And the Food Starts!

During weekday mornings I have French class from nine to twelve. Kind of a yawn, but I am still learning. 

My afternoons are a tad more exciting because its pastry class!

My uniform, yes we get to wear a chef hat!

All week in pastry we've been working on (and trying hard to master!) feuilletage. 

Feuilletage is puff pastry, used in mille feuilles, baklava, and all sorts of other yummy things! It is a lot of hard work and long hours to get it right, and has to rest in the fridge often, but the end result is going to be worth it!

With the feuilletage that we made,we are making a traditional cake in France, called the Galette des Rois. This cake is supposed to be eaten only around New Years, but because it is so good, the cake is often eaten throughout all of January, and then can no longer be found in stores. But now that I know how to make it, I can enjoy it at any time I want!

The Galette des Rois consists of the feuilletage, and frangipane cream (a mix of both almond and pastry cream), and a little hidden "roi". Whoever gets this "roi" is the king!

The "roi" that went into my cake is the red one! 

He's kneeling with a chest of gold.

Closing up my group's Galette des Roi!

After this, we put some designs and then in the fridge...

...to be baked Monday!

(this meaning, for pictures, you'll have to wait until then!)

Last night, with our very sparsely supplied kitchen, my roommate, Desiree, and I managed to make something quite delicious, which I thought I would share with you!
It is sliced chicken breast with onion and red pepper slices, sauteed in salsa, on a bed of rice with some tortilla chips.
(I just had to have some seeing as the salsa sauce was used. I thought I'd follow through with the Mexican theme!)

Somewhat bland looking due to the lack of colours, but I'd say it was a great dish seeing as how little we have in our pantry!

Have a great weekend!