Apples Everywhere

First, I want to thank everyone for the amazing love I received yesterday!  My SITS Day was absolutely fantastic, I'm truly in the company of some amazing women.

Recently I signed up to start taking pastry classes in the area.  There is an actual culinary school just five minutes from my house.  While culinary school is serious business, the also offer classes on the weekends and in the evenings for beginners like me.

The past class I attended was called Jeu de Pomme, or Apple Game.  You might have already guessed that we made all things apple.

It was my first semi-professional class so I didn't know what to expect.  I showed up like a kid on the first day of school - a fresh notepad with a new pen and giddy with excitement.

When I first arrived, I was a little taken back that our Master Chef was behind the bar making small cafes {itty bitty coffees} for everyone. It isn't France without the Pause Cafe.

Then we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.  Our teacher was/is a third generation pastry chef and chocolatier so he really knew his stuff.

In addition to just reciting the recipe, he really focused on teaching proper techniques and gave us some great kitchen tips.

In four hours we were able to make flaky pastry dough, a crumbly almond dough, in addition to three different apple pies and tarts and chausson au pomme - which are like a mini apple pies.

And of course, it wouldn't be France if the class didn't end with a glass of wine.

In the past couple of weeks I've been making and re-making this stuff at home, much to chagrin of my co-workers I'm sure.

I can only hope to be able to do this if/when we move back home because I don't think I can live without my pastries!