I show for you my frenz!

ENSP. What an amazing and incredible experience it has been. It honestly feels like it was just yesterday that I was freaking out about packing to come to France - now here I am - back in the good ole u s of a. I can't even believe this! It's so crazy.

I have met SO many amazing people here. We all showed up at the airport on that first day nervous and shy. Luckily it only took one night and a few bottles of wine for everyone to get comfortable with each other! I just can't believe that I had to say good bye to all these people! It was definitely tough - but hopefully it's more of a see you later.

Winter level 2! These are some pretty awesome people. I am so lucky that I got to share this experience with you all! 

GIOVANNA! 

My tiny Brazilian friend. When we first met you were so quiet. Now you don't stop talking! I will miss you saying "Nooo" to everything. Thank you for all the French you tried to teach me. You better come visit me in the states!

Nicholassssss my fren.

 I'm glad you were always the first one there to point out when I was getting all red. You definitely invented the name blastfreezer! Hah Thank you for always being so funny! You laugh too much my fren.

Lisa 

I wish that I could just record your life so I can always catch the sly comments you make 24/7. You're literally the funniest person I have ever met in my life. I'm so glad that we got lost in the airport together! I am forever grateful to you and your hysterical comments.

"My toenails regenerate nail polish."

"Abe lincoln? So does she have to be wearing a hat"

"I know, I'm just fast and loose with my laughs"

I can't wait to come out to Cali and visit! 

Kendall

I know that I said you had bitch face when I first met you - but you're definitely NOT that. Hah I'm so glad to have met you! You're such a great person and I can literally tell you anything.

Caindra 

You sassy, outrageous, hysterical person - you. I will miss you dearly - however I will see you very soon when I come out to Cali. Can't wait!

ROBBIE!

no. no. no.

You finally get a blog post. 

Although you literally embarrass me 24/7 I guess I miss you quite a lot. I enjoyed hearing all your stories of your worldly travels and you inspire me! (I also just really love your mustache and it will be a sad day when you have to shave it. Maybe we should hold a funeral - just an idea)

Je t'aime! 

B!

You're such an amazing person! I'm so glad to have met you. You're an awesome pastry chef and I'm excited to see where you end up! Please record your English conversations daily and send them to me. Hah I will miss you and your voice!!

"A MOUSE?! In the oven?!"

I just can't believe this is my real life. I can't thank everyone enough for this experience. All the Chefs, the staff at the castle, the assistants, and all my fellow classmates - you're amazing. I learned so much from everyone and I will never forget our time there. I will miss everyone deeply.

These past two months have felt like two years - but I squeezed in as much as I could over the past 60 days and I'm truly walking away from this experience as a new person. 

Now that I'm back home it's very weird. I went to a bar the first night back and it was very overwhelming hearing and understanding all the conversations going on around me. Ordering beers in English and paying with USD was a very odd feeling. When I got to the airport I also kept saying 'bonjour' 'merci' and 'pardon'. lol very weird adjustment. Seeing friends and family has been really nice though - and meow mix! 

The time change hasn't bothered me too much, I just get tired around 7/8pm and then wake up super early - but I'm sure I can adjust soon. 

Thank you again to everyone! Everyone at ENSP, my family, and friends. I'm baking lots this week - so let me know if you want anything!!

One tequilla, two tequilla, three tequilla, PETIT FOUR!

For my last week at ENSP we had petit fours and plated desserts with Chef Richard. I learned SO much in this lab - and the days seemed to fly by! For petit fours (which are small, one bite desserts) we made macarons and religiose (which is two pate a choux stacked on top of one another). Then we made five different plated desserts. It was such an awesome class. I got a lot of really good ideas for future desserts from this class!

Macaron chocolate show pieces we did for the final buffet.

Macaron tower with a sign saying 'BLAST FREEZER' 

Which is my nickname here - because I very frequently get easily embarrassed/shy and my face turns bright red. So I need to be stuck into a blast freezer to cool down.

Macarons on macarons. 

Flavors we made - Vanilla, coffee ganache, mint-lime white chocolate ganache (SO GOOD), salted caramel chocolate ganache, chocolate ganache, praline cream, and strawberry jam.

Chocolat et Saveurs Exotique - whipped chocolate ganache, passion fruit/mango sorbet, chocolate cake, chocolate crunch, passion fruit/mango jelly, chocolate sauce, mango sauce, and passion fruit sauce.

Amande Griotte -  almond ice cream, crumble, cherry compote, tonka cream, and sugar decoration

Poire Belle Helene - Poached pear, caramelized pears, almond tuile, vanilla ice cream, candied almonds, and mascarpone cream.

This dessert sells for 33euro (about 25$) 

Religiose - pate a choux baked with crumble on top filled with flavored pastry cream.

Flavors - strawberry/raspberry/red currant, mango/passion fruit, coconut, black currant, lime, and lemon

Pistache Framboise - Raspberry mousse, whipped pistachio ganache, pistachio sponge cake, raspberry sauce, and raspberry sorbet

Tiramisu Revisitie - biscuit with coffee syrup, praline crunch, milk chocolate ganache, mascarpone chantilly, chocolate sauce, and mascarpone ice cream

Last buffet picture! 

After we were done cleaning and organizing the lab yesterday we popped some champagne and celebrated with a few chefs for a while. Chef  Pierre and Jerome joined and brought mojitos! 

Winter level 2 picture with Chef Richard, Chef Pierre, and Chef Jerome!

Clearly we didn't have that much fun in lab.

After lab everyone from ENSP and the JWU students went to a kareoke bar! It was a BLAST. Most of the Chefs were there and they even sang a few songs! A few rounds of tequilla shots were bought in mass quantities and just handed out to people in the group. It was awesome. I have had so much fun with all these people, I'm not sure how I'm going to live without them in the states!

This morning we had to get up early for graduation! (Which was slightly difficult considering how many tequilla shots were taken last night. And with how late we stayed up!) I also had to make a speech today at graduation. I hadn't even finished writing it yet! However, I needed to curl my hair this morning as well - that obviously trumps the speech. I needed to look good if I was going to stand in front of everyone (even if I didn't know what I was saying! Hah) But I made it to graduation on time, hair curled, speech written - I was ready! (...And possibly still slightly drunk from the night before) 

"Everyone here knows how red I can get - so let's just get this over with quick! Blastfreezer.. Although we are all international students we came here for one thing... our love of french wine - oh wait, I mean pastry. French pastry. We all came here to learn about French pastry but we're leaving with so much more than that. No offense to the Chefs but I feel I learned more from my fellow classmates. Except we did learn A LOT from you. You guys are awesome. From accidentally walking into gay bars in Lyon. Taking shopping carts to the bowling alley. Wine nights in the castle with family dinners. Or attempting to carry each other home from Cine Lux. Each and everyday was a learning experience. I can't thank you all enough for this wonderful experience at ENSP. So thank you! Je t'aime!"

After we all received our certificates we had a big buffet from the classes that did savory foods. We also had lots of celebratory champagne (yes.... at 10:30am.) There were lots of pictures taken and a few good-byes. I even did an interview for the ENSP video! Then back to the castle for a quick nap and some recovery time. Hah Afterwards Kendall, Bia, Giovanna, Robbie, Adriana, and I had a nice picnic on the lawn in front of the castle. Today is THE most beautiful day here so far. It's so nice outside and so unbelievably sunny. It makes me want to see this place in the summer!

Tonight we're all drinking in the castle and squeezing in a few more memories before we all part our ways tomorrow! It's hard for me to believe that it's already over. These past two months have seriously been so eye opening and life changing. I'm very anxious to see what I get myself into next. Hah

Individual Cakes and Tarts...

LIKE CUPCAKES??!?!
no. no. no.  I no do more cupcakes.

I did the cupcake game. That was enough for me. Hah When I heard individual cakes all that came to mind was cupcakes and I was slightly discouraged. Until I realized that the French are better than cupcakes! Some of the chefs here have never even heard of cupcakes. Individual cakes are actually personal size entremets - petit entremets if you will.

For this class we had Chef Kyung-Ran who is actually the only female chef at the school. Which is both surprising and slightly intimidating. Contrary to popular belief, there are more male professional pastry chefs then there are female. There are actually no female pastry MOF's which I just recently learned, and was very surprised by this. (Chef Kyung-Ran is actually going to be competing in a MOF competition later this year.) Most female pastry chefs out there are running their own cutesy little bakery thinking everything is just sprinkles and buttercream. A majority of these women are also self taught and mainly do cupcakes, cakes, and cookies. (Which there is nothing wrong with at all - just not all pastry positions are like that) But it's odd to see that men have taken over and dominated the professional pastry world - however, it does make some sense. The long hours, on your feet all day, early mornings, late nights, heavy lifting, the pressure of customers, the pressure of ourselves.. it's not a job for the faint of heart. You have to really love, appreciate, and understand pastry.

I really enjoyed this week and I learned a lot. Not only about individual cakes and tarts but also about myself. I realized just how much I just love and adore pastry. In class this week we did a lot of individual/pair work which basically means we did the recipes for each entremet component start to finish. (Other weeks each group would do a component of the final product and we'd put it all together as a group effort) It was nice to see the completed products and know that I did all of that. It's so satisfying. I think I have realized that petit entremets is what I am passionate about and I wish to pursue them further. They are so versatile and adorable and I'm eager to see what I can do with them back home.

During the week I made a lot of pate sablee (tart dough), mousse, and cremeux/creme (pastry cream). All these components are such staples in the industry and they're so delightfully simple.
Sablee is mainly just salt, icing sugar, nut flour and flour sifted together in a bowl - then you add chilled, cubed butter and while using your hands you rub the butter into the dry ingredients until they become small incorporated pieces. Then you mix in eggs until it forms a dough ball then chill and roll out.
Mousse is usually a fruit puree or chocolate heated with gelatin, then mixed with a meringue, and folded into whipped cream. The tricky part is having the temperatures of everything correct so you don't split it.
Cremeux or creme is creme anglais or pastry cream. This process consists of heating milk, cream, or fruit puree - mixing with eggs, sugar, and starch - then recooked with butter added in at the end and chilled (served cold).

I know it sounds weird, but these are some of my favorite things in the world to do.

When making sablee the sifted dry ingredients are so soft, and the butter is silky and cold.

Mousse seems so easy, but it's such a delicate balance of temperatures and folding in ever so gently so you don't deflate the meringue or whipped cream.

Cremeux and creme are so easy to burn and over cook but when it's done correctly it's amazing. Pastry cream with fresh fruit in puff pastry is definitely my go to when people ask for dessert from me. It's so simple and beautiful and delicious. (and so easy to eat by the spoonful!)

I just truly love pastry. I feel so fortunate that I found something to be so passionate about at such a young age. ENSP has really opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. I cannot thank my parents (especially), family, and friends enough for all the support they give me. I'm antsy to be home and share all that I've learned with them. (Be prepared to eat a lot of sweets!)

Chef and I in front of the buffet

Macarons right out of the oven

Ci-frais - tart dough with hazelnut cream and strawberry compote with lime mousse and a chocolate garnish.

Plume - sponge cake base, fromage blanc cream, black currant, blueberry, and red currant compote in the middle, with a glaze garnish.

Fraisier moderne - pistachio biscuit with pastry cream, raspberry mousse, and strawberry compote, glazed and garnished with macarons.

Tarte Sao Paulo - almond tart base with meringue filling, banana - passionfruit pastry cream, and white chocolate decorations.

Tarte Mango - hazelnut tart base filled with almond cream, a layer of fresh raspberry compote, lime pastry cream on top with mango compote and raspberries.

Tarte Pina Colada - hazelnut tart base, sponge cake filling, meringue, pineapple compote, lime pastry cream, and coconut mousse with shredded coconut

Religieuse Mangue coco- pate a choux baked with a crumble on top, filled with mango coconut cream, garnished with fondant and chocolate decorations.

Pomme d'Amour - sponge cake bottom, thinly sliced cooked apples, with caramel flavored whipped cream and chocolate garnish.

Sensation - tart dough with pistachio sponge cake, red currant compote, peach mousse, glazed and garnished with pistachio flour and a marshmellow.

Religieuse caramel chocolat - pate a choux baked with a crumble on top, filled with salted caramel and chocolate, with fondant and dark chocolate decorations.

Tarte citron vert - chocolate praline coconut crumble  base, with lime pastry cream, and coconut garnish.

Amazon - coconut sponge cake base and coconut mousse, filled with passion fruit pastry cream with chunks of mango. Glazed and garnished with a dark chocolate feather and lines of passion fruit jelly.