my lost weekend

lemon meringue tart
So I was supposed to bring this beauty to a family get-together this weekend. Unfortunately, I had a rather painful encounter with a dentist yesterday which has me icing my swollen jaw on the couch at home instead. Ah well.
I used the lemon cream recipe that I made while at the bakery in France---the cream so thick you could pipe it and it would hold its shape. I also made a Swiss meringue for the top and applied a judicious amount of nappage (no slopping it on like in France).
I also used the pate sucree recipe from France for the tart shell. It calls for a small amount of almond flour as well as all-purpose flour. I'm not sure what it contributes to the finished product. Texture? Flavor? More flexibility? Anyone have an idea about this?
A lemon meringue tart is a terrific tart to make ahead of time. I blind-baked the shell a week ago, filled it with the lemon cream and froze it. Today, I whipped up the meringue and finished the tart. And it still tastes fresh even after being frozen.


at work...
So I feel completely comfortable with setting up my station at work as well as making all the sauces and candied items that I am responsible for. My quenelles have improved as well. Now I just have to get faster at plating. It can get confusing when you have five or six tickets with orders on them. Some people like to look down all the tickets and pick out one item---the bread pudding, for instance---and get all the plates ready for that one item. Other people prefer to finish all the plates on the first ticket, then start picking out similar items from the remaining tickets. And then there's more confusion when a third person comes up to help out. I feel like I would do better if I had a chance to get into a groove at my own station, but everyone just seems to jump into doing everyone else's job instead. I think it would be better, for me personally at least, if everyone stayed put, kept their heads down and concentrated on their own jobs. I understand jumping in to help someone out if they are falling behind, but not the constant rotation that goes on right now. I need to learn to be more flexible I guess.
And one more thing. Has anyone ever ordered a fruit plate for dessert when they've gone out to eat? I feel the same way about fruit plates that I do about brunch. Why order something from a restaurant that you can make better and cheaper at home? Andrew Knowlton had a great rant against brunch in the latest issue of Bon Appetit. Glad to know someone else thinks it's a flawed tradition as well.