Ay....Carlotta !
When I left you last saturday, I wasn't serene and in total control of the situation. I knew something would go wrong. I had been too busy the day before, much too much in a hurry to prepare Monchéri's strawberry charlotte.
Obviously I wasn't the only one worrying, my French friend Pascale called me on saturday morning to make sure the mold she lent me was ok (i don't have a proper charlotte mold). When the little sweet gang came, the charlotte was still resting in the fridge and I asked Pascale to help me unmolding it. Et...castatrophe...instead of a well erected charlotte, we were sadly looking at a soft slightly wobbly mound of strawberry mousse vaguely encircled by boudoirs. I couldn't face it. You see, I thought I had mastered the art of la charlotte since a long time ago.
tout va bien ? inquired Laurent (Pascale's husband) while we were quickly arranging the pink mess to look like a more or less decent failed charlotteoui...oui...
oh....mais qu'est-ce qui s'est passé? (oh...but what happened)
ben...je sais pas (dunno)
Monchéri laughed and after the first spoonful baptized it the best flat charlotte he'd ever had. And it was good...actually....See the empty plates below ?
After we finished it all, Laurent who's also French and a charlotte lover was determined to find out what went wrong and asked to see the recipe which is by Pierre Hermé.
After reading it carefully, Laurent said :
mais bien sûr.....pues claro...(but of course)
que tipo de crema usaste ? (what type of cream did you use ?)
bueno....pues...justamente no sabia si usar crema liquida o crème fraîche (well...in fact I didn't know whether to use liquid cream or crème fraîche)
eso es....tenias que usar crème fraîche en vez de crema liquida (that's it...you should have used crème fraîche instead of liquid cream)
Ouf...I felt relieved and we started to talk about next saturday sweet session.....
In the meantime, because we talked mainly about food and also because yesterday my friend Ellie prepared us a wonderful Thaï dinner I leave you with this delightful scene from the movie Big Night which I stumbled upon while visiting the charming Merisi in Vienna.
Mamma mia....this is too good to watch and nearly orgasmitic ! Enjoy it !!
Comments
The movie clip was wonderful, it made me very hungary.
And what a lovely table you set; I have no doubt your charlotte tasted so delicious, even if it was not in its proper form. Strawberries, cream, pastry....what could be better!
I love the tea set you are using too.
It looks like you had a feast. The table looks quite lovely!
Oh yes, me too I would've eaten the charlotte, too!
Catherine
however, your table is so lovely! It has been far too long since I had a tea party. Hmmmm, a spring tea party sounds perfect!
I love that lovely table you set - your charlotte obviously tasted delicious, even if it was not in its proper shape - who cares..?!!!
Just enjoy - we only live once...!!!
I came over from Sara's blog ("Much Ado about Nothing"), curious about what you were writing about "Big Night", one of my favorite movies which she is going to watch tonight on your recommendation. Little did I expect that you were so kind to refer to my own blog! Now I am really touched, that was so sweet of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I love your beautilly laid table, even the Charlotte looks gorgeous to someone like me who hadn't the "height" expectations you had! ;-)
I am grateful to Sara that she pointed me in your direction. I shall be back! :-)
un saludo!