KINGS OF PASTRY!

Gerard Mulot Pastry Box, watercolor, 9" x 11"

Pastry chefs and I have always seen eye to eye... They are the 'artistes' in the cuisine, with chocolate and sugar...

Of course they adored having their portraits on their own business cards. They really got my food art biz going.

When I received an invite to a screening of KINGS OF PASTRY I was thrilled. It's about the 3-day competition of carefully selected French pastry chefs, sixteen in fact, all vieing for the much coveted M.O.F. or Meilleur Ouvriers De France award in Lyon. As luck would have it, I went to Maine to paint and missed the screening, but they sent me the video and BOY OH BOY is it fun!
The Guardian said,
"I never saw so many men sobbing at once"
"A culinary HURT LOCKER"
You get to see top pastry artistes pushed to the limit, racing against time and each other to make their super, fragiles creations. You see top pastry judges of France (PH included!) tasting and grading the contender's art works (16 desserts) and their responses. Full of suspense...catastrophes beaucoup...even the judges are in tears.
If you love French pastry, you MUST see KINGS OF PASTRY
Pastry chefs of the highest order are required to make many confectionary sculptures... Usually made of sugar. These chocolate masterpieces were at the Salon du Chocolat last October. Now I have a better idea of the enormous effort that went into making them.
Oh the torture, oh the sleepless nights. I attended the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie in Lyon in '94 - words can not describe the fabulousness of it all. If only I'd had my Canon back then. Last June I returned to Lyon for a macaron class. Instead I ate lunch at Paul Bocuse's Brasserie Le Nord. Very chaleureuse/warm indeed.. Very much in the old French tradition of quality and simplicity. Bien sur you know I had une salade... And then the very traditional cote d'agneau for my main.
Miam-miam When I asked for the l'addition they said I was an invitee/guest!?
How I wished I had ordered dessert...something on the order of this elaborate chocolate chapeau...
HATS OFF TO THE M.O.F. WINNERS

And go see the movie.

I AM...LOVE

August will be "I Am Restraint" month regarding ice cream. Have you seen Tilda Swinton in I Am Love? Tilda is the absolute epidomy of restraint. Except when she dives into a plate of luscious shrimp and throws caution to the wind. (spoiler) Then all Hell breaks loose.
I could say the same thing happened in Maine when I dived into fried clams. And I'm someone who proudly proclaims I do not eat 'fried foods'. Oddly enough in the same movie, Tilda's gorgeous son, Flavio Parenti, shows restraint when his sister (in London) offers him a lemon macaron. He refuses. Restraint gets him nowhere in this case, but I don't want to give it all away. I have no problem showing restraint with macarons in Paris.After all they're everywhere, even if some flavors are seasonal. I have an impulsive nature. I like to dive in to a painting headfirst and anything. I look for the waterwings later. This is not a good idea (re:lessons learned in Maine), so I'm showing you thumbnails first.

Tea Time, watercolor, 9" x 11"
The painting tends to come out oh so much better when you do a few test runs, like anything else...

Showing restraint in Paris with macarons is fine, unless you fall in love with the box. Better grab it. It won't be there next trip, I can assure you. As one whose middle name is Instant Gratification, this is a disastre.

During my time in Maine, I broke down and read, or rather listened to the audio of The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo. I admit I liked it. I especially liked main character, Lizbeth Salander's insistance on thinking about future consequences before making any decision. Impulsive, she was not.

Which brings me back to my eternal battle with ice cream.

That's what this is all about after all.

I henceforth declare that I will show great restraint when faced with a dixie cup of Edy's Slow Churned Coffee ice cream in August.

They say if you make your resolutions outloud to others, you'll have better luck with them.ADIEU EDY'S!