Fried.

Anthony, Lauren, and I studied for longer than I care to discuss yesterday. They arrived around 1 and left at 10pm. Lara and Laura were here for several hour intervals, but the 3 of us were in it for the long haul. Anthony makes an excellent Alex Trebbek, I made up dances for all the sauces, and we found ourselves cheering and high-fiving when one of us got a recipe perfect. The profiteroles recipe got extra oomph from Anthony who sang Chantilly Lace every time we were ready for the Chantilly cream portion of the recipe. The pissaladiere got very roudy when it came time for the finish (24 black nicoise olives, 1 tbsp. capers, 2 cherry tomatoes- seeded, peeled and cut into petals, 1/2 tin of anchovy filets, garlic and thyme)...bottom line- we all lost our minds.

It was by far the most fun I've ever had studying- and I've never felt so prepared for a test in my life. Our LCB student party was last night, and at 10:16pm after deciding that I was too tired to go- I got in the shower and went. I was glad to get out of the house because I know that I would have driven myself batty going over the veal marengo recipe if I hadn't. It was a lot of fun- it's so funny to see people that you see every day in a different outfit. I mean sure, we all look GOOD in our uniforms, but seeing people all gussied up was hilarious. I recognized about 10 people.

I couldn't sleep- I was up thinking about recipes. More specifically- I was up trying to remember which croutons are fried in oil, and which are fried in clarified butter. For the record- crab bisque croutons are in clarified butter, and veal marengo croutons are in oil.

I have practical at 12:30 and then go right into my test at 3:30. Wish me luck!

A bientot!

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???