Last Tuesday (May 1st) was the fete de travail (labor day) in France. Almost everything in Paris was closed (save for a few boulangeries. we all know that the French revolt if they cannot get their bread!). My friends and I had stocked up on picnic supplies and we headed to the Buttes Chaumont, a big park in Paris to enjoy our sunny day off. Everyone in Paris seemed to have the same bright idea, the park was crowded!
At the Buttes Chaumont
lovely day for a picnic with Joe and Danny
After a lovely lunch of cheese, baguette, salami, and strawberries, it was time to head to La Cuisine Paris for my macaron class! It was nice to be back, and to participate in the class instead of just smelling all the delicious things that were being made! Randall, our chef taught us how to make my favorite Parisian dessert, macaron! We made lemon macaron and white chocolate raspberry macaron. They are not too hard to make, but you cannot play with the recipe. You have to be precise, and use the right ingredients. No substitutions here!
Chef Randall working with the egg whites.
Mixure of almond four, sugar, and egg whites
White chocolate raspberry filling!
Green batter and Violet batter, ready to go!
Macaron batter goes into the piping bags.
Me practicing my piping skills! It's harder than it looks, but I got the hang of it eventually!
Et voila my finished cookies....the shells don't have any flavor, all the flavor comes from the fillings.
A perfect little macaron!
Lemon Filled macaron
At the end of the class, we each brought a box home. My host family said they were good! Madame is going to buy some almond flour, and we are going to try to make them together. Hopefully they work out!
As I was walking around Paris on May Day, there were people EVERYWHERE selling these little flowers. Apparently they are called "mugets" and are sold on the 1st of May for good luck. I bought a little one for my host fam, but they insisted I keep it and enjoy it in my room. They smell wonderful!
Bisous,
Allison
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