it's already over!?!?

~Happy New Year~

So sorry for the huge delay in posting. I finished up my internship in the beginning of January and have spent the rest of the month taking advantage of my strategic central location here in Paris... posts about my travels on their way, but here are a few sweet peeks that I took at the end of my 6 months there.

Tarte ananas-citron vert: an almond dacquoise filled with our vanilla crème millefeuille and topped with pineapple bâtons sprinkled with lime zest

La Poire Belle Hélène: one of the many versions of this classic dessert. Pear bavaroise with an insert of pear purée... decorated with gold-dusted slivered almonds

cross-cut of La Poire Belle Hélène

Taken one evening after the morning shift was done for the day. Here is the night shift working the dinner service, Michalak in the foreground searching out ideas from Cartier magazines...

New Year's Brunch! Here are our little financiers fleur d'oranger, topped with toasted hazelnuts

Plain and chocolate-dipped madeleines

Guimauves fraises (strawberry marshmallows)

If you order room service, this tartelette framboise is on the menu. Because of this dessert, I learned and perfected the art of making a quenelle!

Tarte fraîcheur: biscuit with a layer of raspberry jam under a yogurt & lime mousse... and quenelles of coconut chantilly on top. Very festive for the Christmas season!

One would think that after Christmas and New Year's have passed, one would be done with holidays, at least for awhile. Well, apparently not here. Janvier - 'tis the month for the galettes des rois! In honor of the Epiphany, this frangipane-filled puff pastry is sold all month long. Tradition has it that whoever finds the fève ("bean"... or really a miniature collectible) in thegalette is king for the day! This year's fève for Plaza was a little chauffeur's cap.

the galettes for the day...

(photo courtesy of www.plaza-athenee-paris.fr)

My last day was spent molding frangipane (almond cream + pastry cream) into disks to put into the puff pastry... woot! I still cannot believe how quickly these last 6 months flew by. The first couple of weeks, I was counting down the days until my weekend. Now, it's just surreal that it's all over. I want to thank the whole équipe (team) in la pâtisserie centrale for welcoming and helping me. It was definitely tough at times, especially with some minor communication issues, but I did it!

some of the team on my last day... we were having a break to try some fresh pannetone from Italy!

Merci à tous! Vous allez me manquer :)

[p.s. next stop in my career path: working with Jérôme, 3rd from the left, in Cannes! more details when I find them out... and if my visa paperwork goes through.]