Veal with Fresh Pasta, Practice, Truffle Lecture

You'll all be thrilled to know that I am over my exam grade. You won't need to hear me gloat anymore! You'll also be pleased to know that I am now the owner of a brand new, shiny 10 year passport. I picked it up yesterday, hopefully that will be the last time I'll need to go to the Embassy. I've also emailed it's secret hiding place location to my father in case of another 'incident'.

8:30 yesterday morning came very early (as usual) and there was a problem on the Metro. I get on the 12 at Solferino as I do everyday. And we stop at Montparnasse. The announcer comes on and blabbers something in French and everyone gets off the train. I start to panic, having not listened to the announcement due to my ipod, I had no clue what was going on. I looked over and spotted Gilbert and Alexx from class. We soon found out that the train was closing and we needed to get to school! We get out and start to walk to school from Montparnasse (which is far). I'm asking directions when all of a sudden a taxi SCREAMS over to us on the side of the road. Someone rolls down the window and yells "GET IN!" it was Dimitri! He had the same problem and had found a cab. Luckily we got to school on time, but many others did not. We had the chatty Cathy new annoying Chef for our breaded veal, fresh pasta and tomato sauce. I burned through practical and finished second. Partially because I didn't want to listen to him tell us how many different meats we could bread the same way. I got a tres bien (and 4's across the board- he kept his paper where we could see him marking our grades). I left school, went to the Embassy, came home and went to meet Anthony and Lauren for some celebratory wine.

This morning, Laura and Anthony came over to practice Beef Strogonoff. It was DELISH and we did very well with it. I didn't overcook my meat thank goodness! The people that live in the apartment next door were coming in and I met them. They seem very nice! I stupidly offered them the leftover Strogonoff being as they had just traveled. I went to this amazing lecture at school on truffles- given by the only Michelin starred Chef from Avignon. It was great- he did a demo and we all got to taste while this other guy talked to us about truffles. How they are harvested (dogs only these days), how long they keep etc. It was really really interesting.

I came home and was changing laundry when the bell rang. I ran over and it was the neighbor inquiring about the food. I hadn't ever thought that she might pop in and get it! I kind of just offered to be nice, not thinking she'd take me up on it! Off went my dinner, but she also asked me to cook a 'romantic' dinner for she and her husband on Sunday night. AND she offered to pay me! I of course got very awkward when money was mentioned and she just kept right on going about how she'll think about the menu etc. This could be my first 'catering' job! Very exciting!!!!! Who knows? Maybe they have some very important friends that might need a meal cooked for them!

In other news, tomorrow is my LAST BASIC PRACTICAL AND DEMO! Could you IMAGINE if I was leaving now? I'd be such a wreck. Word on the street is that we get Champagne in our last demo- which is a good thing that it's after practical! I have to make duck l'orange and Parisienne style gnocchi tomorrow morning at 8:30. I'll let you all know how it goes!

A Bientot!

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!