Half way through!

Another quicky tonight - slow traffic on the M4 delayed my arrival home!  It's been another great week and a fun day to finish the first half of the course with us focussing on pastries and fancy desserts!  It had been a late night for some at the usual group gathering in the Exeter Arms so we were grateful for Carol's gentle intoduction.  Carol has just come back from a stint as part of her continuing professional development, from the Ritz Hotel working as a patisserie chef - enough said!

Pastry cream was first off our production line -  hand whisked by our aching arms - we were advised that we could do this with our kitchen  mixers at home but Carol felt we needed the practice.  Next came our Lemon Posset, a rich mixture of double cream, sugar and lemon juice - this was put to one side for Ron, later on. After crystalizing some lemon and lime zest we made a swiss roll and then made our own choux pastry- more whisking and mixing!

 A quick lunch of cheese omlette and salad and it was back in to make a chocolate sauce - more double cream!

 The rest of the afternoon was spent assembling our Strawberry Mille Feuille, our profiteroles and our choux swans!  Now there are some real artists in the groups whose presentation skills are superb.  My swan looked more like a flailing goose, my Mille Feuille collapsed as the heat of the kitchen got the better of my pastry cream filling but my profiteroles were excellent!  Judge for yourselves!

Next blog Monday!