Ah, gateau basque... my basic pastry class nightmare. When I decided to sign up for a pastry diploma in Paris, I had absolutely no experience in the field. Yes, I knew how to bake one thing here and there but never before had I ever set feet in a professional kitchen. During the basic intensive course (which, by itself is a pretty big challenge), I had a mostly alright experience. But I had a few oopsies and gateau basque was one of them. My first ever attempt on this recipe was okayish. ...
France
Chocolate Eclairs
There are some recipes that are extremely easy to make, but quite hard to make it well. Chocolate Eclairs are definitely one of them. Pâte à choux (or choux pastry) is part of many of my favorite desserts, but I have to admit it took me quite some time to master it. The main issue is that there is no exact recipe for it. So you always need to feel the recipe, and know how it is supposed to be like. A couple weeks ago, I attended a master class from Cacao Barry here in Toronto, where chef ...
Honey-Tonka Madeleines with White Chocolate Dip
I know it's been a while since I posted last time, but these past couple weeks have been nothing short of crazy. Now that things have been back to normal I'm also back to the kitchen :) A few days ago, I drove all the way from Toronto to NYC to spend some time with family and friends. To be honest, I'm not quite sure I would drive there again. But since I was already there, I went to check out a bunch of cool pastry shops like Aux Merveilleux de Fred (the same one I had at the corner of my ...
Raspberry Passion Fruit Mousse Tart
A couple days ago, I went to a lovely french-speaking meetup here in Toronto in a great pastry shop to talk about life and eat a few Galette des Rois slices. In a certain part of the conversation, one of the ladies mentioned that she was going to make a roadtrip from Nova Scotia to British Columbia in the weeks to come. I don't expect you to know geography pretty well, but that basically means that she would cross Canada from west to east. If you happened to look at the maps recently, this is ...
Lemon Mousse Tart
Happy New Year everyone! How was your holiday season? I wasn't particularly excited with holidays this year, but I have to admit I was really excited with the whole baking and cooking involved in it. For Christmas I made my favorite walnut cake in the whole world, a roasted duck and the tastiest Beef Wellington I've ever had (which was gone in about 15 minutes, so you could tell...). New Years Eve featured a gorgeous croquembouche, and one of my favorite band's comeback in Berlin (please ...
Kouign Amann
There are many things I miss from France. Places, lifestyle, friends, smells... but most of all I miss the food. Even though I can make at home most of the recipes, it usually takes me a few sessions of trial and error before achieving something close to the original. Last week I had a successful trial with the Merveilleux. Now I'm back to my beloved Kouign Amann. In case you're wondering what the hell it is (to be honest, I did it when I heard about it the first time), kouign amann is a ...
White Chocolate Speculoos Merveilleux
Now that I'm back in Toronto after my oh-so-exciting trip to Panama last week, I'm starting to get back to the kitchen again. This time, I'm trying to make some of the things I miss from Paris the most. Apparently it will take a while until I realize that croissants for breakfast everyday are not a reality anymore... which is good, because it gets me cooking and baking more :) The first place where I was living in Paris was in a lovely street at the 16th Arrondissement, more specifically, in ...
Tonka-Coconut Millefeuille with Creamy Pineapple
I thought I would be ready to the Canadian winter, but apparently it looks like I'm not. While living in Russia, I experienced temperatures going all the way down to the -35°C and, well, it wasn't pleasant but it was fine. But there are two different things between Toronto and Moscow. Moscow has drier weather (despite of having a fairly big river crossing most of the city) and it is not windy at all. So I could easily go on with my life when it was -15, -17°C. No big deal. However, last ...
Pastries, heat and the joy of living in Paris
Living in Paris is pure joy. It means seeing worldwide known monuments each time I leave to school or go out at night, eating the best food possible, or even losing weight due to long and intentional walks to savour every single bit of this amazing city. But recently, it also meant being melted by the heat wave that approached central Europe last week. From one side, it was impossible to sleep, especially considering that my bed is very close to the roof -- which makes it much hotter or ...
Back to Paris (or my first week in the Intermediate Pastry)
So it has finally arrived. The day I would return to Paris. Last time it was a blast. Almost two months of pure joy, friends, sweets, sugar, butter, tears and the certainty that being in the path to become a pastry chef is what I've always dreamt of. I couldn't ask for more. The months preceding my return were a bit turbulent, but interesting. I've been to about 4 different countries, 5-6 different cities, moved to Canada (which is an awesome place to live, despite the cold), worked for a ...