so....much...sugar...gahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well, it certainly has been quite a day :) I woke up and was out the door by 8:30am.  It took me about 10 minutes to walk to the Cook n with Class school. I went inside and was greeted by Pino, the chef for French Desserts.  He told me to wash up and put on an apron.  At that time, a grandmother and her granddaughter also came in for the class and did the same.  They were from Florida and were in Paris for a few days before heading to London, as a gift to her granddaughter for graduation.  We were also joined by another older lady who was from Canada.  Pino began the class and I can't even remember the order in which we made everything, because we made about a billion different things for the 5 desserts.  We made everything from scratch for eclairs, a christmas log, creme brulee, chocolate lava cakes, Italian meringue, and Madeleines! We got to taste some of the stuff throughout and it was just a fantastic time! The creme brulee we made had real vanilla in it, and he told us that you can keep vanilla pods in alcohol (they will stay plump, and as time goes on, the vanilla flavor will penetrate the alcohol) or dry them and grind it up with sugar to make vanilla sugar.  We got to take all of it home, and so I took a piece of the Christmas log and some madeleines.  Basically I can never live in Paris, because I would just eat crepes and visit the boulangerie (bakery) ALL THE TIME...I want a cheese toastie now though.

Madeleines

Rolling the Christmas Log

Italian Meringue Mushrooms!

 I'm definitely planning on making eclairs and madeleines for Christmas Eve and then hopefully the Christmas Log for Christmas day (but we'll see how I do with rolling it).  After that I had a fun time getting a ride to the airport, but I got there in time and made it to my flight.  On the flight I sat next to this American guy who looked like a teenager that never grew up (definitely at least 40).  He was a photographer and just had this air of an arrogant person who thinks that he knew everything.  He was nice and all, but I was happy when we landed.  We flew into Dublin just as the sun was setting, and it was beautiful.  It was also kind of weird traveling by airplane. I still love flying, but it seemed a bit less exciting.  I missed watching the English countryside go by.  But at least I will get to see the Irish countryside tomorrow! I didn't get out to see Dublin much (except for what I saw on the bus ride over here), partially because I'm kind of in a boring area, I'm exhausted, and I have free Wi-Fi here so I've been planning out everything for the next couple of days.
I will probably update either tomorrow or Wednesday night with all of the fun shenanigans that occur during my rail trip around Ireland! :-) Have a great day everyone!
~Carolyn