4th of July

Happy 4th of July! I was really bummed not to be sitting on the beach in Rosehill with Mom, Dad, Lauren, Allison, Lily, Ej, and the hounds. I kept calling them and hearing 'beach noises' and getting really sad. Lily apparently has become quite the fetch expert with her equally pint sized pal- Harper! Luckily- because my friends are amazing...we managed to have some American fun this weekend! Saturday night in yoga pants, flip flops and a t-shirt- I went over to Gill's for a little dinner. A yummy salad followed by E'Lane's amazing Cherry Pie (pic above) made me feel very American. After dinner we stopped by a bar on the way home to have a budweiser. It felt great! No one here cares about the 4th and I really didn't care much about it until I wasn't in the States (or Canada). I suppose I'll feel the same way on July 14 when the world here goes insane and celebrates Bastille Day.

Superior cuisine is still going very well- though with the recent heat wave in Paris has made the conditions of the kitchen next to unbearable. I walk out of there absolutely dripping as if I just played a lacrosse game. I love the way I feel when I leave, though walking downstairs to the hellish lockerroom quickly sours my mood. We've made some cool dishes- steamed pigeon wrapped in cabbage (stuffed of course), Red mullet fish with potato scales with an orange beurre blanc, and tonight we're making lamb shank slowly cooked in spices. The menus are getting better, and I feel like I'm still doing better than I did in intermediate. Here are some pictures of my latest creations (including the lamb in brick pastry that I overcooked):




I'm off to work on my atelier recipe. I'm really scared for Thursday but feel like my recipe is coming together nicely. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!