Making (French) tarts

I returned to Le Petit Paris to make Thanksgiving tarts (apple pie, pecan pie) but in a much more French than American style – which mostly means the amount of sugar is massively reduced (the results are really not sweet enough for me!) …

There was a lot of work to do to create two pies in the allotted three hours (in fact we overran to four hours) so Stefan did quite a lot of the work while we watched and learned … the pastry dough was pre-made and we rolled it out an in to the provided cases; Stefan made the various fillings (with ground pecans and almonds for the pecan pie, and chopped apples for the apple pie) and we loaded them into our pies … it was a lot of fun and some good learning too!

Here’s my photos from the day; this first set shows the provided dough going in to the pie cases, then Stefan making the pecan pie filling (a not-sweet soft caramel base with ground pecan and almonds) which we then spread into one pie – both pies then were cooked …

The second batch of photos shows the apple pie filling being made (more caramel style mixed with chopped apples):

And here’s the final pies (in the four pie picture, my creations are in front with Stefan’s behind – I tweaked mine a little!):

(reminder about my previous visit, making sourdough bread)

Storybook Dining

Last night Margaret and I joined various of her friends to enjoy “Storybook Dining” at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge; it’s a quite expensive fixed price dining experience with a limited number of menu choices – although we both found acceptable options (I didn’t photo my entree, it wasn’t that great!) …

The reason for dining here (and paying the almost $70 each) is for the Disney characters – during the meal, Snow White and her companions Grumpy and Dopey visit the tables … and there’s also a chance to attend The Queen!

Overall it was a fun night but like everything Disney, it’s expensive!