Les Kouglofs et Brioches

Continuing with a passion, I was off to LeNotre yesterday. A rainy, cold day is perfect to be captive learning about dough! Safe in the warm kitchen, watching the rain and gazing at the Grand Palais, pencil in hand and camera at the ready. The Kouglof has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. I do my grocery shopping at Monoprix, get my veggies and fruit at the special fruit stand and finish off my shopping trip with a mini-kouglof, from Le Notre, for the ride home.





Shifting into second gear while driving home and wiping sugary syrup from your chin is a challenge, but well worth it! I've been wanting to learn the secret of a LeNotre Kouglof for years and now is the time!



As you know, baking is all about chemistry. Well.......so is a cooking class! I've taught hands-on in my home for a few years now. I understand the 'chemistry' of a class. You've got shy ladies, new ladies, know-it-all's. It is up to the instructor to bring the class together, create a fun atmosphere for learning and when they leave, they feel like they've experienced something special. I always hope that they feel like they can tackle what I taught. I'm not complaining about this particular class I took, I learned the technique that was taught. The class was flat, if that makes any sense!


Armed with my recipes and yet another planned shopping trip to MORA for molds, I am still thrilled with the opportunity to learn the art of French Viennoiserie!

Les Macarons Monday

There are times when I have to pinch myself. How lucky can I get? Times when you just don't take things for granted!

I'm talking about last Monday, when I attended a class at LeNotre.

We learned so many tricks and techniques, I couldn't write fast enough! I had a fun group, a French woman who lived in Miami translated all the fine points that I would have lost. The chef was great and even passed on more recipes for us to take home. I couldn't wait to try my hand at home.

The last time I attended a class at LeNotre, I didn't come home and make the pastry and now, I've lost all the secrets and wouldn't want to attempt it till I go to another class. The class was Puff Pastry Inversee'. A tough technique.

After this class, I gathered the ingredients and made the Macarons and I was darned proud of the results.

Take a look at the single Macaron, that is mine!

Enjoy the photos!

Let Them Eat Cake!

I'm sure by now, any faithful reader, my mom and son included, have stopped checking my blog. If you have thought that I got lost, yes, in a way, I have. When I blog.....I share my 'joy'. That 'joyful' feeling has been way-laid of late. Explanations excluded, ok.





Lets talk about an idea I had last June, it came to fruition a week ago. And boy, was it fun to see it develop and execute! It was also received with excited feedback. It was called the Let Them Eat Cake Picnic!


I've been working with a gal out of Texas for a couple of years now. She runs a tour biz for ladies and it has been great watching her business grow! I got involved by teaching a cooking class for her clients. The successful format is a Hands-On Crepe class. This is a non-stop crepe fest with everybody flipping crepes and eating non-stop. I recently added a Professional Crepe machine and now they have a chance to test their skills on the Krampouz, just like the crepe makers on every street in Paris! The ladies seem to enjoy it and many times they are buying a crepe pan from Dehilleron.



The picnic idea grew out of the fact that the ladies take a tour of Versailles. They usually stop at the market and pick up some sandwiches and Cheryl would pull out a bottle of wine and a tablecloth out of her backpack.
I thought that it might be fun for them to have a real picnic. I would provide a boxed lunch, they would have the opportunity to sample a real quiche, chocolate mousse and my famous business-card sugar cookies!



Living about 10 minutes from the Petite Hamlet I thought I could drop off the lunches, let the ladies enjoy the food and wine and then they could continue on with the tour. I'd pick up the trash and meet them the next day for the Crepe Class. Yep, this was a great plan.




The Culinary gods were smiling down on me the morning of the picnic and the food came together without a hitch. We packed up the boxes and dropped them off in front of the Grand Trianon, I discovered that we could not set-up a picnic inside of the Hamlet or the grounds inside the Trianon. Not to worry, there were plenty of places to set up with ambiance. Friday, Saturday and Sundays there is Baroque Music piped in throughout the grounds and, even you, Can Eat Cake with the ghosts at Versailles!

From Lake to Table

Long time-no blog! It has been so long, that I had to go through the tutorial to remind me how to do this (not really, but it sounded good). I have no excuses for the passed time.

We spent a week in the UK, I've been hitting my favorite cooking shops, Dinghams and Lakeland. I've also brought back some mature cheddar and my precious little red chillies for the freezer. I hit the Buy 2 get 1 Free sales that dot WH Smith and Waterstones. That is what kept me occupied for a while, but my guys got busy with their fly rods. Take a look at the July prize winner! 'Bearded Baby' was thrilled till somebody beat him out by 1 ounce!!

He was still listed as one of the winners, and invited to a fish-off later in the year. The 'old man' caught his share as well. I've never seen the 'bearded baby' so proud!!

We usually bring a fish back to the hotel and ask the chef cook one of the trout for us. We decided to give them the 3 regular sized trout, one for us and the rest to put on the menu. The big daddy was given to a friend (although it was his wife who had to clean and prep the fish for the freezer). I love how they presented the fish for the evening meal on the menu.

The chef did a great job on our fish dinner. I can't remember tasting a fish that was so fresh! Lovely and juicy and a great little dill sauce napped on the side. This meal is etched in our memory for a long time to come!

Summer is passing quickly. I hope you are having a great one!

Rollin' on two wheels!

Last Sunday, the clouds and rain lifted for us to enjoy a spectacular 'Paris' day! U.S. Fathers Day, my son and I treated the 'old man' to a ride on the Segway! We've known about the tour for a few years now, but as always, time gets away and the weather turns to winter and who wants to ride around in the cold?? Not me!

Treat yourself to an exhilarating ride through Paris with City Segway Tours! We met our guide at the South Pilar of the Eiffel. The lines were incredibly long on this sunny morning! After getting checked out on the Segway, we hit the streets. Key word, we tried hard not to hit the street. Once we got our confidence, I discovered my Segway didn't have the speed governor hooked up and when I found a patch of sidewalk free of pedestrians, I sped forward! Whee!

Our tour ended about 2 hours later. I must admit, we weren't really listening to our guide but were enjoying manipulating the machine!

We only had two small incidents to speak of, and laugh at! There was a meeting with a speed-bump, which we now call The Extreme Segway Incident! And then there was my almost running over a poor 'water seller' at the gates of the Tuileries! No one was harmed, but the poor guy was happy when I got my machine back in control and left the scene for him to sell bottles of water to tourists!

We hated when we were heading back at the end of the tour, it was so much fun!