A Little Snow for the First Day of Class

Something is up

Yesterday was the first day of class and something unusual happened. I left my apartment in the dark—it wasn’t that early but sunrise isn’t till 8:45am— and it was really cold-colder than its been since I arrived. As I walked down rue Dauphine to the metro I swear I was getting pelted with something and I realized it was kind of snowing! I am not saying snow never falls in Paris but it’s pretty rare. It was freezing inside LCB because people kept opening the glass doors to go outside and see it. Especially people from southern climes who probably never get to see snow. In any event, it was about 50 degrees inside LCB but spirits were very high.

A teensy bit of snow—what a view we have outside LCB—bet you’re jealous!

The first day of class got off to a roaring start with about 60 new young people ready to become famous chefs, or pâtissiers, as the case may be. Our chef of the day is the man in charge of all the basic patisserie sections, and he was the usual, lots of rules type of guy—threatening everyone with zeros if we talked or were late, or asked stupid questions etc.. just the usual. We watched a demonstration by Chef on how to make about ten different things—fondant, praliné, coffee extract, almond paste—just a host of things one will use at some point in baking. It was super interesting for me as I really know nothing about confectionery cooking.

For example, to make coffee extract (as opposed buying it at the store like everyone else) you just use instant coffee and mix with hot water. Set it aside and then you boil sugar and water together until it reaches about 200 degrees centigrade and it carmelizes—which it actually does! Then you add the coffee mixture in and bring it back to a boil, strain it together and voilà—you have coffee extract for any pastry you might be making that has a coffee taste. And fondant—I thought that was only for fancy cakes, but apparently it is used in French cookery to make sugar decorations. After watching it get made I am not sure I want to eat sugar decorations off of a cake, but hey—at least we now know. He made glazes and different syrups too. Amazing that he was able to do all of it in a few hours. Of course you do need a lot of accessories. Like a stand mixer, an emulsion blender, a food processor and lots of pans. But still.

Today was our first chance to watch a demo of something we will prepare tomorrow. We are making two different kinds of shortbreads using two different methods. One is the pate sablé— same as making a pie crust, but with sugar. The other is accomplished by creaming butter above room temperature and then mixing it with the sugar and flour. Well, I am not going to lie—it was a snooze!! Who wants to eat shortbread when there are so many other, better things to eat in the world? It just made my mouth dry and want a cup of coffee to dip it in. Oh well.

These are called Diamants (diamonds)—I guess because they are washed in egg yolk and rolled in sugar—sparkly!

Sablés Pochés

Tomorrow, after making the shortbreads, we are moving on to fruit cake. Oh the joy! You all will be getting delicious fruit cakes for Christmas from me from now on. And if you don’t eat them—you can probably use them as door stops, weapons, or maybe even to lure squirrels away from your patio cushions. The non-edible uses of a fruitcake are truly endless.

However, down deep I feel something is afoot. It has all been strangely civilized. Not nearly as much yelling and nowhere near as many threats. Maybe they are trying to lull me into a false sense of complacency, but right now it just seems—dare I say—easier?? I am sure things will heat up—both physically and metaphorically, and still—I am on my guard. Something is not right at LCB—it was just a little too nice.

On another prouder note, I have made my first two friends. They too, are in intensive patisserie and one is a woman from the Philippines who I think is half Spanish, and secretly pregnant—well, it’s not a secret to her—she knows—and I guess I know and by extension, now you know—but—it is a secret to the people at LCB—not sure why—maybe she was afraid they thought baking was too strenuous for a pregnant woman to handle. And the other new friend is an American man who is—wait for it—a pumpkin farmer from Eureka! And to add to the picture, he has hair to match his profession! I swear LCB is the melting pot of the world—you have no idea who you may run across. I have not yet discovered why they are at LCB, but no worries, all will come in due time.

Finally, I neglected to tell you that Les and I conducted a little experiment when we arrived at Charles de Gaulle last week. Instead of getting a car to take us into town we took the RER B—the train! I have always wanted to try it and see how difficult it was and now I know. Not difficult. So to break it down—a private car into town runs about 120 euro minimum. A cab will set you back about 70 euro—it’s a fixed price by the way, so don’t get scammed by those guys lurking around the exit trying to lure you into their cars with promises of extra convenience and a “good” price. Stick with the tried and true cab line. The train was about 12 euros and it was pretty fast—like 30 minutes. The only negative is that wherever you get off the train—there you are. If you can’t walk from the station you will have to get a cab to wherever your destination lies. For us, it wasn’t bad because there was a stop at Blvd. St. Michel and it is a two block walk to the apartment from there. Now admittedly, none of this works if you have ten bags, or a toddler, or you just find it embarrassing to haul your crap down the sidewalk. But, if you are strapped for cash, or it is raining—which means it can take an hour and a half to get to town, or the cab drivers are on strike, or any one of a million other reasons why going by car is a bad idea—it is an option. Just throwing it out there.