easy desserts & recipes: choux à la crème (meet marie)
The two creators of myFudo, one of the most fun and informative food community sites in the Internet, are great friends who have not yet seen each other in “real” life. If asked what they would do if they did get to meet, these would be their answers:
If someone had told me years ago that I would find true friendship in the Internet, I wouldn’t have believed them. I would have shrugged of the very idea that I would find any remote semblance of a friend in any person I meet on the computer. But life is unpredictable, and gave me an unexpected gift in the form of Camille. Although we have never met in real life, I hold her dear to my heart and consider her a friend in every sense of the word. Would you believe that we have been friends for three years now? Wow!
Managing myFudo together has brought us even closer as we share our love for food, among other things. If we were to meet someday, I will offer her my favorite dishes, and it will be a feast full of fun and laughter as if we had always known each other since childhood. For dessert, I will serve her choux cream, those delicious puff pastries that are also known as “cream puff” to Americans, “choux à la crème” to the French, “profiterole”, and “prophiteról” to the Greeks. They are the quintessential embodiment of just how versatile this dessert is no matter what part of the world it comes from. It still keeps the essence of what it is known to me, just like my friendship with Camille, wherever ends of the earth we find ourselves to be in, there’s this certain something that draws us together.
Now, these delectable pastries are filled with either pastry cream, whipped cream, or ice cream, and are topped with a caramel glaze or chocolate sauce and dusted with powdered sugar. Profiteroles are smaller versions of the pastry. Which yet again proves another point: what you see is not always what you get and it’s always the inside that counts. Our friendship developed from the inside, because there were no superficial outsides to judge, which made our understanding of each other all the more pure.
Being a Francophile (French American) I am proud to acknowledge that choux cream has French roots and each choux à la crème is assembled into a pièce montée to resemble a mountain and is often the centerpiece in a wedding or Christmas. Choux cream are elegant and delectable pastries, and I place much care and time into their creation. They would be fitting gustatory treats for my friend, Camille, as we share our stories and our secrets without embarrassment or restraint, nary a care in the world nor having to worry about the decorum of how to conduct oneself because there simply are no reservations between friends!
This post will be a guest post on December 27th 2011 on "Life Tastes Like Food".
Jennifer (Delicieux)
December 9, 2011 at 2:39 pm //
It’s funny how the internet has changed the way we socialize and how many of us have made wonderful friends online. I was lucky enough to meet my best friend and my fiance, both online! So I definitely think the online world is an amazing place.
Your profiterole’s look divine!!! In fact they are one of my fiance’s favourite indulgences, especially when smothered in a chocolate sauce.
Valentina
December 9, 2011 at 3:44 pm //
How cool! I love this story. What a wonderful collaboration you’ve both made! Love the site and these look super delicious! :-)
Parsley Sage
December 9, 2011 at 9:03 pm //
The internet is so cool sometimes. It truly encourages a global community and introduces us to people we never would have met otherwise :)
These pastries look fantastic! Buzzed!
Jen at The Three Little Piglets
December 9, 2011 at 11:13 pm //
They’re like little billowy clouds of goodness! Oh I haven’t had a cream puff in SO long!
sarah @ seattlefarmette
December 9, 2011 at 11:18 pm //
Those look delicious, and cool story about meeting via the internet and never (yet) in real life. How DID you meet online, btw? I’m curious!
myfudo
December 10, 2011 at 11:47 am //
Dear Sarah: We met through each others personal blogs a little over three years ago, grew up in the same area (East Coast, New York) (Now living worlds apart) we know the same places, and people, have so much in common, we have communicated in every way possible for the exception of IRL. Technology makes it possible with video phone, Skype, etc. And of course, an old fashioned phone call. Having always put up boundaries to meeting someone real and true, using online as a medium, I would never have believed it, being the young old fashioned gal I am, I liked to meet people the old fashioned way, in person, through groups, night clubs (LOL) church, wherever. It’s so hard because now we are worlds apart, and being the social bee, I’m so eager to spend time with her, we only have vacations to look forward to in our meetings but it’s something we treasure.
Marina {YummyMummyKitchen.com}
December 10, 2011 at 12:09 am //
Incredibly gorgeous and delicious looking!
Anna @ hiddenponies
December 10, 2011 at 12:27 am //
These look absolutely perfect! I love that you two are doing this together despite never having met, sounds like a very special friendship.
Kiri W.
December 10, 2011 at 12:50 am //
In German, we call them Windbeutel (wind bags) and they’re huge for the holidays :) I have very fond memories of making them as a child and trying to sneak cream licks!
Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love.
December 10, 2011 at 11:44 am //
I too have met so many great friends through the internet that I also consider to be some of my best friends! These cream puffs look so yummy! beautiful photos!
Tanya - Three Square Meals
December 10, 2011 at 9:31 pm //
These lovely puffs would be such a big hit in my family!
myfudo
December 11, 2011 at 7:41 am //
Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments, they mean so much to us.
Kim - Liv Life
December 13, 2011 at 10:06 am //
I have a couple of teenagers who would love these “puffs”!! Wouldn’t mind a few myself either.
Lovely post… I know what you mean about the internet, it’s changed so much.
myfudo
December 13, 2011 at 12:51 pm //
Thank you so much Kim!