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!