Friday, June 29, 2007

June 29, 2007

ahhh...day off. BUT i still woke up at 8. Went to the gym for a nice long work out, which actually made me run a bit late, but it was good! I showered there and came home and did my hair and put on nice clothes. I met Jackson at 11:30 and Le Comptoir de Relais...supposedly one of the best/cheap restaurants in Paris. I have to agree with what the birds are saying. Jackson and I had a GREAT meal. We shared appetizer and dessert and each had an entree and paid 30 euros a piece. It was definately upscale cuisine too! We split foie gras with mushrooms and then I had the rack of lamb while Jackson had some sort of Pigs Foot and I have NO clue how it was made...but it was TASTY! Then for dessert we had the ever so popular Tart Tatin with vanilla ice cream, which was a hit amongst the both of us! We agreed we would go back in a heart beat! It was fun to go with Jackson as well :)




As we parted ways, I got a starbucks because it was freezing outside and I needed something to warm me up. I then proceeded to shop for 1 pm to 5 pm. I got one shirt. I did try though. I went to buy another pair of shoes and ofcourse, they didn't have my size! Oh well. I bought a baguette and came home and ate some cheese. Then I watched a GREAT movie. I am totally into Audrey Hepburn movies at this moment in my life. I think she was brilliant! Anyway, I watched Charade. It was a horror, comedy, and romance...and I was totally sitting on the edge of my bed! You all MUST rent it! I left my house at 8 to walk to school to meet Sarah. She made the deep fried shrimp with tartar sauce in class and since she doesn't eat shrimp, I told her i was coming over for dinner ;) So I met her at school and we walked home. We ate, chatted, and did a whole bunch of nothing. Eventually I washed my uniform. I walked home at about 11:30 and then went to bed at 12:15! Yet again, another fun day!!!!!

June 28, 2007

What a productive and fun day!!! I woke up and definately had one of those days where I didn't want to get out of my warm bed because it was cold outside. But obviously i did!! I had an 8:30 CD. We learned a petit billy goat cheese and roasted red pepper terrine, pike perch in a bouillon with harissa crust, and for dessert chocolate cream with cardamom flavoring! All amazingly tasty as usual! During break, since we got out at 10:30, I went for coffee and had one to warm me up. I went back early to go over my notes. It's really been helping because, once again, I finished first in class and I was done by 2:10 instead of 3:30! And I didn't do any worse than I normally do. So i am getting quicker and more organized, which is good for me. At the end of the practical chef showed me how to plate my dish. In the picture you can see he added the chives! I loved it. How cool. He said I did a great job and it tasted great. I love that chef. We work well together.


After class I sat downstairs, drank a diet coke, and went over my notes trying to figure out what chef said we could make together in this practical. Eventually we all went to class and it turned out we could pretty much do the ENTIRE practical in pairs, except the macarons! It was a blast. Kaili and I kicked ass. And so did Melissa and Katie if I may say so. The 4 of us...we just rock. We were done before everyone else. I'm starting to think chef is liking us more. And he actually said to me today that he can see how I have gotten more organized and my product is much better than basic...well DUH! But no...it was nice to hear. Anyway, chef liked ALL of kaili and I's products. I think we did a great job...and we work really well together. It's cause we have a plan and want to do it quickly and efficiently. Anyway, it was a fun practical. We made 3 things. Green tea cakes with white chocolate ganache, Chocolate macaroons with pistachio buttercream, and shortbread cookies with mandarine. We were supposed to use Jasmine...but Chef couldn't find it. Eh...oh well. In the picture I just piped the batter out two different ways. And on the macaroons, I put tops on a good amount of them. But they are technically restaurant petitfours, so they are served on plates. We didn't present them like that.





After class was done I ran to the gym, the one by school, and did a quick work out. I took a fast shower, and then went straight to Sarah's. She had her class over for wine and cheese and food (plus my cake I made the day before and the petitfours that I made!). She is in intensive cuisine now, so her class is only 16 people. I got there when only 7 people were there...but they were HILARIOUS! I've never met a bunch of funnier people. Anyway, it was a blast. I stayed til about 12:30. Then everyone left. I helped her clean up since she is letting me clean my uniform there since i STILL have no hot water :) I came home and went to bed at 1:15. It was a great day!!!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

June 27, 2007

Wow...end of june already! sheesh. goes by quickly! anyway, another long day today. But once again...ended well! At 8:30 this morning I made a cake. It was chocolate and pistachio. I had enough ingredients to make two...so i did. We had nice chef...and we had a blast. It was just Kaili and i...and you know, the rest of the class! Anyway, we whipped that cake out! Before we knew it, it was 11 am! But we had fun. Chef never says anything specific about our cakes. So I think I did ok. We also made these fun flower things out of chocolate. I took 3 pics of my cake from different angles!



After class I went to the gym. Nice work out. Then came home and put on nice clothes and MAKEUP...first time in...oh...two months...maybe longer! But i was feeling low and wanted beautify myself! Sales start today. First day. And they are the entire month of July. Well, things start anywhere between 20 and 50 percent off and then in about 3 weeks they go down to 75 percent off. But obviously the good stuff is gone. Anyway, I walk by this store EVERYDAY...seriously, and I see these shoes I want. Well i've been waiting for this sale. It's been atleast a month if not longer that this store has had these shoes. So i finally go in and am ready to buy them. Yep...you guessed it. They didn't have my size. Oh well...didn't need to spend the money anyway! POOP! So i went to school for a 330 PD. I'm sorry but we learned 5 things all very similar so I'm not gonna write what they were. BUT they were mini restaurant petitfours. All tasty. And we are making 3 of them in class. So you will see them. After class I went with my friends to sit at the coffee shop til we had wine class. At 7 pm we had wine class. Tonight we learned Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Hungry, and Austria. Then I came home and i'm about to pass out! nite all.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

June 26, 2007

What started off as a nice day, and ended as a nice day, had a rough middle. But that's ok. We all get through those times! I woke up at 9 and went to the gym. They had towels today so I was all good :) Came home and made breakfast, did some things around the house, and then had a little breakdown and called my mother. It lasted a good while...but I eventually left my house to get out of there. I sat at school for a while doing nothing til my class started at 3:30. We had a CD. We learned Shrimp with lemongrass and coconut milk, roasted cod, basil gazpacho (the french way) with vegetable and chorizo skewers, and a strawberry soup with yogurt ice cream. All three pretty tasty. I'm telling you...this chef is the master. He can make anything taste good! Well...we finished that demo at 5:30! Kaili and Katie decided to go home. And that was my thought in demo as well. BUT since they were going home i knew I had a lot of space in the class room, so i decided to go. So melissa and i took up all the counter space. At 6:30 we had the CP and we whipped it out. I was FINISHED plating by 7:50...and i was the first one ;) It was nice. We had a new chef...who isn't just a visiting chef. He is new and is going to continue working there. Anyway, very nice and spoke english the whole time! Well...he tried my gazpacho and we both agreed it had too much sugar in it. So he started to make me a whole new one. I told him not to, because just by him telling me what i did wrong i learned and by him making me a new one I wasn't going to learn it. So I continued to work and we came up with a solution to tweak it. We added more tomatoes and bread crumbs. Then blended it again and it was MUCH better. Anyway...everything on my plate was good EXCEPT for my aubergine...BUT...the chef in demo had left over aubergine...so most people in our class used his so we didnt have to make any more/new stuff. So he said it had too much garlic in it. hahah. I told him to blame chef ;) Anyway, I was glad i went in the end.

Then after class I went to the grocery store which I was supposed to do during my breakdown pd. Then I came home and ate some dinner. I'm about to get my life together for classes tomorrow and then go to bed.

June 25, 2007

What a LONG day! But a good one! So today had fun filled stories :) After a week of waking up late I had to wake up early today. I actually woke up at 4 am after having a HORRIBLE nightmare. So from 4 am -6:45 am i wasn't sleeping because I was paranoid. But i dragged myself out of bed at 6:45 and proceeded to get ready for school. At 8:30 I had CD. We learned GREAT food. A fresh and smoked salmon wrap with egg whites, leeks and a shallot vinaigrette, quail and veal sweetbread with shitake mushrooms wrapped in a puff pastry, and for dessert, licorice panna cotta with caramel! DELICIOUS! We finished pretty early so I sat in the winter garden and went over my notes to prepare for class. AT 12:30 we made the quail dish. I went in and knocked that dish out! I was done asap. If it wasn't for having to put it into the oven, I would have been finished REALLY early! But nonetheless...we all sat around waiting for a while. We still got out pretty early. Anyway, I felt good about it. Chef didn't say much. It was "bon travail" chef. So obviously I did good. Anyway i forgot to take a picture of it whole...so I got it half cut and then my presentation.


Ok...so my great gym story. So today was the first day back at my gym! I was so excited for many reasons! one...to work out, 2) to shower and c) we have all new machines and AIR CONDITIONING! The catch- the shower is communal. So i have to be nekked infron of all of the french woman...which seem to have the same bodies...it's weird! Anyway, whatever...no hot water at home...i was excited! So, i get there and they have no towels. They said they'd call everyone over the loud speaker. Ok...so mid workout, me not being able to understand french...someone says something over the speaker and i assume it's about the towels. I have 20 mins left on my machine so I finish and i go downstairs. NO TOWELS. Well i HAVE to shower...i am going to dinner! So...i get nekey and shower. Well i walked around for a little and then decided to go in the sauna to dry off. STUPID. I just started sweating. So i towel off a bit with my nasty dirty clothes. Well as i'm leaving...THEY HAVE TOWELS! ARGH! So annoying...but funny. Only happens to me! Anyway, I went home quickly to put on nice clothes and then went to the dr. I know, i know. But i had glass in my foot that needed to come out. But he couldn't find it. BUT luckily i went. We figured out why my feet have been hurting so badly! I have a fungus on my feet. Just what everyone wanted to know right?!?! ;) Anyway, atleast i went for some reason and not just to go! So then I met Trephene at Au Fil Des Saisons. Below is a slide show of our dinner. It was really good. We also drank a bottle of red wine. It was a great evening. The picture of Trephene is her with a Trupphine. (not sure on that spelling) But it was a chocolate candy that came with her coffee and i near lost it! It was so funny!

anyway...I got home at about 11:45 and went to bed at 12. It was a long but fun day!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Shiatsu

Today felt like a LONG day! But a good one...well for the most part! I woke up at 9...like i did EVERY OTHER DAY THIS WEEK :) Gets old after a while! Anyway...i decided that the kitchen floor was DIRTY! The cleaning lady never came on friday, so i decided to mop! Well i did and i got a piece of glass stuck in my toe! Great. Gotta go to the dr now. I tried to take it out...but it's SO small that i couldn't stop bleeding nor could i find out where the glass was...so i gave up. Then i read a bit and at 11 Leanne came over and did Shiatsu til 12. She left and shortly after I fell asleep til 2:45. I then went to the Laundrymat and did a load of laundry. I met two really nice people on a 10 week tour around Europe. They were from Australia. So atleast I wasn't bored there today! Then I came home and read some more and got my bag packed because before i knew it, it was 6 pm! I walked to Sarah's and showered at her place. Then we left for dinner. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant (she is a veggie). It wasn't horrible...but it wasn't great. We pretty much split everything we ordered. We had french onion soup, goat cheese salad, leek gratin, aubergine mille feuille, and for dessert a chocolate cake and tart tatin. The best thing was definately the leek gratin. Oh...and the "whipped cream" on the tart tatin was made with soy milk or something. It was gross and hilarious at the same time! We didn't get out of dinner til 10:30! I got home at 11 and I am about to pass out! Had a great day though. And this week is all messed up with times...so I'll be on a funky schedule (however with great lunches and dinners planned!)

Cours de patisserie

So today I woke up at 9, again, and I had a PD...YES...on a saturday! I actually left my house early and went to my market to buy bread for my friends in my class. There are a woman at my market who makes WONDERFUL bread and i think she makes it out of her home...but I'm not too sure. After that I went to class and waited for Sarah to bring me my CLEAN uniform :) No more fish smell! So from 12:30 to 3ish we learned one cake a million ways! It was a chocolate and pistachio surprise. But it was boring to say the least! And when we ate it...the choc mousse was way too over powering! I took a picture to show you how my class it when it comes to taking pictures ofthe chef's food. It's pretty funny AND that wasn't even a croweded day!

Anyway, after class I went to have a coffee with Kaili and Lauren and then sat with them and Fernando and Kara while they had a beer. Eventually it turned out to be 5 pm and I went home. I came home and decided my room looked like a bomb hit it. You know...i hated when my mom used to yell at me when I was younger that my room was always dirty, but now I thank her...because i HATE having a dirty room :) Thanks mom! Anyway, I vaacuumed, I cleaned the counter tops with that smelly stuff, and I even made my bed. Looks pretty. Then I decided to call Madame and ask what the situation was. WELL...there will be no hot water til ATLEAST the end of next week. thats ONE MONTH! My gym will be open this week. So that means I can shower with all the ugly nekked french woman. Hey...it's something! ARGH...SO PISSED. After that, I actually decided to slow down in life and read a bit. I called Trephene to see if she wanted to do dinner, but she didn't and i was kinda happy because I wasn't hungry. BUT i did decide to drink the rest (about 3/4) of my bottle of white wine i had open from thur nite. So I chugged that. And since I had no food in my body, I was pretty happy. I ended my night on a high note by sending an important email, and then went to bed at 11. Had to get ready for my big Shiatsu appt in the morn :)