Soufflés!

One of my earliest memories of pastry was at the old Paragon shopping centre.  When I say old, I mean really old, like about 20 years ago, where the sleepy old building had a spiral walkway-staircase that goes all the way up to to the 4th (5th?) level (there was Pierre Balmain!).  On the ground floor, there's a little path that leads to the back to the one of the first Body Shop in Singapore (I used to spend hours reading their labels and memorising all the said-attributes of each herb and natural extract used in their lotions.  I digress....)  Behind the Body Shop was Temptations (I think that was what the pastry shop was called.)  And one of the heavenly sweets I (rarely) treated myself to, was the Chocolate Soufflé.  Actually, come to think of it now, I don't think it was much of a soufflé.  Sure it was oblong looking, and a raised choc mousse that looked 'soufflé' (for non-French speakers, soufflé means to be blown up, expanded, thus describing the effect of the hot air rising from the pastry base and meringue, giving us the much beloved light and airy texture.)    So, I think what I had was actually a choc mousse cake given the appearance and name of a soufflé.  I used to think to myself, wow, so exotic!  This new language and food.  Maybe it started, sub-conscientiously, my journey into things French.  

What you see here is the classic Chocolate Soufflé, and a Calvados Soufflé - we carved a receptacle into an apple and baked a souffle out of it, it's quite pretty.  Next we prepared a plated Crêpe Soufflé.  Making crêpes is quite easy once you  get the hang of it.   

Have you ever munched on a hot crêpe on a cold wintry Parisian day, its citrus-y Grand Marnier filling up your nose, and your fingers getting sticky from the sugar?  If you had, in the midst of her alluring monuments, you'll soon realise that life indeed can be quite beautiful.