everyone, not just those with advanced culinary knowledge, have an opinion. I'm not letting this discourage me. Instead it has been a great learning experience for me and challenges me to think more before creating a dessert.

The critics so far have not said that anything I've made was terrible or inedible, just offering suggestions of how it can be made better. It is fair; my art is definitely in it's youth. Just like a painting, I have to think about color, contrast, texture and depth. All of these things need to play together just right, along with good taste to deliver the best effect on the palates of my audience.
I'm no longer just learning, I'm growing and practicing and it's a wonderful feeling. I must admit, at first I was afraid of the comments and suggestions, but now I look forward to them. I get excited when plate goes out for tasting, and I'm eager to hear the results. And some days, like today when the Pudding au Citron was tasted, there is nothing but rave reviews. It lets me know I'm moving in the right direction. These are just little exhibitions, working my way to the big one.

Check out my most recent works:

Pear Almond Tartlette

Pudding au Citron with Raspberry Coulis

The Test of Mango Tiramisu

Panna Cotta Ready for Service