Cloudy with Pastries ahead

I attempted to set an alarm this morning, and partly succeeded - I got up after 45 minutes of snoozing. And I actually left the apartment before 11:30. Touch me twice. Although not ideal weather, very cloudy and temps in the mid 40s, it was not too rainy today. I started my touristy day at Rodin's gardens. Auguste Rodin, supposedly the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo, lived and worked at the mansion adjacent to these gardens. His famous Thinker is probably his most popular work.

the Thinker.

Balzac.

pretty flowers - it is a garden.

ducks who didn't mind us visitors.

garden with fountain and the mansion.

garden with Hôtel des Invalides, perhaps, in the background.

Jacques de Wissant. not the most popular, but he made me smile.

a study for Pierre de Wissant - they look so real!

the Gates of Hell.

and the Burghers of Calais.

Next, I hopped a metro over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées.

the Arc de Triomphe.

the tomb of the unknown soldier.

a shot down Champs Elysées to Arc.

After a quick lunch and macaroons from the famous Ladurée, I got back on the metro and headed to my pastry class! I took a few wrong turns on the metro and was five minutes late (and huffing and puffing), but my nice teacher and classmates forgave me. We made crème brûlée, chocolate mousse, some almond tarts, lemon-y tarts, and a strawberry/pancake sweet. I'm sorry that I do not know the correct names - I will fix them when I receive the recipes via email.. Basically, it was all fairly simple and VERY delicious. And my classmates were great, too!

serving out the crème brûlée.

the lemon desserts (in front) and the almond ones (in the green dish).

the chocolate mousse.

our sweet teacher playing Vanna White.

the strawberry sweets. (that will be breakfast tomorrow.)

our class in action.

crème brûlée before being scorched.

me, at work! step 1, pour sugar on the top.

step 2, shake it around. step 3, pour out extra sugar.

step 4, begin scorching with the torch.

every kitchen should have one of these.

step 5, enjoy the finished product. (notice the vanilla bean near the top of the ramekin, yum.)

our sassy class.

You know we had to sample everything... I could definitely feel a sugar crash coming on, hah. When I left there around 6:30, I knew that I would probably not eat much dinner - I haven't even eaten our take home portion yet! Now it's early to bed again: no snoozing tomorrow morning.. I have cooking class at 9:00! Yes, my life is a hard one.