nouvelle fille en ville

Why was today sooo long??? So i woke up at 7:45...i know on a saturday! and went to the gym. Came home got dressed and eventually my newest friend Liz came intown from Canada. She starts school in June as a basic pastry student. I met her online and told her she could keep her stuff at my place til she found a hotel. Well I walked her to school and showed her around and then we found her a hotel. She walked with me after that to my hairdressed cause i had to get something trimmed off, and then we went to Darty (an electronic store) to buy some new headphones only to realize I left my wallet at home! Then we walked back to my house to get her luggage and then I walked her back to her hotel to drop her off. At 2:45 I went to Sarah's to house sit for 2 hours so her landlord could come over to show her place because she was out of town. I sat on the computer for a little and then I fell asleep for a little. He never showed up. Oh well. Then I walked to FNAC which is like Darty and looked for headphones (now that i had my wallet) They had crap...but luckily there was a Darty across the way! So i went there and low and behold i found a cheaper pair than i did at the other Darty...so i was sold. Then the restaurant was about 5 min away so I walked there and sat down for a while to wait for the rest of the crew. At 6:45 most of them showed up. We went to L'entrecote. I spoke of it once many a blogs ago. It's the place that only serves beef and fries for dinner and they serve it twice. Well I had my salad, two servings of beef, i didn't take my second serving of fries and i had no dessert. And I also didn't drink wine. So my dinner ended up being very cheap. I got lucky! It was a nice time. We were celebrating Katie's mom's birthday. She was surprised because we didn't tell her. After that which was about 9:30 I went home and got some really good studying done til about midnight which at that point i kinda rolled into bed and fell asleep. Til tomorrow...

May 18, 2007

today i started school at 12:30 but i went to the gym at 8 like a good kid ;) I left my house earlier than school time and i ran a bunch of errands as well. Then I ran into Katie so i sat with her for a while and chatted. At 12:30 we had a PD in which we learned a walnut/caramel mousse cake, caramels and chocolate caramels. All very tasty. However not tasty enough to convince me to go to class. More on that later. So then at 3:30 we had a CD. We learned the region Lyonnais so the three dishes came from that region. It started with sausage and potatoes, then pike perch dumplings in nantua sauce and last beignets. The fake beignets sucked though. Actually the dumplings weren't great either. Anyway, after class I decided not to go to pastry practical because i hadn't missed one yet and i wasn't too interested in making this cake. Well Sarah, Melissa, Kaili, and Katie didn't go either. Oops :) Oh well. I ran some more errands and then came home to some great news! My door was fixed by Madame's husband AND she informed me we are getting a new fridge/freezer!!!!! i didn't mean to complain THAT much. heehee!! But YAH! So that comes tues. Anyway, i made myself dinner and then made a birthday gift and then putzed around then went to bed at 11ish. not a bad day!

dernier jour de conge

So last nite I wound up booking some italy stuff..and then Bee came home and we chatted for a while. Nothing exciting! So today is the last day off til I graduate from intermediate which is so soon so it's ok! so naturally I woke up at 6:45 :) Went back to bed til 9. Then got up and went to the gym. My gym. Oy...it's crowded and unbearable. I had to wait for a machine and i got on the first one i could which happened to be a bike! i hate them. Plus i don't have my Ipod because my headphones broke and i haven't bought new ones yet! So it was a boring day at the gym. When the construction is done it will be better. On my walk home I went to the grocery store. Came home showered, ate, and left to go to the market. Then came home and plopped myself infront of the computer ALL day. I mean ALL day. and I'm still not done. But close. I'm getting very excited. I tried to watch a movie on my computer, but Bee's movies dont work anymore because they are zone 2 and only zone 1 works on my comp! So i took a mini nap instead...but didnt really sleep...just layed in bed. Then continued back on my computer. Now I'm going to give up soon and do something else. class tomorrow. au revoir

May 16, 2007

So...I woke up at 8 am and got dressed, went to the coffee shop and you guessed it...did some more studying! However...i truely felt prepapred. And at 10 am I took my exam. And I was right...I was pretty prepared. For the Bon Economat part (where they remove 10 parts of the recipe and I have to fill them in...even though they removed 15 parts) I got the frasier and I knew that one really well! I only missed one...which was a STUPID one! Oh well. But otherwise i was pleased. I always freak out for no reason. It wouldn't be me if I didn't :) After we finished...which was REALLY quick...we went for breakfast. However I was still full and on my high from finishing that exam that I just sat and kept everyone company (if you can call me that!) Then eventually we had to walk back to school. At 12:30 we had CP. We made the lamb stew with potatoes and onions. It was smooth rolling. Chef said my sauce wasn't thick enough because I didn't press it enough through the strainer. My potatoes were cooked well and so was my meat. Once again...a little more salt :) We also had to make bernaise sauce. They used to use that as part of the exam but they changed it recently. However chef said my was very good and I did a great job on it. I liked it too. However it's a pain in the butt to make by hand! I will only do that if I have a special occasion. I was sweating so badly in class today, some of my hair die got onto my whites! pretty funny! OH and kaili dropped a strainer in my red sauce and it splashed onto me...so the sauce got ALL over me. But it was ok. I laughed. She offered to take my uniform home for me. But it was really ok.


Then at 3:30 we had PP and I was assistant. We made the WONDERFUL raspberry and passion fruit cake! So delicious. Class was fine. Nothing to report on this. It took a little longer than we thought....but it was ok because I came out with a great cake. Oh and take a look at the side...it's supposed to look tiedyed! So cool! The only thing chef said was that part could have used more color...but we did it in a group of 5...and i wasn't incharge of that part...so can't blame me! But i guess I could have looked at it. oh well. This cake definately came home with me :)



Then I went to the gym. Then came home and madame was here. We chatted for a while. She's so nice. I'm so lucky. I got my package from my mom so I went through that. And now I don't know what i'm doing. But i have no school tomorrow. I have another test a week from tomorrow and I'd like to be as prepared as I was for this one if not more. Cuisine is harder for me anyway. PLUS i HAVE to book the rest of my italy trip tomorrow/tonite if it kills me. Maybe I'll watch a movie. Whatever the case...you'll hear about it tomorrow :) Have a great nite.

May 15, 2007

Long day. Do i always say that? does anyone care? Does anyone read this except for my mother? doesn't matter...she needs to know what i'm doing :) love you mom! Anyway...8:30 am I had a CP. We made rumpsteak with celery root flan. The key to this class was to make one of the steaks medium and one medium well. Not as easy as it sounds. This has to be done first by searing it and then putting in the oven. WE were not allowed to cut into it. The chef had to do it. Once he cut into it, we had to tell him...in french...which cook it was. I succeeded. However...my jus was too thick, but he said it had good flavor and once I added water to it, it was better. My potatoes were also cooked well. Easy class. We were done at 10:30.

Then we went for coffee. At 12:30 we had the coolest cuisine demo. We had a butcher come in.

As you can see in the picture, he brought in an entire lamb. He deboned and cut it into different parts and used the ENTIRE lamb. He showed us every way you can use a lamb. It was really neat to see it done live! We also learned lamb stew, with the shoulder of the lamb and then "french cheese cake". Well...that's how chef calls it! But it was so weird because they BURN the top...but it was actually good! After class I went to the gym! Not my usual one though. But i did hear my gym is getting air conditioning! how exciting. I won't die this summer ;) After that I came home, showered and went to the post office to mail a package to my mom and dad. Then I went to my first wine class in two weeks! felt like forever. But it was good. We learned the boredeaux region. Then i came home and did some cramming for my pastry exam! Finally went to bed at 11. I actually felt ready :)

May 14, 2007

And a new week begins. 3 more left :) Anyway...LONG day today...i guess they all feel long to me! at 8:30 I had a CP where i made the Monkfish wrapped in bacon with artichokes and cauliflower gratin. I don't know why but it was the longest class EVER. We got done at like 11:15! Towards the end of the class I was so frustrated I didn't even care how my plating was! So we had a visitng chef today. He was good. He gave us some new tips and stuff. He told me my fish wasn't salted enough and that my jus was more of a sauce consitency but it had good flavor. On friday when we learned this, the chef that taught it said he would give 10 points to anyone who made as good of a jus as he did because technically all he was doing was flavoring colored chicken bones with water. So after class I walked around for a bit with my jus to find him. I asked and he wasn't at school yet! Bummer. I didn't really think mine was that good...but if he was that picky about the jus, I would have like his critique on something so important since he didn't teach our class. I feel a little cheated actually. Anyway...that was all the comments chef gave me.


By the time we got out we had like 20 min for coffee/talk time...but we went anyway. Then at 12:30 we had PD. We learned a YUMMY cake. A whiles back we learned the raspberry and passion fruit tart (which was outstanding!) and today we learned raspberry and passion fruit cake...which was ten times better! We also learned pear gummies. It was a good demo! This cake will be taken home :) Then we had a CD. It was probably one of the most boring ones to date. I was texting people becuase I was so bored! we learned seared foie gras with apples, rumpsteak with celery root flan and potatoes in goose fat, and a pine nut and walnut tart which was definately a cake! Then after class I was going to go to the gym...BUT lazy me didn't because it was raining out. So i came home, showered, and studied my butt off. But atleast I did that :) I actually fell asleep at 9 because I was so tired. This medicine I am taking for my foot makes me so drowsy and it lasts all day...even if i take it at nite time. I have 3 more pills left...so I'm looking forward to that being done! And my foot healing! ARGH! Ok toodles

la fête des Mères mais....

NOT in europe. Weird huh? Anyway...I woke up at 9 this morning (TOO early for a sunday) but I had to go see Leanne. She is one of the translators at school who I've gotten friendly with. Anyway...since my foot hasn't gotten better and she used to be a podiatrist and now goes to school for shiatsu, she asked if i wanted to be her patient. I agreed ;) So i had an "appointment" this morning at 10! She pressed on me in every which way that killed a bunch...but she said I'd be ok tomorrow. (and i could go to the gym if I was feeling ok! YAH!) anyway, she asked if I'd like to be one of her case studies...pretty cool!! So yah...then I came home at like 12:30 after we chatted for a while also, and had some fruit and then took a nap because all of that pressing made me tired! Then I started to study and nap back and forth for a LONG LONG LONG time :) Eventually i made dinner and watched the good ole Breakfast at Tiffany's. Ahh...so good ;) Now i'm about to go a little more studying and then go to bed. I think I'm very tired today. And I have an exam this week that I need to be well rested for. Plus I'm excited to start back at the gym with my new gym shoes :)

exposition

So today felt like a very long day. I actually had school today at 8:30 am! I made the chestnut dome cake. Things went fine. I had to make my chestnut paste twice because my butter wasn't soft enough...but it was so easy and i was waiting for my cake to harden in the freezer anyway. So this is my hedgehog cake ;) I did a good job on it. I was proud of myself! I didn't cut it open because I was giving the cake away so I didn't want to ruin it. The flower on the top was because I was bored while we were waiting! The brown on the top is a chocolate spray. So much fun. So here is my brown sonic :)


After class I came home to drop my stuff off and pretty much left the house to meet my friends at this food expo that we were given tickets to by school. We walked around for a good 2 hrs and ate lots of samples. But my favorite...which wasn't a sample, but i HAD to buy it...was a BOWL OF CHEESE. I mean i was in heaven. It was pure cheese...but tasted like warm, gooey, buttery, cheesy mashed potatoes. One of the best foods i've eaten. Too bad I didn't take a pamphlet! Anyway...it was a fun time. Then I left and took the metro home so quickly i don't even remember it to pick up my cake and left again to get to the hairdresser on time. Well, it didn't even matter because Erik was running late! So i got there on time at 4:30 and left at 7. That's pretty normal for a color, cut and blow dry though. So once again, he is the master! Great color and adorable cut. AND he spoke french with me and taught me some dirty terms :) Love that guy! I think it's why went back to him. I'm so happy I found a good hairdresser in France. I was worried about that. Anyway...got home around 7:45 and made dinner. I studied and had a much needed convo with a friend and then went to bed. It was a LONG day, but a fun one!