September 27, 2007

Went to the gym...came home and got dressed. Sent emails and went to school early. I finished my internship paperwork, and talked to peeps at school. At 3:30 we had our last class on mediterranean cooking. Dzintra was still sick. Fernando left after demo. It was me and Emi...plus we had two assistants today, Amy and another. Why we had 2, I will never know. We learned lamb in brik pastry with onions, almonds and parmesan with a side of hummus and a salad with cinnamon and vanilla flavored oil, then what we made was honey and spice roasted pigeon with figues and dates with a carrot and chicken jus and artichoke barigoule and dessert was yogurt ice cream with a blackberry coulis and strawberry and red wine jelly. Pretty good food....only took til the last day! Well, Emi and I worked our butts off and finished at 8 pm. I was so antsy because she doesnt speak english, so it was a true test to see how my french was! Luckily i had amy there to help :) (and teach me!)

After class I stayed and talked to amy for a little and then I walked home. Got home at 9ish. Kaili and Rick came over for a few minutes. Kaili had to pick some stuff up and gave me some stuff from her house! fun!!! Then they left and me being the lame person I am, decided to drink a bottle of white wine I had in the house that had been opened for 2 tbls for cooking. So i finished it. By myself. I went to bed at 1 am. Festive evening I shall say :)

September 26, 2007

I woke up again at 7:30 to go to the gym and Amy was dead asleep. When I came back I work her up and she made coffee :) We sat and chatted for a good while. We ate breakfast together, drank coffee, and had girl chats! It's nice to have sleepovers once in a while!!!! She left around 11 and I got dressed. I ate some lunch and then did NOTHING. I was the laziest person around today. I can't even remember what I did except respond to two VERY long emails I recieved. So i will say this. An email I recieved from a very close friend of mine, reminded me that one year ago I was performing in Joseph and I was about to say to my parents that I wanted to go to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I look back on it now and it was THE BEST decision I have ever made (except for maybe taking a year off of school...because that's what got me here now). It was the first time in my life that, for once, i finally did something for myself. And i know my parents my disagree because they will say i always get what i want and do what i want...but i dont think so. I always have friend guilt, parent guilt, jewish guilt, or just something on my shoulders...but this...i got up and did. All by myself. Just took off, went to paris, not knowing what was instore for me. And i succeeded BY FAR! And i am so glad i did this. YES i am thankful for everything. But if I wouldn't have made this decision to just go with it, I would have never been able to experience this wonderful life that I am living right now :) SO thank you and thanx for listening to me ramble :) Anyway, I went to school at 3:30. Dzintra was sick and Peter still wasn't there. We were worried a lot. Well long story short, the middle of class Sylvie came updstairs to tell us that Peter flew back home to do some interviews for jobs and he won't be returning. Well it was nice that he told US any of this!!!! Anyway...in class we learned veal shank and calfs foot in a jelly cook pot au feu style with baby veggies, cod with a mozarella, black olive and tomato crust with a cod potato puree, and dessert was lavandin infused creme brulee with caramelized fennel and oven roasted beefsteak tomatoes. I liked the creme brulee :) heehee. SO class was QUICK tonite. Me, Fernando and Emi knocked that sh&* out!! We were done by 8:30. I was told my plating was nice again.


Since Dzintra wasn't there I walked home. Now I'm typing. Going to read and going to bed :) toodles!

September 25, 2007

Well Amy was still asleep when I woke up at 7:30 to go to the gym. I did my work out and came home to find that she was gone! She left me a note though. So that was ok. Anyway, I got dressed and went to school. Yes early, but just for a minute to say hi to the woman who accepted me into the Gastronomy program and to accept my acceptance ;) (i just recieved my letter on friday-i didnt know they had so many applicants...so I just started telling people i was in!) Anyway, I came back home and started filling out my paper work for my internship. But it has to be in french, so I am trying to get some help on it. I tried to clean my room, but I got lazy! I got some leftovers together for school and my class and then I left to go to school. Today we learned a red mullet (NASTY) and fennel tart with candied oranges, chicken with crawfish steamed in seaweed with polenta covered in ham and some macaroni noodles and parmesan, and dessert was a strawberry and tomato gaspacho with berries and a thyme crisp. Dessert was outstanding. That's it. We once again worked collectively on the chicken dish. Peter wasn't there again. I don't know if I mentioned that yesterday or the day before. But he's been MIA since our class last thur. He didn't come to my party on sat either...so not we started getting worried. Anyway, we worked hard and fast. We overcooked our chicken...but we were just talking so much we didnt look at it too often! But I plated my dish and people seemed to like the plating.

After class Dzintra drove me and Amy home again. She decided one more night was prolly a good idea. I read and she talked to her boy and at 11 pm i crashed :)

September 24, 2007

I woke up this morning and I think I ate too much last nite. I didn't feel well and I couldn't sleep all nite, so I skipped the gym :( Oh well. Anyway, I played on my computer and looked up plane tickets to places. So all my destinations are almost booked!!! Anyway, I went to school at 3:30 and this week is Mediterranean! It would be better if we didn't have this chef...but you take the good with the bad! Anyway, we learned a goat cheese and spinach and tomato galette, a rabbit chartreuse with carrots, beans and onions, and for dessert a gratin with grapefruit and a sorbet that is VERY hard to describe...but I'll just say it takes like land...yes...like a landscape. hahaha. Anyway, he ended late, as usual for this chef. So we started late. He suggested we worked "atelier" style, meaning in a group together...so we did. It was SOOO boring though because we made the rabbit dish and there was NOTHING to do. So we were done by 9, but we still had one thing a piece to do. Chef said we didn't have to plate it, but each of us wanted to. It was so cool to see how we all plated them differently. I liked mine, but it definately wasn't my best work.

Anyway, Amy, who is our asst this week, needed a place to stay so I said she could stay by me. So Dzintra drove us home and we came home to eat and she chatted with her BF and I read a little then went to bed at 10:30.

Le Market

Sunday was lame. But then Kaili and I went to dinner at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant Le Market. I've been to two of his restaurants in NY (one of them on my 25th birthday). This place was outstanding. And Kaili and I had a blast!!! We splurged majorly...but it was worth it...especially since it was our last dinner together. We had the best bottle of red wine I have ever tasted! Plus our meal was exceptional. So simple yet so delicious. See for youself :) We ordered stuff and just split it all!

Black Plate (appetizers)

Sauces

Duck

Mushrooms, figues and beans

Lamb

Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake
It was a great evening. I'm not sure about Kaili, but i think for me, it was a long overdue dinner waiting to happen. It was nice. Good company and good food. 3 hrs later I came home and went to bed at 12. What a GREAT way to end the weekend!!!

Yom Kippur

Ahhh....the day of the fast! This year was the easiest fast I have ever had...and what is so funny, is that I was cooking ALL day! i woke up at 10 and started my adventure. I cooked, I cleaned, I did everything without feeling ONE hunger pain. I admit I got thirsty at times...but never hungry! It was great. Anyway...I made a kugel(which was nowhere near as good as my mom makes it, even though i used her recipe!), blintz souffle (same as last comment), chopped up every veggie imaginable and every fruit imaginable. Cut up the bagels, layed out the lox (salmon), the 4 french cheeses as well as the cream cheese and the 2 different chive cheeses. I had chopped liver and gefilte fish with horseradish. I had nuts, pickles and olives. I had hummus. Oh yah...almost forgot. I also made potato latkes with apple sauce on the side. Which were very yummy when I finally got to eat them. I cut up onion, tomato, cucumber and lettuce for the lox and bagels. I had bagel chips and pita chips (in honor of my mom!) plus some rosemary crackers. Then Dzintra brought pita bread and a spinach dip. Kaili and Dzintra brought wine. Fernando brough Champagne. George brought Orange Juice and Martini (a drink they have in France) along with Pineapple and grapes (which we already had) I had coke, diet coke, coke zero, evian, badouit(sparkling water), and orange juice. Let's just say the spread was HUGE! And there was barely a dent made...BUT i have tons of leftovers. Anyway, the second 8:38 hit (sundown out here) i dashed for the lox and bagels. I had two sandwhiches, plus two of everything else. I didn't realize how hungry i was! It was great! Allen and Dzintra were there along with Kaili, Alex, Fernando, Liz and her frien George. It was a blast! Everyone left by 1:45 and Liz and I did a quick clean to put everything in the fridge. I was in bed by 2:15 and really pleased with my Yom Kippur. I have to say...I think G-d's gonna let me have a great new year :)

September 21, 2007

I didn't think my days could get busier! I woke up at 9 and started my day! First I went to Monoprix (and sadly I had to take the rolly cart). Then I had to come home and unfill that. Then I went to the Grand Epicerie (without the cart!) and found out they don't sell blintzs in Paris...so I have to make my own! I came home and got dressed for my first training session. So i went to the gym early to do a bit of cardio. I see Sebastien...who is manuel's trainer also and who is about to be mine and I tell him I am his appt today. He says there was a mixup so he can't train me but his friend Michel will train me. I was so upset. BUT Michel is the cute guy who always flirts with me...so life isn't that bad. And he speaks better english than Seb, but I thought with Seb I'd be forced to speak french which is a good thing! Anyway, Michel and I trained...and he was flirting...I was flirting...the session ends. He puts his hand on the table and I notice his ring. I asked what it was and he said he was engaged. BUMMER! Oh well...onto the next man :) But it was fun! Atleast I made a friend at the gym...and he said he would help me with my french...but i REFUSE to go there...if you catch my drift! So...i left the gym after making another appt with sebastien this time! I came home and had to go back to the Grand Epicerie for the filling of the Blintzs cause I forgot that. I came home and started baking! I made the blintzs, rugelach, mandel bread, and a honey apple cake. I also boiled my noodles for the next day! I finished around 11 pm. At that point I was fasting so I couldn't taste my food anyway. Bummer! I also got to read a bit which was nice, when my food was in the oven. It was so relaxing. I went to bed around 12.

September 20, 2007

What a busy day! I woke up at 7:30...yes by choice :) I went to the gym first thing. Came home and went to my market. I tried to avoid using liz's rolly cart because to me those things are nerdy! So i had to go to my market twice because I bought so much!!!! I came home and showered and stuff. Then I met kaitlin and we went to Le Marais to get the jewish stuff I needed, mainly bagels...along with some side dishes. Then I came home and went to school. I printed out some recipes and I also got my schedule for Pastry for next term...HORRIBLE SCHEDULE!!!!!! Oh well..that's what I'm here for! School today...well...from 3:30 to 9 pm...no break...we did molecular cooking. Dzintra couldnt come to school today so it was me, Emi (the asian girl) and the boys. Well...the three of them had fun playing...but some how i managed to be Chef's "Bitch" if you will. He kept having me make stuff for HIS dishes. So my dishes weren't so creative or fun looking, while the other's...their dishes were outstanding! SO annoying! But...chef was nice about it. I guess that means he likes me! After we worked a bit on our own dishes, he started showing us some more machines and techniques to use in molecular cooking. It was pretty neat! So my dishes. I made canneloni using chicken stock and this stuff called gellan with some saffran to flavor it. That's it! Then the stacked one was a carrot biscuit with fennel gelee which is a puree of fennel and this stuff called iota. And the other one is a zuchinni biscuit with a mushroom gelee...same thing. Chef liked them. But they sure weren't fancy compared to what the other peeps did! Oh well.




At the end of class we drank champagne :) Then I had to walk home with my uniform, my bag, and my knives cause I had to use them this weekend. I went to bed shortly after...it was a LONG day!!!