It is funny how life changes you. Ten years ago my house needed to be impeccable for me to be happy. The house needed to be clean, and in order everywhere. Every bibelot, every paper needed to be in its place. Not a spec of dust were to be seen. Even my children toys needed to be put away after being played. And then we moved. We moved to a bigger house, not a fancy house like the previous one, but a good home. The home we chose, is one that we really live in. It is spacious and roomy and it has plenty of doors for me to shut if I don’t want to see the mess behind it. It is a home I don’t feel stressed if it is not straightened all the time. It is a house I feel comfortable getting in and out with wet feet if I want to. It is a house I can cook in without reservation. It is my home;-)

When my children were smaller, I never really let them cook with me because I was concerned about the mess they were going to make. Today  i love to have people over to cook with. It does not matter if we are going to make a mess, and if the floor is going to be covered with flour. We will have fun.. we will make memories… and then I will clean it up and it will look all good again;-)

I hope that you will too.

Today I hosted a cooking class for several beautiful young ladies and we had much fun. Yes there was a gigantic mess all around when we were done. Yes, there were tons of dishes to be done and lots of sugar and flour on the floor, but we made some great recipes and  they enjoyed learning and tasting. We made Baked Brie with Pepper Jelly, Teriyaki Chicken, Boursin Potato Cupcakes, Broccoli Souffle, Strawberry Tart and Marshmallows;-) Yum.

I will share the recipe of Marshmallow. It is fairly easy to make, very inexpensive, quite fast I think.. and it is really yummy. I adapted the recipe from Mercotte.

Ingredients for about 4 dozens of marshmallows or guimauves:

• 250 gr. of sugar
• 80 ml of water or 80 gr. of water
• 12 gr. or two packs of gelatin in powder
• 3 tbsp of water to mix with the gelatin.
• 90 gr. of egg whites at room temperature
• 2 drops of lemon juice
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/8 tsp of banana extract or more if you want a stronger taste
• a few drops of yellow coloring ( optional)
• 50 gr. of powdered sugar
• 40 gr. of corn starch

1. In a large bowl, mix the corn starch and the powdered sugar.
2. Lay a large roul’pat on your kitchen counter and dust the roul’pat with this mixture of sugar and corn starch. Place the rectangular frame on top of the roul’pat. Set aside for later usage.
3. In a small container, mix the gelatin with 3 p of water. Let it rest.
4. In a small saucepan, cook the water and the sugar and bring it to boil. Cook the syrup until you have large bubbles and the sugar is starting to turn a bit yellow. ( On the thermometer, it should come up to 130 c. )
5. While the syrup is coming to temperature, place the egg whites, lemon drops and salt in a large bowl and beat it until you are getting  beaten egg whites with soft peaks.
6. When the syrup has come to 130 c in temperature, start pouring it slowly in the egg whites, on the side of the mixer while still beating the egg whites. Add the coloring and the banana extract and beat it in.
7. Place the gelatin in the microwave and cook it for 15 sec. Pour the melted gelatin into the egg mixture and beat well.
8. Turn the mixer to high, and beat the egg whites until they are completely cold.
9. With a spatula, put a bit of the marshmallow mixture into a pastry bag and make fun shapes with the paste on the roul’pat. We made some zigzag, some bows, some hearts, some knots. 
10. With the rest of the paste, pour it inside the frame making a rectangle of about 8×5 and about 1 inch width.
11. Dust more corn/flour mixture on the marshmallows and let them rest for about 2 hours.
12. When the marshmallows have rested, you can take a large knife and cut square of marshmallows.
13. Keep them in a sealed container for a week. Miam, Miam…

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!