A Good Day.

It's Friday. Thank goodness. I just had my last day of school till March 22nd. Oh my. I kicked butt today at school in my kitchen practical. Oh yeah. You could say it was the perfect ending to a rotation.
For the practical we had to cook a comfort meal, a main and a dessert, that would be able to sell for $35.00. It took some thinking to come up with my comfort meal...I realized that what was comforting for me was to have someone cook me a meal! And that I don't really have a favorite dessert or one that comforts me because what I love doing is making a dessert and feeding it to people I love. But, after some contemplation and help from Tracy I decided to do a carbonara pasta and mini pavlovas. I do love carbonara (bacon, parmesan, eggs, and homemade fettuccine...try and resist it) and I love making pavlovas. I was set.
Things went smoothly until my meringue nests for the pavlovas didn't cook properly and while they didn't burn they did turn an awful shade of brown. I panicked slightly, we only had 4 hours and I did not have time to make some more and bake them for 1 1/2 hours. Thankfully Tracy was there and helped me come up with a solution. French Macarons. Something I have been obsessing about for the past few months. Nothing like our coconut macaroons, these macarons (note the spelling) are two almond meringue discs sandwiched with the filling of your fancy, chocolate ganache or buttercream are the most popular choices. They are simply breathtaking. They melt in your mouth but are crunchy and chewy at the same time. I made them for the first time on Thursday for our snack time (yes, we culinary students require a snack time) and they turned out incredibly well, considering they are finicky things. So that is the solution Tracy gave me, make the french macarons that you know will work and plate it a little differently than the pavlova but with the some components. And I have to say it turned out better than any pavlova I've ever made.
Without further ado here is the macaron/pavlova with lemon cream, fresh berries, and mango coulis.

I am very happy with it and beyond pleased that while it was a rough start with the meringues it worked out perfectly in the end.

The carbonara came together with no fuss and was very fun to make.

That face, by the way, is my "Oh my, it Friday and this plate is really hot!" face.

It was a great day and I am happy to announce that Tracy (who made an amazing meatloaf and chocolate peanut butter pie!) and I tied for highest mark in the class. Let's just say there were a few high fives!