July 13, 2007

I've been ready for bed since I woke up this morning...but i'm still trucking! I had class at 8:30 this morning. Two sections had class. Out of those two sections (about 14 people in each class) 7 showed up in mine and about 6 in theirs. So we combined classes today. Since we technically had a day off yesterday and one class today, everyone went out of town. So it was nice to have new people in class, and I moved to the other end of the class and it was GREAT to have a new experience and talk to new people. We made the marzipan figures and both of the chefs said mine were exceptional :) I thought so as well! I worked really hard. I added a bunch of stuff which you probably wouldn't know if you didn't see the models. Also, we HAD to make the frog and the chick and the last was our choice from the list. I wanted to make the elephant because it was hard. I took them home because they were so cute and I wanted to show them to my parents when they come in Aug for graduation!!!




After class I went to the gym. The temperature has risen again...84 degrees! BRUTAL! So i had to keep telling myself at the gym to stick it out. I was a big sweat ball and dying of heat! After I came home, washed my uniform and showered, and ate a little. Then I left at 3:15 to run MAD errands. I tried to find a graduation dress. Didn't work. I spent a good amount of money, and the only good purchase I got was a pair of useful shoes! (ones I tried to buy before at Camper but this time they had my size!!!) At 7 pm, on my way home, I picked up NASTY NASTY sushi and brought it back. NASTY!!! Then I talked on the phone for a bit, wrote some emails, cleaned my room (MY FRIENDS ARE COMING TOMORROW!!!!!), broke my keyboard space bar (GREAT!) and blogged. I'm about to go to bed. I'm so tired and Casey and Andrew are coming at 7:30 am...but it's ok...because i am WAY excited!

July 12, 2007

GREAT day. I woke up early...too early. 5:30 am! But all did was roll over, put on clothes, grabbed my bag and left! I had to be at school by 6:15 for RUNGIS the largest market in Paris. HALF, maybe less, of our class was there! Anyway, they were all in the tabac drinking coffee. I went on the bus and closed my eyes. Didn't work, because once we started moving I got hungry so I ate my breakfast at around 7ish. We arrived around 7:30 and our tour guide came around. He was not too nice right at the beginning but wound up being much nice later. He is an actor is france. So we chatted for a while! I asked him about the pay and how roles work and stuff. VERY interesting. He spoke english, so it was easy. Anyway, you will see in the pictures where we went. Our class got to go to the Poultry Market where none of the other classes had got to go. Then the Meat (carcass part) Market (4 degrees Celsius inside!!!! freezing!). We couldn't go to the Tripe or the Game parts for obvious reasons. Then we went to the Produce Market, then the cheese market and then the flower market. Each one just amazing! At the meat market, we also got a special tour of one of the mini markets where a butcher did a demo for us. He was dancing everwhere and playing ping pong and guitar with the lamb legs! It was hilarious! after the demo he asked me for a kiss on the cheek...so i gave him one. The class made an uproar. It was hilarious! None of the other classes have gotten that tour either, so we were special. We also got a rose from our tour guide! Enjoy the pictures and feel free to contact me with further questions!

After we got home at 12...I came home and took a nap til 2:20. Then went to the gym and the did nothing for a while. Eventually at 8:30 I went to meet Sarah by my place because we were going to walk to dinner. Well she brought me GORGEOUS lillies! And she was late because she got a bit lost. So we hopped on the metro. We got there in perfect time though. We went to Alain Ducasse's restuarant called Spoon, Food and Wine. We had a little trouble with the waitress at the beginning and even i complained :) BUT my dinner was OUTSTANDING! I left my camera at home so you dont have pictures of dinner, but i can tell u all about it! For a started I had a cucumber soup with goat cheese and crab. TO DIE FOR...and should have been for 20 euros! HA!!! Then for my main course, which is the specialty of the restaurant, there are 3 columns and you pick on from each column and make your own meal. I picked grilled calamari with a parsley and garlic sauce and wok veggies. Well my calamari had sesami seeds on it and it came with a VERY spicy sauce on the side as well which was AMAZING! the whole dish was spectacular! for dessert, Sarah and I split the 5 spoon dish. It consisted of 5 different small desserts plus they give you oatmeal raisin, and choc choc cookies on the side! The 5 desserts were a choc mousse, a coconut and pear cream thing, a cheesecake, a strawberry ice cream (tasted like bubble gum) and a strawberry coulis that tasted like something that should be ontop of waffles. It was AMAZING! I was SOOOO stuffed. I got home at like 12:30 and went to bed at 1:15 or so. LONG DAY! But such a great one...and check out my pretty flowers :)

july 11, 2007

So it was a chill day. I woke up at 8 and went to the gym. Came back and decided that I really didn't want to go to my class. I needed a break from school and since it was my last cuisine practical this week and we are at midterms pretty much, I took my break. It was nice. I took a mini nap, and then ran a few errands. At 3:30 we had a PD. We learned marzipan figures. Pretty lame. Then i went to grab a bite to eat with Manuel. We brought salads back to class. Then at 7 we had wine class. Today was wines from Bordeaux. At 9 walked home with a pit stop to buy something for breakfast since I had to be up EARLY the next morning! I went to bed around 10:30! Relaxed day i would say :)

July 10, 2007

Early morning and late evening :) I had an 8:30 PP. We made Jam and other gummies. It was a pretty easy practical. We worked together on a lot. The camera guy started coming today to take pictures for graduation. Our chef said the four of us were the best in the class, so the camera guy took a picture of us. It was cute. Anyway...I dont have much to say about this class.




During break I sat downstairs and talked to people and looked at my next recipe. Then at 12:30 we had a CP. We made the grilled lamb, only it wasn't grilled because the grill was broke. There were also veggies and cous cous with raisins. The bones on my plating aren't attached...we added them after. Chef helped with my plating, but I plated it myself today. He just gave me the bones idea and how to lay out the rest of the meat! He said everything on my plate was good today. Good cook and good flavor. It was a stressful class but I finished it.

(Jen from Morris...if you see this...I've tried to contact you but I can't. I think there is a way you can email me. I want to email you...so get intouch with me that way please! Thanx for everything and your positiveness!)
At 3:30 we had a CD. We learned Langoustines in a crusty thing that looked like hay, beef in a bouillon with horseradish sauce, and more grilled fruit and sweet cous cous. Eh. Nothing special. After class, Manuel and I (guy from Pride pictures) went to the gym. I worked out, came home, showered quickly and then met manuel to go see Not Another Gay Movie. It was great! I wanted to see it in the states, but no one wanted to go with me. So I was happy to see it. It was very funny! Then at 12 I got home and went to bed shortly after that!

July 9, 2007

Easy day :) I woke up ay 8...went to the gym....came home...got all ready for school...and left! I had my first pain au chocolat today in almost 2 months. It was tasty. At 12:30 I had a PD. We learned Jams and Confitures and different gummies. It was an ok class. At 3:30 we had a CD. We learned Pea soup with bacon and whipped cream (ALWAYS reminds me of the exorcist!), Lamb with couscous in a spicy sauce with veggies, and for dessert a foamy caramel with cognac and coffee flavored whipped cream! After class I went home and cooked myself some pasta and bought a baguette and ate lots of cheese. It was carb day for me :) I haven't eaten many in the past few weeks...so I thought I'd endulge! Did some email responses and now I'm going to read and get a good nite sleep!

Porte de Clignancourt

Today was a WEIRD day. I didn't want to say anything because I knew it was going to fall through...WHICH it did. I was supposed to go to Disney today. And I didn't. I woke up at 8:00, showered, got dressed and at 9 am when we were supposed to leave, the girl bailed on me. SO at 9:45 i got back in bed for 2 hrs. Woke up did laundry and at 2 pm I dragged myself out of bed. I did a city walk which really wasn't a city walk. It was the flea markets at porte de clignancourt. They were good...but I wasn't in a mood to spend money! Go figure. I walked around for about 2 hrs. Then it started to rain and i came back to my area and had a starbucks and bought tickets to a movie called Delirious. It had Steve Buscemi, Alison Lohman, and Michael Pitt. Not bad. It killed some time so I didn't have to go home. Enjoyable though. Got home at 8 and hadn't eaten all day...so I made a delicious salad and scarfed it down! Then talked online. Going to bed now. Looking forward to a GREAT week :)

banquet

I woke up late today. Ok...not that late. 10:30 :) And I decided before I went to the gym I was going to buy a new sports bra because mine was giving me discomfort. So Liz and I went to Decathlon. I bought socks. That's it. Boo. After that I went grocery shopping for all sorts of goodies because I was going to Sarah's for movie night. I was on my way home to my market and noticed it was closed! SOOO annoying! So i came home and did a few things around the house and then went back out again to the gourmet grocery store and bought a few more things. Got home and did a lot more boring stuff. Didn't go to the gym. Too much discomfort. Lame excuse...but I'd rather not give you details :) Sarah eventually emailed and said she was giving up on her work. So I walked over and got there around 7. She made garlic veggies and I bought 4 different kinds of cheeses, a baguette, lots of appetizer veggie stuff, Sarah had olives and red wine, and it was a huge FEAST! We ate tons and watched Coupling. GREAT graduation gift from my cousins :) Then we paused it so we could eat the dessert I bought. I got three different mini desserts from Lenotre plus cherries and strawberries. All very delicious. We watched about 8 episodes and at 11:45 I walked home. I went to bed at 1:30 am. No clue why so late...but i did :) fun day!