April 27, 2007

What a beautiful day!!!! I sadly woke up at 7:30 when I didn't have an early class today but I went with it anyway. Went to the gym, came home and got ready and walked to my favorite, Le Marais. I went to Sephora and H and M and did damage :) But it was worth it! Then Lauren met up with me and we walked around and I had a new frappacino at Starbucks. Banana chocolate chip...great stuff! Then at 3:30 we had a CD. Although it was beautiful out and I didn't want to go...it was WELL worth it. We did get midterms and I was pleased, but the food was AMAZING! we learned a puff pastry with mushroom flan and asparagus with an asparagus, onion and truffle cream sauce, lamb chops with onions and potatoes in a broth, and for dessert a chocolate fondant and pistachio ice cream! AMAZING! then after school I came home and made myself dinner then stayed VERY busy doing so much stuff I dont even remember! But now I'm going to bed because I have another busy day of shopping (and shipping) for gifts tomorrow! There are important birthdays coming up!!! love to all :)

April 26, 2007

Today I had my long day. Well for the week. At 8:30 we made the coq...ooops, I mean Rooster. Eh...the joke is LONG gone. Not funny anymore. Anyway...I worked my hardest to get in and get out. Worked well...we were done by 10:15 :) My sauce, which was thickened by blood, was a bit vinegary but chef showed me how to fix it with a bit of salt and pepper and heating it up. It worked and tasted better. Then you can see on my plate that my crouton (kinda hard to see) with the onions on top and wrapped in bacon is in the letter of a P for my restaurant Chez Penny (all in my head!!! heehee) Chef loved it. However, not as much the down the table who wrote coq au vin on his plate in blood jus! whatever :) But the chef liked everything on my plate...so that's good!

Then we had a LONG break obviously because we were done so early so we went for coffee and it was perfect weather out because it was a bit cooler! So i just basked in the coolness! Then eventually i got up to get some juice and go back to class. Our 12:30 PD was in the bad room today so I was forced to sit in the last room because everyone got the good chairs! Anyway...we learned the Douceur Chocolat (Heavenly Chocolate). It was a very good cake. Oh and it's midterm time so we got our pastry midterm grades. Better than last term :) Then we had that practical to make the cake. It was so warm in the room that my chocolate tempered funky again! Maybe it's just me?! oh well...practice makes perfect is what the chef keeps telling me. Anyway...class was fine. nothing too exciting happened. Chef liked my cake. He said the decoration on the top was a bit much for him, but the three curves would have been enough. I thought so too...but i was bored! hahahah.


After class I walked home and bought groceries for my amazing salad i made for dinner. Came home and got my box my parents sent so I unpack technically and rearranged my winter/summer clothes! Then I sat on the computer doing some research for a while, about to do homework, read, then bed! hopefully it will be a cool nite!!!!

April 25, 2007

Today at 8:30 we made the Cod in a beer vinegarette with onion rings and cabbage with apples and onions. Sounds tasty, no?! ;) Well it wasn't that bad. However, the beer jus was a bit off for me. I didn't know what it was supposed to taste like so i asked chef for some help. But he liked it. As for the cabbage...I didn't slice it thin enough...so it didn't cook well. They really like their stuff mushy around here! Oh well...it was in the oven for 1hr 15 min! it was only supposed to be in for an hr and chef said...take it out, so we agreed it was both of our faults. Anyway, today I used my french in the kitchen. I'm getting so much better. I'm working really hard at it. And I'm improving a lot. Back to cooking...the first thing chef said to me when he saw my plat was how beautiful it looked. That's my number one importance because when I leave here I would like to get a job plating desserts somewhere and they don't teach you how to plate at this school so I am teaching myself. When someone commends me is the only way I am learning how. So, see for yourself. Otherwise the only thing he said that was a problem was the undercook of the cabbage (that sentence sounded like I was a frenchman speaking english, hahah). He thought everything else had good flavor and good cook. So good job for me today.

After class we sat outside for coffee although as you remember i am not drinking coffee...and even if I was...it's WAY too hot in Paris to drink coffee! Then at 12:30 we had CD. We learned rooster with blood sauce (REAL blood), a traditional pate, and a pear and walnut tart. All three things were very good. After class I went to the gym. I realized today that I hope I survive the summer because it's brutal here now and it's only going to get hotter and there is no A.C. in my gym! Heck...there is NO A.C. ANYWHERE in france! I hate heat! ARGH! Anyway...came home and had a full nite of nothing! jk...did a lot. I made myself some dinner, i practiced piping Opera which is part of our final exam this trimester, i read some of my new book, and I planned part of my italy trip. Not bad for a full evening. Then I eventually went to bed!

April 24, 2007

So last nite when I said i was going to read...ooops...i watched Sabrina instead. The orignal with Audrey Hepburn! GREAT movie! If you don't know it...rent it! Anyway...I didn't know it and felt like a fool. I was like "why is that random poster hanging up at school" Little did i know...Sabrina goes to LCB in Paris. It's a love story and all that jazz! ANYWAY!!!! School at 8:30 this morn I made chocolates! my chocolate tempered MUCH better today. 1) because we did it first thing in the morning so a) no class was before ours and b) it was cooler outside and 2) it was dark chocolate which tempers better! SO overall I had a better day! We got lucky again because the chef we had is the one that allows us to temper the choc in the bowl and not on the table...so we can stay clean. Plus my tempering tools are at home and what a waste to buy new ones...not like they are expensive...but still! We made truffles and coffee. My coffee ones I put WAY too much coffee extract and rum in them so they were VERY soft. Chef said that when he tasted them he couldn't taste the marzipan and that's the point of the chocolate...but he liked them still. As far as the truffles...I don't like the cocoa powder we have at school cause it's so thick...so a few of us used powdered sugar. I rolled mine out pretty round and equal so I did a good job over all. I was pleased.


During break I brought a special treat! I am determined to find a food that Katie doesn't like (not gonna happen!) however I did stump her on food she doesn't know. SO today I brought foreign fruit to school and we all tasted it. I bought Jak fruit, Mangosteen, Rambutan, Sweetsop, Dragon Fruit, and Longons. Well we start tasting and then Trephene comes up all excited saying she used to eat this fruit when she was growing up in Jamaica. We just laughed!
Then we came back to school for a 12:30 CD. It was so boring! We learned cod with onion rings and cabbage and some beer jus, skate salad (one of my favorite fishes...but he cooked it too long!) and a strawberry granita with a mango and passion fruit puree. This is how bored Richard and Leo were :)

After class I went to the gym. Came home, showered and packed up my dinner cause I wasn't starving. I walked back to school cause I didn't want to sit home and I sat at school and chatted with some new people I've never met! I eventually ate my dinner then had wine class from 7-9. We learned wines from the Burgundy area this week. They were ok. Then after class I came home and crashed.

April 23, 2007

So this is a great week at school. Easy and we get out early almost everyday! However we start at 8:30 every morn except fri...but I can't complain! Anyway...at 8:30 we made the trout dish which is the one I thought I got sick from! Once again...I can not filet a fish. Chef said to me when he looked at my fish "this is bad". I just laughed and said "i know". I am trying, but I can't get the hang of it. Plus he showed me a new way which I just don't like. Then my sauce today...it started off crappy but in the end he liked it a lot. Maybe because he helped me doctor it up. My carrots, which we learned to turn a new way, were not cooked enough...but then again...no ones were! So I didn't feel that bad. They like them mushy! it's gross! and personally i HATED the way I plated my dish. I'm even embarassed to post it. But oh well. You win some and lose some!

After class I went to get some juice because I felt that my blood sugar was a bit low and then I went to sit with the rest of the girls outside at the cafe. Then at 12:30 we had PD. We learned more chocolates, but dark ones this time. Truffles, Coffee filled chocolates (actually they are marzipan filled with coffee flavor), Orange peel choclates, and Mendiants (you know the ones with the almond, hazelnut, pistachio and orange peel-they are mini disks). Anyway, I left before tasting today because I'm not a fan of any of them and i tried the ones my roomie made last trimester so i knew what 2 of them tasted like and the other 2 I had had before and didn't feel the need to try them again. Most of you know I'm not a big chocoholic. So I got dressed and went to the gym. Trephene walked with me so that was nice. After the gym I came home and reheated my leftovers from last nite plus a salad. I'm about to go to some homework and then read a bit. It's so nice out I may go out on the porche again! Have a great nite :)

soleil

It was a beautiful day and after my 14 hrs of sleep at 8:30 I woke up feeling much better. So I eventually showered and got my tushy out of the house before 11. I walked and walked and walked to the 1st to WHSmith, but it wasn't open til 1. So I started to just randomly walked and I eventually got to one of the places that happened to be on CNN's 2007 list of best boulangerie's. This place was for the best baguette. I beg to differ! Anyway...finally the bookstore was open and I went in and bought my book. Then I went to a cafe and had a tomatoe and buffalo mozarella salad because a baguette wasn't going to tie me over til dinner. Then I walked a bit more and eventually i plopped down on some grassy area and fell asleep for maybe an hr and a half. And now i have a watch mark and tshirt lines :) But atleast I have some color on my face! Anyway...it was gorgeous outside! Then eventually I walked home taking a detour to the only grocery store I could find open on a sunday to buy some veggies. I came home and made myself pasta with cauliflour, mushrooms and onions. I actually cooked dinner for myself!!! Cool huh? Then I read outside on my terrace a bit, did some computer stuff til it died, then went to bed. Overall, it was a beautiful day and even better that i was able to spend it outside!

je suis malade

I woke up with the flu. I knew i was coming down with something. So all day today I was stuck in bed. Boring post. I did nothing. I managed to do some laundry. I attempted homework and failed. But truely I stayed in bed. At one point Kaili came over to pick up her bags and Lauren came over with some canada dry. But at 6:30pm I went to bed and slept til 8:30am sunday morning. Boring day. Sorry.

April 20, 2007

Well today started off fine. At 8:30 I had a CD. We learned Flammenkuche which was like a french pizza with onions and bacon and tasted a lot like a barbecue chicken pizza! We also learned a trout with a duxelle stuffing (mushroom and shallots) and a frozen plum parfait. The trout is what we are making and it tasted a little funky to me but I shrugged it off. During break I did nothing because we had class pictures at 12. So after pictures we came back to class and I sat in one of the front rows to prove something to my teacher. However in that class I started to feel sick...and I immediately blamed it on the trout! Anyway...we learned chocolates. Three kinds. Praline, Muscadine, and Rochers. I didn't try them because I felt very sick. I left class to take some meds at one point, none of which helped. After that class we made the chocolates...the Pralines and Muscadines. My chocolate didn't temper the first time so I had to do it twice, but chef said it was because the room was too hot, and I believe him. It was boiling in there! not good conditions for making chocolate. Anyway, I was feeling a bit better so I tried my chocolate. not bad, but I still didn't take them home. not to mention, they weren't very pretty!

After class, Kaili, Trephene and I rushed backed to my house like mad people and showered and dressed and Lauren came over with Champage cause tonite was our class dinner. In an a little over an hr the 3 of us got dressed at my place for the dinner. We got on the metro and made it ontime to the restaurant called La Passiflore. It wasn't the best but it wasn't bad. It was michelin starred. So we were all expecting better. But once again I wasn't feeling well. I managed to eat a bit, but not what I could have if i felt well. Anyway...after dinner I came home with Trephene and Oscar so she could pick up her stuff. Then I went to bed at around 12:45. And yes...it's true...i did not take ANY pictures and i think i avoided the camera the ENTIRE nite. sorry.