Study, Study, Study

Sunday morning in Paris and I swear the wolf is outside trying to blow the house down- I looked on weather.com and it says there are gusts up to 60mph! It is so loud, but it makes it so I don't want to venture outdoors...so I can study more!

Yesterday Anthony and I went to a café in the 7th to study, then I came home and studied. I took a break to have dinner with some friends last night at 404- a FABULOUS Moroccan restaurant in the 3rd. It was wonderful food- most of it was served in traditional tajines and was gorgeous to look at. We went out for drinks after and I came home knowing that I had serious studying to accomplish.

Here I am- memorizing an enormous stack of flashcards:


and putting them in piles- the ones on the left I don't know, the ones in the middle I kinda know, and the ones on the right I really know. I'm happy to say that the pile of ones I really know is growing steadily- but I still have to go through ALL the recipes and memorize all my sauces :(

I'll be here doing more of the same until 9pm when I will be watching Ryan Miller and Team USA go for GOLD against Canada! Do you believe in Miracles???

Beef Strogonoff, Exams and Flashcards

Yesterday really felt like a Monday- after having 2 days off, we were all so confused as to which day it was. When we got to demo at 8:30 we were all a little groggy- we were learning Beef Strogonoff which is a very popular exam dish. I was careful to pay very close attention. Chef Lesourd focused on that dish first as a girl in our class' mother was having surgery that day- so she had to leave early. That was a blessing in disguise because Chef Lesourd tends to take his sweet time during demo. He usually loses me 1/2 way through the third recipe.

We went right up to practical and I was pretty nervous. Chef Caals came in, and I got even more nervous. He rattles me and makes me feel very unsure. True to form, my beef wouldn't brown, so I had to use Lara's burner and I was super far behind. I managed to catch up and was one of the first 5 to plate- but not before my recipe and all my notes slipped down behind the oven never to be seen again. That made thing challenging because I didn't know whether to sautée my veggies in butter or oil among other questions.

My rice pilaf with brunoised vegetables looked pretty darn good and I knew that my sauce was perfect, but I knew I had overcooked my meat a little. Chef Caals said that my rice could have stayed in the oven for 1 more minute (really? 1 minute would have made the difference?) and that my sauce was perfect, but my meat was WAY overcooked. I was so mad at myself for overcooking my meat...that is NOT something I ever do- and I was so frustrated!

I left sweating like I had just played a lacrosse game and Lauren and I walked home in the sunshine. We both showered at our respective houses and she came over later to study- we have our written exam on Thursday and were given the 10 possible practical final dishes.

Our written test is 10% of our grade. We have to memorize 6 recipes and fill in blanks that they make in the recipes. We also need to know all of the terms in the back of our binders so we can do matching, multiple choice and true/false. Lauren and I made a GIANT stack of flashcards each- now comes the memorizing part...SHOOT!

Our practical final is scary and is worth 45% of our grade. We were given a list of 10 dishes that we might have to make. On exam day we pick a token and a number and they give us a dish that corresponds with the token so not everyone in the room has the same dish. We are allowed NO notes in the room, JUST the recipe list. We have 2.5 hours to complete that and a technical skill. We plate 4 portions and then a jury of outside Chefs come in and grade us. The possible dishes are:

Poached Chicken, sauce supreme, and riz au gras- that was my first practical with Caals, it went poorly

Roast Chicken with Jus- I had Phillipe for that one and did really well

Brill Fillets in white wine sauce- I did very well on that one too, though my sauce needed more butter

Traditional Veal Stew- I did very well on that one- I'm pretty sure I had Terrien

Sauteed Veal Chop- Stril, one of my best dishes

Roast Duckling with turnips- Lesourd- also did well, though my jus was too greasy.

Beef Strogonoff

Chicken sauté with tarragon, Italian style vegetables- haven't done that one yet

Hot Fish Terrine with beurre blanc- GROSS! Haven't done that either

Daurade with fennel- haven't gotten to that one either

Our technical skill by the grace of God is turning, cooking and plating 2 artichokes. I'm good at artichokes so I need to practice some more, but I think I should be ok at that one. If it had been mushrooms, I would have been in trouble. I'm going to practice all the dishes at least once and time myself before the test- I'm so scared foe it!

Off to continue memorizing my flashcards...what a FUN Saturday activity!

A Bientot!

Mussels in Brussels!

First of all- I need to tell you that Anthony Fassio is a saint. James Pierce wherever you are...I'm going to tell you something that you already know- your husband is very very patient and absolutely fabulous!

Getting to Brussels wasn't easy- first the passport, then I get to Gare du Nord and didn't realize that there had been a terrible train crash in Belgium earlier in the week. Lesson learned- watch more CNN and less Olympics. Trains were packed and instead of leaving every hour for Brussels, it was more like every other hour. So I get there, talk to the train people and see that I have to wait 2 hours for the train. I read every English magazine in all of the Relays in the train station. I get ready to get on the train and there's a HUGE line. I wait in line, show the woman my Eurail and she tells me I need to buy a ticket. So I get in another line and wait and this man tells me that there is no more room on the train and I won't be able to go. I finally asked a woman in a conductor hat (in French) about my ticket. So she looks at my ticket and let's me through. Meanwhile- people are screaming and yelling, shoving and pushing and I'm so thankful to be allowed to pass.

I get on the train, but there are no seats- so I sit next to the door on a pull down chair. It took us over 2 hours to get there (it should have been an hour and a half), but when I arrive, there's a smiling Anthony on my track waiting for me! We walk quickly to our hotel and I get settled in my room and we go for dinner. The Grand Place in Brussels is gorgeous. It looks to me like it was created out of dribble sand castles. Luckily the extra time on the train had given me time to read about this city more so I had some ideas for dinner. We went to this place called Le Roy Espagne and had traditional Belgian Stoemp- which is mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables and ours came with sausage too- I mean what could be better? A Stella Artois could make it better, and it did. We enjoyed our meal and left on foot to explore. We walked around- it was a gorgeous night and we had so much fun. After we walked a bit we stopped for a chocolate crepe (we WERE in Belgium!) and a coffee. We sat outside in this Gallery watching people and of course, doing a little laughing. After walking back to the hotel- I barely remember hitting the pillow...I was OUT.

8:30 came pretty early this morning but we had a great breakfast and started walking. We walked to Palais Royale, the Parliament, the US Embassy (we just walked by- but they wouldn't let Anthony take a picture...it was so strange). We walked by these great gardens and saw the former Botanical Garden which is now a music venue (Passion Pit is playing there March 1- the lead singer went to Nichols!!!!!) and went to this giant Cathedral Saint-Marie which was really awesome. I have tons of pictures to load, and promise I will put them up tomorrow :). I have a cold, and wasn't feeling good- and I wasn't being the most gracious patient (insert very obvious comment here). Anthony was such a trooper- I didn't feel well, I didn't look well and I was trying to be a good travel buddy...but I don't think I was. Anthony- I"M SORRY!!!! Not only did I make you ride there alone, but then I was not feeling well :(

We went and had lunch on this cute street and I had moules OF COURSE- mussels in Brussels and we hit the road back to Paris. We got on the train- and again it was overcrowded so there was a brawl in our car for some seats- but alls well that ends well...we made it! It was great- I can't wait to explore more of Europe!

I'm off to bed- I have 8:30 demo and then 12:30 practical tomorrow, it feels like a Sunday to me!

A Bientot!

Passportgate...Part deux

Well after 3 hours and $100- I am the owner of a NEW US Passport.

Off to meet Anthony in Brussels!

One thing that I'm NOT.

I am many things. I am messy, at times disorganized...one thing I am NOT is irresponsible. This statement might now have to be changed given the events of this morning. I got up, got packed and showered and ready for Brussels. I had my train ticket, my camera, my book on Europe- all I needed was my passport.

I haven't taken my passport out of my house since BEFORE I left for Avignon over a month ago. There hasn't been anyone in my apartment besides Lauren Zimmer, Anthony and my family. It's GONE. I always kept it on the desk downstairs and I went to get it...nothing. I woke up my parents and Lauren at 3am their time asking them if they remember seeing it or moving it. They all saw it, but never moved it.

I tore all of my belongings apart- every purse, pocket, bag, drawer, tabletop surface...everything. It's not here. Meanwhile, poor Anthony is on the train ALONE to Brussels. Not only am I so upset that my passport is gone- I know that is replaceable; I'm more upset to have left Anthony in a tough spot. I'm off to the Embassy to get a new one- full well knowing that the MINUTE I replace it, it will reappear.

I feel like a giant moron. This is so unlike me and I'm just so disappointed in myself. Where the heck could it be?

:(

The greatest game, a slingbox, and some duck

After Mom, Dad and Lauren left- I was sad. To be fair- I was really sad and crying. I was happy to get out and do a little cooking and socializing. A bunch of us had a fun dinner complete with a hilarious game of Cluedo (British Clue) and decided to go watch the USA vs. Canada hockey game at a Canadian bar. I'm so glad I went, what a GAME! I only wish Dad and Lauren were there to watch with me- as we LOVE the movie Miracle and it was just that! Ryan Miller was unreal.

A very late end to the game meant that yesterday was resting, laundry and getting ready for the week. My brother EJ sent me the information on his slingbox- which is a device that plugs into a TV at his house in Buffalo and I can watch it anywhere in the world on my laptop. US TV!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to hear English, see CSI Miami and of course, see US coverage of the Olympics. I'm VERY sick of curling so I was thrilled with some ski jumping and skating.

This morning we had the duck practical- nothing says 'good morning' like yanking out duck guts! I was working on my duck (removing neck etc) and I realized that my hands were covered in blood- I said out loud "boy my duck sure is bloody!" and then I noticed that it was my hand that was bleeding! I cut myself and had NO idea. It's fine, but in the WORST spot. It's on my right hand just at the base of my pointer finger...aka exactly where I hold my knife. I went and had it bandaged and continued my work. Roasted duck with glazed baby onions (yawn) and turned and glazed turnips and of course a jus. Everything was tres bien- Chef Lesourd said my meat was cooked well, my onions and turnips were perfect and my jus tasted good, but was a bit too greasy. All in all I was happy!

After school Bruna and I went to W.H. Smith- an English bookstore in Place de Concorde. I didn't realize how long I'd been looking at travel books but Bruna said..."we have to get out of here!" A quick lunch at Angelina and here I am- researching Geneva for Anthony and I to hopefully go tomorrow- I'm excited to see another country!

A bientot!

PS. That photo is from class today- for some reason when I went to make my paper lid to glaze my onions...4 came out! I'm usually lucky to get one to turn out- so strange!

Veal Stew, Steak with Bearnaise, and Veal Chop

It's been a very busy week here in Paris- with family here and having only a day off from school leaves very little time for blogging. It's 10am on Saturday and I'm the only one awake- circle the calendar...this has never happened before and promises never to happen again. I have a cold which stinks but I'm trying to take medicine and drink all sorts of Vitamin C so I'm not clearing my throat and sniffling all through demo this afternoon.

Monday Mom and Lauren came to demo class with me. Everyone knew immediately that they belonged to me when we were waiting for class to start in the winter garden. We had Chef Poupard who seemed to be an a crabby mood at first. You could hear a pin drop in the classroom. No one was laughing- he wasn't cracking jokes, it was very uncharacteristic of him. I looked back to Mom and Bird to sort of say with my eyes...this isn't usually this scary and weird! Once he was done making dough for the sugar tart- he was back to his normal self...thank goodness!

He went on to make this amazing sugar tart, raw salmon marinated with dill and lemon juice which was awesome and veal stew- which I could have lived without. True to form- we were making the veal stew with glazed onions and rice pilaf in practical. Monday night after class- the farkels went to meet up with Mom and Dad's friend Elisabeth Wilmers for a drink in her house. She lives right around the corner from me and her house shares a wall with the infamous hotel that 'stole' my coke bottle collection the last time I was in Paris 12 years ago. It was very neat being in someone else's home- and boy was it gorgeous! We headed to a simple brasserie on the Saint Germaine where all 4 of us ordered burgers.

For Tuesday's practical- we had Chef Terrien, and it went without incident. I got a tres bien across the board (Chef Terrien doesn't grade using the standard LCB grading palm pilot- he writes your name out and makes a grid with all the grades on it). His method of grading seems a bit archaic- as if he uses an abacus to slide our grades across0 but in a way, it seems more thorough.

Wednesday's demo with Chef Stril was great- we learned about how to cook meat to different temperatures. Usually the cuts of meat that we make don't necessarily make my mouth water, but Wednesday was beef tenderloin, need I say more? We learned to make bearnaise sauce as well. Similar to hollandaise- bearnaise is an emulsion that makes my arms hurt just thinking about it. Why would we use a machine (the French pronounce maCHine- it makes me laugh every time) when we have our hands?

Thursday morning 8:30am practical wasn't too pleasant. We first had to make this reduction- which was actually really gross. A mixture of chopped shallots, wine, tarragon vinegar, salt, pepper and chopped tarragon and chervil stems. We had to let that reduce a lot- so that there were about 2 tablespoons. While that reduced, we clarified butter, and started emulsifying the egg yolks over a bain-marie. We had adorable Chef Clergue (Mr. Bean) and he kept looking over my shoulder telling me that I should whisk in a figure 8 motion. It's very hard to do an 8 motion while trying to whisk something very quickly. Everytime he wasn't around- Lara and I would go back to just whisking in circles. Every once in a while, he'd poke his head between us and we'd go back to doing 8's. We laughed so hard when this happened- I mean obviously we hadn't been doing the 8's, but when he looked at us we pretended her had been. He laughed too- love him. My eggs would NOT emulsify. I was pouring sweat and starting to lose my patience when I asked him "Chef, is this ok?" "1 more hour whisking Caroline" he said as he laughed and told me that I was ready to add the clarified butter. Once I finished the sauce, I cooked my turned artichokes in a blanc and sliced and pre-cooked my french fries or "pommes de pont neuf". They are named after the oldest bridge in Paris- and they needed to be pre boiled and then fried. Once all my sides were finished- I got to grill my meat. We had to cook 3 pieces of meat- 1 bleu (still mooing) 1 rare and 1 a point (medium). I had perfect grill marks and was ready to plate. We were able to plate whichever piece we wanted to, but we needed to identify how it was cooked. I thought I'd plate my medium piece...that was until I cut into it and found that it was rare. I plated it and it filled my turned artichoke bottom with bearnaise and made a little house of my fries. Everything was great- cuisson parfait (perfectly cooked meat), my sauce was tres bien and my artichoke was cooked very well. The only comment he had was that my fries were good, but they couldn't have been cooked anymore. That was like when Chef Cotte told me that my consomme was ALMOST too salty- it's not too salty, so why mention that? Typical French.

I came home after practical and crashed. I had to be back at school at 3 for demo- and I was moving tres slowly. I wanted to snuggle with blanky all day. We were on the 1st floor demo room which was TERRIBLE. The marketing lady from school came in and informed me that there was going to be a journalist from Time magazine sitting next to me- so I had to take good notes. I did and we learned to do our cotes de veau, and mussel soup. I had to go right from demo to practical (count that: 2 practicals in one day while my family was here). I was ready for it and felt like I had a handle on the recipe. We had to French the bone on the chop which means remove all flesh, and then trim and put string around it. The journalist came back and was in the kitchen with us- she asked me my name and how to spell it, so if I were you- I'd keep my eyes out for future issues!!! My veal was cooked perfectly (again), my onions, and mushrooms were great, and my potatoes were seasoned perfectly- the only complaint Chef Stril had for this practical was that my jus was too runny. It had been perfect until I thought I didn't have enough, so I added more water. NUTS. I really feel like I'm getting my groove in school- I'm getting more confident and it's proven to be so when I plate and present my dishes to the Chef's. Everything is cooked and seasoned well- imagine that, I'm improving!

I was assistant this week, so I made sure everything was put away and dragged my tired butt home where Mom, Dad and Bird were waiting with salad, bread, and wine. I told them I'd take care of the meat- and we had meat for days! It was delish- but I literally couldn't have been more tired. I took a sleeping pill just for good measure and thought that my head was sewn to the pillow when I woke up yesterday morning. We had planned to go to Strasbourg for the day to see Mark Gorey- old family friend and also because Aunt Andree was from there, but we didn't make it. I almost fell asleep at the lunch table as it was, a 2 hour train ride would have done me in. So Dad took a page from my Paris walks cards and we went for a fabulous walk in and around the Marais. A totally different area than I had ever been and I loved it. I have been so spoiled this past week with family around- I'm going to be seriously depression child when they leave me tomorrow, who will I talk to? what will I do? Who will I watch Olympic curling with?

I'm off to bond with them before they head back across the pond- I'll try and write tomorrow, but I'm sure I will be crying all day...literally. :( The good thing is- that I recognize how pathetic I become when my family is around me...and I'm OK with it!

A bientot!

Boeuf Bourguignonne, Cheese Soufflé, Fried Shrimp

First, apologies for the delay in blogging, it's been a wild week for me- culminating in the arrival of my parents and sister! Their visit has been wonderful so far, but certainly bittersweet as there are several members that are missing. We keep saying "it's so cute" the way Lily does and it's made us all miss Boo, EJ, and Lily a lot.

Thursday was a crazy day- we had 8:30am demo where we finished the boeuf bourguignonne, among other red meat recipes. Chef Stril taught us the proper way to make bourguignonne even though we wouldn't have enough time to properly cook it through. It's a bit of a rush to get the thing in the oven- first you have to brown the meat- then add tomato paste and flour, strain the marinade- bring it to a boil and make sure to skim it, heat up the veal stock and get it in the oven for at LEAST an hour and a half. After demo- I came home to take a little nap, I then had to be back at school at 3:40 for my meeting with Chef Caals.

I was a little bit bummed that my meeting was with him because he doesn't know me. We've only had him once in practical so it wasn't like he could really give me insight as to how I can improve. All he said was to really know the recipes before heading into practical and also know WHY we do things. He asked me in French why do we always cook vegetables in 3x's as much water? That was easy- because you want them to move around and cook evenly on all sides- but that was his point. He wants us to know why we do the things we do.

After my meeting, I had tons of time to kill before 6:30pm practical. I sat and froze in the winter garden and wrote out the written exam recipes on flash cards that I had bought that morning. I also chatted with some classmates until it was time to go up to practical. I was nervous, but then Chef Caals came into the room- I got really nervous. He is a PSYCHO about cleanliness. He'll come in to a practical room where he's not even teaching and yell at you about cleaning. Lara and I were on a mission to be very clean. I mean we were lunatics about it!

It wasn't my night- my meat wouldn't brown, my stove wouldn't get hot enough and I was behind to get my boeuf into the oven. Then I worked on my garnish which was fine- but I'm still so bad at turning vegetables. My meal ended up being very good. The sauce was the correct consistency and tasted good. The meat wasn't cooked enough- but as he said that was a product of the recipe, not of me. My vegetables were good. But the real highlight was when he told me that my cleanliness and organization was PARFAIT. Hearing that from Caals is MAJOR.

Friday came with a demo of about 600 different types of eggs- which was boring, but we learned to clean, marinate, and fry giant shrimp AND make tartar sauce. Chef Stril took his sweet time and I had practical right after demo. I was feeling stressed about timing, so I didn't even taste his dishes. I went right up and got going. This practical was the fried shrimp and the cheese soufflé we learned a long time ago. I frantically got everything ready and for the first time yet- I felt completely at ease in the kitchen. I knew the steps for the soufflé. I knew exactly how it needed to be done- this time, people were asking me how to do things...ME! Chef Lesourd is back from London and he bopped into the room in his usual manner- loudly. We first made the batter to fry our shrimp, as that needed to rest. Then we cleaned and marinated our shrimp, and got on to the soufflé. I buttered my dish properly, made my béchamel, and beat my egg whites to perfection. Mine was the first into the oven. 12 minutes later, it came out (again, first) Chef Lesourd made everyone stop, clap and congratulate me on my soufflé. It was perfect. He immediately punctured the top of my pretty thing and tasted it- parfait! On to the tartar sauce.

Making a mayonnaise (cold emulsion) and beating egg whites to stiff peaks=arm very tired. But- I was way ahead and doing very well. My mayonnaise came out well, and I added the shallot, chopped capers, hard boiled egg, salt, pepper, tarragon, chervil and parsley. Tartar sauce...DONE. I fried my shrimp after Bruna- and they came out wonderfully. I plated 2nd(!) and Chef said everything was perfect. MY FIRST PERFECT!!!! I was really excited. Here's a picture of me getting my feedback...courtesy of Lara Said (again)





Saturday morning I went to the Paris cookbook fair to work. I was to assist a French Chef during a demonstration. I was absolutely terrified. Anthony said it best- he had to leave because I looked so nervous! Obviously communication was a challenge, but I managed to assist him and serve the cucumber gazpacho. I rushed home and awaited the arrival of Mom, Dad and Lauren!!

Once they arrived, we walked around the St. Germain- had a sandwich at Cosi, went to Le Bon Marché and had dinner at the little cute place Le Square right on my corner. It was very delish! Yesterday I took them to the Marais where they had their fist Falafel experience- they loved it! It was SO cold yesterday that after meandering the streets of the Marais, we came home, read- drank wine and I cooked at home. We're not getting ready to have lunch in the St. Germain area and then we're sending Dad on a walking tour while Mom and Lauren accompany me to demo class!

A Bientot!

Meat Part 1!

I was not sad to say buh-bye to fish. Sure it tastes good (sometimes) it smells TERRIBLE and by the time you're done with it, you want nothing to do with it. Also after a fish practical- you seem to find scales everywhere. It's not pretty- so you can imagine how thrilled I was to see that we were starting meat!

We arrived today at 8:30 in the snow. Because of the change, my knees were really really killing me today. It also can't really decide whether to rain or snow- which makes them also hurt (thanks to Melissa for the aleve- what a lifesaver!). While waiting for class to start, Dimitri and Lauren mentioned how they got their grades yesterday in pastry demo, that we'd be getting ours today. WHAT?!?!? I was so scared. We got to class and Celine came in to hand them out. We were given our average and our groups average. I was higher than our groups average- so I was happy, but it wasn't as high as I would have liked. I'm right in the middle. I stewed over my grade for a second and thought that it couldn't be right. I then realized that because I had missed a practical- I had less numbers to average together. You don't get a 0, but you just have fewer grades to average together. I'm still not thrilled- but it is what it is.

Chef Stril diligently taught us how to marinade our beef for boeuf bourguignon which we'll be cooking next practical! He also showed us how to trim rump roast and cook it slowly for 3 hours. Then he showed us how to make what we were going to do in practical. Roasted sirloin and potato puree.

We had practical right after demo, so I was sure to pay very close attention and write my notes on my recipe in steps. We got in there and I got all my pots, pans, turned on my oven, turned on my burners and got out all my tools. I was ready. Chef Terrien came in- I'd never had him before. My group had him while I was sick and loved him so I was happy to have him. First order of business was to trim the beef to be marinated for our bourguignon. We had to dice it into chunks, pour in a whole bottle of vin rouge, add some mirepoix carrots, celery, onion, a bouquet garni, some cognac, and some peppercorns. Once that was safely in the frigo, we were able to begin our roast sirloin.

We had these GIANT slabs of beef that were cut, but NOT trimmed. We had to remove the hard fat- mine was very fatty and make sure there was no cartilage on there. We then had to tie string around it so it was a neat little package. After searing it on both sides, we added the aromatic garnish (carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bouquet garni) browned that and threw it in the oven for 8 minutes. 1/2 way through the cooking- we turned the meat.

While that was cooking, we boiled our potatoes and put them through the ricer. Once it was puree, we added beaucoup de beurre (a lot of butter Ker!) and lait chaud (hot milk) and made it beautiful. Theoretically, we should have seasoned them enough by salting the boiling water, as Stril told us it was too late at this point.

My meat just wouldn't seem to cook- it was SO rare. We're not supposed to cut into it, so I pulled the old Mark Hutchinson and pinched to see if it was cooked. Still rare, so I threw it back in for a couple of minutes. I took it out, determined that I would serve the Chef the ends that were cooked medium rare and just take the other home. I took it out, covered it in foil and let it rest near the heat. Meanwhile, I cooked the aromatic garnish and added some veal stock and let it cook into a jus. After straining it, degreasing it and making sure it was properly seasoned, I was ready to plate. I was in the first 5 people to plate which is rare for me.

I plated and I got a tres bien. My meat was cooked perfectly (they like it rare here in France- if you order meat bien cuit it will come medium rare), my jus was parfait, and my potatoes were the perfect consistency...BUT they could have used un peu de sel (a little salt) DAMNIT!!!! SO close to being perfect, grrrrr.

I was pleased, it was a great practical- easy, fast (we were mostly done in an hour and a half) and there were no catastrophes!

Ansel Adams (Lara Said) took some pictures of us in practical today...here they are!






A Bientot!

Brill Fillets/White Wine Sauce/Turned Potatoes

It was GORGEOUS on Friday. Blue skies, about 50 degrees and the sun was shining. Perfect day to get some exercise so I decided to jog to school. I got there, had a quick sandwich and re-wrote my notes before class.

We hadn't had Poupard in a while and so I was so excited when he shouted "Bonjour tout le monde!"

We had been told that we were going to share 1 large fish between 2 people- I was pretty pumped about that because the last time we had to fillet a fish, I was told mine looked like crocodiles. When we got there and saw all the food, we realized there were 10 fish and 10 people in our practical. I got nervous but went right to work. Fins were snipped, scales were removed and I was ready to tackle this thing. I cut down the center of the back and started slowly removing the fillets. Chef Poupard suggested I turn the fish a different way which made it very easy. I worked slowly and tried to get every ounce of meat off the bones. He kept commenting that people were leaving too much meat on the bones so I tried extra hard. My first fillet was a thing of beauty. It was enormous and perfectly cut. The next one wasn't as pretty but it worked. I flipped over to the belly side and cut 2 more gorgeous fillets. I put the carcass in a pot with some butter to make stock while I skinned them. The skins came off perfectly and I honestly didn't know what I was going to do with all the fish! I was so happy that I had done a good job filleting and skinning them.

As the stock was bubbling away (we added wine, shallots, onions, garlic, mushroom trimmings and water) we had to turn potatoes. Chef said it should take us 20 seconds to turn a potato. It took me about 10 minutes to get them to not look completely horrible. Then we had to ciselee shallot, onion and tomatoes that had to be skinned, seeded and chopped very very very very finely. Once the fillets were placed in the pan, we added wine, the chopped veggies and stock to braise the fish.

6 minutes later, the fish was cooked. It needed to remain firm, if it fell apart it was overcooked, so we all were very vigilante. Once the fish was determined to be cooked properly, it was removed, covered and kept near the heat. We then had to reduce the braising liquid into a thick sauce. Normally, sauces are my thing- they always reduce and taste great. This one I couldn't pay it to reduce. I used a few tricks- switching it to a shallower and smaller pan so it would reduce faster, adding butter- nothing seemed to get it to reduce! Everyone plated and I was the last one standing. I didn't want to plate it before I knew it had reduced enough because I knew Chef wouldn't like that. So I impatiently cleaned my station, put away my knives and put my plate in the oven to warm. With 1 minute left- I plated my dish. Fish was cooked very well, sauce reduced enough but tasted too much like fish stock...aka needed MORE butter, and my potatoes needed to be cooked a little more.

I was very bummed. I have yet to get a perfect in school (besides the quiche- which doesn't count) and I really want one. Often, there are perfect elements to my dish, but never the whole thing. I'm half way through basic- I need a couple of perfects!

It POURED rain all day yesterday- I mean I was getting ready to build the ark! I watched a lot of Entourage and Lauren and I walked around and went to Le Bon Marché which is far more than an amazing grocery store. I'm happy to report that my French is getting much better. I'm able to speak thoughtfully with sales clerks and navigate myself around- I'm pretty darn proud of myself!

I have to start drinking tea so I can stay up and watch the Super Bowl. I'd really like to see the Saints take it- they've had a great season so far and deserve to win

A Bientot!

Class Dinner, Hake and Hollandaise

Tuesday was GROSS and rainy, but I was so excited to get all gussied up for our class dinner in the Gare de Lyon at Le Train Bleu. I met Lauren at the train station and we walked up to head to the restaurant. Basic cuisine and pastry had a joint dinner so I got to meet some new people which is always fun!

We walked up and there were 6 long tables set for us. We saw Juliette the director of academics and she marked that we were there and we hung up our coats. We were a few minutes late so we started our own table with Noor, Sara, Florence, Laura, Chef Stril and some others. Everyone was so dolled up and looked great- especially the Chefs! As you know by now, we're to address them as Chef. Bonjour Chef, Bon Soir Chef, Merci Chef and the ever popular Oui Chef. While this formality remained for our dinner, it was really fun to get to see them without their whites. It made them seem more human. Of course, none of us could talk about anything else besides food and school- but it was fun to hear about other groups. Group B (my group) is always full of drama- but I love hearing who stands in my spot in the kitchens, who is fast, who is slow, which Chefs are nice to whom etc.

Dinner was served and we started champagne and Pressé de foie gras de canard grillé aux artichaux:


it was delicious but VERY rich. I didn't finish all of mine.

Then we had Blanc de cabillaud, jus corsé, carottes craquantes au miel et cumin which was really, really great. I loved the carrots. OF COURSE being that we're a group of Chefs and Culinary students no one left anything un-commented on. The Chefs (Stril, Clergue (Mr. Bean), and my pal Cotte) especially didn't care for the carrots, they said that they were over cooked. Mine seemed fine and I cleaned my plate!



We then had a sélection de fromages affinés et sa salade which was also great but I couldn't eat all the fromage. The French take triple cream to a whole new level. There was a fantastic Chevre that I just had to finish.

For dessert (no, we weren't done yet!) we had Millefeuille au kirsch et griottines. I liked the millefeuille but I personally don't love Kirsch so I didn't eat that. After we were finished eating, I mingled with other tables and sat down between Lara, Bruna and Anthony. Lara had been sitting with Chef Cotte the whole meal and at one point RAN over to tell me a story.

Apparently he had been telling her that he always seems to pick on students and make them cry. He doesn't mean to, but they end up thanking him in the end. He mentioned to her that he didn't do that with our group- and Lara (love you!) said "oh yes you do, you pick on Carolyn!" He told her that the only reason that he did that was because he thinks that I'm good and that he likes me in the class. That I work hard and am really starting to get it. I was so excited when she told me! When I sat down by them I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn't scared of him. So we chatted (as much as we could) and actually got along nicely. He thinks I'm funny (go figure) and ended up high fiving me about 300 times during the night. Pretty soon the other 2 Chefs- Stril and Clergue came and were sitting by us (there were about 7 of us chatting with them) and we took some fun pictures. It was so nice to see them outside of the scary kitchen and for them to laugh WITH us. We all were comparing war wounds at one point, and let's just say that I have NOTHING to complain about. I have years and years of burns and cuts ahead of me. Here is a picture of the new found friends Chef Cotte and I:




After dinner, I was saying goodbye to Chef Stril and he said "Thank you for always smiling" which I thought was so nice! Chef Clergue was super sweet (of course) too.

It was a great dinner capped off with drinks with a fun small group of us. Though I was slightly overserved and had a headache yesterday- I couldn't have had a better time. Dimitri, Anthony, Bruna, Lauren and I went to the St. Germaine for drinks and ran into JP, Zu, and Siham!!! of all the bars in Paris- we were at the same one!

Chef Stril made poached Hake (fish) with 'spaghetti' vegetables and hollandaise sauce the long way yesterday at 12:30. It looked simple enough but when we got to practical, right after demo it was far more tricky. While Chef Stril (had him in practical) cut the giant fish into slices, we still needed to clean the blood etc out which was tricky. Hake also has this nasty black lining on its stomach that we had to remove...YUCK. We got to use a mandolin to make our zucchini and carrot 'spaghetti' which I was really looking forward to, but it was hard! The vegetables kept slipping and I was one slip away from a spaghetti finger. Luckily I walked away with all 10 fingers but the hollandaise sauce was HARD.

We had to make a bain marie to cook and whip the egg yolks until they emulsified. Then we had to clarify our own butter and add that. All in, it was about 20 minutes of straight whisking. Chef made fun of my faces the whole time- apparently when I'm focused, I'm really really focused and I look funny! The first attempt I turned around and my eggs scrambled. DAMN. I had to start over, but in the end it was PARFAIT! I overcooked my vegetables, but my fish and sauce was perfect. HOORAY!

We had Chef Stril again today for fish demo part 2 which I will go into more detail tomorrow. BUT Chef Cotte came in the demo room when the assistant was plating our testers and yelled BONJOUR CAROLINE in front of everyone. Then came over and gave me a high 5- I was so embarassed...but hopefully he won't pick on me anymore!

Off to have French Sushi- this should be interesting!

A Bientot!

I cooked Peter Cottontail...

Disclaimer: The following blog post promises to be extremely graphic, please skip this one if you happen to be squeamish...Really...

We had to make rabbit yesterday with sauteed potatoes. Chef Stril showed us in demo (at 8am) how to butcher them, but it didn't really prepare me for what I was about to see.

First of all- they have their heads (without ears, but WITH eyes)and most of the major internal organs. Intestines and things were removed- but we were left with heart, lungs, liver, kidneys. We first had to remove the head- Chef Stril told us it was better to use the cleaver and lop it off in one foul chop. The cleaver is really heavy. Once it's in the air it's pretty tough to stop it, so aim is really important. I always remove my left hand from the meat...just in case. The other problem is you can completely mangle a piece of meat if you're not super careful. I was sadly unable to remove the head with one chop- so I had to do some sawing.

I had a really hard time with this. There's something about doing it yourself makes it a lot worse. When you order a chicken, duck, rabbit etc- it comes to you cooked and looking nothing like its original form. Here it takes a lot of work to get it into the 10 pieces that we needed. Also looking at open eyes and a tongue hanging out of a bunny rabbits mouth really made me think about the way that it died. I know- they are bred to be killed for food, but actually seeing it whole did something to me. I had to really focus on not gagging audibly. Chef Clergue (Mr. Bean) noticed that I was struggling and asked me twice if I was ok. I had to concentrate on not looking at its head and just looking at the empty cavity.

We then had to remove the kidneys and liver- mine was FULL of liver! We had to cook that so those were saved, but the heart and lungs were tossed. Once everything was cleaned, chopped and dusted in flour we browned them on the stove, and then put shallot and garlic, wine in there and tossed them in the oven.

I began working on my potatoes which were really hard to do- perfect 2mm round slices is challenging! We also had to remove much of the starch from them, which was tedious rinsing. Once my rabbit came out of the oven, I forgot to put my handy hand saver (le creuset rubber cover for hot handles) and I grabbed the handle. I never cut myself, but I can't seem to manage to not BURN myself. OUCH. I kept right on working and the Chef saw what happened. I was slicing my potatoes and was really fine- it was nothing like the finger burns before, but Chef came over without me noticing and bandaged me up- what a guy!

All in all- Chef liked my dish. Meat was cooked perfectly, potatoes cooked perfectly and seasoned properly (they were damn good) and my sauce was a thing of beauty. The only comments he had were that I plated my rabbit upside down...not really sure why it made a difference, but oh well- I also didn't cook the organs enough. We were told to leave them pink, and mine browned so quickly I didn't want to overcook them. I was pleased- but I handed all my rabbit off to the dishwasher (who loves me). She was excited to have it- which made me feel better not wasting. I just couldn't bring it home and eat it.

I walked with Lauren home and we decided that we were going to order pizza to her house and drink wine. We had no class today so we could sleep in. We had such a blast- Anthony came over and we hung out and laughed until 2am- the kind of laughing where your abs are sore the next day :) it was great AND I managed to order delivery en Francais and our order was correct and they found the apt! A little feather in my cap!

Tonight is our class dinner. I CAN NOT WAIT. We're getting all gussied up and having dinner at Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon. Champagne is served promptly at 8. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN not only seeing everyone (including all our Chefs) in street clothes, but also getting to know everyone not sweating and bonding over rabbit murder. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures so you guys can place names and faces.

I better be off to primp!

A Bientot!