This is one of my favourites sayings.  It literaly means that vanity has a price.  My mother used to say it all the time. Naturally, I learned it from her and said it to my daughters who just hated it and both my daughters would stop me the moment they knew I was going to say my famous line: pour être belle il faut souffrir”.

Ironically today I said it to myself after assembling this croquembouche for Stephanie’s bridal shower.  This beauty is 160 choux high, but I could  not have reached this height without burning a couple of fingers. The final product was worth every minute of pain, all in the name of the young couple’s love. 

Today, this adage applies to this beautiful “pièce montée”: pour un beau croquembouche il faut souffrir!