Day 6 - Macarons!

This morning I went to La Cuisine Paris for a class on making Macarons.  These are the French meringue macarons, not the coconut macaroons.  The chef, Elina, has worked for two of the well-known patisseries in Paris, Pierre Hermes and Eric Kaiser.  There were 7 of us in the class: a couple from Scotland, a couple from North Carolina, a young woman from Amsterdam, another from Australia currently living in Boston, and myself.  This was a very hands-on course and it lasted three hours.  Everything was pre-measured and ready to go, and all we had to do with the dirty pots and bowls was put them in the "magic" sink and someone else took care of them.

We made two different meringues, Italian and French.  The main difference is that the Italian is made with a boiled syrup while the French isn't, which makes it a little easier.  Both recipes use ground almond flour, but the former is crisper, while the latter is chewier.  We also made four different fillings: chocolate, lemon curd, pistachio butter cream, and salted caramel.  All of which used lots of sugar and butter. The hardest part was piping the meringue evenly.  There is a real art to it.  But, they all seemed to come out perfectly. We did some tasting as part of "quality control," but weren't able to actually eat any because they needed to be refrigerated overnight, but we got to take "home" what we made, and fortunately, they fit into my minibar fridge.  Tomorrow, I sample! The class was a lot of fun.

After the class, I returned to the hotel to store my macarons, then went to lunch at a place around the corner.  I ordered onion soup (it is not called French Onion Soup here).  It was deconstructed in that the cheese and croutons were on the plate separately.  The broth was rich with lots of onions, but it was sour, not in a bad way - but different.  After lunch I took the bus down to the Pompidou Center just to wander around the neighborhood where I have stayed in previous trips, then rode the bus back.

Dinner was at a little Greek place near the hotel and was really good.  I had a Greek salad, which was fresh and delicious with lots of fresh feta cheese - not the dry stuff we are used to.  I always find it hard to get enough vegetables here, so I really enjoyed it.  I ordered the duck confit, which is duck that has been cooked and stored in duck fat, but when it is served it is crisped up and is really very good.  The platter came with two large duck legs and a pile of potatoes, and I'm afraid one of the duck legs and most of the potatoes went back to the kitchen.  I hope there was a lucky dog back there who got to eat what I left.

10,345 steps; 0 floors of stairs