Observations of the Day

Here's what I've observed so far: Japanese girls are incredibly artistic and work daintily and with great focus; tuile batter is so time sensitive, one second can make all the difference between a gorgeous basket and a broken cookie; pastry work is as much about intuition as it is science and patience; there's a reason I didn't become a math teacher; and creme anglaise is my favorite beverage in the whole world.

To further expand on my observations, I'll start bottoms up. One, creme anglaise, as you may well know, is a sort of liquid custard used for plate decorations, sauces for fruits or various desserts and is also the base for ice cream. What it is, to me, is a tasty beverage. I sometimes want to pour the entire bowl directly into my mouth, it's so luscious.

Secondly, I got a D in Geometry. This, after repeated meetings with my teacher who begrudgingly agreed to meet with me before school. I just don't get it. Algebra is difficult enough for me to wrap my brain around, but the spatial relationships and shapes in Geometry completely allude me. So this is why I could not make a paper piping bag to save my life. The teacher had us cut our waxed paper into triangles. It took a few seconds for me to remember what that was. I know, bad...once that was done, I watched as everyone seemed to fold theirs with ease, but I struggled to understand the assembly process. I almost cried after 5 tries, and I realized suddenly that my mind just doesn't grasp this sort of learning. I honestly didn't understand. It was like if you put a box with those little circle and square pegs in front of me, I probably would've put them all in the wrong slots. Of course, mine was the bag she used to make an example of how to pipe out our tuiles.

"My, there's a little knick in this one, then, isn't there?" she said, while watching my dough squirt out curved instead of straight.

"Let's just snip off the end and see how that works."

Nope. Well, okay, then.

Luckily for her, I don't mind curved dough. I'm not particular. Which probably doesn't make me a natural pastry chef but let's remember, I want to know foundations. Delivery isn't my main aim, as I don't plan to plate desserts in a restaurant. My creme caramel turned out lovely and so did my jalousie, so I've got the products down. Just not the art. That will come with time...maybe. Until then, I'm going to buy my piping bags, thank you very much.

As far as intuition goes, I'm still trying to hone mine. This applies as much to people as it does pastry. They said the creme anglaise should not be too wobbly when you shake it. Ours wasn't. Apparently, though, it was too overcooked. How to tell? That's where the intuition kicks in. That too comes with time.

Tuile 101: you bake them at a high temperature for a very short time (3-5 minutes) and once removed from the oven, you must instantly shape them into baskets or squigglies or whatever you want directly onto the shaping tool. If you wait even a second, it dries and then hardens and cracks if you try to shape it. I'm not too quick on the draw where these babies are concerned. I will add this to my list of techniques to practice. Creme anglaise is, of course, on that list. Yeah! More for me to drink.

The Japanese girls in class really work hard at their artwork. I'm impressed. It's a learned patience, I think. They focus a lot on detail and tiny precision. They also tend to look very frightened while doing so, which, to me, takes the fun out of it. I wasn't at all frightened when I was making squiggly lines and dots. :)