Bob (this one) wrote:
> Last evening we made the layers for a dacquoise and assembled it this
> morning. Two different meringue layers - one with ground almonds like an
> Italian amaretto cookie, the other with cocoa and orange zest. Fillings
> were orange mousse and chocolate mousse, finished with mousse on the
> sides, ganache on top with finely chopped pistachios sprinkled through a
> paper doily onto the chocolate.
>
> She ought to get about 150% for this one. It's gorgeous. Should taste
> very good, too. She piped the layers out and, as you'd expect from a
> kid, got them all bumpy and irregular. Tried too hard to make it perfect
> and, of course, got them spluttery and uneven because of trying too
> hard. Showed her a wet spreader/spatula and what a wonderful tool it is.
> She made them more or less even and we dried them in preparation for
> this morning. Perfect texture, still a bit less than perfect-looking.
> But wait, here come the mousses and see how splendidly they mask all
> those imperfections. I pointed that out to The Kid and she laughed at
> all that worrying. She did the assembly while I made the ganache. I even
> peeled a bunch of pistachios, rubbed the skins off and chopped them. How
> good a daddy is that?
>
> She beamed when it was done. "It's pretty good, isn't it," she said. I
> laughed out loud. Many bakeries I've been in wouldn't have done as
> pretty a job as that. Did I remember to take a picture? Why do you ask?
> Of course not. Not until we were halfway to school and remembered that
> we hadn't. Not that we were giggling like, well, schoolkids or anything...
>
> There's Murphy's Law and Murphy's Dammit Law.
>
> Pastorio
<snip>

Hell, with those skills she can pay her way through college working in
a patisserie! Sounds awesome.

-L.