Friday, April 13, 2007

FRIDAY April 13, 2007

Welcome to friday the 13 :) I had 1 class today at 8:30 which was a CD and it was delicious! We learned a tomato and fennel tart, lobster with raisin rice (which we get to make!!!) and chocolate souffle and orange ice cream. Everything was great! Good start to the day. I came home, showered, packed, and am about to leave for brussels! I'll blog on sunday nite when i get back! Bon week-end!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

April 12, 2007

Today I woke up at 8 and went to the gym. Then I came home and put on my flip flops and a tshirt cause it's almost 77 degrees here. Sorry chicago :) NOT! heehee. I went to school at 12:30 to make my opera cake. It's layers of joconde (a white biscuit), coffee syrup, coffee butter cream, and chocolate ganache! What a messy cake! BUT a very tasty one! Not much to say about the class. I started off rough and didn't think I was gonna survive...but I did. It tasted great. As far as look, I don't know...chef said it looked fine. i KNOW i need to work on my piping! I will, I will! I MUST! Here is the chef we had today with my cake. How cute ;) Anyway...it was a pretty fast pace class. But in the end we succeeded!


We ended pretty much at 3 pm and then at 3:30 we had a CP where we made the guinea fowl pie. We were told that we had to put it in the oven by 5 pm. Yesterday we were all like...oh yah no prob! Well today we were so pressed for time we didn't think we were gonna have time to decorate it! But we did. I didn't do mine too fancy. I kept it simple. Anyway...I have to say...I finally conquered my first tasty jus! It had the right flavor, consistency, and saltiness. Everything about it was perfect. Friends and chef said so. AND chef said my dough on my pie was perfect. (notice it goes back to pastry...NOT cooking. haha) Anyway...overall this class was a good success for me! However it was BLOODY HOT!!!!!!! I mean boiling. If today was hot...i can't imagine august...i'm gonna be one complaining little frenchie! anyway...check out my masterpiece :)

Afterclass I walked to meet Trephene at a GREAT restaurant called Grannie. I got it off of a fellow LCB alum's website. It was so good. I had shrimp risotto, tuna wrapped in seaweed with orange sweet potato puree and then for dessert a millefeuille with green tea cream. All of it amazing and only 30 euros! We had a nice talk and a nice dinner. I came home and now im getting ready for BRUSSELS! ciao :)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

April 11, 2007

I started bright and early at 8:30 making duck leg "pot au feu". Along with snausages :), tartare sauce, lots of veggies, and bone marrow (YUM!). I hand made sausages...how cool is that! It's actually kind of fun! Anyway, I got frustrated in class today because it had been so long since I turned a veggie that I couldn't do it! ARGH! Then eventually I chopped my finger! I was bleeding pretty badly, but not enough to stop me from going on with my bad self ;) Anyway, I finished my dish and chef said it all tasted good, but my veggies needed to be cooked a little longer. They like their veggies like mush! Here is my pretty plate.

Then after class we went for cafe and i sat and ate my lunch :) Then at 12:30 CD we learned a veggie salad with ham, a guinea fowl and cabbage pie (which was delicious!) and a pineapple ravioli with pineapple sorbet. Then at 3:30 we had PD. We learned the russian (BORING and gross) and the OPERA cake...one of my personal favorites. I'm making it tomorrow so you will hear all about it. After school I went to the gym, came home and ate dinner, and am now doing stuff for school/my life/this weekend/and just stuff that needs to be done! toodles

April 10, 2007

After a nice long weekend...i had a nice LONG day back!!! I started at 8:30 with a PD. We learned Macarons (YAH!), caramel creme brulee, and a chocolate fondant (more like a brownie) with white chocolate ice cream. All very tasty. Then during break I went to buy my ticket to brussels!!!! I am going this weekend :) Me, myself and I! I am taking a well needed vaca alone :) I am going to eat mussels, french fries, waffles and chocolate! And do some sightseeing! I can't wait. I only have one class friday, so I am leaving right after that! It's gonna be great! Anyway, then I met back up with my friends at the coffee shop and just chilled with them til we had to leave. Then at 12:30 we had CD. We learned Duck leg with sausages (yes we even encase them! pretty nifty), mackerel with crisp veggies, and a rhubarb tart. Since I'm not a sausage fan I didn't like it that much. Oh well. Then after that class I went straight to PP. We made the macaroons! Mine didn't come out as well as I had hoped...but they weren't horrible. Definately not as good as Laduree or Gerard Mulot, but I'll get there! watch out chicago :) Anyway, everything else turned out fine. And chef liked my presentation. We had to present it restaurant style, or how you would serve it. I like to plate. I'm working very hard on my presentation because when I work in a restaurant that is the area I would like to work in, so I would like to get better at it. Anyway, I was pleased, but would have liked to work a little better with my cream.


Then after class I sat down and ate my dinner that I brought from home and talked to my friends. At 7 was my first wine class of this trimester. That ended at 9 pm and then I walked home with some friends. I got home, and was pretty tired so I went to bed shortly after. It was a LONG day...but passover is over...and no more matzoh :)

Monday, April 9, 2007

jour de congé

Yes...I had a day off of school! It's Europe's Easter today...so we had no school. Pretty nice huh? PLUS almost nothing was open! well it was nice til about 6 pm when I started to get antsy. I tried my hardest to sleep. Nevertheless, I woke up at 7:30am...went back to bed til 9:30am. Woke up, ate breakfast, went to the gym, and came home and took a nap from 1-3! Then after my nap I watched Pillow Talk. Such a classic :) Then I showered and ate dinner. Now I've been on the web for a few hrs and bored out of my mind. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I am going to leave my computer so I don't lose my mind! Can't wait to go back to school!! tomorrow is going to be an overall great day...and a long one! toodles for now!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Joyeuses Pacques

So today I woke up at 9 and did laundry, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned my room, and HAD to mop the kitchen floor. If my mom saw that...she would have YELLED! hahaha. It's a white floor and it was black by the time i finished with it last nite! haha. Luckily my flatmate went home for the weekend. So I have the place to myself. Then I did some homework. Then I got all my goodies together cause I went to Katie's for the afternoon with my friends! Katie lives in Fontainebleau (the country!) with her two daughters and mom. Her husband is back home working and comes to visit on our breaks. Nice guy! Below are pictures of where we ate our dinner...which was cooked by all of us. I brought jew food, Trephene brought Jaimaica food, Kaili brought southern food, and Katie had traditional easter food. It was a feast not to be missed. PLUS it was KAILI'S BIRTHDAY! And what a fun one! In the pictures you can see part of the beautiful yard that I spent almost ALL day hunting easter eggs in with the kids. The other part of the day I painted and drew with markers :) What an exciting day! I also got to relax with some wine and enjoy my friends company. Truely a spectacular day. The pictures at the end are of us on the train ride home. It was a pretty nice train compared to the ones we normally take! So we took pics!

Anyway...it was SOOO nice out today I wore flip flops and a short sleeve shirt. Just gorgeous. The perfect day to spend easter and Kaili's birthday outside. And a wonderful day to give thanks to the people around me. I'm so blessed for them! Thank you Katie for sharing your home to us. It's beautiful. Anyway, it's been a long fun day and now it's time for bed. No school tomorrow cause technically in Europe tomorrow is their easter! Niters!

April 7, 2007

Yes...it's a Saturday and I had class at 8:30 am! YUCK! AND it was fish to top it off! Boo. We made the Sea Bream fillets stuffed wrapped in lettuce leaves with jerusalem artichoke puree. Chef wasn't feeling well so he didn't talk much which was nice. Class was fine. Personally, I felt unorganized. Too many parts to the recipe. But I was pleased with the way my presentation looked. Chef said overall my dish was good and he liked it. He said it wasn't hot enough. But the problem is, you plate your dish then wait forever cause he is busy with other people before he gets to you. So oh well.

After class I went to the phone store because again i was having issues with my phone plan....and i tried to score a date with the hottie at the phone store. He asked me to bake him cookies and he told me he'd call me to remind me, so I think that's a good sign! We'll see and I'll keep u posted. But i asked him in french if he would have a drink with me. He laughed. I did too. Ha. Then after that I ran home to drop off my bags and left immediately to run errands. Long day short...I ran around town forever. I came home to drop off bags and then went out one more time to pick up some more stuff then eventually came home to BAKE/COOK! And drink a bottle of champagne! oops ;) Yah mid day buzz while cooking and listening to music! But i had a great time. The kitchen was a mess and i broke a glass, but i made some good products! So before I knew it, it was 9pm and I had to be at Kaili's. So I didn't even get to shower, I grabbed her amazing gift and I booked it to her house and got there at 9:45. I stayed til about 12:30 and then came home. She LOVED her gift. Now I can say what it was. I bought her a TON of american food products at the two american grocery stores we have here plus some extra mexican products like peppers and stuff at this restaurant fajitas. it was a huge basket. I wanted her to have "an american in paris" birthday. She loved it. Anyway...it was a long day and my feet were killing me! bed!