Back to cakes! Here's what happened on Wednesday....
We started off our morning with a wine lecture and 5 different tastings of wine. We dived in head-first into French wines, and all I can say is WOW. The French are very particular about their wines, which leads to a very complicated classification system. We started out learning about the Riesling grape variety, which is apparently a lovely white wine typically produced in Germany. The French region, Alsace, has flip-flopped between France and Germany, and I guess because of that has now become known for the Rieslings it produces for France. The flavor wasn't that bad I guess, though I don't know how much I was able to enjoy any form of alcohol at such an early hour! We also tried a sweet Riesling from Germany that hadn't been aged for very long. It wasn't as dry and didn't have very much alcohol in it, and I thought it was delicious!
After whites, the red wines entered the scene as we moved to the region of Burgundy. We tried several Pinot Noir varieties, which wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It's a wine that you would definitely pair with a meal, so that would make sense. I don't think I want to become a sommelier though (wine connoisseur) - that's definitely the most important thing I've learned from our wine course. I do appreciate being able to learn about the different wines and become more knowledgable about the subject though!
Before I move on to cakes, I wanted to show a picture of a curiosity I ate at lunch: Periwinkle snail! Surprisingly, I loved it! I was skeptical when I had to pull it out of its shell with a pin, but the lightly salted and clam-like flavor made it very enjoyable :). Yum!
We started off our morning with a wine lecture and 5 different tastings of wine. We dived in head-first into French wines, and all I can say is WOW. The French are very particular about their wines, which leads to a very complicated classification system. We started out learning about the Riesling grape variety, which is apparently a lovely white wine typically produced in Germany. The French region, Alsace, has flip-flopped between France and Germany, and I guess because of that has now become known for the Rieslings it produces for France. The flavor wasn't that bad I guess, though I don't know how much I was able to enjoy any form of alcohol at such an early hour! We also tried a sweet Riesling from Germany that hadn't been aged for very long. It wasn't as dry and didn't have very much alcohol in it, and I thought it was delicious!
After whites, the red wines entered the scene as we moved to the region of Burgundy. We tried several Pinot Noir varieties, which wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It's a wine that you would definitely pair with a meal, so that would make sense. I don't think I want to become a sommelier though (wine connoisseur) - that's definitely the most important thing I've learned from our wine course. I do appreciate being able to learn about the different wines and become more knowledgable about the subject though!
Before I move on to cakes, I wanted to show a picture of a curiosity I ate at lunch: Periwinkle snail! Surprisingly, I loved it! I was skeptical when I had to pull it out of its shell with a pin, but the lightly salted and clam-like flavor made it very enjoyable :). Yum!
After lunch, the demo room slowly began to fill with all forms of decorated cakes and other ornamental goodies. There were SOOOOOO many different things Rachel made, as you can see in the first picture!! :O. The things that really stood out to me were...
So yeah... I had a ridiculous amount of sugar thanks to this demo! Some of the other things they made for us were... meringues, macarons of various flavors, a swiss roll, madeleines, pancake-like scones, and various cakes. All my hopes of being gluten and dairy free have gone out the window at this point. I am really enjoying the food here, but I think at the same time I need to distinguish satisfaction from overindulgence.
- Christmas cake: this thing is intense. It's mainly dried fruit and nuts with a bit of cake to hold it all together. It takes about 2.5 hours to cook! You can make it MONTHS in advance because it is such a moist cake, leaving time to "feed" it with Irish whiskey. The icing is actually an almond paste: egg, almond flour, and sugar! You roll it out, cover the cake with it, and then bake it in the oven until it toasts a little bit. I'm not a huge fan of fruity cakes, but I did find it quite nice. I don't know if I'll make it for Christmas though!
- Sandwich treasure chest: what a neat idea!!!! Rachel cuts out the inside of a loaf of bread, and then uses the removed cube to make sandwiches! Then she puts them back into the loaf and voila! You have the perfect picnic sandwich carrier! :D
- Muffaleta: this is similar to the chest, but instead you scoop out the innards of a sourdough loaf and then stuff it with sandwich fillings. To serve, you cut slices out of the entire loaf. WOW. SOOOOO yummy!!!!
- CUPCAKES!!! I just wanted to put up a picture of all the lovely cupcakes Rachel and the other assistant instructors made. Coffee, lemon with lemon curd filling, chocolate, and caramelized pecan. All of them had absolutely delicious fillings!! <3
So yeah... I had a ridiculous amount of sugar thanks to this demo! Some of the other things they made for us were... meringues, macarons of various flavors, a swiss roll, madeleines, pancake-like scones, and various cakes. All my hopes of being gluten and dairy free have gone out the window at this point. I am really enjoying the food here, but I think at the same time I need to distinguish satisfaction from overindulgence.
Afterwards, I managed to go on a run! I'm glad I did so that I could use up all of the energy I pumped into my system in the form of sugar. My throat wasn't feeling too great afterwards though. Sleep will help!!
One thing I learned today: I like periwinkles more than mussels and clams!
Favorite part of the day: not doing an ab workout with Nan. We ended up stalling for so long that we lost motivation and instead listened to some Taylor Swift and talked. :)
And so another day's come and gone! Now onto Thursday!
Love,
Livvy
One thing I learned today: I like periwinkles more than mussels and clams!
Favorite part of the day: not doing an ab workout with Nan. We ended up stalling for so long that we lost motivation and instead listened to some Taylor Swift and talked. :)
And so another day's come and gone! Now onto Thursday!
Love,
Livvy