A full inbox…
by girlinafoodfrenzy
Sometimes I wake up and life has let me know that (life’s been going on whilst I sleep,) my inbox is incredibly full with emails, meeting appointments, bills, you know the drill.
Some of these might come from the Giaff blog, some from my (upcoming) family holiday to Hong Kong at Christmas, others from my school/culinary studies, work projects (more up and coming soon,) friends and life in general.
A week or so back, life got a little busier than usual. Hit with a head cold for a couple of days, I missed my tests at school, had a few days off from work and suddenly woke up and discovered that I was about three weeks behind everyone else, (which is not a good feeling.)
I also discovered in my recent pastry classes that it is difficult to turn a ball of choux pastry into a swan. On my first attempt those swans looked a lot more like Natalie Portman’s character at the end of that Black Swan film.
Along the way though, a couple of wonderful things have happened! I was featured as a photographer on Instagram to the tune of many followers later, (hi to all the fellow #instagrammers) and somewhere, the years have passed in a whirl and it was our unofficial 5 yr anniversary. (I say unofficial because we’re not married but officially we feel like we’ve been together from the moment we met! Which was at a party on the closing night of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera if you must know…)
A wise person once told me that life gets truly busy. She also mentioned that your inbox will always be full.
Hopefully your inbox will always be filled with delicious things to eat and why not some Profiteroles for a start and if we’re lucky (there might be a swan too….)
Like this, you might want to see:
Chocolate meringue short stack with strawberries & cream
Rosemary Shortbreads
Buckwheat Crêpes (Gallettes)
Life is definitely so hectic sometimes ridiculously so
Hope your feeling better now and these choux pastries are magnificent, simply stunning
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hi Uru, thank you
I agree it can get busy sometimes and even more so towards the end of ear when Christmas approaches! V glad you like them, it was a blast trying these at home away from the craziness of the kitchens at school!
That is truly a magnificent Swan! Well done you clever girl
Thank you Bobby! I’ll be in with something special for Saturday, promise! (I might not fancy making swans for the whole wardrobe department though, but promise they’ll be in my pastry repertoire somewhere!)
I love your profiterole swan. Very very cute!!!!
Hi Cooking Chook! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and check these out. It’s on going practice for pastry classes at the moment, totally terrifying and yet so delicious
I know you’ll be busy with your family at Christmas in Hong Kong but if you do get the chance we would LOVE to meet you!!! Perhaps go out for a bite to eat…yum
Awesome! I wasn’t sure if you guys would be there yet, figured India is still calling! I’ll be staying on the side near Tsim Sha Chu I think, close to star ferry anyhow and I might need to drag out my sibs for a night with us
but don’t worry, they booze and eat with merriment too!
We arrive in HK 29 November – so do hit us up if you get the time! We’d love you/your family to give us the low down on the city.
Looking forward to it! I might just be the person to introduce you to stinky tofu, lol! Will be in touch before I head off mid Dec via email and blog of course, definitely the opportunity for a catch up & yarn
I was wondering where you were! I am used to cheking my inbox for your posts besides a few of my favorites! And Congratulations and Congratulations!
Also Congratulations on that swan…that is oen dreamy looking pastry creation! Is there any way you’d be able to do a post on how to create those magnificant birds?
Hope you are feeling better now!
I got so excited and carried away that I didn’t cjeck the recipe page for the profiteroles. The swans are there! I would so love to try making these for a party! Thank you Alice!
Lol, just saw that too
You’re very welcome, love to see how yours turn out too!
Thank you! I promise life is getting back to normal, (whatever that is) school if fine, work is fine and definitely feeling chipper. As for the swans I’ve got the process outlined in the recipe page per usual, just click on the highlighted link
It looks like you are doing well with your pastry class. There are many things you can do with choux pastry and those swans are a testament of your love of learning the correct way and are beautiful!
Good luck, and take good care of yourself! A busy mind keeps you sharp!
I promise I’m trying! There are some exceptionally skilled young chefs in my classes (some of whom work in the pastry section on a day to day basis as apprentices.) I’m fortunate to have some spare time at the moment to practice those swans, looks good and tastes good I say
Thank you for your well wishes and your right, a good mind is a sharp mind!
Sorry to hear about your illness and I hope you feel you’re catching up a bit now. Your swan is beautiful! And happy anniversary, I hope you had a very romantic and lovely day of it with your beau. I was just reading something today about how our inboxes are always going to be full. If you can accept that and not feel you have to keep emptying it, life is a lot more manageable. Great about all your new followers, too!
Thank you Lorna, they’re very wise words of yours too. Its easy to get caught up in the digital age with all the reminders of work yet to be done!
I’m all better now, (it was a few weeks back when I felt very, very dull!) I have a new design project in the works which I’ll be designing just prior to Christmas, then heading off overseas 2 days afterwards! I’m incredibly excited as I’ll be working with real chefs!
The photography feature was such a lovely surprise, I’m very grateful to have been included.
As for our anniversary it was lovely, we treated ourselves to a degustation luncheon at a renowned Vietnamese restaurant by Luke Nguyen. Good new, my pastry classes are ongoing for a (few weeks more) so there’s a fair bit of baking to do!
They remind me of over 40 years ago, getting to clear away the table after my parents dinner parties. Profiteroles with thick chocolate topping would be left for us to gorge upon. Happy memories.
Best,
Conor
Sounds fantastic! I still love them with chocolate too, that will be for next time round
Congratulations Alice! I sometimes really wonder about the similarities between us…..I will soon be celebrating my 5yr anniversary with my (unmarried) sweetie! And the swans, they look just perfect. I never doubted that you could accomplish such a task. And a night at the opera! So perfect! Congrats again!
Wow Carla! I had thought we definitely had similarities in our training as chefs to be, one thing that’s different is you have your beautiful daughter though! I used to wonder about people and relationships and how they stay together over the years, in fact (just the other night) I read an email to my sweetheart which he wrote me back in 2008! The sentiment was still the same!
My current module at school is Pastry so it means I’m channeling a lot of baking therapy until mid Dec. The swans were particularly challenging for me (as I had never attempted Choux pastry) before my classes! Needless to say I was thrilled when they turned out at home!
Thank you for your well wishes, happy cooking for the weekend too!
We did very little pastry training at my school…..back in 2003…how time flies! I want to go back to school and do pastry now….it is something that I have been thinking of when we move to Madrid! And yup….I love my sweetie more now than I did in 2008 when we met! And this weekend is filled with cooking cause it’s my daughter’s 16th birthday…she’s having 10 friends over….let’s see how that works out! :s
Wow, 2003 that does go way back. So Madrid will be the new home for you and family, amazing! As for those ten teenage girls, it’s going to be a busy weekend no doubt, how fantastic they get access to a chef for the weekend!
I can just imagine the cakes & pastries now
.
Lovely. Absolutely lovely and I am sure delicious, too. I still don’t bake
and definitely cannot make one of those swans no matter how hard I tried. Congrats on the 5 years. Time always flies when you’re having fun. 
OMG, did you make that last one like a swan? and tell me more about yourself- you take pastry classes? Maybe I should read your About Me! so you’re in cooking school? Love that! if I were younger and didn’t have kids, I would totally want to go! My passion for baking and cooking came later in life. . and I am now enjoying every moment!
I’m making a 180 degree turn into a new field, restraunteur parents, design background so it’s time to combine my two loves and see what happens!
Pastry classes are until the end of the year, then it’s another 1.5 yrs of cooking and homework and lots of taste testing at home!
The swan looks terrific, Alice! And I know exactly what you mean – having been sick the past few days, I feel very ‘unplugged’ from life and running to catch up.. but we will catch up:)
Likewise, feeling unplugged from life is dull! But I promise that when you feel better, you’ll jump back onto life with zeal.
The pastry swans were a big fail first time round, will be practicing these a lot more over the next few weeks!
Beautiful and fabulous as always.
The profiteroles look scrumptious! A merry and exuberant congratulations on your 5 year anniversary!!! Many, many glorious years ahead for the both of you. Congrats also for your being featured as a photographer on Instagram–whoo-hoo!!
Thanks Sriprae, it was a real labour of love. As for pastry classes it’s until the end of the year so lots more coming your way! The instagram feature was totally unexpected, but so welcome!
As for the five years he’s my guy, my rock and my taste tester!
What a great post! It felt just right for a Friday afternoon, for some reason. Congrats on being featured as an instagram photographer! Not sure what that means but I do always admire your instagramming abilities!
Thanks Erika, I’m very glad it eased you into the weekend, baking therapy is the best cure for a busy week! The instagram thing is an addiction, I love it
best thing yet, there are lots of fellow foodies to be found!
Hope your feeling better! The swans turned out great.
Hi Karen, all better now and back too it! The Swans were an achievement, gotta keep practising
Well done! I am impressed
Thank you! I’m only doing the pastry module until the end of year but learning so much in the process…
Love to see something completely new. A swan profiterole… who would have thunk! sweet.
Hi Wendy! There’s a little pastry practice (for school) going on now, for the next few weeks. It was tricky to master at first but I soon got the hang of them. It’s a little party trick for your next dinner
oooh those profiteroles look really good! I’ve yet to attempt it! Your swan looks perfect Alice dear!! Pastry school sounds fun!!
Thanks Sammie, coming from the queen of pastry and baking I’ll take that compliment! I’ve been enjoying this pastry module, still have a few more weeks left before the end of year too
Your pictures are always so amazing
Hey Lily Sue, these ones were a picture marathon indeed. The swans were very trial and error but once I got the hang of them I was very happy! As for the pics I’m still using my iphone4S and the main apps I use are instagram and frametastic, both worth checking out on apple or android.
That is great. Thanks for the tip! I don’t have a smart phone but I know they take great photos
Well I figure it’s all relative, because I don’t own a DSLR but I know they also take incredible photos! In the nature of my work for the blog, it’s mainly chop, chop, chop -arrange pic, quick snap with the iPhone. Mix etc, more snaps! Not sure there’s the chance for a big digital camera to come out without getting garlic fingers and flour dusted all over it, ha ha…..
Good point!