Week 7: Let Them Eat Gateau

It's been all about cakes lately at school, and I've been porking up big time from eating a cake a day! Classes end too late for me to drop them off at friends' offices, so J and I have been crushing them all by ourselves after dinner. Oops.

This is a Black Forest cake with griotte cherries and creme chantilly with chocolate decoration.

The cakes have almost been too pretty to eat, but I did say 'almost'. This is a chocolate charlotte with Bavarian cream and chocolate ruffles and pistachios for decoration. Yum.

As you can see, we've been working with chocolate this week, and it's been extremely messy. I ended up with cocoa powder on my hat (how?!), but I had  more ingredients in my cake than down my front, which I count as a win. But it's definitely time for a good wash of my uniform.

We've got gateau St. Honore next week, and it's a good opportunity to practice a lot of our skills since the cake has a lot of elements. Pate brisee, choux pastry, creme patissiere, piping, caramel cooking, it's got it all. Chef's creation that we're supposed to replicate: 

Um, we'll see. Gulp.

The weather has also been on the up and up, and we've actually had some dry days. It was mild enough for me to take Casper to the park this past weekend, and a cheeky little sparrow came right up to me to ask for food. Spring really is coming!

Hampton Court

Spring has finally sprung, and J and I decided to spend our first sunny Saturday away from the hubbub of the city.

I had heard fantastic things about Hampton Court, so we hopped on a National Rail train to check out King Henry VIII's palace. It was only a thirty five minute train ride until we arrived, and the initial view of the castle and the river running alongside it was lovely. We decided to buy membership to the castles, which means we have free entry to Hampton Court, Kew Palace, Kensington Palace, Tower of London and the Banqueting House for the next year. We also get 10% off restaurants and the retail shops. It definitely pays for itself at the end of the day.

Our first stop was the castle itself, where J was very anxious to check out the kitchens that fed Henry and his court. Basically, they ate mostly meat and drank lots of wine. So not a big surprise that Henry weighed more than 400 lbs when he died.

The castle was quite impressive, but I fell in love with the grounds. It's a wonderful mix of manicured lawns and knot gardens with a little wilderness and a maze thrown in for good measure.

Long avenues radiated out from the rear exit of the castle, and they were lined with Alice in Wonderland type trees that were shaped and pruned to within an inch of their lives.

We moved on a bit further and saw a long expanse of water extending out as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, it was gated off so we couldn't walk the length of the pool, but we did enjoy the bit that wasn't fenced off such as the weeping willow and the birds that were busy building their nests.

We were pretty hungry so J and I took a quick lunch break at the Tiltyard Cafe before exploring the grounds further. The food there was excellent, and I splurged a giant sausage roll. Yum!

We tried walking off our very full bellies by exploring the garden by the cafe. We saw acres and acres of daffodils and the occasional blossoming tree, and it all felt wonderfully idyllic and peaceful.

We eventually made our way to the maze, and J decided to lead the way. He very firmly pronounced that always turning left would see our way out. And then he led us straight into a dead end.

After meandering about for ten minutes our so, we managed to break free and headed to check out the rest of the more cultivated gardens. Who knew flowers could be so obedient?!

After we explored to our hearts' content, we did what everyone else was doing, specifically, buying an ice cream cone and laying out on the grass for a bit before heading back to the train station.

All in all, it was the ideal way to while away a picture-perfect spring day.

A Hint of Spring

You could have knocked me over with a feather when the sun peeked out this morning and actually decided to stick around for the rest of the day! I've been feeling a bit lethargic and unmotivated to do anything lately, but once I got a good dose of Vitamin D streaming through my window, I decided to get up and out to run all of my errands I've been putting off for a while.

It seemed like the entire city was out to enjoy the sunshine, and the restaurants had their outdoor seating out in case anyone wanted to do a little basking in the sun. It was still cold as ever, so I beat it home after visiting the library, news agent, health food store and grocery. After a quick lunch at home, I couldn't resist making another foray outdoors to enjoy the sunshine. I wandered over to Regent's Park to see whether any of the flowers had bloomed, and bloomed they did! Lots of people (for a weekday) were wandering about enjoying the day.