July 19, 2007

What a lovely day! I woke up at 8:30, sadly, but some workers were pounding outside my room! I showered and got ready to leave my house but didn't leave til 10. I went to the bank and then went shopping! I went to H and M and got a dress for 8 euros and a sweatshirt to replace the one that broke. Before I knew it i was running late school so I got there and grabbed a sandwich and changed. I had a 12:30 demo which I tried hard to stay awake in! It's not that I don't get enough sleep, it's just that sometimes they are boring and I'm just tired. We also got midterms today. :) heehee. That says it all. Anyway, we learned chocolate boxes. At 3:30 we made a chocolate picture frame and box for scratch. Katie and Kaili left and so did two others so we had a small class. It was BOILING in the classroom!!! Anyway, chef said my chocolate was shiny and I did a good job because it was clean and tempered. He said I worked well also. He said it wasn't anything special...but neither is the product we had to make...so I think he meant it wasn't anything to write home about like it wasn't perfect. But it was hard to do in that hot environment. But overall he was pleased.

After class I went to the grocery store to pick up some bleach for my uniform and some dinner. I came home and ate, and then did a lot of laundry so everything would be clean for when i came home! I also made sure my uniform was spotless because it was pretty chocolately, even though i stayed more clean than the rest of my class! Then I booked my trip to ireland in sept!!! Then i packed a bit. It's now 11:30 and I didn't get any info on Madrid except for what some of my friends gave me, but i can get some in the morn. Off to bed shortly! YAH FOR MADRID TOMORROW and 4 days weekends :)

Bye Bye Casey and Dink

Today was TOO long of a day! Not only did I sleep on a couch, but I had about 5 hrs of sleep because i had to wake up to shower this morning. I didn't get into my room because I didn't want to disturb my friends. So I had class at 8:30 while they slept and eventually went to the eiffle tower again to actually go up it! At 8:30 we made the Chicken stuffed with langoustines. We had the same chef we did two days ago and I PROMISED him that there would be "no chame" today! I worked my butt off to make my dish good. When I presented it to him he told me it looked beautiful. He said my sauce was a little too sweet...but then he said that's how the recipe was, so it was ok. He said my cook was good, and overall I did good and much better than last time :) I was very happy.

We got done at 10:45ish and I went to the Daily Monop and the bakery to buy some last minute goodies for Casey and Andrew for their trip. I also went to the computer room to print off their train tickets to Brussels. At 11:45 they showed up and I walked them to the metro and also let them eat what I made this morning! heehee. We said our goodbyes and I thanked them SOOO much for coming. If you read this...i had an AMAZING time and it was my PLEASURE to show you around ;) (VERY sad that they left) At 12:30 I had a CD. We finished up the foie gras terrine and then learned Stuffed Guinea Fowl with TONS of veggies (most of them turned), and for dessert (OMG AMAZING) a banana fondant with chocolate sauce and kiwi sorbet. YUMMERS! All of the food was pretty great today! Oh....and we got midterm grades! Can u believe it! Already?!?!? CRAZY! I am very pleased with myself. And may I add...my plating is my highest grade :) At 3:30 we made the caramel chocolates. It was a lot of fun and hardwork. Chef said my chocolate was great. He said I did a very good job today and he was impressed. He also liked the 4 of us and our organization. Well duh! He's been on vacation so he hasn't seen it yet! Anyway, it took a long time...but it was worth it. The more you temper chocolate the easier it gets i think! But mine was tempered he said!


Then during my hr break I ate some food and called my mom and talked to a Pastry Chef about some things. At 7 we had wine class which focused on Brandies and Eau de vins. Strong stuff! I came home...and blogged...and am gonna pass out ANY second :)

Casey and Dink Day 4

Well...I didn't have class til 12:30 today. So i woke up at 8 and got dressed and went to Lenotre to pick up my two favorite Paris Pastries for Casey and Andrew. The Opera and a Millefeuille. I felt they needed to try it! I met them at the Dupont Cafe for breakfast at 10 am. We ate and then we ran errands. By this I mean we ran all over trying to get them a working phone...and I spoke french pretty much the whole time :) They dropped me off at school at 12ish and they went to the Catacombs. At 12:30 I had a cuisine demo. We learned Lobster salad with melon in a citrus vinaigrette, Chicken stuffed with langoustines in a curry sauce, and for dessert an apple compote with pineapple sorbet and lemon grass syrup. All lacking flavor but not horrible. One of our chefs came back from vacation, so that was quite a surprise! Anyway, I got home at 3:45 and Casey and Dink met me at my doorstep. We went upstairs and I told them not to spend money at the hotel again because they weren't planning on staying the extra day as it was. So, I told them to stay with me! So we left shortly after to go back to the hotel to pick up their luggage and on the way we FINALLY found a phone place that unlocked their phone! So YAH!!!! We also got a baguette because they hadn't had a good one yet. Then we came back and freshened up and left again to meet Sarah for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Beurre Noisette. It was supposed to be good. It wasn't bad by all means. And my meal was great. But as usual...we complained ;) The wine was bad, and Sarah WAY over paid for her vegetarian meal...but oh well. We finally got home at 12ish and I was exhausted. I helped them book their trip to Brussels online. I went to sleep on the couch (cause i am a nice friend) at around 1:15ish...and all i could hear was screaming outside my window :) pleasant!

Casey and Dink Day 3

I had school...but who cares because I am so happy I still have friends intown!!!!! So at 8:30 I had a PD. From here on out we are learning chocolate first and then we go to sugar and then...EXAMS! SO it's coming up pretty quickly. I'm at the 42 day countdown til I graduate and 40 days til mom and dad come! YAH! Anyway...we learned chocolate molding which I've already done, so nothing too exciting. We also watched tempering again. And this heat is sweltering so it's going to be a pain to do it! However we did get air conditioning in the kitchens which is nice. Anyway, we got out super early so i went to get a sandwich and respond to some emails and then Casey and Andrew came to school at 12!!! I walked them around and at 12:30 we had a demo! Chef gave them some hell right at the beginning of class but it was funny! They loved it. They didn't understand a word...but they just loved watching what was going on! We learned a Foie Gras terrine which wasn't tasted today because it needed to be cold, veal with peas in a cream sauce and polenta, and then a fromage blanc with cherry and rasberry compote. It was very tasty! Then after class I got dressed in full uniform and we took some pictures ;) They left and went to Sacre Couer. I however had a CP. It wasn't the best...but it sure was funny! I got in, knocked my stuff out and plated like a mad woman. So two funny things happened...I brought my plate to the chef. He said to me, this is perfect plating! I was so excited. You can't see it really but, I layered the veal and polenta with the chips on the top and, oh yah, we had to turn mushrooms...so that's on the top, top! Anyway...he tries my polenta and goes "did you follow the directions" and i laughed and said "no!" cause I didn't. I didn't do it on purpose. But I finished it and rolled it out and put it in the fridge and then i remembered I didn't put in the olive oil and parmesan but I couldn't do anything about it then...so oh well. Ok...next funny thing. He tries everything. Good cook on the meat, sauce was ok...but tasted a bit...JUST a bit burnt. And then he said "it's a chame" and i was like what? He said "it's a chame that your presentation is so perfect but the food on the plate isn't very good" and we just looked at eachother and just laughed! I know I should have been upset...but I thought oh well...I can't be good every day...i'm still in the learning process. And he wasn't too upset about it either!

We got out pretty early and I came home and showered. I got dressed and waited for Casey and Dink to arrive at 7. At 7:15 I heard someone out my window scream my name. It was them. They forgot my code! haha. So i ran downstairs to get them. I finished getting dressed. At 7:45 we left to go to Le Comptoir de Relais...where I went for Lunch with Jackson that one day! We had a SPECTACULAR dinner! We scored because I thought they opened at 8:30. We got there at 10 after 8 and since they don't take reservations and it's one of the best restaurants intown, they are always full. Well, we got the LAST table!!!! We had to wait a while before someone served us, but we didn't care...we weren't standing out in the rain waiting!!! So we had tons of questions obviously, but the waiter spoke english and was very nice! For a started I ordered a salad with artichoke, greenbeans, and foie gras because I wanted them to try it. I also ordered a slice of terrine with tomatoes, goat cheese and pistou (like american pesto!). Both delicious. Entree wise, I got a mini chicken roasted with mustard sauce and potatoes. Andrew had slices of pork breast ontop of mashed potatoes, and casey had lamb confit with pea pods. All three were outstanding. Then we ordered a cheese plate with 5 different cheeses on it. For dessert Andrew had caramel with sea salt ice cream, Casey had pot au chocolate, and I had coffee creme brulee (i never order that!) but mine was the best of the 3!!! Then Casey had a coffee and around 11:45 we were ready to pack up and go home! Dinner was FANTASTIC! PLUS we had a GREAT Beaujolais(red wine!)from 2004 (now that i'm into wine!). Very fruity. All that was under 50 euros per person when we split it up! How amazing is that! What a deal!!!! I went home and so did they and crashed at about 12:30!

Casey and Dink Day 2

Because I had such horrible tan lines yesterday I decided to wear a dress today with tank top straps! Didn't help...I came home with zebra stripes! I got so much color today. I'd post the pictures...but they are a bit provocative and I'd rather not post them :) Anyway...I woke up at 8 and got dressed and then went to the bakery to pick up breakfast. I met them at the metro at 9:30 with breakfast in hand. I had them try a croissant, brioche, pain aux raisin, apple turnover, and a palmier. All very good! First on todays tour was the Picasso museum in Le Marais! It was a great museum! He is brilliant and I've decided I want to paint just like him :) Then we left at 11ish and I took them to L'as Du Falafel! YUMMY! We ate some delicious falafel and stuffed our faces. It was Casey's first falafel experience and a very good one at that! After that I read in a Paris book I have to go to Place de Vosges which is the oldest square in Paris and it is perfectly symmetrical. It was a beautiful square (with a hot guy reading a book! Dink laughed at me!) At the end of the square was Victor Hugo's house so we went in (the guy who wrote Les Mis and Hunchback of Notre Dame!) It was really pretty. Then we walked toward the Louvre with a pitstop at Amarino for some ice cream :) We also made some stops into some stores and Casey bought a cute dress and great shoes at AMAZING prices! Thank God for european sales:) We decided not to go to the Louvre but just to walk through the Jardin des Tuileries which was beauty in itself! After that we took the metro to the Rodin Museum. We actually missed the museum itself because we sat down for a LONG chat in the Rodin Gardens which were just goregous! We were planning on going to the museum, but sadly I started a discussion that was heavy and needed an ending! But it was a good one nonetheless! And we had a great afternoon! At 6ish we came back home and ate the rest of our cheese and baguette with wine. Then we looked up some travel info for them and at 9:30ish they left to have a romantic evening at the Eiffel Tower and I am about to go to bed. I have 8:30 school tomorrow! Enjoy the pictures (sans the tan line ones!!!)

Casey and Dink Day 1

Best weekend EVER!!!! Ok...so far :) I woke up at 7:30 and brushed my teeth but didn't get dressed. I waited patiently for my doorbell to rang. Hell, i paced my room very anxiously! Finally at 8 am it rang! YAH!!! Casey and Andrew arrived! I was so excited! We sat around and talked and they showered since they had a LONG train ride the night before. Eventually we left the house around 11ish. We started our day off walking just right by walking through my market and picking out some of my favorite bread! Then we walked to my school and on the way I introduced them to pain au chocolate! They liked those!!!! I showed them school and then we checked them into their hotel. We then walked to Montparnasse to try and change them over some money at my bank but it was close due to the holiday. After that we went to our next destination which was the boat ride. We took an hr boat ride which was just beautiful!!!!!!!!! I got some sun and had horrible tan lines like a shirt! After that we walked through Notre Dame. Then we ate some more and I showed them Bertillon Ice Cream. They enjoyed that immensely! We proceeded to walk more and we just walked everywhere. A lot of the activities we tried to do were closed because of Bastille day. We tried to go to the Catacombs but they were closed as well. Eventually at 6ish we decided to go to Grand Epicerie and load up on goodies (cheese, bread, wine, and other stuff) for dinner! We came home and ate a huge feast! Andrew fell asleep in my bed for a while and Casey and I caught up! At around 9:30 they took off and at 9:45 I was DEAD ASLEEP in my bed. It was a LONG day...but an amazing one to say the least! enjoy the few pics we took!!!