Intermediate Days 1 and 2

I'm finally back!  I landed in Paris on Monday morning at 9:30am and I moved into my new abode, Peniche Adriana, at 4pm.  For those of you that don't know, a peniche is a boat, or more aptly a river barge.  My peniche is located on the Seine River right in between the Bir Hakeim Bridge and the Eiffel Tower.  The Bir Hakeim Bridge is notable for being in a few movies, most recently Inception.

On Tuesday I received my schedule for my intermediate pastry term and had my first demonstration class at 6:30pm.  On Wednesday I had my first practical class at 3:30pm. We made an almond cake and an Apricot Streusal Cake.  Since I am not enrolled in the intensive program this term my schedule seems to allow for a lot more free time for visitors, travel, and just exploring Paris.  I'm really looking forward to it, but the only downside is that I'm back at square one with school friends.  My two Israeli friends went back to Israel, my friend from Sweden went back to London until at least March, and my friend Lydia from Arizona/Australia had Visa issues and just went to Tennessee for 6 weeks to work it out.  It looks like right now Maggie from Ohio and I will be taking Paris and the rest of Europe by storm ourselves while looking for new friends!

Since this is not the intensive program there are a lot more students everywhere.  We have 6 sections of intermediate pastry as opposed to 3 sections last time.  I only know about 3 people in my demonstration group and I don't know anyone in my practical cooking group.  The first demo was good but a little slow.  The first practical class was not one of the better ones I've experienced.  I didn't feel like I had a groove at all.  It was like the kitchen was lonely and not fun.  Since my schedule is so spread out I'll probably only be cooking 2 to 3 times a week, but it won't be anywhere near as fun to cook without a group of people who really work well together.  I was lucky to have so many fun people in my group for the intensive program especially since we were seeing each other 6 days a week.

The results of my baking were not as hot as usual either, but also not my worst failures.  My almond cake fell apart when I turned it out of the mold, but I fixed it back up and used powdered sugar as decoration to cover the cracks and my apricot streusal did not have a very pretty edge, but it did taste delicious.  I brought my cakes home and had dinner with a few friends and also made Madeleines for dessert after dinner.  All in all the first few days of class were successful and I know the next few weeks are going to bring many adventures in baking and otherwise.

My Almond Cake (can't find the cracks can you)

My Apricot Streusal

Until next time Au Revoir and Bon Appetit!