semaine quatre.

     The Musee de la Mode at the Palais Galeria currently has a display of 1950's couture on display, and I was not about to pass up the opportunity to take in some of those beautiful designs. Allie and I met up in the afternoon to wander the fashion museum, and it did not disappoint.

Vintage Elle covers from the 50's

Vintage Dior, YSL, Balenciaga, all stunning pieces from suits, to everyday dresses, swimwear to evening wear, the exhibit had it all. I was drooling over some Givenchy turquoise flowing evening dresses from the 50's; I would have nowhere to wear them, but I wanted them. Absolutely incredible.
     Naturally, we had worked up an appetite staring at all of those stunning clothes, (on dress forms with waists only a Parisian woman could squeeze into) so accepting and embracing our forms and foodie selves, we wandered across the street to a farmer's market. Neither of us had had a crepe from a street vendor yet, so we decided that there was no time like the present. I was craving savory, (so many sweets!) so I ordered a Ratatouille galette (savory buckwheat crepe filled with cheese, vegetables, and tomato sauce,) and it was exactly what I had hoped for. We carried our crepes back across the street into the park surrounding the museum and for the second day in a row, I picnicked in full view of the Eiffel.
     I spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping and wandering until my practical at 6:30 that evening, where I made apple turnovers and Palms, puff pastry cookies. It had been a sunny, lovely, warm day; which meant that the third floor kitchen was piping hot while we prepared our pastry; not ideal conditions for creating a perfect puff pastry. After sweating our way through the practical, with butter oozing from the batter while we completed our turns (a.k.a. rolling out the dough,) we ended up with some solid finished products and experience to help us improve in our next puff pastry venture.

Coating our fresh out of the oven pastries w/simple syrup in the steamy kitchen

The next day, I had demo where we learned to make the Gateau Basque (Butter cake with pastry cream and cherry gelee) and the Diplomate (a pudding dish). We got to watch Chef plate the desserts for some of the puddings which was a lot of fun; a room full of foodies geeking out over a beautifully plated dessert, I'm surrounded by my people.

My Gateau Basque

     The next day was the practical for this lesson where we were making the Gateau Basque. It wasn't my favorite recipe to eat thus far, and the sweet pastry dough for the crust was not my favorite to work with either. It's so sticky that we all quickly learned that the freezer was our best friend in managing the fickle dough (which came to pass after about 3/4 of us failed to properly roll out the dough into our tart rings on the first round.) In the end, I was pleased with the finished product but left the cake out in the Winter Garden at the school for others to enjoy. I still had puff pastry treats at home to work through, no sense keeping a cake around that I didn't love. Plus, up next was the demo that we were all really excited about.

Covering the nutritional bases.

     Saturday was choux pastry day, where we would learn all about making Éclairs, Choquettes, Glands, Salambos, and Choux Chantilly. Yum. Our demo was in the evening, and with so many different pastries being covered, you guessed it, we had the pastry student dinner of champions.
     During demo, Chef mentioned that Fauchon, a bakery known for their éclairs, was currently celebrating éclair week and had a bunch of varieties available for purchase. Sold. A pilgrimage would have to happen, for you know, research purposes.
     That evening, a bunch of the students from class were meeting up at Notre Dame before heading out for some drinks. Allie and I met up with our friend Alex from class, who walked us to an apartment of another fellow classmate. We bonded with about 15 of our LCB fellows over vino, tequila, and music; and we also learned that Alex and another Alex from our class would also be attending Oktoberfest in Munich the next weekend. We made plans to coordinate and meet up at the festival.
    After a lazy Sunday, I decided to wander the city on Monday and check out some more sights on my list of to do's. I window shopped at some vintage shops, and wandered until I got the the Galerie Vivienne, an indoor shopping plaza courtesy of the 19th century. Walking the hall brings you back t0 the days of corsets where ladies of leisure could shop and dine rain or shine. My favorite was the book shop at the end of the Galerie, which had beautiful books old and new, and even some English novels! Resisting the urge to spend more money on books, I was feeling peckish and decided that in order to set a standard for my practical the next day, I would head to Fauchon to see what all of the fuss was about. Oh. My. Goodness. I was going to go for something classic like a chocolate or coffee éclair, but the moment that I saw the Salted Butter Caramel Éclair on the menu I knew that my decision was made, and I did not regret it. I sat outside at a table to people watch and enjoy my éclair and proceeded to devour and savor the best éclair I have ever had. Seriously, the caramel was so smooth and flavorful; the bar was set.

      Tuesday I had my éclair and Choquette practical, and while I had a long way to go before I could reach the level of the éclair specialists o

f the city, I felt pretty good about my first effort. Regardless of their less than uniform appearance, the eclairs were delicious.
     I had another demo the next morning bright and early where Chef would be making a variety of Petits-Fours (assorted cookies essentially). We would be making Palets Aux Raisins and Batons de Marechaux for our practical, but we got to watch the chef demonstate Cigarettes, and to all of our excitement, macarons. We would not be able to make macarons until intermediate, but it was fun to see the Chef whip out four varieties and give us his tricks of the trade. Tres magnifique!
     After a short lunch break, our group went up to the kitchens to make our Marshal's Batons and Raisin cookies. Once again, I left most of the treats behind for others to enjoy since I had a kitchen full of choux pastry back home.

Somebody pinch me.

     That evening, one of our fellow students was celebrating her birthday at a picnic along the Seine, so Allie and I decided to be social and join in the fun. Unfortunately, once we got to the water, the rain started. Since the weather was uncooperative, we decided to relocate to the birthday girl's apartment, which has the most unreal view of the Eiffel. It's a 6th (or was it 7?) floor walk up to a studio shared by three people, but when you've got that unfiltered beauty of a view, what's there to be upset about?
     We had a lovely evening getting to know some new friends, noshing on cheese, bread, and other snacks while sipping on red wine and talked about everything from good reads, politics, travel and school; a very Parisian evening indeed.
     After saying our goodbyes and goodnights, we jumped on the metro and called it a night. I had shopping adventures planned for the next day with Sara.