Macarons, "mini-ovens" and movement

I'm pretty sure I tasted about 30 types of pastry this week, maybe more. We made 12 types of macarons on Monday (vanilla, violette, caramel, rose/raspberry, orange, mint, green tea, chocolate, coffee, pistachio, apricot, lemon/basil) and at least 24 types of petits fours (bite-sized cakes/cookies) on Tuesday/Wednesday. Throughout those three days, I tasted every single thing we made, at least once...craziness! Tasting as we went turned out to be a good thing because everything we made was plated up and sent to the French Senate for an award ceremony our school was hosting. 

Within those 30 or so pastries, I was responsible for making caramel macarons (aka bling bling macarons - the chef got the biggest kick out of this), sables nantais (small butter cookies) and four poches (almond cookies topped with candied fruit/nuts), all of which turned out pretty well. We also made almond paste roses and started learning about pulled sugar at the end of the week. 

Bling bling ;p

Our macarons

Sables nantais

Chef's pulled sugar rose

Having bakery class is becoming dangerous - when you make delicious bread, it's hard not to eat too much of it! We made baguettes, as usual, and then my team (Désirée and Gloria) made walnut/raisin/prune bread and Flamenkuch which is kind of like pizza, but far better. When we pulled our flamenkuch out of the oven, the class on the other side of the bakery tried to bribe us for a few slices with a heart...made of brioche ;) After eating my weight in bread I decided that it would probably be in my best interest (and the best interest of my clothes) to abstain from taking bread home. We make tons of bread on Friday and are allowed to take home as much or as little as we want - temptation is at every corner in pastry school! 

Bread wreath

Flamkuchen - Wish they served this in the cafeteria

After bakery on Friday, a few of us went to Pierre Hermé because it was Macaron day and they were giving 3 free macarons to each customer with donations and proceeds going to charity. Pierre Hermé is renowned for his macarons and they're not cheap which is probably the reason why the line was ridiculous at the store. There were more than thirty flavors to choose from, ranging from the traditional (lemon) to the exotic (foie gras/chocolate and white truffle/hazelnut) and we each walked out with several. Désirée and I went on a shopping spree at H&M afterwards to stock up on spring fashion now that blue skies and sunshine have made their return. I had dinner with Leah afterwards at a cute place on rue Mouffetard, Mouff'tartes (53, rue Mouffetard). You'll never guess what they serve...tarts! 

Lining up for Pierre Hermé macarons

This weekend I got to indulge in my second passion, dancing. I went to an African dance workshop on Saturday that was 2 1/2 hours of sweaty fun and a belly dance veil workshop on Sunday that put my arms to work. This weekend made me miss my Dance Dance Dance days in Glen Ellyn when I was dancing 4 times a week and getting my daily dose of sanity and laughter. I'm thinking about taking a belly dance class and am hunting for more dance workshops to feed my dance addiction. Lucky for me, eating pastry and dancing go hand in hand.