Pate Choux and Me

In the previous post I failed to specify exactly what I baked in Pastry I. My mother-in-law has tried to teach me her secrets to a perfect pie crust with no luck. So has my Aunt Velma. This time in class I made my first successful pie crust. The class as a whole made Fruit Tart, Banana Walnut Frangipane Tart, Individual Lemon Cheese Tarts with Strawberries, Individual Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts, Coconut Custard Pie, Pecan Pie, Blueberry Crumble Pie and Cherry Crumble Pie.
2nd day- Fruit Tarts, Tarte Tatin, and two versions of Apple Pie
3rd day- Pate a Choux, from which we made Eclairs, Profiteroles, Paris Brest, and Cream Puffs

I think it was early in 2001 when sister-in-law Anita and I went to Paris to visit her daughter, my niece. We spent a couple of days at Le Cordon Bleu. Before attending class I was wondering what the chef/instructors would be like. The impression I was stuck on was the very tall, imposing and stern chef that Audrey Hepburn had in the original "Sabrina" movie. The first day we were going to take a fresh market tour (that alone could justify a whole post to itself), then bring ingredients back to the school and watch the chef prep the meal. When the chef showed up he was young and adorable. He spoke very little English but was charming.
The second day we were taking a hands-on class on savory appetizers, including Gougeres, which start off as Pate Choux. We had Chef "Sabrina". I made a stupid mistake right off the get-go with my Pate Choux, and showed my mess to the translator, a young American work-study student. She explained to Chef Sabrina, who scowled and said "Non!". The translator got me new ingredients, I proceeded with my re-do, and thank goodness, my gougeres turned out lovely. I asked the question of why some looked so different. Some were high and fluffy and some were flatter like cookies. This was a really important question for me because I had struggled with inconsistent gougeres at home and could never figure it out. Chef Sabrina's response, via the translator, was "I've already answered that question." I quickly decided that a) I was already the class dunce and b) you know what? I'm paying for this class, so I asked him to repeat his answer and he did.
I had a more pleasant experience with gougeres in NYC.