Saturday, August 4, 2007

Organisation

Manuel woke up first and showered and stuff. I woke up around 10:45 right as he was going to leave. Which was good because I wanted to get home. So I brushed my teeth, washed my face and left with him. We went for breakfast at this place i've been dying to try their muffins at. They had this deal that you buy 5 muffins get one free. So I figured I'd buy breakfast for the week :) Today I had the banana chocolate chip one which was really good. They had so many flavors! And it's hard to find muffins in france. After that we split ways and I got home around 12:15. I did some laundry and organized my room. I then decided that my bangs needed to be a bit shorter. Erik was going on vacation for 3 weeks so I knew that if i needed to go get them trimmed before graduation he wouldn't be there so today was the last day I could go. So i walked back to the hairdressers and he trimmed them. So now they are shorter, but cute and i kinda like them. I then came home and got down to the dirty work. I worked for maybe 3 hrs planning my mom and dad's trip to come visit and I STILL am not finished. I just want them to have a good time and to see everything. It's very frustrating to fit everything in when places aren't open on certain days and such. I then ate some dinner, chatted online and eventually got into bed and watched 7 episodes of Coupling :) At 12:45 i went to bed.

August 3, 2007

One class today!!!! It was a crappy one though. At 8:30 I had to make a stupid pastillage hat. I guess it was good to work with it...but still. We were done at 10, but chef wouldn't let us leave til 10:45. It was SOOO annoying. And i didnt like my hat at all. I thought my colors were good...but it was pretty ugly. Not as bad as some others I saw...but definately not my best work. Oh well. We were goofing around all class with chef. But it was fun. He was pretty much mediocre on my hat. Eh. Oh well. I didn't even wanna go to that class...so atleast I went. it prolly brought my grade down, but atleast I went!



After class I went to the gym, then came home and got dressed for my hair appt!!!! Finally! My hair was not only at a nasty length but I had grey hairs! So Erik took good care of me :) He didn't want to do the blunt cut because he said it was too american, so he did it but he cut me bangs!!! It's a new hairstyle for me and I'm still getting used to it. You can't really see it in the pictures, but you can sorta tell. After that he asked me out on a date. HAHA! It must have looked good then :) After my appt, I went to the gym to meet Manuel and say hi to his trainer ;) He told me my hair looked great! After that I went home, and did a whole bunch of NOTHING for hours. I ate some dinner and eventually i got dressed to the nines! At 10:15 I went to Manuels and met up with him and Rodolfo. The two divas weren't dressed yet, so I had to wait. We left prolly around 11:30ish for our night out on the town. I got more compliments from gay AND straight men that night that I have in a month combined. I was picking up men left and right...them telling me how beautiful I was. That hasn't happened in a LONG time for me. So it was a really positive nite for me...I needed it! I guess my haircut was a success...or it could have been my shirt...but you can tell in the pictures ;) I also met the MOST beautiful guy I've EVER seen. i told him that...and then he proceeded to tell me he was straight and I felt so embarassed. I thought because I was in a gay bar he HAD to be gay. NOPE! I met more straight men than i did gay!!! It was a blast...til there was drama and Rodolfo left. Manuel and I left shortly after. We got home (manuel's) at maybe 3:30ish and went to bed a little after that. I slept over cause I didn't want to take a taxi home. But i had a GREAT evening! (and the prada background is because my gays LOVE prada!!)

Thursday, August 2, 2007

August 2, 2007

Another long day! At 8:30 I had a CD. We cooked the sea bass. Kaili and Melissa didn't come to class today so it was just Katie and I. It was good. We had a nice chat! Class went smooth. We were done at 10:10. I did well. Chef said my jus was very tasty, my fish was cooked well, and my plate looked good. He did show me some tips to plate it differently and how to put my lemon so the spinach wasn't too sour. However, i LOVED my spinach! It was the only thing I ate off my plate :)

After class I checked my email, and then decided I was REALLY bored so I went into Liz's class (basic pastry) and watched Chef make pear charlotte and bolstock! two VERY yummy things! I chatted with ben for a while and chef and it was nice. During my break, I hung out with Manuel and Rodolfo at the Chinese restaurant while they ate (and I ate Rod's shrimp tails!) At 12:30 we had PD. We learned pastillage...BORING! He made a hat. That's pretty much it. He made some other stuff as well...but it was so boring i barely noticed :) At 3:30 we had a CD. It was my FAVORITE chef's last day. He is going on vacation to Egypt for 3 weeks. He'll be back for graduation. I'm very sad. He taught me all the plating i know :( Anyway, we learned taboulleh with shrimp, pigeon with potatoes, fava beans, and olive tapenade, and for dessert, a mint jelly with melon sorbet and melons and grapefruit. He's so good. The food was delicious!!! They brought champagne. And I made sure to give him a big hug!!!! After class I went to the gym. I didn't feel very well so i stayed only a little and then left to get some ginger ale. I came home, showered, blogged and am about to go to bed shortly.

August 1, 2007

First day of Aout! YAH! Wow...feels like I JUST got here. Anyway...this has been a tough week...but a very fun one! At 8:30 I started off with my second chocolate box. This one I didn't like as much. I actually used some of the chefs gelatin and made a mold the night before to use for class. Like i said in yesterday's blog I also drew out my sculpture. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but I really liked my colors. Anyway, the chef we had said it was ok, but he showed me what else I could have done. He said my chocolate was tempered well and shiny. Later, I showed the pictures to the main chef incharge of our chocolate and he LOVED my sculpture, so I felt a little better. Enjoy the few of the MANY pictures i took!





After class I sat in the winter garden and chatted with a few people. It took me a while to get out of chocolate class because I was the assistant and there was a LOT to clean up. I also ate some food. At 12:30 we had a CP. We made the sea bream with risotto stuffed squid. We had a new chef who was young and kept winking at me! It was strange. And I probably wont see him again for a while because he was just a visiting chef...but it was just odd! Anyway...he kept hanging out in my area...hey...i hope he graded me well! :) He spoke entirely in french to me! So that was a good thing. I understood him which was even better! So he said my fish was over cooked by a minute, i could have used more seasoning, and my risotto was cooked well. He gave pretty good advice even though i can't remember it all right now :) It was good at the time! Oh...but i was REALLY bad at filleting the fish :) oops!

After that class we had one more demo. It was a CD. We learned zucchini flowers stuffed with crab meat and some REALLY gross pea things that weren't really peas! Main course was a sea bass with "french toast" crust, spinach, and a chicken jus. Dessert was chocolate beignets with a chocolate flowing center and semolina milk cream. I wasn't impressed by anything. And i couldn't wait to leave school!!!! RIght after school I left immediately to go to the movie theatre. I got there ar 6:50. I was #219 to buy my ticket. As we were walking into the movies at 7:40 there were 10 tickets left! Thank god I went early! I also stood in line for a while to get into the theatre which was good because I got a good seat! RATATOUILLE WAS AMAZING! one of my favorite movies EVER! i cried 3 times. I love it and i can't wait to see it again!!!! I think im going to go see it in french actually! It was amazing! After the movie I walked home. I went to bed around 10:30ish!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

July 31, 2007

Can you believe tomorrow is AUG!!!! I've been here 7 months....CRAZY! anyway...first class was a CD. We learned a tomato soup with a herb cream, sea bream with squid that was stuffed with langoustine risotto, and then a coffee vacherrin. Nothing made me go gah gah today. Ok...lies...the coffee ice cream was amazing :) During break I had questions for the office as usual! Then I went with Manuel, Rodolfo and Kaitlin to grab a sandwich and check out the movie times for tomorrow but it's not playing in the version original. So i have to wait til tomorrow to find out where it's playing. Oh...my movie comes out here tomorrow...RATATOUILLE!!!!! I've been waiting forever! So im very excited. Anyway, at 12:30 we had a PD. We watched a chocolate sculpture today. Boring. And personally, I didn't care for the chefs work :) After class Manuel and I went to the gym. He showed me some machines today. It was a fun day at the gym! We took forever though. I didn't get home til late and I was supposed to go to dinner. I called up Jackson and since the restaurant was closed anyway, I bailed. I made some dinner for myself, showered and talked on the phone to sara. Then for almost 2 hours I worked on my chocolate sculpture for tomorrow. I was drawing, researching, and prepping my mold! It better turn out well. ARGH! :) Anyway...going to bed now :) ciao!

July 30, 2007

This is a LONG week. 8:30 everyday! poop! So my first class today was a CP. I made the lamb roll with many different types of veggies. It was a pretty simple class. I actually don't have much to say. When I finished, chef said the only thing was my meat could have been cooked a second more. He liked everything else. I was pleased with my work.

During break I checked email, had a coffee, and talk with some people. At 12:30 we had a PP. We made chocolate boxes. I have been looking online and drawing for days what I wanted it to look like. I was pleased when I finished. Chef said he was too. He thought it was too thin and fragile, but he liked the concept a lot and thought I did nice on my detail and it was clean and shiny. He also said my chocolate was tempered well, which is the most important. So, my piece was a Picasso like work of a swan. Hopefully you can see what I could. I wanted to take it home, but since it was too fragile I couldn't. But I did take TONS of pictures...more than I am posting here. But enjoy the few that i put up!





At 3:30 we had a mtg about the internships. If you didn't go to this, you can't do an internship. However since I am not doing mine til Dec, I have time. BUT all of the paper work has to be done in french! AHHH. I'm gonna get some help on that :) After that I was PLANNING on going to the gym, but Rodolfo, Manuel and I walked for a while and eventually ended up at some restaurant for dinner. I had a great salmon sandwich. We then proceeded to walk home, with a pitstop at Haagen Daz! We got back to my house and I showed Manuel pictures of me from a LONG time ago, plus a few videos of me singing!!!! Rodolfo took a nap on the bed. At around 10 pm they left! I went to bed shortly after that. Great day!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Tour de France

I woke up this morning at 9:45. All of the people who said they were going to go to the Tour de France with me bailed. So Liz was going with Kaitlin and a few other people. So I putzed around in the morning. Did laundry, showered, ate breakfast. Liz had left earlier than I did. I left for the Champs-Elysees and called her to find her. I got there around 2. From 2-5:30 i was at the Tour de France. They were supposed to come there at 4 but didnt arrive til around 5 pm. I watched about 2 laps and then I left. 1) because it looked liked it was about to rain 2) if you've seen one lap, you've seen them all and 3) the metros were going to be swamped when the race was over completely and i wanted to avoid that. So I left at 5:30 and bought souvenirs.

I came home and made a stop at the grocery store for some dinner. Scarfed down dinner and then Manuel called. At 7:15 we met at the movie theatre and went to see 2 Days in Paris with Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg. Hilarious movie! You should go see it and then you will understand the hell i am in as a tourist :) I came home and I'm getting ready for school! Going to bed shortly! Oh btw- 1 month from today and i graduate! SCARY huh?!?!?!