If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. That's a very popular saying, though never really rang true for me until yesterdays practical.
Practical #12 Supremes de volialle farcis, sauce aux champignon; tourner les champignons
We walked in to 1ps and everything was set up for us. Definitely the best assistants yet. Lara and Fernando gave us all our cutting boards, and had placed our trays with ingredients in our spots. It was heavenly! OF COURSE Chef Cotte came in to our practical "Bonjour a tous" he says. Having had him yesterday (and done pretty darn well) I was feeling pretty good going into this one. We had to take a balloon chicken (one with the legs chopped off already), remove the breasts- chop the carcass for our braising liquid and sauce, stuff the breasts with chicken mousse (ew) and finish it with turned mushrooms and a cream sauce (are you catching a theme here?)
Chef kept walking by me and singing Sweet Caroline in my ear. He was clearly looking for a reaction- and I knew I had to stay focused. I felt very disorganized in the beginning- not remembering which 'blanc' which mushrooms had to be cooked in, how much the sauce had to reduce- but I managed to get a hold of myself and stay on my game.
I went to work removing the breasts from my chicken. I used the fish filleting knife because I would be able to follow the bones more precisely on the chicken with that knife. I knew it was mainly for fish but I've been told that I leave too much meat on my carcass so this time I was determined to get every ounce of meat off the bones. Chef Stril came into our class and made a comment about my knife choice. I simply said "hey, it's working, I'm getting all the meat" and he couldn't argue. As long as I knew that I was using a knife that was different than what he used- I was ok. That's what they are trying to teach us- we need to find our own groove and realize what works best for US. Every Chef that we encounter has a different way of accomplishing the same thing- they want us to be able to make a choice and deal with it.
3 of the chicken breasts were to be stuffed and one was to be diced and used in the stuffing. Lara and I were the first 2 to the robot (kitchen-aid) to make our mousse. We were actually ahead of the curve! We made our stuffing and went to work pushing it through a sieve to make it more mousse-y. It's repulsive. I found myself really working myself into a full blown sweat getting this mousse through the sieve and into the cooler while I worked on my breasts.
Irene- next to me on the left was hysterical. She had the comment of the term so far "GUYS, MY BREASTS ARE JUST TOO DAMN SMALL!" we couldn't help but laugh. Irene doesn't say boo in class, but when she does speak- it's genius!
I sliced the breasts, concassed the carcass- sauteed it in butter and removed it from the heat to actually stuff the chicken. Using a piping bag (first time this term!!) I took my mousse and piped it into the cavity I had carved into my chicken breasts. I of course blew right through the other end of one of the breasts with the filling, but managed to take the tender of that breast and patch up the mistake. I actually said out loud "come on Carolyn, you can do this" and managed to rock the last two. I poured stock into a saucepan and my chicken was in the oven for 25 minutes.
Turning mushrooms is cruel and unusual punishment. I can't even begin to explain how difficult this process is without a picture. I will spare you the frustration we all felt while trying to do it, and move right into taking our chicken out.
Chef kept singing in my ear, but again- I was determined to not let him get to me today. I worked quickly and cleanly- taking my chicken out of the oven and it looked GREAT. The juices ran clear so I knew it was cooked, and the skin was gorgeous and brown. I removed the breasts, covered them and set them near the heat to keep warm. I put the carcass through a chinois and let the jus reduce for a LONG time. Chef came by and said that he had never seen a sauce so gorgeous. Obviously he was lying, but I went with it. I added cream and butter to my sauce to make it shine and added my cooked mushrooms (not the turned ones).
After heating my plate and making sure everything was very hot- I plated my dish. My sauce was perfect, chicken cooked perfectly. The only note Chef had was that my mousse could have used a touch more salt. Again- better to under season my food than over season. I was thrilled. I had gotten stressed at the end and was dripping sweat. I hadn't even noticed that Phillip had sliced his palm and there was blood everywhere. I was in the zone, and it paid off. Cotte liked it! Even though he's a pastry Chef- he's the one that scared me so badly- and I won him over with my food. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
I cleaned my station and went down to the winter garden. I couldn't stop sweating. It was SO hot in there with everyone's ovens at 200 and all burners fired. I ripped off my necktie (soaked) and noticed that not only was my hair completely sweaty- my undershirt was completely soaking wet. Well at least I did well!
Lara and I went for a crepe and headed home to relax. I did it- I survived practical with Cotte again. I was quick, clean, and my food was good. Best of all, my sauce reduced enough!!! That was HUGE and I was so proud of myself- I can't believe I didn't let him get to me. He was actually starting to grow on me. Best of all, I was feeling I'm really getting it- that I belong here. I can hang with the best of them and I can suck with the worst of them. This is what I'm supposed to be doing and I love it. I don't mind re-writing my notes from class and spending HOURS ironing my uniform. I love it, I belong here and am starting to really get my groove.
Allison said when Cotte first yelled at me that he'd be my favorite at the end. He certainly isn't my favorite (yet) but I survived and even spoke to him in French. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing- imagine that!
Will report tomorrow after falafel... I can't wait to have it again!
A Bientot!
ps. Thanks so much to everyone for their kind words of encouragement. They go a LONG way when you're trapped in a kitchen using a cleaver to destroy a chicken carcass. I hope you're all enjoying this journey as much as I am!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Bon Travaille
After finally getting over my bout with illness, I went to demo on Wednesday to watch Chef Stril make stuffed veal paupiettes with a jus and 'turned' vegetables. Nothing gets an appetite back like watching veal, pork shoulder and pork fat go through a mincer!
It looked simple enough, no real surprises until it came time to turn the carrots. Turning is a process by which you essentially whittle a vegetable so it's the same size all the way around. For example a carrot goes from looking like a carrot to a bullet (with a perfectly round bottom). They look like baby carrots but more uniform and peeled- and we had to do 6-8 of these to accompany our stuffed veal. We then glazed them along with peeled baby onions and a jus.
8:30am came very early yesterday and I was feeling pretty good. It was my first day back in the kitchen in a week and I was excited to be back in there. Chef Stril walked into our room and a big sigh of relief came over group B. Then he walked out. Cotte walked in. I said aloud 'today's the day I will get over my fear of him'. I just put my nose down and worked. Quickly and efficiently making the stuffing, tenderizing the veal and wrapping them together with pork back fat (gross) and using string to tie them into parcels. Chef came by and said "Bon Travaille" or good work- things were looking up!
Once they were put together (I was ahead of the curve on this one) we had to dust them in flower, brown both sides and while they were browning, prepare the braising liquid. Mirepoix carrot, onion, celery and make a bouquet garni, peel, seed and concasse tomatoes and cook. Adding tomato paste for color, armagnac for taste and browning the veggies, it was time to braise the veal. Pouring veal stock 1/2 way up the sides of the veal paupiettes and cutting out a paper lid- they were in the oven for 30 minutes.
Carrots. UGH. It took me a LONG time to get them all turned and the chef had to do one for me so I could see. You need to use the paring knife in one movement to get this shape. I cooked them and the onions, and glazed them (let them caramelize in the butter and get color), strained and reduced my jus and everything was looking good! I cleaned and warmed my plate and was adding butter to make my sauce shine and the Chef came over, looked at my sauce and gave me a high five. PARFAIT! I plated my dish and I have to say, it looked really good! I removed the fatback from the veal and had the Chef taste it. He liked it, though he said I needed to salt my carrots a bit more. All in all, he didn't yell at me- he told me I was working well and loved my sauce. My veal was braised perfectly and I was SO happy.
I cleaned my station and headed to the winter garden to wait for our next class- a conference. This was the second conference we've had and was equally as dumb as the first one where we learned to say "CHAUD" when walking with something hot. We had a fire drill in the beginning which was kind of fun. Seeing a sea of students all in their uniforms walking across the street and the ladies from the front office standing in the street with vests on to stop traffic.
We had demo after conference and we watched Chef Stril make chicken breast stuffed with chicken mousse, turned mushrooms (can't even describe those yet) and yet another cream sauce! We also watched him plate his duck terrine that had been in the fridge since Wednesday...YUCK.
Now I'm off to make the chicken stuffed with chicken...wish me luck!
A bientot!
Cleaned my station and
It looked simple enough, no real surprises until it came time to turn the carrots. Turning is a process by which you essentially whittle a vegetable so it's the same size all the way around. For example a carrot goes from looking like a carrot to a bullet (with a perfectly round bottom). They look like baby carrots but more uniform and peeled- and we had to do 6-8 of these to accompany our stuffed veal. We then glazed them along with peeled baby onions and a jus.
8:30am came very early yesterday and I was feeling pretty good. It was my first day back in the kitchen in a week and I was excited to be back in there. Chef Stril walked into our room and a big sigh of relief came over group B. Then he walked out. Cotte walked in. I said aloud 'today's the day I will get over my fear of him'. I just put my nose down and worked. Quickly and efficiently making the stuffing, tenderizing the veal and wrapping them together with pork back fat (gross) and using string to tie them into parcels. Chef came by and said "Bon Travaille" or good work- things were looking up!
Once they were put together (I was ahead of the curve on this one) we had to dust them in flower, brown both sides and while they were browning, prepare the braising liquid. Mirepoix carrot, onion, celery and make a bouquet garni, peel, seed and concasse tomatoes and cook. Adding tomato paste for color, armagnac for taste and browning the veggies, it was time to braise the veal. Pouring veal stock 1/2 way up the sides of the veal paupiettes and cutting out a paper lid- they were in the oven for 30 minutes.
Carrots. UGH. It took me a LONG time to get them all turned and the chef had to do one for me so I could see. You need to use the paring knife in one movement to get this shape. I cooked them and the onions, and glazed them (let them caramelize in the butter and get color), strained and reduced my jus and everything was looking good! I cleaned and warmed my plate and was adding butter to make my sauce shine and the Chef came over, looked at my sauce and gave me a high five. PARFAIT! I plated my dish and I have to say, it looked really good! I removed the fatback from the veal and had the Chef taste it. He liked it, though he said I needed to salt my carrots a bit more. All in all, he didn't yell at me- he told me I was working well and loved my sauce. My veal was braised perfectly and I was SO happy.
I cleaned my station and headed to the winter garden to wait for our next class- a conference. This was the second conference we've had and was equally as dumb as the first one where we learned to say "CHAUD" when walking with something hot. We had a fire drill in the beginning which was kind of fun. Seeing a sea of students all in their uniforms walking across the street and the ladies from the front office standing in the street with vests on to stop traffic.
We had demo after conference and we watched Chef Stril make chicken breast stuffed with chicken mousse, turned mushrooms (can't even describe those yet) and yet another cream sauce! We also watched him plate his duck terrine that had been in the fridge since Wednesday...YUCK.
Now I'm off to make the chicken stuffed with chicken...wish me luck!
A bientot!
Cleaned my station and
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Food poisoning?!...go figure
I had to miss my 8:30 practical today because I got food poisoning last night. No, it wasn't my cooking- I think it was the lunch that we had yesterday after demo. All I had was some French onion soup and a salad!
I'm so mad. I didn't want to miss any classes this term and had to miss one because I was sick. Today I was supposed to be making grilled salmon, with these delicious potatoes (with bechamel sauce IN them) and sauteed spinach. I was feeling so good about this practical too.
That's it- no more French onion soup for me
:(
I'm so mad. I didn't want to miss any classes this term and had to miss one because I was sick. Today I was supposed to be making grilled salmon, with these delicious potatoes (with bechamel sauce IN them) and sauteed spinach. I was feeling so good about this practical too.
That's it- no more French onion soup for me
:(
Sunday, January 24, 2010
It's been 3 weeks already?
Today marks 3 weeks since I arrived in Paris. I can't believe how quickly it's flown by!
I went to Le Marais today (as I do every Sunday because it's hoppin!) and per Mari Jimenez's suggestion I went with Zu and Chandra who is visiting to this Falafel place. We got a number and had to wait for about 25 minutes before entering this very small place called L'as Du Fallafel.
It was complete mayhem outside. There was another falafel place right across the street (but in Le Marais the streets are so narrow that it's more like a sidewalk) but everyone was waiting to get where we were going.
By the time we sat down, I was low blood sugs like you couldn't imagine. I hadn't eaten all day and it was 3:45pm. I ordered a falafel sandwich, Zu ordered a shawerma sandwich and Chandra ordered the falafel plate. Also per Mari's suggestion I ordered an Israeli beer.
Our food came and we didn't speak until it was done. It was hands down the best falafel I'd every had. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
I licked my plate clean...
and we walked around Le Marais for a little while before stopping in for une verre du vin at the neatest cafe I've been to yet. Reggae music was blaring, it was such a cool scene and the waiters were so happy and jovial. It makes SUCH a difference with the people inside the cafe or restaurant seem happy- it's much more welcoming than getting the ever-popular French stink eye. We had a great glass of wine and hopped on the metro home. I had to stop and buy some essentials over there because everything is closed in the 7th. ZuZu thought it was really funny that I bought toilet paper really far from my house...so she took a picture of me with it...
On the metro I met an interior designer from San Francisco- who's going to help put me in touch with people when I get back, lucky me!
After I finish ironing my uniform, I'm going with some kids from my class to watch the NFL games at the moose...should be fun!
I can't believe I've been here 3 weeks...here's to a great 9 more!
A Bientot
I went to Le Marais today (as I do every Sunday because it's hoppin!) and per Mari Jimenez's suggestion I went with Zu and Chandra who is visiting to this Falafel place. We got a number and had to wait for about 25 minutes before entering this very small place called L'as Du Fallafel.
It was complete mayhem outside. There was another falafel place right across the street (but in Le Marais the streets are so narrow that it's more like a sidewalk) but everyone was waiting to get where we were going.
By the time we sat down, I was low blood sugs like you couldn't imagine. I hadn't eaten all day and it was 3:45pm. I ordered a falafel sandwich, Zu ordered a shawerma sandwich and Chandra ordered the falafel plate. Also per Mari's suggestion I ordered an Israeli beer.
Our food came and we didn't speak until it was done. It was hands down the best falafel I'd every had. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
I licked my plate clean...
and we walked around Le Marais for a little while before stopping in for une verre du vin at the neatest cafe I've been to yet. Reggae music was blaring, it was such a cool scene and the waiters were so happy and jovial. It makes SUCH a difference with the people inside the cafe or restaurant seem happy- it's much more welcoming than getting the ever-popular French stink eye. We had a great glass of wine and hopped on the metro home. I had to stop and buy some essentials over there because everything is closed in the 7th. ZuZu thought it was really funny that I bought toilet paper really far from my house...so she took a picture of me with it...
On the metro I met an interior designer from San Francisco- who's going to help put me in touch with people when I get back, lucky me!
After I finish ironing my uniform, I'm going with some kids from my class to watch the NFL games at the moose...should be fun!
I can't believe I've been here 3 weeks...here's to a great 9 more!
A Bientot
Saturday, January 23, 2010
We'll always have Avignon...
I've heard the greatest things about Provence- My Aunt Andree used to rent a house there every year, my parents have rented a house there, and everyone I've ever talked to who has been there, has loved it. So I decided to see what all the hype was about!
When the only flight that I could find to Spain was $3,000.00, Anthony and I decided to take a trip. Thursday morning I trekked to Gare de Lyon to get a Eurail Pass. 5 travel days, 4 countries in 2 months. After demo and practical that night (made very delicious roasted chicken, "turned" an artichoke bottom and filled it with perfectly cut and cooked legumes) I came home and packed for our weekend getaway.
Yesterday I got up at 6am (pause for reaction) and headed to Gare de Lyon. When in my metro station, I heard a train coming, so I sprinted to it and ended up getting on the train heading in the wrong direction. Oops. I fixed that, and after 30 minutes of looking for Anthony we got on our train!
2.5 hours of chatting with other American businessmen heading to Cannes (tough life) we were there. We took a shuttle to the town center and walked to our Hotel. Being that it was 10:30am, the rooms weren't ready, so we ditched our stuff, got a couple of maps and headed out to explore. Our first stop was the Palais des Papes- this massive structure that was built and nearly destroyed during the revolution. Here is a picture of it:
As you can see it was a gorgeous day; it felt so nice to have some sun on my pasty skin! After we walked around there, we went behind it to these great gardens overlooking the city. Avignon is TINY. The maps we were given led us to believe that it was larger than it was, so end to end was about 10 minutes of walking. The gardens were very beautiful and had great views of the Rhone River.
That second picture reminded me so much of you Mom, I had to include it :) Sadly there was no lavender to put in my bottonhole, but I thought of you the whole time I was there!
At about 1pm we went back to our hotel to have a costume change and to get situated. We had a slight miscommunication that led to Anthony sitting downstairs in the lobby waiting while I "closed my eyes" for a few minutes in my room. Whoops! We then set out on the streets to look at other sights around town. The manager of the hotel gave us some great tips and a restaurant suggestion for dinner. We finally found the restaurant and decided we'd find another suitable place to make a reservation. We walked to the other end of town and found this really pretty square- we found a great restaurant and made a reservation for 8pm.
We then walked around to find the hotel where Mom and Dad stayed when they were there. When we found it, we knew it was slightly different than the teeny place we were staying in. It was so beautiful, and once again so Mom. We had a glass of red and felt like a king and queen...then back to reality. But not before taking a couple of pictures!
Upon leaving La Mirande (the haves) and heading back to our neck of the woods (the have nots) Anthony says he's hungry. It's now about 4:30pm and NO ONE was serving snacks. Even in this one cafe where the woman at the desk said they were serving food, a snotty waiter told us then that we were mistaken, that there was no food. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We were forced to go to this GROSS place and choke down a charcuterie plate and a goat cheese salad. It was disgusting, we left immediately and had some tea at another cafe.
After walking around some more, popping into some shops and sight seeing, we came back to shower up for dinner. Looking very dapper, we walked towards where we had made a reservation. 7:00pm is NOT when the French eat. It was a ghost town so we stopped in for a glass of Chateauneuf de Pape at a hotel bar across the square. We had some lovely peanuts and olives to tide us over and the chef sent out some salt cod with some sort of olive spread for us.
8:30 we walked in to the restaurant where we were having dinner. Surely the hostess would remember us...she didn't but we were still able to eat. We both had a tasting menu and it was delicious. I had oysters, then steak and Anthony had foie gras and steak. There was another miscommunication, this time with the waitress who brought us 2 cheese plates instead of 1 cheese plate and 1 apple tart. We choked down the amazing cheese and rolled home.
Having seen 99.99% of Avignon yesterday, we were slightly concerned that we would be bored today. We got up around 8 and walked over to this market to find us some breakfast. Some fruit, coffee/tea and some bread with jam later we were full and ready to walk the same streets again. This time we went in to some more shops and meandered until it was time to head to the train station. I had a BAD case of the giggles and was laughing so hard I cried before we left and we both shrugged and said "we'll always have Avignon".
Another quick train ride home and we're back in Paris! Both of us slept most of the trip home...
It was so beautiful and I'm really really glad we went, but we should have done yesterday in Aix-en-Provence and today in Avignon. That way we wouldn't have had so much time to kill and could have seen 2 beautiful places! I'm so glad I went, I 100% believe why people love it so much. It is beautiful and has a very laid back attitude which I loved. Now I'm back in the hustle bustle of Paris and happy to be home.
A Bientot!!
When the only flight that I could find to Spain was $3,000.00, Anthony and I decided to take a trip. Thursday morning I trekked to Gare de Lyon to get a Eurail Pass. 5 travel days, 4 countries in 2 months. After demo and practical that night (made very delicious roasted chicken, "turned" an artichoke bottom and filled it with perfectly cut and cooked legumes) I came home and packed for our weekend getaway.
Yesterday I got up at 6am (pause for reaction) and headed to Gare de Lyon. When in my metro station, I heard a train coming, so I sprinted to it and ended up getting on the train heading in the wrong direction. Oops. I fixed that, and after 30 minutes of looking for Anthony we got on our train!
2.5 hours of chatting with other American businessmen heading to Cannes (tough life) we were there. We took a shuttle to the town center and walked to our Hotel. Being that it was 10:30am, the rooms weren't ready, so we ditched our stuff, got a couple of maps and headed out to explore. Our first stop was the Palais des Papes- this massive structure that was built and nearly destroyed during the revolution. Here is a picture of it:
As you can see it was a gorgeous day; it felt so nice to have some sun on my pasty skin! After we walked around there, we went behind it to these great gardens overlooking the city. Avignon is TINY. The maps we were given led us to believe that it was larger than it was, so end to end was about 10 minutes of walking. The gardens were very beautiful and had great views of the Rhone River.
That second picture reminded me so much of you Mom, I had to include it :) Sadly there was no lavender to put in my bottonhole, but I thought of you the whole time I was there!
At about 1pm we went back to our hotel to have a costume change and to get situated. We had a slight miscommunication that led to Anthony sitting downstairs in the lobby waiting while I "closed my eyes" for a few minutes in my room. Whoops! We then set out on the streets to look at other sights around town. The manager of the hotel gave us some great tips and a restaurant suggestion for dinner. We finally found the restaurant and decided we'd find another suitable place to make a reservation. We walked to the other end of town and found this really pretty square- we found a great restaurant and made a reservation for 8pm.
We then walked around to find the hotel where Mom and Dad stayed when they were there. When we found it, we knew it was slightly different than the teeny place we were staying in. It was so beautiful, and once again so Mom. We had a glass of red and felt like a king and queen...then back to reality. But not before taking a couple of pictures!
Upon leaving La Mirande (the haves) and heading back to our neck of the woods (the have nots) Anthony says he's hungry. It's now about 4:30pm and NO ONE was serving snacks. Even in this one cafe where the woman at the desk said they were serving food, a snotty waiter told us then that we were mistaken, that there was no food. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We were forced to go to this GROSS place and choke down a charcuterie plate and a goat cheese salad. It was disgusting, we left immediately and had some tea at another cafe.
After walking around some more, popping into some shops and sight seeing, we came back to shower up for dinner. Looking very dapper, we walked towards where we had made a reservation. 7:00pm is NOT when the French eat. It was a ghost town so we stopped in for a glass of Chateauneuf de Pape at a hotel bar across the square. We had some lovely peanuts and olives to tide us over and the chef sent out some salt cod with some sort of olive spread for us.
8:30 we walked in to the restaurant where we were having dinner. Surely the hostess would remember us...she didn't but we were still able to eat. We both had a tasting menu and it was delicious. I had oysters, then steak and Anthony had foie gras and steak. There was another miscommunication, this time with the waitress who brought us 2 cheese plates instead of 1 cheese plate and 1 apple tart. We choked down the amazing cheese and rolled home.
Having seen 99.99% of Avignon yesterday, we were slightly concerned that we would be bored today. We got up around 8 and walked over to this market to find us some breakfast. Some fruit, coffee/tea and some bread with jam later we were full and ready to walk the same streets again. This time we went in to some more shops and meandered until it was time to head to the train station. I had a BAD case of the giggles and was laughing so hard I cried before we left and we both shrugged and said "we'll always have Avignon".
Another quick train ride home and we're back in Paris! Both of us slept most of the trip home...
It was so beautiful and I'm really really glad we went, but we should have done yesterday in Aix-en-Provence and today in Avignon. That way we wouldn't have had so much time to kill and could have seen 2 beautiful places! I'm so glad I went, I 100% believe why people love it so much. It is beautiful and has a very laid back attitude which I loved. Now I'm back in the hustle bustle of Paris and happy to be home.
A Bientot!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day From Hell
Yesterday was a long one, a really long one.
We had Marche Du Paris at 8:30 with Chef Poupard (my favorite!) where we walked around an open air market and looked at everything. Then we walked back to school and had a little party with all the stuff Chef got for us- We had all sorts of amazing cheeses, pates, bread, cookies, a cheesecake that looked burned on top but was light and fluffy, sausage, charcuterie. It was a feast! It was fascinating to see all of what a market has to offer. We did have to fight some little old ladies who weren't too thrilled with a group of oogling students in their way. Here are some pictures from the market (no pictures of the horse meat place, I couldn't do it!)
Then we had practical- we learned crab bisque on Monday (Poupard!) and were doing that, starting puff pastry and making croutons with clarified butter. We had Poupard again, and I was so excited. He's the type that you really WANT to do well for and impress- not like someone else I know...We started by making the dough for our puff pastry to let is rest in the fridge.
We murdered live crabs in a big pot with VERY hot oil in it (less painful for them). After adding mirepoix aromatic garnish, we took a rolling pin wrapped in film and beat them completely senseless. We crushed them into teeny tiny pieces. Added tomato paste and tomatoes for color and acidity and added a liter of water and a liter of fish stock. Then we just let it cook for 30 minutes.
While the soup was bubbling away, we rolled out our puff pastry dough and did 4 turns. We also cut bread into croutons. Chef said mine were too big (he actually called them sandwiches" but they were the same size- which is key. We fried them in clarified butter and put them aside while we worked on our soup some more.
Finishing the soup, puff pastry and croutons- Chef tasted the soup- he said my consistency was perfect (we thickened it with rice flour) but needed a touch more salt. Overall, good. FEW!
Then we went right to demo where we were learning more soups. We learned French Onion (easy) Fish Soup Marseillaise Style (gross) and we learned to clarify stock into consomme and make cheese straws to go with them.
Right after demo (no food) we went to practical...guess who we had...COTTES. I nearly fell over. The first thing he said to me was "no crying today S'il vous please" that's what he says to be 'funny'. It sucked again with him- I was super behind and he yelled at me a lot again. I'm not sure why he picks on me so much. We had to brunoise vegetables to put in the consomme and he kept telling me mine were too big. I FINALLY got it right, my stock clarified and my cheese straws were 'bien' (a coup for a pastry chef instructor). I threw out my consomme and gave the dishwasher all of my puff pastry. It was 9:15pm and I was exhausted. Frustrated and mad Bruna and I went to have dinner (and dessert- we earned it) and I came home to Skype with Dad. I was in bed at midnight and didn't think I'd wake up this morning I was so tired.
Alas, here I am and I'm pleased to report that Anthony and I are going to Avignon this weekend! I was supposed to go to Spain to see the Weber's but I wasn't able to find flights :( We're going very early on Friday am and returning Saturday evening. It should be really fun! Any and all suggestions welcome!
A Bientot!
We had Marche Du Paris at 8:30 with Chef Poupard (my favorite!) where we walked around an open air market and looked at everything. Then we walked back to school and had a little party with all the stuff Chef got for us- We had all sorts of amazing cheeses, pates, bread, cookies, a cheesecake that looked burned on top but was light and fluffy, sausage, charcuterie. It was a feast! It was fascinating to see all of what a market has to offer. We did have to fight some little old ladies who weren't too thrilled with a group of oogling students in their way. Here are some pictures from the market (no pictures of the horse meat place, I couldn't do it!)
Then we had practical- we learned crab bisque on Monday (Poupard!) and were doing that, starting puff pastry and making croutons with clarified butter. We had Poupard again, and I was so excited. He's the type that you really WANT to do well for and impress- not like someone else I know...We started by making the dough for our puff pastry to let is rest in the fridge.
We murdered live crabs in a big pot with VERY hot oil in it (less painful for them). After adding mirepoix aromatic garnish, we took a rolling pin wrapped in film and beat them completely senseless. We crushed them into teeny tiny pieces. Added tomato paste and tomatoes for color and acidity and added a liter of water and a liter of fish stock. Then we just let it cook for 30 minutes.
While the soup was bubbling away, we rolled out our puff pastry dough and did 4 turns. We also cut bread into croutons. Chef said mine were too big (he actually called them sandwiches" but they were the same size- which is key. We fried them in clarified butter and put them aside while we worked on our soup some more.
Finishing the soup, puff pastry and croutons- Chef tasted the soup- he said my consistency was perfect (we thickened it with rice flour) but needed a touch more salt. Overall, good. FEW!
Then we went right to demo where we were learning more soups. We learned French Onion (easy) Fish Soup Marseillaise Style (gross) and we learned to clarify stock into consomme and make cheese straws to go with them.
Right after demo (no food) we went to practical...guess who we had...COTTES. I nearly fell over. The first thing he said to me was "no crying today S'il vous please" that's what he says to be 'funny'. It sucked again with him- I was super behind and he yelled at me a lot again. I'm not sure why he picks on me so much. We had to brunoise vegetables to put in the consomme and he kept telling me mine were too big. I FINALLY got it right, my stock clarified and my cheese straws were 'bien' (a coup for a pastry chef instructor). I threw out my consomme and gave the dishwasher all of my puff pastry. It was 9:15pm and I was exhausted. Frustrated and mad Bruna and I went to have dinner (and dessert- we earned it) and I came home to Skype with Dad. I was in bed at midnight and didn't think I'd wake up this morning I was so tired.
Alas, here I am and I'm pleased to report that Anthony and I are going to Avignon this weekend! I was supposed to go to Spain to see the Weber's but I wasn't able to find flights :( We're going very early on Friday am and returning Saturday evening. It should be really fun! Any and all suggestions welcome!
A Bientot!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Burned but not broken
After a wonderful evening last night, I was pretty excited to get to school today. It was my last day as an assistant and I felt like I had a pretty good handle on how to do this one.
Boy was I wrong.
Chef Cottes- one I hadn't had before was our chef today. He walked in to the kitchen in a bad mood and just started yelling. He was very demanding, but kept telling me that I was doing things well. Then it was time to take the puff pastry out of the oven. He started screaming at us and shoving the hot baking sheets at us. I had my towel and thought I was ok until my towel slipped and I started searing my two pointer fingers. I had to continue to burn them as to not drop the tray full of puff pastry (that turned out not to even be mine). I didn't yell, I didn't scream but my fingers were really burned.
I kept on working and tears started falling- I wasn't actually CRYING, but my face was red and my eyes wouldn't stop tearing. I put my fingers under cold water and people started to notice. "YOU"RE CRYING!" Lara said when I looked up at her to ask her something about the albufera sauce we were making. The Chef came over and was talking to us and I just stared down as to not show him that I was hurting. Loredanna next to me said "you're really in pain, you really need to tell him...he'll be nicer to you". I went over to the Chef and told him about my fingers. His response "SO?" then he looked at the one that had already blistered and started to help. He explained that vinegar really takes the sting out of the burn. I thought he'd be nice to me for the rest of the practical.
I was wrong again.
After he saw that my eyes were watery- it was game over. He was ON me the entire rest of class- yelling at me the whole time. "Am I making you cry? are you crying because of me?" I kept telling him no that it wasn't him, it was my fingers but at this point I couldn't really tell. "YOU ARE NOT A MAN" he'd yell to make sure I knew I wasn't being tough. He stood over me and made me plate my food when I knew it was cold. Then he flew off the handle- screaming and making me run around and get pans to heat everything up. It was all theatrics- he was showing off now and everyone was watching.
Now, not only was I trying to stir my sauces with my bad fingers, Chef was screaming at me and everyone was hearing....oh, I was still fighting back tears. I finished- he said it was 'bon' but I was LIVID. I didn't even try my puff pastry- the labor of love that took us the better part of 2 practicals to make, nor did I taste the poached egg, stewed leeks, sauteed bell pepper or 2 kinds of sauces that I made. I threw it out immediately and got to cleaning. This was my last day as an assistant and I needed to at least finish that off well.
I took everything down to the sous-sol and saw Chef Strill who asked me how it went today. I told him that it was a bad day and he saw the vinegar soaked kleenex on my hands. He took a look, told me to go to the pharmacy and get BiaFine and tapped me on the back.
I knew there were going to be days like this- I signed up for it. I knew there were going to be times when I really got my ass kicked, and I wasn't afraid of it...I just didn't realize that Chef Cottes could break me like that. I was a wreck- I was sweating, SO beat red, and broken. I can handle being yelled at. I didn't subject myself to Coach T at Nichols for 4 years if I couldn't handle it. I could handle also being hurt and trying to push through- hell I've got the scars from 7 operations to prove that. I couldn't handle them at the same time I guess- I am really disappointed in myself for allowing him to break me. I'm better than that, I'm tougher than that.
I went down, changed again fighting the tears and went upstairs. Bruna and Lara were waiting for me, but I was so mad I couldn't even chit chat. My fingers were still burning so badly I had them pressed against a diet coke can for some relief. I decided to go to the front desk and have them bandaged. Vincent- the poor guy who had to wrap both of my pointer fingers was a star. He saw that they were really hurting and was super nice to me. A translator also noticed the look on my face and came to check them out "those hurt like a bitch don't they" she said- at least she knew I wasn't being a wimp!
Laura from class stood with me while I got them fixed and Bruna came in to find me as well. Laura is a mom of 3 and just knows. She said the right things, helped me to calm down and then went to pick up her own little girl. I wanted my mom and my blanky.
Bruna didn't leave me- and she listened to me swear the entire metro to my house where I changed so we could salvage a day. We went to lunch with Anthony in Les Halles and went to the most crowded mall ever. I bought a new Bodum mug to carry my tea in the morning to school and we just laughed. It was a good thing that I couldn't call home when I was feeling awful...it would have made me worse.
I came home, watched a little Entourage and went to meet up with Anthony, Zu, JP, Melissa, Mark, and Siham for Senegalese food in the Marais. It was so much fun- we all just had a great time and laughed. It was just what the Dr. ordered! After dinner, we went to a sports bar in the St. Germaine to watch the NFL playoffs. We talked about our favorite movies and laughed again until it was time to go home...
I came home to find such a sweet email from Laura and a note on facebook from Lara. Lara said she was impressed at how I held it together today...that's funny- I thought I completely fell apart! Laura asked how my fingers were. So thoughtful and sweet of both of them! I'm sure there are going to be many more burned fingers, screaming Chefs and tears, I'm just so lucky that I have met great people who are here to help when it happens next.
A Bientot!
Boy was I wrong.
Chef Cottes- one I hadn't had before was our chef today. He walked in to the kitchen in a bad mood and just started yelling. He was very demanding, but kept telling me that I was doing things well. Then it was time to take the puff pastry out of the oven. He started screaming at us and shoving the hot baking sheets at us. I had my towel and thought I was ok until my towel slipped and I started searing my two pointer fingers. I had to continue to burn them as to not drop the tray full of puff pastry (that turned out not to even be mine). I didn't yell, I didn't scream but my fingers were really burned.
I kept on working and tears started falling- I wasn't actually CRYING, but my face was red and my eyes wouldn't stop tearing. I put my fingers under cold water and people started to notice. "YOU"RE CRYING!" Lara said when I looked up at her to ask her something about the albufera sauce we were making. The Chef came over and was talking to us and I just stared down as to not show him that I was hurting. Loredanna next to me said "you're really in pain, you really need to tell him...he'll be nicer to you". I went over to the Chef and told him about my fingers. His response "SO?" then he looked at the one that had already blistered and started to help. He explained that vinegar really takes the sting out of the burn. I thought he'd be nice to me for the rest of the practical.
I was wrong again.
After he saw that my eyes were watery- it was game over. He was ON me the entire rest of class- yelling at me the whole time. "Am I making you cry? are you crying because of me?" I kept telling him no that it wasn't him, it was my fingers but at this point I couldn't really tell. "YOU ARE NOT A MAN" he'd yell to make sure I knew I wasn't being tough. He stood over me and made me plate my food when I knew it was cold. Then he flew off the handle- screaming and making me run around and get pans to heat everything up. It was all theatrics- he was showing off now and everyone was watching.
Now, not only was I trying to stir my sauces with my bad fingers, Chef was screaming at me and everyone was hearing....oh, I was still fighting back tears. I finished- he said it was 'bon' but I was LIVID. I didn't even try my puff pastry- the labor of love that took us the better part of 2 practicals to make, nor did I taste the poached egg, stewed leeks, sauteed bell pepper or 2 kinds of sauces that I made. I threw it out immediately and got to cleaning. This was my last day as an assistant and I needed to at least finish that off well.
I took everything down to the sous-sol and saw Chef Strill who asked me how it went today. I told him that it was a bad day and he saw the vinegar soaked kleenex on my hands. He took a look, told me to go to the pharmacy and get BiaFine and tapped me on the back.
I knew there were going to be days like this- I signed up for it. I knew there were going to be times when I really got my ass kicked, and I wasn't afraid of it...I just didn't realize that Chef Cottes could break me like that. I was a wreck- I was sweating, SO beat red, and broken. I can handle being yelled at. I didn't subject myself to Coach T at Nichols for 4 years if I couldn't handle it. I could handle also being hurt and trying to push through- hell I've got the scars from 7 operations to prove that. I couldn't handle them at the same time I guess- I am really disappointed in myself for allowing him to break me. I'm better than that, I'm tougher than that.
I went down, changed again fighting the tears and went upstairs. Bruna and Lara were waiting for me, but I was so mad I couldn't even chit chat. My fingers were still burning so badly I had them pressed against a diet coke can for some relief. I decided to go to the front desk and have them bandaged. Vincent- the poor guy who had to wrap both of my pointer fingers was a star. He saw that they were really hurting and was super nice to me. A translator also noticed the look on my face and came to check them out "those hurt like a bitch don't they" she said- at least she knew I wasn't being a wimp!
Laura from class stood with me while I got them fixed and Bruna came in to find me as well. Laura is a mom of 3 and just knows. She said the right things, helped me to calm down and then went to pick up her own little girl. I wanted my mom and my blanky.
Bruna didn't leave me- and she listened to me swear the entire metro to my house where I changed so we could salvage a day. We went to lunch with Anthony in Les Halles and went to the most crowded mall ever. I bought a new Bodum mug to carry my tea in the morning to school and we just laughed. It was a good thing that I couldn't call home when I was feeling awful...it would have made me worse.
I came home, watched a little Entourage and went to meet up with Anthony, Zu, JP, Melissa, Mark, and Siham for Senegalese food in the Marais. It was so much fun- we all just had a great time and laughed. It was just what the Dr. ordered! After dinner, we went to a sports bar in the St. Germaine to watch the NFL playoffs. We talked about our favorite movies and laughed again until it was time to go home...
I came home to find such a sweet email from Laura and a note on facebook from Lara. Lara said she was impressed at how I held it together today...that's funny- I thought I completely fell apart! Laura asked how my fingers were. So thoughtful and sweet of both of them! I'm sure there are going to be many more burned fingers, screaming Chefs and tears, I'm just so lucky that I have met great people who are here to help when it happens next.
A Bientot!
Friday, January 15, 2010
C'est Parfait
Those are words that a.) culinary school students don't hear too often and b.) are exactly what they want to hear every single day. I wake up in the mornings before class going over the steps in my head over and over and over again. Most nights before practical I don't sleep much because I'm so stressed and nervous. Last night was one such night.
This morning, at 8:30 I was in the basement getting everything ready (I'm still class assistant) and things weren't looking good for me. The dumb waiter with all our food wasn't coming up to the send floor, so I ran (literally sprinted) down to the basement again to make sure all the doors were closed, then ran up again. Nothing. Merde. I ran downstairs to group A who had all of their things and were happily preparing for practical. I ran back upstairs and luckily the dumbwaiter had arrived!
Things just kept on getting better. I was behind most of the class because I (assistant) had to keep running and getting more flour when we ran out. 10 students making 2 kinds of dough requires a lot of flour. I'd sprint up to the 3rd floor until finally Chef Poupard said "Caroline- why do you keep running upstairs? Do you need the exercise that badly? There's a hige vat of flour right here!" Oops.
First we did the savory short dough- made that and let it rest. Then we made the dough for the puff pastry and let that rest as well. We then blanched bacon- drained it, sauteed it in butter and got the rest of our stuff ready for the filling. Eggs, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg- pass through a chinois and set aside. Once that was ready we rolled out our dough put it in the mold and blind baked it.
While they were blind baking, we did 2 turns of our puff pastry dough- you have to roll it out with a big X in it. Put a disgusting hunk of extra dry butter in there, fold the dough over the butter and roll it out into a perfect rectangle. Then fold it again, roll it and put it in the fridge again.
Once we finished that, we filled and baked our quiches. Mine came out brown and delish looking. I was frankly really surprised- I had been behind all class and here I was, the first one done! I did 2 more turns of the puff pastry dough and plated my quiche. Chef Poupard simply said "C'est Parfait!" I was SO excited (see picture) I could barely contain myself! I was getting very hungry so I dashed around the kitchen cleaning up after everyone and took the ingredients back down to the basement to enjoy my quiche.
I thought Chef Poupard was the best we'd had yet- he was calm, helpful, didn't yell and kept us all on target in a relaxed, yet stern way. He definitely yelled at some but I was just in a groove today- I felt good, I felt confident and it turned out!
After practical- I hoovered more quiche than I care to admit into my mouth and went to demo. We were in the bad demo room again but I was in the second row which is the best to be in. The mirrors show everything and it's easy to hear and see.
I came home, took a cat nap and just went to see It's Complicated with Bruna and Anthony. The movie was cute and for .0005 seconds made me a little homesick for California. I quickly snapped out of it when I noticed the French subtitles and said..."DUH I'm in Paris!" After the movie we walked around and had a crepe in the 6th St. Germaine area. I love that place SO much I could walk over there for hours. Each restaurant and cafe has more charm than the next and it's just very European. I loved it!
Tomorrow at 8:30 we have to finish our puff pastry and make poached eggs with this strange sauce/leek combination and put it IN the puff pastry...interesting. But then it's the weekend!!!
A Bientot!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wait, what day is it?
Students at Le Cordon Bleu know a lot of things. We know how to brunoise, we know how to clean, we know how to make sure our boards don't slide around, and we know how to be on time and in uniform. One thing we don't know is what day it is.
You see, at Le Cordon Bleu- we know time as it relates to class. For example- if you have 12:30 demo, you know for sure that it's about 3:30pm when you leave. When it comes to looking at a real calendar? forget about it. No one has a clue. Students stare at 'le planning' and say "wait, what day is it?" because school is the only thing on their minds. I must look at my planning 17 times per day to make sure I know when class is- and before I go to bed everynight, I triple check it to make sure I wasn't making a mistake and missing a class. In fact, I just emailed Lara to make sure that I'm not mistaken (I left my planning in my locker) that we only have 12:30 demo tomorrow. We're all a little pathetic.
You'll be happy to know that I received an "excellent" on my tart today. It was our first practical with Chef Strill and he made fun of me 23456786543 times because I was so tense. It was our first real grade and I was petrified! For the first time, when I looked around and saw people that were ahead of me, I just looked down and focused. Not one problem. I didn't kill my yeast, my dough rose, I seasoned my onions, I soaked my anchovies in milk and water (OUR anchovies. We had a tin per 2 people) and after 17 minutes, it came out golden and brown. The one thing I would complain about is that the SIDES of my tart were a little bit big. Bruno showed me a new technique and made the edges of my tart look fancy. In demo we learned to use an upside down plate and push the dough against the plate making a spot of the onions. Chef showed me how to make it pretty- and I wish it weren't so puffy.
I'm also pleased to announce that I have my first cut, though I'm sad to report that it happened when I was putting my knives AWAY. I knicked my finger on my cleaver and I had to run down to reception to have it fixed up. It really wouldn't stop bleeding! It didn't hurt at all, but for hygiene and sanitation, we must put this on:
All in all, a great day. I had THE BEST night's sleep ever thanks to my new travel alarm clock/sound machine. I slept to the pitter patter of raindrops and I had a great night's rest! Check out the picture below...a little SF here in PARIS!
A Bientot!
You see, at Le Cordon Bleu- we know time as it relates to class. For example- if you have 12:30 demo, you know for sure that it's about 3:30pm when you leave. When it comes to looking at a real calendar? forget about it. No one has a clue. Students stare at 'le planning' and say "wait, what day is it?" because school is the only thing on their minds. I must look at my planning 17 times per day to make sure I know when class is- and before I go to bed everynight, I triple check it to make sure I wasn't making a mistake and missing a class. In fact, I just emailed Lara to make sure that I'm not mistaken (I left my planning in my locker) that we only have 12:30 demo tomorrow. We're all a little pathetic.
You'll be happy to know that I received an "excellent" on my tart today. It was our first practical with Chef Strill and he made fun of me 23456786543 times because I was so tense. It was our first real grade and I was petrified! For the first time, when I looked around and saw people that were ahead of me, I just looked down and focused. Not one problem. I didn't kill my yeast, my dough rose, I seasoned my onions, I soaked my anchovies in milk and water (OUR anchovies. We had a tin per 2 people) and after 17 minutes, it came out golden and brown. The one thing I would complain about is that the SIDES of my tart were a little bit big. Bruno showed me a new technique and made the edges of my tart look fancy. In demo we learned to use an upside down plate and push the dough against the plate making a spot of the onions. Chef showed me how to make it pretty- and I wish it weren't so puffy.
I'm also pleased to announce that I have my first cut, though I'm sad to report that it happened when I was putting my knives AWAY. I knicked my finger on my cleaver and I had to run down to reception to have it fixed up. It really wouldn't stop bleeding! It didn't hurt at all, but for hygiene and sanitation, we must put this on:
All in all, a great day. I had THE BEST night's sleep ever thanks to my new travel alarm clock/sound machine. I slept to the pitter patter of raindrops and I had a great night's rest! Check out the picture below...a little SF here in PARIS!
A Bientot!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Re-Adjustment
Since the tart incident. I had a glass of Chinon (the kind we had in class yesterday), ate the leftovers from lunch (penne arrabiata) and took a walk around the block keeping my eyes on the Eiffel Tower.
I am in Paris.
I am in Paris cooking.
I am in Paris learning more about something I love.
I am in Paris learning more about something I love and meeting incredible people.
I'm over the tart. I'm re-focused and am ready to KILL it tomorrow.
(Ok I watched an episode of Entourage and Ari Gold inspired me...is that so wrong?)
I am in Paris.
I am in Paris cooking.
I am in Paris learning more about something I love.
I am in Paris learning more about something I love and meeting incredible people.
I'm over the tart. I'm re-focused and am ready to KILL it tomorrow.
(Ok I watched an episode of Entourage and Ari Gold inspired me...is that so wrong?)
Looks can be deceiving
That's an onion tart. Or une Pissaladiere- which we learned today at 8:30am from Chef Thillet. Anthony and I decided to practice tonight to get ready for practical. I have it tomorrow at 12:30 and Anthony has it at 3:30.
I'd be willing to put 10 euros that at least 5 of you would be willing to eat that tart. I sure would- but when we tasted it...it wasn't all we'd hoped for. We talked about it (for longer than necessary) and decided the following:
1. We overcooked the onions
2. We didn't season the onions properly
3. We didn't salt the tomatoes (as we were instructed to)
4. We should have rolled out the dough thinner
5. We should have used the yeast we were supposed to (my store didn't have compressed yeast)
6. We should have oiled the crust after it came out of the oven
Merde.
Ok let's look on the bright side. It was practice- I used to say in college that a bad warmup meant a great game- I hope that rings true tomorrow! I at least now know the technique and can season properly tomorrow, I just am very frustrated. It looks so good! I want to really knock the cover off the ball tomorrow, and I feel deflated.
In other news, I'm still in Paris- so I've got that going for me! I had a great lunch with some classmates in Chatelet today. We went to this awesome Italian place (thanks to Lara!) and had some really interesting conversation. We all come from such different places- and I love so much learning about different places and cultures. Noor is only 18 and prays towards Mecca 5 times per day. There are 55,000 churches where Bruna comes from. Despite being 1/2 Arab, Lara isn't allowed to enter Saudi without written consent. It's all just so interesting to me and I want to learn so much more.
So I suppose that though my tart wasn't delicious- I have other things to look forward to! I just wish it didn't bother me SO SO SO much that it wasn't good. I suppose I know that I'm doing the right thing by being here if I'm obsessing over an onion tart. Wish me lots of luck tomorrow, I really am jonesing for a 'tres bien'!
A bientot!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Les yeux, le nez et la bouche
Before I get into the meaning behind my post title, I want to share my day yesterday!
After sleeping until the pm- I went and met Anthony at Concorde metro station to do a little sightseeing. EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in my neighborhood, so I suggested that we head to Le Marais (which is a primarily Jewish neighborhood) to have some lunch and just breeze around. First we went to Notre Dame, which was SO cool. I lit a candle for my sister Allison who was running a marathon in Florida yesterday. She finished it!!!! I bet it was because of my candle lighting (just joking Boo) Here are some pictures of Notre Dame
It was just so gorgeous- I'm really glad we went!
Then we walked across the Seine to Le Marais where we just got to know eachother better. Fun fact: Anthony's family owns an egg farm in Utah- they produced 28 MILLION dozens of eggs last year. It was really nice to get to know someone here- and he has such an interesting story!
After a croque monsieur and some onion gratinee, we walked to Hotel de Ville. It was really neat to see and there's an ice skating rink in front, so we watched people skate for a minute before heading to L'Arc de Triomphe.
I just knew it would be gorgeous at night, so we went around 5. You have to pay to walk underneath it (very lame) so we didn't. Then we took a stroll up the Champs Elysees to find a movie store. I bought a season of Entourage so I could watch it in bed when I go to sleep. It's great!
Today we had class at 3:30 so I woke up, ironed my uniform, unloaded the dishwasher and headed to the Saint Germaine with my friend Bruna. We ate at Les Deux Magots- I thought of you Mom the whole time, I even took a picture of it! Then we jumped on the metro to class.
It was wine pairing class today. A sommelier came in and taught us all about how to taste wine, what kind of wines go with what food, and while he did that a chef prepared a meal for us to taste with our wines. He taught us that we taste first with our eyes (les yeux) then our nose (le nez) and then with our mouth (la bouche). I liked learning HOW to taste, and what to look for with each sip. We had braised ox cheek with glazed baby onions and puree of potato and sweet potato. It was INCREDIBLE. It was so tender and delicious. I hadn't ever had ox cheek so it was a real treat. We had a yummy red wine with that and everyone was impressed that I could suck air in with my wine (thank you lots of trips up to Napa!) Then he made a mango gratin which was paired with a white dessert Bordeaux wine (which I didn't care for, so I gave it to Sara).
I just ate dinner and am off to my kitchen to practice chopping onions, I will get them perfect if it KILLS me! I just bought 12 onions so I could practice on those and carrots :)
A bientot!
After sleeping until the pm- I went and met Anthony at Concorde metro station to do a little sightseeing. EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in my neighborhood, so I suggested that we head to Le Marais (which is a primarily Jewish neighborhood) to have some lunch and just breeze around. First we went to Notre Dame, which was SO cool. I lit a candle for my sister Allison who was running a marathon in Florida yesterday. She finished it!!!! I bet it was because of my candle lighting (just joking Boo) Here are some pictures of Notre Dame
It was just so gorgeous- I'm really glad we went!
Then we walked across the Seine to Le Marais where we just got to know eachother better. Fun fact: Anthony's family owns an egg farm in Utah- they produced 28 MILLION dozens of eggs last year. It was really nice to get to know someone here- and he has such an interesting story!
After a croque monsieur and some onion gratinee, we walked to Hotel de Ville. It was really neat to see and there's an ice skating rink in front, so we watched people skate for a minute before heading to L'Arc de Triomphe.
I just knew it would be gorgeous at night, so we went around 5. You have to pay to walk underneath it (very lame) so we didn't. Then we took a stroll up the Champs Elysees to find a movie store. I bought a season of Entourage so I could watch it in bed when I go to sleep. It's great!
Today we had class at 3:30 so I woke up, ironed my uniform, unloaded the dishwasher and headed to the Saint Germaine with my friend Bruna. We ate at Les Deux Magots- I thought of you Mom the whole time, I even took a picture of it! Then we jumped on the metro to class.
It was wine pairing class today. A sommelier came in and taught us all about how to taste wine, what kind of wines go with what food, and while he did that a chef prepared a meal for us to taste with our wines. He taught us that we taste first with our eyes (les yeux) then our nose (le nez) and then with our mouth (la bouche). I liked learning HOW to taste, and what to look for with each sip. We had braised ox cheek with glazed baby onions and puree of potato and sweet potato. It was INCREDIBLE. It was so tender and delicious. I hadn't ever had ox cheek so it was a real treat. We had a yummy red wine with that and everyone was impressed that I could suck air in with my wine (thank you lots of trips up to Napa!) Then he made a mango gratin which was paired with a white dessert Bordeaux wine (which I didn't care for, so I gave it to Sara).
I just ate dinner and am off to my kitchen to practice chopping onions, I will get them perfect if it KILLS me! I just bought 12 onions so I could practice on those and carrots :)
A bientot!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
"Your knife, your hand and your product"
It was bound to happen- and it happened. I had my first bad practical :(
We had 8:30 demo where we were in the BAD demo room- it is not stadium seating like the big one and is nearly impossible to see everything. Compound that with being unable to sleep the night before and the terrible translator and it just wasn't my day.
I sat next to Bruna (Brazil) and right down the row from Anthony and in front of Lara and was scratching my head most of the class. We had the goofy Chef- Frederic and he LOVES to hear himself talk, so he was yammering on and on about how he worked for the President and how cool he was while he started the chicken stock.
Chicken pieces covered by water with leek, carrots, onion (with 3 cloves poked into the flesh), peppercorns and a TEENY bit of salt. 20 minutes later, the stock is ready! Seemed easy enough!
Then he babbles some more, calls me out AGAIN in class- this time about being hesitant when I was filleting my fish. And cleans a chicken- cuts of the tips of the wings, trims various glands that need to be removed (one in the neck and one on the tail- area) and begins to truss with a giant needle and string. This is difficult to see, but all in all I get it- you just make a neat little package with the chicken. He blanches the chicken- removes it from the pan, adds vegetables and takes it back to the pan, covers with water and lets poach for an hour.
He then makes a cheese souffle which was TO DIE FOR. There are a few little tricks that he does but all in all, looks the same as my technique. I'm SO excited to make that!
Then he goes back to the task at hand- riz au gras (rice with onions, butter and cooked in chicken stock) and supreme sauce. It all looks easy enough- I'm fairly confident heading into this practical thinking "it's chicken with rice and sauce, how hard could it be?"
...And then we walked into 2PS. We all started prepping to make the stock. 10 minutes in, Chef (different one) comes in and says that we're NOT making the stock, that we're to use the poaching liquid for our stock. This really starts us out on a bad note. We get to work and he comes over and helps me organize and said that the ONLY things that should be om the cutting board is your knife, your hand and your product". There should be no peels, no ends, no uncut vegetables...nothing.
Then I begin my chicken- first and foremost we have to blowtorch any leftover feathers that were on it- then clean and truss it. OF COURSE this chef wants us to truss it a different way than we were just taught- so that took longer than planned. He helped me (did it for me) and I blanched the old bird.
After our chicken is blanching we prepare our vegetables for our 'stock'. Peel, wash, mirepoix, create 2 bouquet garni- 1 for the stock, and 1 for the rice. We need to brunoise an onion for the rice and make a roux (butter/flour cooked together as a thickening agent). I've made roux before, but I screwed up the first one. Toss, start again. I get all this done and we have some down time. We can't start cooking the rice because we don't want it overcooked, and because our 'stock' isn't ready yet. I clean up my station and put most of my knives away per Chef's suggestion.
Then it's a mad dash to finish everything. Take out the chicken, let it rest, start the rice, finish the sauce, plate your dish.
I finished, but Chef told me my food wasn't seasoned enough. He also said that I need to really go over the recipe and have a plan before I get into the kitchen. Break it down into steps- like today we dealt with the chicken, then prep ALL our vegetables and really think through the process in steps instead of minutia. He said he noticed that I was freaking out for no reason and that I should only focus on MY work, not compare where I am with others. Oh, and he said my plate had fingerprints on it. He did say that I was very organized and had a good attitude while in the kitchen, but needed to assert myself more. He made me stand there and say "OUI CHEF" over and over as if I was in the Army. Hey- at least he didn't tell me to throw my food out like he did to someone else in class...
Overtired+no food+unseasoned food in practical=me completely and utterly deflated.
I go have a glass of wine with Lara who got a "tres bien"o on her dish- we completely dissected everything from class and talked about how we can both improve. It's amazing how LCB students really only talk about school and class.
I came home, took a nap and was getting ready for my first night out in Paris with Zulaikha and Siham. I ate my seasonless food and headed over to the 16th where Siham lives. Her apartment is super cozy and we go to this club called Sences.
Now, for those of you who don't know me- my ideal Saturday night is having dinner with friends and having some drinks at a bar. Usually a hole in the wall kind of place or somewhere like Perry's where I know everyone. I walk behind velvet ropes and into this club. WHOA. Laser beams, lights, REALLY loud music. It was such a blast though. We danced until WAY too late and had a great night. I slept until noon- I really needed it, and think I'm heading to the Marais with Anthony later because I've never been and because NOTHING is open on Sundays in the 7th.
I'm also going to buy the stuff to practice a cheese souffle over there so I can get back on my Tres Bien's next week. I don't have practical until Wednesday- but I really want to study- having unseasoned food really made me so sad!
A Bientot
We had 8:30 demo where we were in the BAD demo room- it is not stadium seating like the big one and is nearly impossible to see everything. Compound that with being unable to sleep the night before and the terrible translator and it just wasn't my day.
I sat next to Bruna (Brazil) and right down the row from Anthony and in front of Lara and was scratching my head most of the class. We had the goofy Chef- Frederic and he LOVES to hear himself talk, so he was yammering on and on about how he worked for the President and how cool he was while he started the chicken stock.
Chicken pieces covered by water with leek, carrots, onion (with 3 cloves poked into the flesh), peppercorns and a TEENY bit of salt. 20 minutes later, the stock is ready! Seemed easy enough!
Then he babbles some more, calls me out AGAIN in class- this time about being hesitant when I was filleting my fish. And cleans a chicken- cuts of the tips of the wings, trims various glands that need to be removed (one in the neck and one on the tail- area) and begins to truss with a giant needle and string. This is difficult to see, but all in all I get it- you just make a neat little package with the chicken. He blanches the chicken- removes it from the pan, adds vegetables and takes it back to the pan, covers with water and lets poach for an hour.
He then makes a cheese souffle which was TO DIE FOR. There are a few little tricks that he does but all in all, looks the same as my technique. I'm SO excited to make that!
Then he goes back to the task at hand- riz au gras (rice with onions, butter and cooked in chicken stock) and supreme sauce. It all looks easy enough- I'm fairly confident heading into this practical thinking "it's chicken with rice and sauce, how hard could it be?"
...And then we walked into 2PS. We all started prepping to make the stock. 10 minutes in, Chef (different one) comes in and says that we're NOT making the stock, that we're to use the poaching liquid for our stock. This really starts us out on a bad note. We get to work and he comes over and helps me organize and said that the ONLY things that should be om the cutting board is your knife, your hand and your product". There should be no peels, no ends, no uncut vegetables...nothing.
Then I begin my chicken- first and foremost we have to blowtorch any leftover feathers that were on it- then clean and truss it. OF COURSE this chef wants us to truss it a different way than we were just taught- so that took longer than planned. He helped me (did it for me) and I blanched the old bird.
After our chicken is blanching we prepare our vegetables for our 'stock'. Peel, wash, mirepoix, create 2 bouquet garni- 1 for the stock, and 1 for the rice. We need to brunoise an onion for the rice and make a roux (butter/flour cooked together as a thickening agent). I've made roux before, but I screwed up the first one. Toss, start again. I get all this done and we have some down time. We can't start cooking the rice because we don't want it overcooked, and because our 'stock' isn't ready yet. I clean up my station and put most of my knives away per Chef's suggestion.
Then it's a mad dash to finish everything. Take out the chicken, let it rest, start the rice, finish the sauce, plate your dish.
I finished, but Chef told me my food wasn't seasoned enough. He also said that I need to really go over the recipe and have a plan before I get into the kitchen. Break it down into steps- like today we dealt with the chicken, then prep ALL our vegetables and really think through the process in steps instead of minutia. He said he noticed that I was freaking out for no reason and that I should only focus on MY work, not compare where I am with others. Oh, and he said my plate had fingerprints on it. He did say that I was very organized and had a good attitude while in the kitchen, but needed to assert myself more. He made me stand there and say "OUI CHEF" over and over as if I was in the Army. Hey- at least he didn't tell me to throw my food out like he did to someone else in class...
Overtired+no food+unseasoned food in practical=me completely and utterly deflated.
I go have a glass of wine with Lara who got a "tres bien"o on her dish- we completely dissected everything from class and talked about how we can both improve. It's amazing how LCB students really only talk about school and class.
I came home, took a nap and was getting ready for my first night out in Paris with Zulaikha and Siham. I ate my seasonless food and headed over to the 16th where Siham lives. Her apartment is super cozy and we go to this club called Sences.
Now, for those of you who don't know me- my ideal Saturday night is having dinner with friends and having some drinks at a bar. Usually a hole in the wall kind of place or somewhere like Perry's where I know everyone. I walk behind velvet ropes and into this club. WHOA. Laser beams, lights, REALLY loud music. It was such a blast though. We danced until WAY too late and had a great night. I slept until noon- I really needed it, and think I'm heading to the Marais with Anthony later because I've never been and because NOTHING is open on Sundays in the 7th.
I'm also going to buy the stuff to practice a cheese souffle over there so I can get back on my Tres Bien's next week. I don't have practical until Wednesday- but I really want to study- having unseasoned food really made me so sad!
A Bientot
Friday, January 8, 2010
"Your fillets look like crocodiles hahah"
I survived practical #2.
I slept until 11 this morning (!) I got up, showered and went to meet Anthony for lunch. We both had croque monsieurs- I realized quickly that the croque madame's aren't really my thing. I asked him about 650 questions as he had already done the fish practical.
On my way to school, I went and bought colored rubber bands and ziploc bags. The rubber bands are so you can mark your knives. Many people either etch their names into them, or use le vernis a ongles (nail polish) to differentiate their knives. I picked rubber bands and it worked very well!
I get all changed and head up to help Bruna and Moran who are this week's class assistants. We get everything set up for practical and the chef comes in and SCREAMS "YOU HAVE CINQ MINUTES". So we scramble around, set up our boards, get out the necessary knives (once class starts, you really can't run to your knife kit...so if you forget something, you're SOL). In the middle of our workspace is this giant box of sole fish. We each are given 2 fish that are slimy, stinky and looking at us. From both fish, we SHOULD get 8 fillets.
We get to work and I snip the tail, fins and gills with my kitchen shears, scale with a paring knife (scales EVERYWHERE) and start to fillet. I get the first one and it looks like it should...I almost yelled I DID IT!!!! but then I kept going. Each one got worse and worse. The chef walked by me at one point and laughed..."your fillets look like crocodiles". I didn't really get what that meant, but when he told me to throw one away, I knew it wasn't good.
We were all SUPER behind the entire class. Once we had our fillets, we had to skin and gut our fish (take out all the roe and brains, eyes etc) to be used in our fumet de poisson (fish stock). He kept yelling out that we should be at this point, we should be at that point and I was no where near where I was supposed to be. Instead of panic, I just kept my nose down and worked. I put a lot of butter in a stock pot, and put the fist bones in there (we were also given 2 other uncleaned fish for our stock) to steam. I then feverishly brunoised my leek, celery, and onions. Put them in the pot to let them steam- then brunoised shallots, chopped parsley TRES TRES FIN (very very fine). Then I added wine and water to my stock, let it steam for 5 minutes then added mirepoix mushrooms. Then it was time to prepare our fillets to be braised. We had to butter the bottom of a oven safe sautee pan, sprinkle some of our shallots on the bottom and fold out fish into 3 pieces like an envelope. This was hard because the side that came off the bones needed to be facing up. When you destroyed your fillets like I did, you can't tell which is which. I strained the stock (which was great) and ladled it so it was 1/2 way up the fish. Meanwhile Chef was screaming ALLER ALLER ALLER!!!! meaning we weren't working fast enough. I put my fish in the oven and carefully watched the clock while I tried to salvage things from my station. If the Chef walks by and your station is messy, he just throws everything out.
7 minutes later, my fish was cooked 'parfait'. I quickly put it in foil, and poured the braising liquid into a small saucepan. At this point people were freaking out! The braising liquid needs to reduce A LOT and then you add about a stick(!) of COLD diced butter and wisk it feverishly until it's thick. I had turned off my oven and put a plate in there to warm when the chef told me my wisk was too big for the pan I was using. Oh well I thought, too late now, better just make the sauce. I tasted, seasoned and plated my dish. C'est tres bien, le bercy est tres bon. Were the Chef's comments. I nearly jumped out of my skin...TRES BIEN? my sauce was TRES BON? HOLY SHIT!!!!! The girl next to me over cooked her fish, and my friend Lara's sauce separated, and many people's sauce didn't reduce enough. I felt like barbie queen of the prom.
Chef screamed at us and made us late for demo cleaning our kitchen (little did we know HE was our demo chef...) Group B all rushed into class breathless and there was our jolly chef, laughing at us. He then proceeded to call me out "Ou comme Caroline..." and demonstrated how loud I was wisking my sauce because my damn wisk was too big. I didn't care, I turned beat red as everyone laughed, but Bruna next to me said "who cares, you got a tres bien on your meal"
I just got home, am SO exhausted and have 8:30 demo, then right into 12:30 practical. We're making white chicken stock and poached chicken with sauce supreme. I have to get their early and clean the fish guts off my knives.
A Bientot!
Ps. I did burn myself while Chef was screaming at me, but STILL NO CUTS!
Pps. Someone barfed all over the steps of the locker room. GROSS!
I slept until 11 this morning (!) I got up, showered and went to meet Anthony for lunch. We both had croque monsieurs- I realized quickly that the croque madame's aren't really my thing. I asked him about 650 questions as he had already done the fish practical.
On my way to school, I went and bought colored rubber bands and ziploc bags. The rubber bands are so you can mark your knives. Many people either etch their names into them, or use le vernis a ongles (nail polish) to differentiate their knives. I picked rubber bands and it worked very well!
I get all changed and head up to help Bruna and Moran who are this week's class assistants. We get everything set up for practical and the chef comes in and SCREAMS "YOU HAVE CINQ MINUTES". So we scramble around, set up our boards, get out the necessary knives (once class starts, you really can't run to your knife kit...so if you forget something, you're SOL). In the middle of our workspace is this giant box of sole fish. We each are given 2 fish that are slimy, stinky and looking at us. From both fish, we SHOULD get 8 fillets.
We get to work and I snip the tail, fins and gills with my kitchen shears, scale with a paring knife (scales EVERYWHERE) and start to fillet. I get the first one and it looks like it should...I almost yelled I DID IT!!!! but then I kept going. Each one got worse and worse. The chef walked by me at one point and laughed..."your fillets look like crocodiles". I didn't really get what that meant, but when he told me to throw one away, I knew it wasn't good.
We were all SUPER behind the entire class. Once we had our fillets, we had to skin and gut our fish (take out all the roe and brains, eyes etc) to be used in our fumet de poisson (fish stock). He kept yelling out that we should be at this point, we should be at that point and I was no where near where I was supposed to be. Instead of panic, I just kept my nose down and worked. I put a lot of butter in a stock pot, and put the fist bones in there (we were also given 2 other uncleaned fish for our stock) to steam. I then feverishly brunoised my leek, celery, and onions. Put them in the pot to let them steam- then brunoised shallots, chopped parsley TRES TRES FIN (very very fine). Then I added wine and water to my stock, let it steam for 5 minutes then added mirepoix mushrooms. Then it was time to prepare our fillets to be braised. We had to butter the bottom of a oven safe sautee pan, sprinkle some of our shallots on the bottom and fold out fish into 3 pieces like an envelope. This was hard because the side that came off the bones needed to be facing up. When you destroyed your fillets like I did, you can't tell which is which. I strained the stock (which was great) and ladled it so it was 1/2 way up the fish. Meanwhile Chef was screaming ALLER ALLER ALLER!!!! meaning we weren't working fast enough. I put my fish in the oven and carefully watched the clock while I tried to salvage things from my station. If the Chef walks by and your station is messy, he just throws everything out.
7 minutes later, my fish was cooked 'parfait'. I quickly put it in foil, and poured the braising liquid into a small saucepan. At this point people were freaking out! The braising liquid needs to reduce A LOT and then you add about a stick(!) of COLD diced butter and wisk it feverishly until it's thick. I had turned off my oven and put a plate in there to warm when the chef told me my wisk was too big for the pan I was using. Oh well I thought, too late now, better just make the sauce. I tasted, seasoned and plated my dish. C'est tres bien, le bercy est tres bon. Were the Chef's comments. I nearly jumped out of my skin...TRES BIEN? my sauce was TRES BON? HOLY SHIT!!!!! The girl next to me over cooked her fish, and my friend Lara's sauce separated, and many people's sauce didn't reduce enough. I felt like barbie queen of the prom.
Chef screamed at us and made us late for demo cleaning our kitchen (little did we know HE was our demo chef...) Group B all rushed into class breathless and there was our jolly chef, laughing at us. He then proceeded to call me out "Ou comme Caroline..." and demonstrated how loud I was wisking my sauce because my damn wisk was too big. I didn't care, I turned beat red as everyone laughed, but Bruna next to me said "who cares, you got a tres bien on your meal"
I just got home, am SO exhausted and have 8:30 demo, then right into 12:30 practical. We're making white chicken stock and poached chicken with sauce supreme. I have to get their early and clean the fish guts off my knives.
A Bientot!
Ps. I did burn myself while Chef was screaming at me, but STILL NO CUTS!
Pps. Someone barfed all over the steps of the locker room. GROSS!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Band-Aids, Burgers and Butter
I survived my first practical.
I went to dinner last night with Zu and her friend Siham (Abu Dhabi) in the 5th. I was so excited to have clothes that I wore my tory flats with no socks to dinner. Well I got lost, and my feet were completely numb. Oops, rookie Paris mistake. We had a fabulous dinner- I thought I was going to have steak frites, but opted for poulet roti instead. Chicken was overcooked, but there were mashed potatoes...so who could complain. I came home and had a MAJOR bit of homesickness when I video chatted with Boo, EJ and Lily. I took some Nyquil and fell asleep.
I woke up today around 9- ate, checked email and headed off to school at 11:30. I was petrified of practical. I kept having this nightmare that I couldn't julienne my celery. I got there really early and started setting up, we were in the Julia Child kitchen which was pretty neat. I took the spot by the window- Lara (Dubai) and Bruna (Rio de Janiero) came in and started too. Pretty soon we were all there and the Chef came in. Practicals are NOT translated so understanding the French is difficult.
He gives us a couple of short demonstrations and we're on our way. We have to get all our stuff (pots, pans, chinois etc), turn on our burners and start prepping. One rule is that everything must be ready before you start cooking. So off we go, peeling, washing all our veggies (carrots, cabbage, leeks, radish), opening up our pea pods, topping and tailing our haricots verts etc. We have to cut everything into a brunoise- TEENY TINY cubes. How do you do that with a round vegetable do you ask? Well you need to slice the ends of to make it a cube. Then slice it lengthwise into strips and then into cubes. It's really fun, but quite the process. About 20 minutes into practical Fernando (cardiologist from France) saunters in. He's very late (BIG BIG BIG no no). The girl next to me had skipped demo yesterday, so technically- she shouldn't have been able to be in practical, but because it's the first day, he let her slide. She came without hairnet, apron, tea towel or necktie...so strange!
While we're working, periodically you'd hear "oops, j'ai coupe mes droits" or I cut my finger. You really have to focus because in order to get everything done you must move quickly but you can't be sloppy with your knives. I managed to get several "biens" on my brunoise from the chef and didn't cut myself!
I started cooking and I quickly realized that my window spot was a BAD choice. The sun coming through mixed with the steam of the soup made it so I couldn't see a THING. I'd have to take my pot off the stove in order to see it. My burner was also screaming hot and my soup coiled too rapidly.
While we were cooking, the chef had demonstrations- so he'd make us all go to him and watch him do something like a bouquet garnis or a different cut. This is tricky because you have something on the burner! I took mine off the heat for these. We also had tests we needed to complete while cooking our soup. We had to chop an onion 2 ways, garlic, shallot and make a bouquet garnis. I finished my soup and then did my tests. The chef tasted and said my soup was 'tres bien'!!!!!!!! MAJOR MAJOR excitement until he said that we weren't being graded today. MERDE. I rushed to get my tests done and finished as others were leaving the room. It was a bit of a cluster at the end- cleaning, pouring soup into our bowls, having chef taste again etc.
When I left, I thought I was going to pass out. Practical is exhausting, but was fun. I put my soup in the fridge and went to grab a burger of all things with my groupmates. We had SO MUCH FUN. I went with Lara (Dubai), Bruna (Brazil) and Phillip (Italy). It was such an inspiring lunch! We all ordered our burgers differently. Phillip with foie gras on top, Bruna bleu- meaning VERY rare, Me with sauce au poivre and Lara VERY well done (came out medium looking). I had so much fun learning about their backgrounds, ages, hometowns and we had a funny conversation about their thoughts on Americans. I was the oldest in the group- Lara is 20 and worked in a kitchen in Dubai this summer. Phillip is 22 and worked in a kitchen in Italy and Bruna is 25 and worked on a very high end boat in the kitchen. Then there's boring old me! We had a great time and went back for 6:30 lecture tonight.
Fillets of sole in a butter/wine sauce, veal stock, and 2 kinds of fish stock. We take a whole fish- snip the fins,scale it, remove the gills, and fillet it. We have to do all that, while making fish stock, braising the fish in the oven and making the sauce. Needless to say- practical tomorrow isn't going to be fun. I'm luck that I don't have class until 3:30. Poor Anthony has to do all that tomorrow at 8:30am...gross.
I'm exhausted, but pretty jazzed on the day as a whole. I'm going to eat my soup and hit the sack. I'll be sure to post on my fillets tomorrow...that should be interesting.
A Bientot!
Ps. The pastry students leave their cakes and tarts out in the winter garden for us to eat...so I had dessert before dinner. Oh well!
I went to dinner last night with Zu and her friend Siham (Abu Dhabi) in the 5th. I was so excited to have clothes that I wore my tory flats with no socks to dinner. Well I got lost, and my feet were completely numb. Oops, rookie Paris mistake. We had a fabulous dinner- I thought I was going to have steak frites, but opted for poulet roti instead. Chicken was overcooked, but there were mashed potatoes...so who could complain. I came home and had a MAJOR bit of homesickness when I video chatted with Boo, EJ and Lily. I took some Nyquil and fell asleep.
I woke up today around 9- ate, checked email and headed off to school at 11:30. I was petrified of practical. I kept having this nightmare that I couldn't julienne my celery. I got there really early and started setting up, we were in the Julia Child kitchen which was pretty neat. I took the spot by the window- Lara (Dubai) and Bruna (Rio de Janiero) came in and started too. Pretty soon we were all there and the Chef came in. Practicals are NOT translated so understanding the French is difficult.
He gives us a couple of short demonstrations and we're on our way. We have to get all our stuff (pots, pans, chinois etc), turn on our burners and start prepping. One rule is that everything must be ready before you start cooking. So off we go, peeling, washing all our veggies (carrots, cabbage, leeks, radish), opening up our pea pods, topping and tailing our haricots verts etc. We have to cut everything into a brunoise- TEENY TINY cubes. How do you do that with a round vegetable do you ask? Well you need to slice the ends of to make it a cube. Then slice it lengthwise into strips and then into cubes. It's really fun, but quite the process. About 20 minutes into practical Fernando (cardiologist from France) saunters in. He's very late (BIG BIG BIG no no). The girl next to me had skipped demo yesterday, so technically- she shouldn't have been able to be in practical, but because it's the first day, he let her slide. She came without hairnet, apron, tea towel or necktie...so strange!
While we're working, periodically you'd hear "oops, j'ai coupe mes droits" or I cut my finger. You really have to focus because in order to get everything done you must move quickly but you can't be sloppy with your knives. I managed to get several "biens" on my brunoise from the chef and didn't cut myself!
I started cooking and I quickly realized that my window spot was a BAD choice. The sun coming through mixed with the steam of the soup made it so I couldn't see a THING. I'd have to take my pot off the stove in order to see it. My burner was also screaming hot and my soup coiled too rapidly.
While we were cooking, the chef had demonstrations- so he'd make us all go to him and watch him do something like a bouquet garnis or a different cut. This is tricky because you have something on the burner! I took mine off the heat for these. We also had tests we needed to complete while cooking our soup. We had to chop an onion 2 ways, garlic, shallot and make a bouquet garnis. I finished my soup and then did my tests. The chef tasted and said my soup was 'tres bien'!!!!!!!! MAJOR MAJOR excitement until he said that we weren't being graded today. MERDE. I rushed to get my tests done and finished as others were leaving the room. It was a bit of a cluster at the end- cleaning, pouring soup into our bowls, having chef taste again etc.
When I left, I thought I was going to pass out. Practical is exhausting, but was fun. I put my soup in the fridge and went to grab a burger of all things with my groupmates. We had SO MUCH FUN. I went with Lara (Dubai), Bruna (Brazil) and Phillip (Italy). It was such an inspiring lunch! We all ordered our burgers differently. Phillip with foie gras on top, Bruna bleu- meaning VERY rare, Me with sauce au poivre and Lara VERY well done (came out medium looking). I had so much fun learning about their backgrounds, ages, hometowns and we had a funny conversation about their thoughts on Americans. I was the oldest in the group- Lara is 20 and worked in a kitchen in Dubai this summer. Phillip is 22 and worked in a kitchen in Italy and Bruna is 25 and worked on a very high end boat in the kitchen. Then there's boring old me! We had a great time and went back for 6:30 lecture tonight.
Fillets of sole in a butter/wine sauce, veal stock, and 2 kinds of fish stock. We take a whole fish- snip the fins,scale it, remove the gills, and fillet it. We have to do all that, while making fish stock, braising the fish in the oven and making the sauce. Needless to say- practical tomorrow isn't going to be fun. I'm luck that I don't have class until 3:30. Poor Anthony has to do all that tomorrow at 8:30am...gross.
I'm exhausted, but pretty jazzed on the day as a whole. I'm going to eat my soup and hit the sack. I'll be sure to post on my fillets tomorrow...that should be interesting.
A Bientot!
Ps. The pastry students leave their cakes and tarts out in the winter garden for us to eat...so I had dessert before dinner. Oh well!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Bags and Vegetable Soup
Great news, my bags arrived!!!! I had a morning intro session where we got our binders full of recipes, went over the rules (again! we get it, be on time) and went through other housekeeping items. I ran home in between that and demo to see if my bags had come (I got the call last night); when I didn't see them in the atrium I went upstairs feeling very deflated. Once I arrived in the apartment VOILA les bagages! I took them right upstairs, ransacked them (hugged blanky) and ran off to second session...our first demo.
I got there a bit early to avoid the traffic in the locker room which proved to be inevitable. It is literally like oragami in there. Picture 100 ish women trying to get dressed, wrangle knife kits, binders, jackets, scarves, purses, uniforms etc in a teeny tiny little room. I banged my head on the top locker once, got in my uniform and went to sit in winter garden. After finding my seat in class (there is not ONE left handers desk...) Chef Strill came in to begin our demonstration. He showed us how to tie our neckties and then went in to vegetable soup. He was very jovial and friendly, but I have to say that I really didn't like our translator today- she kept messing up and would skip over a bunch of stuff. I'm lucky that I can understand the actual French, there were many people scratching their heads.
He began by doing his prep work. Putting a towel under his board, then explaining to us that we use 1 board for our practical. We must keep our areas clean at all times. He also told us how we're to NEVER (jamais) place vegetables on our board that have not been cleaned, or as he said "no earth on the board". We're to use a big steel tub to put all dirty veggies and peels, and we have a big bowl of water to wash them in. Now we get to work.
1. trim leeks, remove outer layer and take a paring knife to cut a + sign into the top, soak in water
2. peel potato, take out the eyes, soak in H2o
3. trim and soak carrots
4. trim, peel and soak radish
5. trim and soak celery (making sure to remove all the fibers)
6. trim and soak cabbage leaves
7. top and tail haricots verts, waste NOTHING
8. remove peas from pods
Now we clean and chop the veggies into a paysanne cut (very small, thin triangles). Once the vegetables are chopped, we use a plastic scraper that we MUST keep in our pants pocket AT ALL TIMES to put into a clean bowl.
Then the actual cooking begins! It seems like a relatively simple recipe but at free moments, Chef showed us the different cuts we'll need to master. He showed us the Mirepoix, Julienne, Brunoise, and then taught us how to chop an onion with the heart in it, without the heart and also a shallot. Then he'd go back to the soup, then he showed us the bouquet garnis- where you tie herbs with string with a leek paper wrapped around it. Back to the soup, chopping garlic, season the soup, taste the soup, talk about herbs, show us our knives, etc.
When he was done, he let us take pictures and taste the soup. It was great, but to me could have used a little more salt! It's probably my untrained palate.
All said and done it was 3 hours of feverishly writing everything you saw and everything he said. I'm exhausted, and have 6 pages of notes. In practical, you're only allowed to bring 1 piece of paper in to the kitchen, so I need to re-write all my notes. People in class ask the DUMBEST questions and when they ask, it screws up the Chef's train of thought and we're all left going "what was that?" I'm all for asking questions, but some people really asked dumb ones.
I just got home and am going to re-write my recipe for tomorrow's practical and remove all the sleeves for my knives, label them and get everything ready.
I definitely made a friend today! Anthony is great, he is from Salt Lake City and is really nice. I'm excited to get to know him better. I also finally chatted with Melissa (who found this very blog and wrote me!) she found an apt in the 12th and lived in Sonoma and Petaluma working on a farm that supplied Chez Pannisse! Very cool.
I am LOVING Paris, and really feeling like I'm getting the hang of things. It's so beautiful and very clean, and it snowed today. It was so incredible looking out of the apartment and seeing snow falling on the Eiffel Tower...does life get any better? There are no windows at school, so I have to get my looks in when I'm traveling to and from. Tonight- I'm going to get steak frites with Zu who introduced me to the friends in her section. I felt really cool knowing someone in intermediate :) People at school are from every place you can imagine, I'm so lucky to be here and meeting these people that will surely go on and change the world!
I'm going to re-do my notes and UNPACK!
A Bientot!
ps. I have my blanky wrapped around my neck right now...I missed it SO much!
My internet here is spotty, so I'll upload the pictures from class today later
Chef Stril's soup:
I got there a bit early to avoid the traffic in the locker room which proved to be inevitable. It is literally like oragami in there. Picture 100 ish women trying to get dressed, wrangle knife kits, binders, jackets, scarves, purses, uniforms etc in a teeny tiny little room. I banged my head on the top locker once, got in my uniform and went to sit in winter garden. After finding my seat in class (there is not ONE left handers desk...) Chef Strill came in to begin our demonstration. He showed us how to tie our neckties and then went in to vegetable soup. He was very jovial and friendly, but I have to say that I really didn't like our translator today- she kept messing up and would skip over a bunch of stuff. I'm lucky that I can understand the actual French, there were many people scratching their heads.
He began by doing his prep work. Putting a towel under his board, then explaining to us that we use 1 board for our practical. We must keep our areas clean at all times. He also told us how we're to NEVER (jamais) place vegetables on our board that have not been cleaned, or as he said "no earth on the board". We're to use a big steel tub to put all dirty veggies and peels, and we have a big bowl of water to wash them in. Now we get to work.
1. trim leeks, remove outer layer and take a paring knife to cut a + sign into the top, soak in water
2. peel potato, take out the eyes, soak in H2o
3. trim and soak carrots
4. trim, peel and soak radish
5. trim and soak celery (making sure to remove all the fibers)
6. trim and soak cabbage leaves
7. top and tail haricots verts, waste NOTHING
8. remove peas from pods
Now we clean and chop the veggies into a paysanne cut (very small, thin triangles). Once the vegetables are chopped, we use a plastic scraper that we MUST keep in our pants pocket AT ALL TIMES to put into a clean bowl.
Then the actual cooking begins! It seems like a relatively simple recipe but at free moments, Chef showed us the different cuts we'll need to master. He showed us the Mirepoix, Julienne, Brunoise, and then taught us how to chop an onion with the heart in it, without the heart and also a shallot. Then he'd go back to the soup, then he showed us the bouquet garnis- where you tie herbs with string with a leek paper wrapped around it. Back to the soup, chopping garlic, season the soup, taste the soup, talk about herbs, show us our knives, etc.
When he was done, he let us take pictures and taste the soup. It was great, but to me could have used a little more salt! It's probably my untrained palate.
All said and done it was 3 hours of feverishly writing everything you saw and everything he said. I'm exhausted, and have 6 pages of notes. In practical, you're only allowed to bring 1 piece of paper in to the kitchen, so I need to re-write all my notes. People in class ask the DUMBEST questions and when they ask, it screws up the Chef's train of thought and we're all left going "what was that?" I'm all for asking questions, but some people really asked dumb ones.
I just got home and am going to re-write my recipe for tomorrow's practical and remove all the sleeves for my knives, label them and get everything ready.
I definitely made a friend today! Anthony is great, he is from Salt Lake City and is really nice. I'm excited to get to know him better. I also finally chatted with Melissa (who found this very blog and wrote me!) she found an apt in the 12th and lived in Sonoma and Petaluma working on a farm that supplied Chez Pannisse! Very cool.
I am LOVING Paris, and really feeling like I'm getting the hang of things. It's so beautiful and very clean, and it snowed today. It was so incredible looking out of the apartment and seeing snow falling on the Eiffel Tower...does life get any better? There are no windows at school, so I have to get my looks in when I'm traveling to and from. Tonight- I'm going to get steak frites with Zu who introduced me to the friends in her section. I felt really cool knowing someone in intermediate :) People at school are from every place you can imagine, I'm so lucky to be here and meeting these people that will surely go on and change the world!
I'm going to re-do my notes and UNPACK!
A Bientot!
ps. I have my blanky wrapped around my neck right now...I missed it SO much!
My internet here is spotty, so I'll upload the pictures from class today later
Chef Stril's soup:
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Recent Findings/Orientation Day
Well I just got back from my Orientation day at school. It was so exciting and I think I made 3 friends!!! I slept about 4 minutes last night (combination of jet lag and first day jitters). I set 3 alarms and was up and in the shower by 7:30. I had some special K and tea and was out the door by 8:30. Because my stupid luggage hasn't arrived yet (don't go there) I had to buy another lock before I went to school. I arrived around 9:10 and was given my ID badge and shown into the demonstration room.
Here is a picture of the outside of school:
The room itself was very ordinary but had croissants, jus d'orange, tea and cafe for us. We then met the head of the school who was a woman that looked mean but was very nice. Our translator had the most obscure accent, it was a mixture between British and Australian- hey, at least we have one. We introduced ourselves, and I wrote down the different countries where people were from:
Israel
Japan
Thailand
Brazil
Columbia
Taiwan
China
Italy
Canada
USA
Greece
United Arab Emirates
UK
France
WHOA! Talk about a melting pot of people. Most people spoke a little English and I forsee language being an issue for several. There are others who speak 5 languages and I found myself feeling jealous. I definitely can understand much of the French which is going to be helpful, but speaking is another issue. We got our uniforms, knives, scale, tupperware next and had to try it on in the locker room. My pants COULD NOT be any longer- I'm going to have to have them hemmed. The locker room is absolutely tiny, so I became very close to those that I met...
Then we had a tour of the school. It's very very very small and for being such a renowned place, the equipment seemed antiquated. I had to remind myself that it's not about the equipment, but the technique I will be learning. Pictures on the wall of all the famous alumni are so much fun to look at! (Lots of Julia Child) The prep kitchens are scary and I saw the biggest vat of bubbling veal stock just boiling away when we got a tour of that. We also met some of the chefs who were having lunch in the sous sol (basement). After the tour they took us back to the Winter Garden (not a garden at all, but a frigid cafeteria looking room) where we had some bread, brie, fruits and wine and went home!
While carrying all my stuff home and sweating profusely I managed to get my monthly metro card. The woman helping me spoke no English so I tested out my French. It worked and I have the card...PHEW! one more thing to cross off the list.
Here are a few things I've learned in my 2 days here (in no particular order):
1. The metro couldn't be easier. Everything is so self explanatory and easy- I've been in almost all of the neighborhoods!
2. Crying gets you absolutely nowhere in this country. I've spoken to Air France close to 50 times and each time there are at least a few tears...and my bags still aren't here. Maybe I will yell this time...
3. Paris is so gorgeous it's not even funny.
4. I will never, in my life live in a nicer house than I'm living in right now. I certainly don't deserve a place so incredible, but it's so nice to feel like I have a home.
5. The same annoying music plays in the Gap here too. (I bought a sweater, jeans, underwear and an undershirt)
6. It is no longer legal to smoke inside...making the few clothes that I have smell much better.
7. I miss my blanky
8. Most of the time when I attempt to speak French, people respond in English. Come on people, at least I'm trying!
9. One way to break in kitchen shoes is to wear them everywhere you go (my only pair) my feet hurt and my legs are sore
10. The toothpaste here tastes funny, I can't wait to get my Colgate
I'm going to take pictures of my equipment and go get my pants hemmed and head to the US Embassy to check in with them just in case. I will put pictures up of my first day of school outfit!
A Bientot!
Here is a picture of the outside of school:
The room itself was very ordinary but had croissants, jus d'orange, tea and cafe for us. We then met the head of the school who was a woman that looked mean but was very nice. Our translator had the most obscure accent, it was a mixture between British and Australian- hey, at least we have one. We introduced ourselves, and I wrote down the different countries where people were from:
Israel
Japan
Thailand
Brazil
Columbia
Taiwan
China
Italy
Canada
USA
Greece
United Arab Emirates
UK
France
WHOA! Talk about a melting pot of people. Most people spoke a little English and I forsee language being an issue for several. There are others who speak 5 languages and I found myself feeling jealous. I definitely can understand much of the French which is going to be helpful, but speaking is another issue. We got our uniforms, knives, scale, tupperware next and had to try it on in the locker room. My pants COULD NOT be any longer- I'm going to have to have them hemmed. The locker room is absolutely tiny, so I became very close to those that I met...
Then we had a tour of the school. It's very very very small and for being such a renowned place, the equipment seemed antiquated. I had to remind myself that it's not about the equipment, but the technique I will be learning. Pictures on the wall of all the famous alumni are so much fun to look at! (Lots of Julia Child) The prep kitchens are scary and I saw the biggest vat of bubbling veal stock just boiling away when we got a tour of that. We also met some of the chefs who were having lunch in the sous sol (basement). After the tour they took us back to the Winter Garden (not a garden at all, but a frigid cafeteria looking room) where we had some bread, brie, fruits and wine and went home!
While carrying all my stuff home and sweating profusely I managed to get my monthly metro card. The woman helping me spoke no English so I tested out my French. It worked and I have the card...PHEW! one more thing to cross off the list.
Here are a few things I've learned in my 2 days here (in no particular order):
1. The metro couldn't be easier. Everything is so self explanatory and easy- I've been in almost all of the neighborhoods!
2. Crying gets you absolutely nowhere in this country. I've spoken to Air France close to 50 times and each time there are at least a few tears...and my bags still aren't here. Maybe I will yell this time...
3. Paris is so gorgeous it's not even funny.
4. I will never, in my life live in a nicer house than I'm living in right now. I certainly don't deserve a place so incredible, but it's so nice to feel like I have a home.
5. The same annoying music plays in the Gap here too. (I bought a sweater, jeans, underwear and an undershirt)
6. It is no longer legal to smoke inside...making the few clothes that I have smell much better.
7. I miss my blanky
8. Most of the time when I attempt to speak French, people respond in English. Come on people, at least I'm trying!
9. One way to break in kitchen shoes is to wear them everywhere you go (my only pair) my feet hurt and my legs are sore
10. The toothpaste here tastes funny, I can't wait to get my Colgate
I'm going to take pictures of my equipment and go get my pants hemmed and head to the US Embassy to check in with them just in case. I will put pictures up of my first day of school outfit!
A Bientot!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
I Made it...
You know you look AWFUL when you walk onto a plane and the flight attendant says "ma'am, are you alright?", you manage to choke out "I'm moving to Paris" from behind your tears and keep walking. That's how my journey over here began. I had a full blown, four alarm panic before I got on the plane. There were MANY tears and not nearly enough wine.
I land in Amsterdam to be told that I've already missed my connection, but not to worry because KLM has already booked me on another flight leaving in 2 hours. I wait in line at customs where a scary looking woman doesn't say one word to me and stamps my passport. I got a sprite and a muffin with my KLM food voucher and waited to board my next plane. I asked the nice lady at the desk if my bags were on the plane and they were not, but they were still loading them. I asked the nice lady on the plane once we were in the air if they had made it on. They hadn't. Cue more tears...lots of them.
I arrive in Paris and wait at the carousel like an idiot knowing full well my bags with EVERYTHING in them aren't going to come out. I go, file a report and take the train(s) into Paris. Now in the middle of my misery, I manage to procure a train ticket from a machine in Euros (thanks Mom for the change!), get on the correct train, transfer at Chatelet Les Halles, then transfer again at Concorde to arrive at my stop, Solferino.
Fairly confident that I'm going to receive my bags, I'm pretty pleased at this feat and bee bop around the 7th to find my apartment. Somehow I find the place and the outside code works!!! This excitement was short lived as the inside code I had didn't work. Luckily the guardienne came out to help me. She was lovely and showed me the place- it really is unreal. I call Zu, figure out how to use the phone and look around. Secretly waiting for the phone to ring and it being Air France. The woman said they make a trip to Paris at 3 with delayed luggage and again at 8pm. I call, nothing. They can't find my bags. I decide to walk to the store to get something to eat. It's Sunday and EVERYTHING is closed. I finally find a market and get the necessities. I come home and am FRIGID so I take a shower and have been laying in bed crying. I've called my parents, they've called me, but nothing seems to be making my bags appear. All I want to do is snuggle up with my blanky, unpack and put on some warm socks.
Alone and wanting clothes.
Merde.
I land in Amsterdam to be told that I've already missed my connection, but not to worry because KLM has already booked me on another flight leaving in 2 hours. I wait in line at customs where a scary looking woman doesn't say one word to me and stamps my passport. I got a sprite and a muffin with my KLM food voucher and waited to board my next plane. I asked the nice lady at the desk if my bags were on the plane and they were not, but they were still loading them. I asked the nice lady on the plane once we were in the air if they had made it on. They hadn't. Cue more tears...lots of them.
I arrive in Paris and wait at the carousel like an idiot knowing full well my bags with EVERYTHING in them aren't going to come out. I go, file a report and take the train(s) into Paris. Now in the middle of my misery, I manage to procure a train ticket from a machine in Euros (thanks Mom for the change!), get on the correct train, transfer at Chatelet Les Halles, then transfer again at Concorde to arrive at my stop, Solferino.
Fairly confident that I'm going to receive my bags, I'm pretty pleased at this feat and bee bop around the 7th to find my apartment. Somehow I find the place and the outside code works!!! This excitement was short lived as the inside code I had didn't work. Luckily the guardienne came out to help me. She was lovely and showed me the place- it really is unreal. I call Zu, figure out how to use the phone and look around. Secretly waiting for the phone to ring and it being Air France. The woman said they make a trip to Paris at 3 with delayed luggage and again at 8pm. I call, nothing. They can't find my bags. I decide to walk to the store to get something to eat. It's Sunday and EVERYTHING is closed. I finally find a market and get the necessities. I come home and am FRIGID so I take a shower and have been laying in bed crying. I've called my parents, they've called me, but nothing seems to be making my bags appear. All I want to do is snuggle up with my blanky, unpack and put on some warm socks.
Alone and wanting clothes.
Merde.
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