Macarons…

Last week Thursday I attended my first cooking course in Genève – making Macarons!  I was a bit worried about the course for 2 reasons, 1) the course was conducted in French (and as we know my French is very limited) and 2) Macarons are notoriously difficult to perfect.  However I was also excited because 1) I love sweet things and 2) I was attending the course with 2 lovely friends.



Ready to attempt the Macaron course



So what are Macarons?  Well as far as I can remember I do not think I ever had them in South Africa, although I am sure you can find them.  I saw them in England but since coming to Genève they are everywhere.   Macarons are a sweet treat made with a meringue mixture combined with almond powder and icing sugar. Food colouring can be added to produce different colours.  Once the Macarons are cooked they are sandwiched together with a flavoured filling in the middle. The filling can really be any flavour you like but is usually a jam or buttercream  type filling.

The course was held at Katrepices, The Cosy Cooking Factory (http://www.katrepices.com/cours.php).  Katrepices gives a number of courses at lunch, midday and in the evening and the type of course on offer changes regularly and in the evening you cook a 3 course meal.  Our course was a midday course starting at 15h00 till 17h00.



Katrépices where the course was held



There were 12 of us on the course and we were all positioned around a central cooking area with the Chef on the one side explaining the process.  There were four different ‘stations’ as we were going to make four flavours and colours of Macaron, so we worked in teams. 

The Chef started by making the meringue (which was very complicated and involved heating a sugar and water syrup to exactly 115 degrees).  This was left to beat for about 20 minutes while we continued with the rest of the process. 

We started making the fillings. Our group was making a cherry jam filling. So we blitzed some cherries and added pectin and boiled till it was syrupy.  We then added sugar and boiled some more.  We then poured the mixture into a flat tray and put it in the fridge to cool. 



Making our jam



Ready to be put into the fridge to set

The other groups all made fillings with a white chocolate and cream base. The fillings were vanilla, liquorice and Chartreuse (which is a herbal type liquor).   



Cutting up the white chocolate



We mixed the icing sugar and almond power adding a little food colouring depending on the station we were working at.  We added some red colouring which was to compliment our cherry jam.  The other groups made green, grey and white mixtures.  Lastly we added the egg whites. We spent a long time mixing this together by hand.

Mixing the red



more mixing...



Mixing the green



Taking turns



Once the meringue mixture was ready we added this to the coloured mixture and once again mixed it really well to ensure a smooth shiny Macaron. 



How the meringue mixture should look



Adding the meringue mixture to the coloured mixture



More mixing

Then we started piping the mixture onto baking sheets and the aim was to make circles of the same size according to the template.  This proved very tricky and the result was a lot of laughs and variety of circle sizes (but the taste is the same anyway). 



Piping the mixture



The Chef keeping an eye on our work



While the Macarons were baking (which is another very technical process as steam needs to be released from the oven at various stages) we continued with the filling.  Our jam was setting nicely.

The Macarons eventually came out of the oven.



Pink



Grey



White



Green



Once the Macarons were cooled enough we started the process of adding the filling. The pink Macarons went with our jam filling, the liquorice filling went with the grey Macarons, the white Macarons went with the vanilla filling and the green Macarons went with the Chartreuse filling.



Concentration while adding the filling



Adding filling



Our first pink Macaron with cherry jam in the centre



Looking good



Our group



Leftovers used to create a multi-coloured Macaron



Adding some toffee to the vanilla Macarons



All in all it was a really fun afternoon.  The French was not too bad and I understood most of what was said, although there was some translation involved when needed.  The other people on the course were friendly and the Chef was very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

The course reaffirmed that making Macarons are tricky and I am not sure when I will be brave enough to try them at home as everything needs to be so precise.  I would recommend this course (which costs CHF 75) and I would definitely consider doing another of their courses in the future (although some of the evening courses are quite pricey). 

At the end we all got a box of Macarons to take home with us.  And even if I have to say so myself, they did not look too bad for beginners...



Our packages to take home



Looks good...



Tastes great!



Jet d'eau

The Jet d'eau is the awesome fountain on a jetty that stretches into Lake Genève.  It is one of Genève's most famous landmarks and is definitely a must see for any of our friends and family planning to visit us in the near future (HINT HINT J). To be honest it is so huge it is hard to miss!

According to the Genève Tourism website (http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/?rubrique=0000000172&lang=_eng) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_d'Eau) the Jet d'eau was originally a simple security valve at the Coulouvrenière hydraulic factory, this water fountain has, over the years, grown to be the symbol of Genève.  In 1891, it was transferred to the "Rade", to become a major tourist attraction. 

The present Jet d'eau was installed in 1951 in a partially submerged pumping station to pump lake water instead of city water. The pump propels 500 litres of water per second to a height of 140 metres at a speed of 200 km per hour (124 miles/h).  When it is in operation, at any given moment there are about 7,000 litres of water in the air. 

Since 2003, the fountain has operated during the day all year round, except in case of frost and particularly strong wind. It also operates in the evening between spring and autumn.

If you do not mind getting a bit wet you can stare up at the Jet d'eau via the jetty leading you to a few metres from the base of the nozzle exit.

Hubby and I really find the Jet d'eau beautiful and are often fascinated by how different it looks depending on the weather and the time of day. If it is windy the area of spray is huge, in the evening it is lit up by clear lights and on some evenings it is lit by a red light. The best, however, has to be when the weather is rainy and overcast and a rainbow appears. The rainbow on Monday was truly the most beautiful and breathtaking I have ever seen (the pics don't do it justice).

Below are a variety of photos we have taken of the Jet d'eau at various stages of our stay so far. Which is your favourite?

Is this a WRINKLE…

So this Saturday was my birthday.  Do I feel older – not really!  Do I look older – well...maybe, there are some signs of wrinkle development (note to self, buy some ridiculously expensive face cream that promises eternal youth to make me feel better J ) but on the up side no sign of grey hairs yet! Plus I am remaining positive because this is the last year I can say I am in my 20’s.

To be honest I did not have time to think of or plan anything for my birthday as we moved into our new apartment on Saturday morning.  The move already started on Thursday with a friend offering her car to drive 1 load to the apartment for us. Then on Saturday morning we got moving very early and packed like oxen we made our way to the bus stop.  Two bus trips later and feeling exhausted we made it to our local sports pub in time to watch the second half of the England versus Argentina Rugby World Cup match.  We enjoyed a full English breakfast and after the rugby headed home for a well deserved nap.

In the new apartment I was surprised by a lovely gift from Hubby, my Parents, Sister and Brother-in-law.  Hubby had dropped off my gift the day before so it was waiting for me on the dining room table – it was a lovely welcome to our new apartment.

Hubby took me for a lovely romantic dinner.  It was a beautiful evening so we walked across the lake to the restaurant Le Perron. 



On our way to dinner

We arrived as the sun was setting and we sat outside under the awning enjoying the warm evening by candle light.  

Romantic atmosphere

We started by ordering a bottle of Recorba red wine from Spain. Hubby ordered the Steak Tartare (a meat dish made from finely chopped raw beef marinated and spiced and served chilled) which was served with fries and warmly toasted bread.  It was the first time Hubby (or I) tried Steak Tartare and he really enjoyed it.  The steak nicely spiced and was very tasty.  The warm bread was a nice side however the fries were nothing special.



Hubby's Steak Tartare

I ordered the lamb dish served with the chef’s salad.  I loved this dish!  The lamb tasted like slices of roast leg of lamb, cooked medium rare with a flavoursome gravy.  The lamb was melt in the mouth tender.  The salad was a good light accompaniment for the meat.  A nice addition to the salad was crushed walnuts.  I think this was my best dish in Genève so far and I would definitely have it again. 

My delicious lamb

We ended off with a portion of profiteroles to share and luckily we shared because it was a huge portion.  They were served with vanilla ice-cream in the centre and loads of warm chocolate sauce...YUM! 

Dessert

After dinner we took a slow stroll back along the lake to spend our first night in our new apartment.



Lights under some bricks in the town centre



The bricks light up in the evening to highlight words in different languages

  

Lights reflecting on the lake

Then on Sunday South Africa were playing their first Rugby World Cup match so we met up with some friends (4 South Africans and 1 Canadian) and headed by train to a South African bar in the nearby town of Gland.  

The pub is across the road from the station and is called Bull’s Pub (The owner is from Pretoria and supports the Blue Bulls so I asked him why the sign was red and he said it was because it was easier to see from far – fair enough!).  It is quite a small pub but it was not that busy that early in the morning so we managed to find a seat. 

Bull's Pub in Gland

Enjoying the rugby

We enjoyed the rugby but it was a tighter match than we would have liked, which of course had most of us stressed until the final whistle.

We ordered some food which included a bacon and sausage roll and traditional South African Bunny Chow, which was delicious!

Bunny Chow

All in all it was an eventful and busy weekend with the move, my birthday and the rugby.  And then it was Monday...