At 5:00 AM, the warm yellow lights turn on every day in the back of the bakery. 

Marie gets busy with all the work that lays ahead of her in the day. She prepares herself, dusts her hands with flour and begins to knead the dough. She kneads the dough long and gently though. 

There is flour on her apron, hands, and strands of hair that fall often on her face. From the pantry to the kitchen, she runs around gathering ingredients. 

In a large bowl, she sieves the dry ingredients into the flour. In another bowl, she whisks the wet ingredients. She works with the intensity of a controlled hurricane. 

Now and then, she checks on her pastry and bread dough. Kneading them long and gently though. 

She works on the bread on one side while simultaneously working on a fluffy chocolate mousse. 

She whisks warm whipping cream with cacao powder in a bowl. In another, she mixes milk, sugar, and cornflour. Folding in the batter smoothly until it all comes together.

She pours this mixture into a saucepan and turns on the flame. She adds chunks of dark chocolate into the concoction and starts stirring till it turns into a mini brown whirlpool in the pan. 

She stirs and stirs until it becomes delectably dark and gooey. She pours this into a baking tray for cooling. She drizzles some cocoa powder on the chocolate mousse just before sliding the tray into the refrigerator.

She dusts her apron briefly and goes back to kneading a new dough again. 

Like this, Marie passionately bakes away every single day. Tirelessly, making wonderful pastries in her French patisserie. 

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