day 22

gateau foret-noire
chocolate genoise, chocolate creme chantilly, vanilla creme chantilly and lots of chocolate shavings. I think all that whipped cream must soften the genoise because I think it actually tastes good in this cake.


eglise st. jacques
I wish I could have gone inside St. Jacques but all the doors were locked. They had a small garden to the back of the church where you could look down at the river Orb and the Midi Canal or up at Cathedral Saint-Nazaire.

roman arena
On the way back from St. Jacques, I walked by the Roman Arena, which was built in the first century A.D. It had a sign saying do not enter because of renovations, but I was able to slip in through a gap in the gate and get a picture. The arena is now surrounded by houses and there wasn't much left of the structure except for a few pillars.

...and in other news...
It was a busy day. We finished the Madisons, made the vanilla cream for the Diamant Rouges and piped the lemon cream into tart shells. We would have finished by 12:30 except that Chef held an hour long meeting to review food safety rules. Ug. When I walked back to the hotel, I couldn't get in the front door because my access code wasn't working. It's a small hotel so there's usually no on at the front desk. Instead, they issue guests access codes so they can come and go as they please while the front door stays locked at all times. I banged on the door for an hour, to no avail. I tried calling the main hotel number but no on picked up. I called Chris at his office and had him try calling and still no one picked up. Afer two hours, someone finally picked up the phone, but I got disconnected after a few seconds. After another hour, someone called me back and said that they had changed the code on Monday, but hadn't told me. I've only been staying at this place for THREE WHOLE WEEKS. How could not tell me something like that?