Butter and Cake

What is cake without buttercream? That seemed to be the theme of the week with my cooking. We made a Succès--Dacquoise with praliné buttercream--on Monday. I worked in the production kitchen on Tuesday, and then celebrated 'Christmas in July' with a Bûche de Noël on Wednesday. It's a traditional Christmas log, a white cake rolled up with a chocolate buttercream and marzipan decorations. It was so much fun, and I'll be sure to make them for Christmas this year!

Fun Saturdays Minus the Rain

The Basic Pastry picnic got cancelled, but it cleared up just enough to attend the Saturday night Orchestra in the Park show of Natalie MacMaster. I had heard of her before and was really excited to go with some friends from the dorm. She's a fantastic fiddle player from Cape Breton, and if there's ever another event with her playing, I'll be sure to go!

So It's Been a While...

I have actually had a busy week, though there were plenty of opportunities (i.e. rainy weekends) when I could have posted but didn't. Now, however, it is the end of the halfway point of the pâtisserie course, and I feel like I should catch up a bit. My favorite recent creation was Black Forest Cake, simply because I love cakes--the creation, decoration, and dégustation...haha. I gave most of it away to willing tasters, and here's the leftover.Then I made choux pastry for chocolate éclairs, coffee réligeuses, and chantilly swans. I should probably start taking photos before bringing my food home, for I'm afraid that after my swan was crammed in a box and re-assembled, it looked quite sad (but eating it took away the misery).

On Friday, we made Petits Fours Secs, or little cookies--cigarettes (I had to roll thin cookies around a spoon just when they came out of the oven--ouch!), madeleines (I piped the batter into molds and they look like seashells), and palets de dames (little round discs, plain and with raisins). They turned out pretty well, but what a relief it will be working with cakes again this coming week!

Carillon Concert

In July and August, the bells of the Peace tower ring in one-hour 'concerts' at 11 am (and 15 minute concerts the rest of the year at noon) and I walked to Parliament on Wednesday to hear the chimes! It's beautiful, and there's even RCMP who pose for pictures!

Brioche, Croissant, Puff Pastry

It's been a busy week at school! I made 3 different types of pastry dough, Brioche, Croissant, and Puff Pastry. Tuesday, I made Brioche à Tête and a Braided Brioche. I found these to be easier and more fun for me since I've had a lot of experience working with bread dough before. I also made Pain aux Raisins, Croissants, and Pain au Chocolat (all with insane amounts of butter...it's the French way!). Today was fun, because even though class was at 8:15, I didn't feel so rushed in making my Chaussons aux Pommes (apple turnovers...yum!) and Pithiviers (a round puff pastry filled with almond cream). Now I have the whole afternoon to walk off the butter and to get ready for cake tomorrow!

Changing of the Guard

My original plan for the day was to simply get up early and go for a quiet Sunday stroll down the canal. In the back of my mind I wondered if the changing of the guard ceremony would take place (I wasn't sure if they did it on weekends). I just decided to go for a walk anyway and if I saw any sign of red suits and fluffy black hats, I would head to Parliament directly. As soon as I stepped out of the dorm though, I heard bagpipes (I can always hear them from a mile away!) so I set out downtown. I finally caught up with them, and it was a sight to see. It's as if they have their own parade, for people just flock on the sidewalk and follow along. It was quite amusing, mostly because I was among the 'followers of the guard' up to Parliament Hill. They did their routine drills and played a few songs, and I am now content to know that I can just hang out near Parliament every day at 10 to watch and listen to Canadian bagpipes!

Tarte au Citron (& Déjeuner de Normandie)

When life gives you lemons, make Tarte au Citron (Lemon Tart)! At least, that's what I did in class today. I was a little nervous, because I'm not the best meringue-maker, but today was my day and it turned out to be beautiful. We started with a pâte sucré, followed by almond cream, lemon curd, and meringue sprinkled with almonds.

After making this, we had a fancy luncheon in Bistro Bleu, the Le Cordon Bleu casual resaurant. The food was amazing, featuring flavors of Normandie-camembert in phylo pastry, with greens and apple chutney; Sole Dieppoise (sole, shrimp, and scallops arranged beautifully around a pile of rice, sprinkled with fried leek shreds and all covered in a fresh butter sauce). For desert we had Normandie apple pie with a Calvados sorbet-like the creamiest, sweetest frozen applesauce I've ever tasted. It was fantastic, and after it was well digested, I walked down the canal to Parliament Hill where the sun was setting and several balloons were floating carelessly across the Ottawa skyline.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July, United States of America! I suppose I already celebrated a few days early with fireworks and festivals for the July 1st Canada Day. I started off by attending the flag raising ceremony, the changing of the guard, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police musical ride, all on Parliament Hill.
They had a cultural fair in Major's Hill Park, with different tents representing the provinces of Canada, each with crafts, information, and demonstrations. The streets of downtown were blocked off to cater for the pedestrians, which lined the streets to watch the street performers, including musicians and acrobats. Later in the evening, I went to Jazz Fest in Confederation Park, and watched a great group from Nova Scotia: Gypsophilia.

I made my way back to Parliament Hill with thousands of other Canadians to watch the headline concerts (from afar) of Gordie Johnson and the Respectables, Marie-Mai, and Sara McLachlan. The music was great, and at 10 the fireworks began. The scene was picturesque, the Peace Tower glowing with fireworks in the background and millions of people cheering it on. It was a great Canada Day! (sorry the video is sideways...)

Cookies & Creams

I have a feeling that I'm going to have a very strong wrist and upper arm by the end of summer. We've been putting the balloon whisk to good use, making sponge for Génoise and Ladyfingers one day, and making creams, merringue, and ganache the next. I dipped the ladyfingers in my morning cappuccino and sliced the Génoise in half, filled it with pastry cream, and spread chocolate ganache on top. Yum! It reminds me of Boston Cream Pie. Next week, we're going to start getting graded, building more complicated creations from all of these basic skills.

Petits Sablés Nantais!

I finally have a photo of my LCB creations! The other things we made were just dough--a savory one such as for a quiche and a sweet one for a fruit tart. I'll have to make something out of them later when I have access to an oven. The photo is of Petits Sablés Nantais--French butter cookies with a coffee egg wash glaze on top. I've been pretty busy trying to find another place to live for the summer (and I have succeeded; I move in on Tuesday) and roasting in my room...I thought Canada was supposed to have 70 degree summers....not so much...

En Route to Ottawa! (part 2)

I just went for a nice bike ride through the neighborhood, and my legs thought it would be a good idea to sit for a while, so I decided to add more to my journey. After seeing Niagara falls, we went to Fort Niagara which has a wealth of cultural and historical value, showing the buildings that were under French, British, and American control over the years. The workers there provided nice demonstrations on past warfare, baking, and life in the fort. Later, we drove through Toronto, which is a beautiful city that I'd like to visit one day, yet we managed to get there just as the after-work traffic rush was starting and didn't make it past the outskirts for nearly two hours. I now know why they all use the OC Transpo...
We camped at a nice provincial park and drove to Ottawa the next day, camping in Le Parc Gatineau (Québec) at Lac Philippe. It was actually cool and rainy when we toured the city, but we went inside the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and toured the Parliament building. I plan to go back soon for a full tour and a trip up the Peace Tower, for Her Royal Ambassador to Parliament (?) was there and we only saw the library (though it does host a magnificant 4 story collection of books, all under a beautiful dome ceiling).

En Route to Ottawa! (part 1)

Now that I'm up here in Ottawa, I have internet access and can add some details about my trip up here. We left early Sunday morning, driving through many green valleys and picturesque run-down victorian-style towns. We stayed in a Pennsylvania state park. The next day, we got up early and drove through New York, which I found to be not nearly as pretty as the southern Pennsylvania farmlands, until we reached Buffalo and the Niagara Falls region. We camped at Niagara Falls State Park, which has many sites right on the edge of Lake Ontario. At night, we could just barely make out the Toronto skyline from across the bay.

Of course, we rode the Maid of the Mist, which is almost like those boat shows on TV where the captain is getting soaked while the ship rocks back and forth. It was an amazing experience and all together beautiful. The Canadian Horseshoe Falls are much prettier, yet the American side of the falls is much more peaceful, less crowded, and less tourist-y.

Graduation!

This weekend I graduated community college which means that in one month from now I will be in Ottawa getting ready to start my Pâtisserie course. I haven't gotten a lot together for my trip besides making lists of what I'll have to pack. The excitement is gathering, for exploring a new city appeals greatly to me. I'm hoping that I'll even have a weekend that I can visit Montréal again, to really see the city and return to the oratory. I will post pictures of all my touring and school work, and I may practice the photo uploading process with a few graduation pictures if I have time tomorrow.

First Blog

As my first blog ever, I am looking forward to keeping in touch with friends and family while away in Canada, college, and abroad. I hope that this allows me to share photos of my surroundings, stories of my experiences, and of course recipes and writings from the heart!