Desserts

At the beginning of the summer, I decided that I really wanted to try making some of the recipes that I have been collecting from Pinterest. I unfortunately did not get to try out as many as I had wanted to and, I didn't take pictures of everything that I tried but, here is what I had and where I got the recipes from. 

COPYCAT GARRETT'S POPCORN

Ever since my family tired Garrett's popcorn on our Spring Break trip to Chicago we have been hooked. My dad's favorite was the Chicago mix but I loved just the carmel part. So, when I found this recipe, I decided to just stick with my favorite of the two. 

 I got a pretty decent sized pan out of the recipe and it was gone within the day. 

FRENCH MACARONS

 Ever since my trip to Spain and France I have been wanting to try to make my own macarons. Unfortunately, my first batch failed. My second batch was pretty fantastic though, I even brought them for the 4th of July party that my family and I went to. 

To help me make the macrons I used quite a few different helpful things:

For the recipe, this video

For the filling, this recipe

And for tips on how to do it better next time, this helpful website

To get mostly even cookies, I printed a pattern and placed it under wax paper. Just search macarons template and there should be a bunch that pop up.

These cookies are a lot of work and take time but, for me it was fun to make them and they went fast!

Edible Cookie Dough for One

This did not turn out well for me. I ended up throwing it all away after trying a few bites it was that bad. I'm not entirely sure where I went wrong making this but I did go wrong. 

I got the recipe here hopefully most people will have a better experience with it than I did. 

My Spring Break Adventure Part 9

PARIS

To start our last day, we drove out to the Palace Versailles. It was so incredibly cool to see especially after learning all about it in my AP European History class.

 The Chapel from the bottom floor and then from the second floor.

 Most of the rooms were named after Greek gods and goddesses and had designs according to that.

 Louis XIV

 This was a tapestry that looked like it could be a statue or even a painting and I thought that it was really quite cool.

 Louis XIV.

 These fountains went off while we were in the palace but none went off when we went out to the grounds.

 The Hall of Mirrors.

 Louis XIV bedroom. He actually died in this bed.

 Marie Antoinette's bedroom.

 The door that she escaped from to her husbands room when the Fish wives stormed the palace and attempted to murder her. Instead they ended up destroying the room and then later agreed to stop but took the King, Queen and family along with the grain that they had into Paris. They never returned to Versailles. The bedding had to be repurchased when Versailles was used again and it cost over 100,000 euros to get it.

 Marie's jewelry chest.

 The back of Versailles.

 The grounds.

 The statue of Apollo pulling the sun.

 A replica of the Statue of Liberty.

 After dinner, a small group of us along with a teacher went to the Arc de' Triomphe.

 The Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

 This is one of the sets of stairs that you climb to get up and down. On the way down it felt almost as if I wasn't even moving.

 The tomb of the unknown soldier. 

 That night, we also decided to walk down the Champs Elysees and we found the Disney store. Since it was already after curfew, we decided to stop and do some last minute shopping. It was such an amazing last day for our trip.

 The pink sunrise on the way to the airport. 

This trip was absolutely incredible and one of the best experiences of my life. I would go back in a heartbeat and would encourage anyone who wants to go to go. I know that one day I will go back maybe not to every place that I visited on the trip but I will go back and I cannot wait for that day to come!

My Spring Break Adventure Part 8

PARIS 

We started the day by taking a bus tour of the city. Here are some of the sights that we saw.

Suns are everywhere because, Louis XIV, the "sun king" rebuilt Paris during his reign. 

 Napoleon brought this back from Egypt.

 This is where people were commonly guillotined during the French Revolution.

 Les Invalides. A hospital built for injured soldiers and where Napoleon is buried.

 We didn't have time to go back and see the tomb of Napoleon but he is back through the window and in the ground under the gold dome in the next picture. Also, all of the flags that you see are war flags for all of the French victories but, they are not the originals. When France was invaded they took down all of the flags and burned them so that the Germans could not have them. I don't really understand why that was so important to them, but it was.

 The back of The Thinker statue.

 The best picture of the Eiffel Tower that I took.

 This is the building where the end of the Vietnam war was negotiated. 

 Notre Dame

 This is the weighing of the souls. Our guide told us that we could be glad because there were many more people on the heaven side than on the hell side.

 Father Abraham, he has the children sitting on his lap.

 This is the saint that first brought the message of Christianity to Paris. The story goes that he got his head chopped off for preaching and then picked up his head and kept walking and sharing his message for a few more minutes.

 Inside Notre Dame

 Point zero, everything in France was measured from this point.

 When I first heard of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore I knew that I wanted to go and when I found out that it was in Paris and that I would be there I knew that I had to go so I did. It was AMAZING!!! It was small but packed to the brim with books. I would have loved to stay there for hours but I was only there for a few minutes. Nonetheless it was incredible. 

 The Louvre.

 One of the original walls of the Louvre. It was the home of the Kings and Queens before Louis XIV built Versailles. 

 Venus de Milo

 Aristotle, Plato and Socrates

 Athena

 The Mona Lisa. I pushed my way up front to get this picture. It is SO small!

 Napoleon crowning Josephine. 

 Liberty Leading the People

 The inverted pyramid

 This is where we ate dinner that night. It had such an amazing view and is where all of the starving artists live so this is where most people get caricatures done. 

 To get up to this point you either have to climb these never-ending stairs or ride a gondola thing. Most of us just walked but really it was quite a lot of stairs.

 Later that night, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

 The Arc de Triumph from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

We did a ton that day and it all was incredible!