Petit Fours and Macarons course @ Le Cordon Bleu

I was back at Le Cordon Bleu today for their Petit Fours and Macarons course! It was a lot of fun and I feel like I learned so much! It's always nice too when the teacher is as great as Chef Hervé Chabert. He had a great sense of humour and kept everyone laughing and feeling relaxed.

Chef demonstrating

He made all this in just a few hours? ORLY??

We even got to sample some - yay!

Now time for the practical component:

We made these little finger cookies called "cat tongues". Infused with lemon flavour - yum!

Everyone's hard at work! Except me... cause I'm taking a picture...

Lots of yummy macarons! I learned a lot of good tips here and figured out some issues I've had with them in the past. I can't wait to make my next batch!

London - Day 28

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Yay I passed!!!

Last day was crazy! Everything went wrong that could go wrong - flowers breaking, icing not coming out of bags, you name it. I messed up a lot during this week. and I think barely passed! But a lot of lessons were learned too, so I don't care, I've got my paper - grabbing it and running before they can change their minds. XD

Oh yeah and my camera battery went dead too (forgot to charge it), so special thanks to Yujin for taking so many pics with her amazing camera!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Afterwards, we had to carry our cakes across the street (OMG heavy), to have them on display at the parlour.

Where we had cupcakes and champagne!

And Peggy handed out our diplomas!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Everyone's cakes looked amazing! Congrats to everyone in the class! All in all this was one of the craziest experiences in my life. It was really, really tough. Lots of ups and downs. But I learned a lot. The course was definitely a great experience! And I met some great people along the way!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

One more day here to be touristy and then I'm going hooooome!

ON TO DAY 29/30

London - Day 15

Today wasn't really spent in London, it was spent in Paris!

Onward!

I took the Eurostar (official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympics) from London's St. Pancras station.

And arrived at Paris' Gare Du Nord station. Tons of people!

Cool ornate details on buildings!

My breakfast coffee :)

The Latin quarter had an awesome gelato shop. They also sell yummy waffles, to which you can add the gelato ;)

I had a simple one with strawberry jam. Soooo good!

The one reference here to Canada and it seems so meek and lonely...just like its people...

Wait nevermind...

Really, even in an art book store in Paris, I can't escape Justin Bieber! Arrrgh!

Anyways, here are some cool street shots. The pictures here practically take themselves!

Where Manet was born - cool!

I don't know what was going on at the Louvre, but I noticed this hanging from one of the windows...

Having been to the Louvre before, I opted instead for the Musee d'Orsay.

So much art it will make you cry. Literally. I saw Van Gogh's self portrait and started to tear up (he's one of my favourite painters). As an artist I just felt so small walking through there. Plus I'm a wuss...

These shots were taken from the upper floor. Art on the inside and outside!

While wandering the streets I found Laduree bakery! Amazing window displays! Macarons!

And more Macarons!

Nummies!

Another thing I found while wandering was a bunch of locks attached to a bridge, apparently people can write stuff on locks, attach it, then throw away the key. Lame, but very Paris.

That's pretty much it! I did tons of walking and browsing in shops and my feet were SO sore by the end! So long Paris!

ON TO DAY 16