day 7

le caranougat
Caramel mousse with nougatine pieces covered in a caramel glaze, sitting on a rum-soaked piece of genoise. The decoration on top and on the sides are made of white chocolate. Didn't love this one, mainly because of the rum. There is rum in the pastry cream they make here and that throws the taste off a bit for me, too.

croissant aux pommes
This was delicious. They put an apple and golden raisin compote inside and a generous sprinkling of coarse sugar on the top. I love the compote----there is no cinnamon in it. In the States, people seem to always pair apples with an overpowering amount of cinnamon. The French do apple compotes simply with sugar, a bit of vanilla and a spritz of lemon juice.

les halles
I didn't get a chance to post about it then, but I made it to the central market in Beziers on Sunday because we got out of work so early. I loved it. There was a stall with a man making a giant pan of paella and other ready-made dishes to take home. I wanted to get that, but I had already picked up a tiny rotisserie chicken ( it was about as big as my fist), a ficelle (a thin version of a baguette), and quart of strawberries. It was the best lunch I've had here yet. The fish selection was great, too. I saw fresh anchovies which I definitely need to try someday. There also was a beautiful display of confit fruit, including some fruits you don't normally see: raspberries, pears, melon and kumquats.


...and in other news
DAVID IS ON VACATION THIS WEEK! Huzzah! Instead we have a new hire working with us. She is very sweet and speaks a good deal of English. Today we laughed over the difference between the English word "pot" and the more sophisticated French equivalent "casserole." I also had the opportunity to put together my first recipe, a praline ganache, and pipe my first sheet pan full of rosettes (which sat on top of petits fours Madison tarts). Alexi made such a fuss about getting me set up to make the ganache, as if I had never made ganache before in my life. I made it every day every for the last three months while I was working at Gramercy Tavern. Later, Alexi tried to have the new girl pipe a shell border on a couple of chocolate tarts, but she didn't do so well. I piped a perfect row on the table and showed Alexi, but he didn't want to let me pipe in her place. Arg. Overall, though, I much prefer Alexi in charge. I learned a lot today and am excited about the upcoming week.