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Showing posts with label champagne mumm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label champagne mumm. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Red Fruits with Rose Champagne, watercolor, 9" x 11"
Yesterday I learned I can drink rose champagne with red fruity, chocolatey desserts. Yay! 
Do you LOVE REAL French Champagne? 
You would have loved yesterday's grand French Comite Champagne tasting in Hotel Plaza's ballroom...
You get a chance to speak directly to the champagne makers from Rheims and Epernay...
They are happy to explain to you with passion the whys and wherefores of their brand's characteristics...
You get just a slug to taste, but after many slugs...hmmm
Of course you can 'nose' champagne to enhale the aromas floral or fruity - as long as you have a tall glass and wait for the bubbles to quiet...
Don't forget to SPIT and do not drink up to the last drop or you will never make it around the room in one piece (like some people)
Cleanse your palate with a bit of plain cracker occasionally...
Pommery guides me in tasting a 'flight' of three - their most recent, one a few years older and their vintage Champagne from 2004 - divine. I forget to spit. It's just too divine to waste...
I pay later for my enthusiasm when I sit down momentarily, then get up leaving my purse with my CAMERA on the chaise! I start looking for my lipstick and find my bag and camera missing. I race back and hotel security comes up and says,"Are you missing something Miss?" MON DIEU! Thank Gawd women wear lipstick.
Isn't this Belle Epoque bottle of Rose beautiful?
Isn't this red fruit and chocolate tarte perfect to accompany that Rose. But it was not served at the tasting. Quelle domage...
Only fromage et fruits...
What's YOUR favorite Champagne? Some people drink it every night. Why not? There are so many to choose from. Do try a different brand next time...BONJOUR FRENCH CHAMPAGNE!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Last night I had to eat macarons...
Et les chocolats...
And drink champagne...
At the opening screening of the KINGS OF PASTRY!
Remember I told you about the KINGS OF PASTRY back in August.Well it's here at last!
After the film, filmmakers, Chris Hededus and D. A. Pennebaker took questions. I couldn't resist asking, "However did you get permission from the French Meilleur Ouvriers de France (or MOF) society to make this film?!"
It was not easy.
They had to wait until the very last minute for permission. Even then it was day-by-day up-for-grabs wait to see if they would be invited back the following day to shoot during the 3-day concours. The chance their equipment or even their very presence could disturb the competing chefs or their creations was a major concern. On the last and final day they were given a tiny boxed-area to shoot the film.
C'est comme ca.
Yet in the end the MOF was very pleased to have the competition filmed for posterity. No one had ever attempted it before.
After the film we trooped over to nearby Jacques Torres Chocolate for the post-film soiree...
You feel you are inside a giant cocoa bean...
Ah les macarons et chocolats...
I got to meet the amazing unflappable star and MOF contender of Kings of Pastry, chef Jacquy Pfeiffer sans whites/out of his chef's jacket. Chef Pfeiffer is founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago.
The wives of the MOF contenders are very much heroines in their own right - Mme. Pfeiffer stands by her man as ever.
MOF winner (at the mere age of 26) Jacques Torres tries to explain why there are no female contenders for the MOF...ahem Jacques is now Dean of pastry at the French Culinary Institute and where there are plenty of female contenders onboard. I drew Jacques 1st business card when he was still head pastry chef at Le Cirque. I used to hang out at his station and get sample nibbles - the good ole days..
Jacques did marry his own chocolatier.
Sotha Kuhn, former head chef at Le Cirque was there chatting with FCI Dean, Alain Sailhac...
New York restauranteur, Danny Meyer was there...
Three-time contender for the MOF, Stephane Treand was telling me how it really does take 3 tries to get it right. To know exactly where everything you need is to win the race to the finish line. And it is a race against the clock. And to be able to express your own unique point of view to win over all the judges. Remember the judges have to eat at least 16 desserts. How do you get yours to stand out above the other contenders?
Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer created this cinematic chocolatey sculpture for the party.
KINGS OF PASTRY will be opening near you soon.Don't miss the excitement, the thrills, the tears, the laughter.
And don't forget if you in Washington DC, do come have some macarons with me at the opening at the Alliance Francaise svp tomorrow night!Thursday, July 1, 2010
I'm delighted to announce, after 5 long days of labor, I have a new baby on board - Carol Gillott.com was born this week with the superb help of Mat Rosa.
It's my chance to show you a few of the things I've done...
Did I mention in passing that I painted chef's jackets. Merci Roger Verge.
And I've been a party sketcher...
Not a bad profession as professions go...
My new website does not show that I designed shoes...
Or wrote travel books way back...
Or created a watercolor medium either...
My career has been nothing if not varied. But it hasn't always been a bowl of cerises/cherries...
There have been a few bumps on the road, like the time I tripped in Montalcino, while gazing up at grapes and broke my ankle...
Are you getting a headache yet from all the careers?
Ever the one to make lemonade out of lemons, in 1981 I was shot by a mugger...
That led to a very successful career in pharmaceutical adverising illustration. Go figure...
These days I'm a blogger/macaron-painter and very happy to be so.
Thank you Joan MacSweeny for buying the macaron shoes on Zazzle. Fred, the cat loves them too. I better get a pair...
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings as they say. and let me know what you think.
BONJOUR PBers and a BIG MERCI to MAT!!
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