
I’m a little shaky right now because I just ate dessert: mini eclairs (filled with vanilla pastry cream) with toasted homemade marshmallow melted on top. So much sugar.
Look what I found on Dearborn Street when I was walking to school today! A farmers’ market right in the middle of the city! It was a lot smaller than Green City farmers’ market, but still had a lot of good stuff. Most of the produce around here comes from Michigan. I’ve never been to Michigan. Someone take me there, please.
Blueberries. Mmm.

Sweet cherries. I wonder if I missed sour cherry season?

Whenever I see sunflowers it makes me want to draw or paint a picture of them. Know what I’m saying? No? That’s okay. I get these drawing cravings sometimes.

Michigan blackberries. Aren’t they gorgeous?

Onions. I’m mad at myself for not buying any of these. I’ve never bought onions from a farmers’ market before. Some kind of onion tart sounds delicious. Pissaladière possible? Oui!

I did buy peaches, though. I hope they’re good!

Remember yesterday when I made passion fruit-apricot pate de fruit? Well, today we made a raspberry version.


Remember how I made caramels yesterday, too? Well, they didn’t set up right. They oozed out of the pan, making them impossible to slice. Somewhere during the cooking process I didn’t cook the caramel long enough. Boo hoo. I was sad.
Hopefully I did better today with this chocolate caramel. Yes, you heard that right - caramel with chocolate mixed in. Just when you thought caramel couldn’t get any better.

We also made nougat today. Pronounced NEW-GOT. Not noug-it. I’ll never be able to say noug-it again because it sounds like the hillbilly pronunciation. The process of making nougat is similar to making marshmallow. A hot honey-syrup is whipped into egg whites.


The mixture gets really thick and then you quickly stir in your toasted almonds and pistachios, trying not to deflate it too much. Then we pressed the nougat into pans. No picture. You shall see tomorrow.

We sliced our passion fruit-apricot pate de fruit using a guitar candy slicer. Isn’t this cool? I’ve never seen or used one before. It uses real guitar strings.

Here they are after their sugar bath! It turns out I’ve been eating these candies from Trader Joe’s for a few months now. Haha. Our candies are better.

Here’s our sliced marshmallows lightly coated with confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch. Oh gosh. So good – especially when broiled.

The French call them guimauve. How fancy! You French are so darn classy.

OHHH lets go on a road trip to Michigan! Best state EVER. We can pick blueberries and sip wine as we watch the sunset on lake michigan :) Now if one of us just had a car...
ReplyDeleteYES.
DeleteMmmmmm nougat! I live in Michigan. If you ever do visit, we have to meet at a bakery or even a farmers' market. I love MI blueberries and cherries. Yes, sour cherry season is over, though for the most part it didn't even happen; the crazy weather killed the crop. MI blackberries are my favorite, but I can't find them at any markets around here. My dad goes to pick them for me :) Farmers' market onions are the best. We call them knob onions and they are super sweet, sweeter than Vidalias, and I think best eaten raw. I'm just loving your posts! Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! The peaches are really good! I will have to buy some blackberries next week. What part of Michigan do you live?
DeleteI live in southeastern Michigan, in a suburb of Detroit. And yes, you have to try the blackberries. If you like blackberries, you will love them. Grocery store blackberries don't even begin to compare. Let me know if you get some and how you like them.
DeleteIt,s so true that, sometimes, french words are fancyer than the english one... like brown butter is beurre noisette in french (hazelnut butter). Even if it's so complicated sometimes, I love my langage (french)... Love to follow you Emily!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Kim!
DeleteChocolate caramel.. only 2 of my favorite things! Unless you could maybe throw some Bailey's in there too ;-)
ReplyDeleteFancy? Heck yes! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love the look of those blueberry punnets.
The candy's looking good. Very exciting stuff. Actually we pronounce new-gah. I love nougat.
Whoops. I thought the chef was saying it the other way.
DeleteI love following you adventures in pastry school. Professional cooking was always a dream of mine too, but alas, I cannot smell so culinary education was not in the cards for me. I was wondering, do you get to take home all those goodies to share with Eric? I need something sweet to eat now. :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I've been taking home the candies and Eric's been taking them to work.
DeleteMy friend Amy can't smell, either. Can you smell at all? That is so crazy.
We pronounce it nu-gah as well (in NZ).. and pretty much everywhere I've been in Europe and Australia pronounces it that way too.. must be an American thing to pronounce it the other way?
ReplyDeleteUhh, I'm not sure. I'm probably wrong...
DeleteI love these posts...so cool to see what you are learning!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
DeleteYour pate de fruit looks amazing! And those peaches are stunning. I say a caramelized onion tart for sure. I love caramelized onions. Thanks for the pronunciation tip on nougat. Good to know.
ReplyDeleteMmm caramelized onion tart...
DeleteI can't even imagine making candy ... It is soooo intimidating.
ReplyDelete