Crab Bisque

Today was crab bisque.

Of course, in the demonstration we also made a cauliflower veloute and a mushroom veloute (creamy soups), which I both enjoyed. Not so much the crab bisque.

Imagine the smell of nasty arm-pit. Now imagine that spewing in your face as you smash the crab in a bowl and then imagine it boiling and steaming in your face.

Yum.

Luckily, it tastes much better. But I just could not bring myself to eat all of my leftover soup with that smell still wafting in my head, so I gave it to a friend who has family visiting. Worst comes to worst, she can give it to her dog.

We also had to make more puff pastry today for our recipe tomorrow. My first batch of puff pastry (last Thursday and Friday) came out perfectly! I was very impressed with myself. But that only lasted so well as the rest of the day this past Friday turned into a complete disaster.

First, I over-salted my leeks. And I knew it very quickly, but despite how much extra water or cream that I added, I just could not fix it. I also over-reduced my chicken stock leaving me with about 2 tablespoons of liquid...not nearly enough for the Supreme sauce that I needed to make. Being flustered trying to re-liquify my sauce, I forgot to season. It was a complete mess. And chef told me so. I could only agree with him. So, a friend and classmate joined me at a lovely cafe to share a glass of vin blanc afterwards. Okay, maybe a bottle.

That helped. A lot.

But, gosh-darn-it, that puff pastry was perfect. And I'm hoping that tomorrow's is as well. It felt good today while I was making it. I'm starting to know what that feels like in my hands.

And yet, after all this, I bought Chinese food from the little restaurant next to the school for lunch/dinner. Judge me as you will, but I.Can't.Take.No.More.French.Food.

Well, at least for now.
Loves,