My Week as a Pastry Sous-Chef

At the floor level of our Philadelphia home, was the most wonderful treat, J'aime French Bakery.  We would visit Sunday mornings for the best mochas and chouquettes ever!  

J'aime is the dream of Bastien, a classically trained LENÔTRE  pastry chef.  One morning I noticed a sign "Help Wanted- Pastry Chef and Barista".  I asked Basiten, "Can I help while you are looking for someone permanent, and in return can you teach me some of your recipes and techniques?"  Luckily for me, he agreed!  

Our version of Jacques Pepin and Julia 

Every morning I would put on my J'aime apron, and learn- crepes, meringue, eclairs, and Basiten's famous olive oil cake.  I assembled the merveilleux and filled the eclairs and coated the tops with the wonderful chocolate ganache.  

Merveilleux means "Wonderful"!

But alas, it was time to leave our little Philadelphia apartment and the city life of good food and great pastry so my days as a pastry sous-chef came to an end.