Chocolate and dancing make for a pretty good week...

Even though vacation technically ended on Monday when we returned to class, this past week felt like an extension of vacation. We spent Monday observing chef make a chocolate egg sculpture so we would be able to reproduce the same thing the next day. In other words, we stood around most of day observing chef between our conversations about vacation and life in France while he kept asking us if we were paying attention. Luckily, we paid enough attention to make eggs of our own on Tuesday which meant crystallizing 5 kilos/10 lbs of chocolate (the most fun you've ever had in your life!), going through a ridiculous amount of paper towel and trying to keep the chocolate on the table and not ourselves - no such luck for me, I left with chocolate in some most unfortunate places that my classmates were all to quick to point out. I wasn't incredibly satisfied with my egg, partly because the creativity that I needed to make it pop didn't get the memo that vacation was over. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we worked on our chocolate sculptures - we were allowed to make a sculpture of anything we wanted and after being shutdown several times by chef (Bicycle..."No, too hard", hot air balloon...."No, too hard"...you get the picture), I decided to make a dancer. After buying some requisite material (plastic piping) I set to work on Thursday and by the afternoon, I was beyond frustrated. I was supposed to use the plastic piping to make the dancers body and appendages but neither I nor chef had counted on how hard it was going to be to cut the chocolate out of the piping. After about an hour of chocolate "surgery" - that's exactly what it felt like - I managed to salvage the requisite appendages and almost did a dance of thanksgiving because I didn't have to start all over again. At the end of the day, I had managed to make the pieces I needed to assemble the dancer and the base so tomorrow is assembly time - we shall see if I can make this dancer come alive. 

On Friday we met before dawn (4am!) and went to Rungis, the biggest fresh food market in the world. Rungis supplies restaurants and retailers in Paris with seafood, fish, meat, dairy, fruits/vegetables, flowers, etc. Basically, if you eat food in Paris, chances are it came from Rungis. The market, which sits on 450+ acres is a city in itself with 1400 sellers, 12,500 workers, car dealerships, a police station and anywhere from 20,000-60,000 buyers depending on the season. More than 1.5 million tons of product are sold at Rungis each year - craziness!

We visited the fish market, triperie (cow "leftovers" such as tongue, liver...you get the picture), butcher, dairy market, fruit/vegetable market and flower market. My favorite was the triperie and the butcher...Just kidding!! Talk about a vegetarians nightmare - I won't even go into detail about what we saw; the triperie and the butcher are the only sections I didn't take pictures of, for a very good reason. It was really interesting to see all the different types of products that come through the market; the quality and prices are unbelievable. We were able to buy a few things at Rungis and the prices we paid for produce and pastry ingredients was at least half the price consumers pay at specialties stores and markets in Paris...lucky us! 

Tuna

The biggest & ugliest catfish I've ever seen 

In other non-school related news...I signed up for dance classes this week and boy does it feel good to dance again. Since I registered for classes this fall, I can take as many classes as I want until July; I've been gorging myself on dance classes. I took a samba class on Tuesday, a belly dance class on Wednesday and a ragga/dance hall class this weekend all of which were AMAZING. I also went to see several hip-hop groups perform short pieces tonight at La Villette - I just can't get enough of dance! 

We have a fully charged week - cuisine tomorrow,service on Wednesday (this service could get pretty interesting) and no class on Friday. Time to rest up...

I just realized that almost every paragraph I just wrote ends with an exclamation point...guess my week was more exciting than I thought it was...

Vacation!

Ahhh...the onomatopoeia that permeated my vacation. It was so nice to be on my own schedule (aka no schedule at all), wake up late (6:30 instead of 6...woohoo!), enjoy April in Paris (fabulous) and enjoy all that this beautiful city has to offer...Ahh, what a life.  

I spent most of the week walking around exploring Paris and going to all of the places I've been dying to go to but haven't had the time to visit. I also spent the week eating really good and fairly healthy food(excluding the pastries) at places that I knew about previously and places that I happened upon. I'll post another blog with a list and pictures of all the places that I visited. 

My favorite bridge, Alexandre III

Outside Hôtel de Ville

Tuesday night, I went to see the Martha Graham Dance Company at Théâtre du Châtelet. They performed Errand into the Maze, Diversion of Angels, Lamentation Variations, Cave of the Heart and Maple Leaf Rag. I realized while I was sitting there that while I love dance performances and discovering well-known and upcoming choreographers, contemporary dance is not really my thing. Well, I shouldn't say that, I guess it depends on the degree of contemporariness (is that even a word?) - I'm more of a tame/slightly mainstream contemporary dance appreciator. So You Think You Can Dance and choreographers like Mia Michaels piqued my interest in contemporary dancing mostly because there was always a connection - you didn't just see the dances and appreciate them for their aesthetic aspect, you felt them. Back to Martha Graham...I was very impressed by the performances and the ability of the dancers to have such control in movements that seemed completely uncontrolled. My favorite piece was the Maple Leaf Rag, the last piece Martha Graham choreographed, mainly because it was light, fun and the music was by Scott Joplin. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is coming here this summer...Can't wait! 

Martha Graham - Cave of the Heart

The only other interesting things I did during vacation were get a massage, have dinner with the Darkes' and start giving a French woman English conversation lessons (Thanks Tracy!). 

The massage was very interesting for various reasons that I won't go into - it was inexpensive by Paris standards and I definitely got what I payed for. Having dinner with the Darkes' is always fun and it's good to get news from back home. Yesterday, I started giving English conversation lessons to a French woman who has a job interview coming up for an international organization. Her English is already amazing due to the fact that she lived in Scotland and Singapore, but the job involves the internet and the government so we're working on her professional language which is a completely different ball game than everyday language. The funny thing is that I'm forgetting my English; the same thing happened last time I was here! People will ask me how to say things in English and I will have no idea...guess it's a good thing that I'm so immersed in French that it's temporarily become my primary language. 

Almost forgot...I also went to see the Petit Nicolas exhibit at Hôtel de Ville - very cute! Le Petit Nicolas is a character created by Sempé/Goscinny and several books are based on him and his adventures with his eclectic group of friends. I was first introduced to Nicolas in Mr. Langa's French class where we acted out scenes from one of the stories and even had a birthday party where we all dressed as different characters...hilarious!  You can get the books all over the world but the spelling of Nicolas will change...in the US, it's Nicholas. 

Petit Nicolas exhibit

Another week of school starts tomorrow and I'm looking forward to Friday, not because it's the end of the week, but because we're going to Rungis, the 2nd largest food market in the world. It's the market where all the restaurants and business' buy their food, flowers, etc and you can only get in if you're a professional. Thanks to Ferrandi, we're getting a visit...will definitely post pictures - hopefully I'm allowed to take them.  

Taking a break from the regular format...so much has happened in the last week that if I try to write about all of it, this entry will be a book! So, here we go for lots of photos and snippets of life in Paris during the past week.

Last Tuesday night, most of my classmates and I were part of a French television show called Ce Soir ou Jamais.  Our school invited us to attend the show because world-renowned chef of ElBulli in Spain, Ferran Adría,  was the special guest. Ferran Adría is a molecular gastronomist who mixes cuisine and science in the kitchen of his restaurant, the main draw for the select few who enter ElBulli's doors as diners during the 7 months the restaurant is actually open. If you're interested in having the ElBulli experience, be prepared to call the restaurant on a designated day in October, the only day they take reservations, and fork over at least 300 Euros for an unforgettable meal that can contain up to 35 courses. Maybe I'll get there someday...at least I got to sit next to him on television! 

Pineapple Carpaccio 

Opera 

Olive macaron

Grignotine 

Mendiants

We had dinner service last Wednesday and even though only 7 of us were present, it was by far the smoothest and most enjoyable service we've had. Everyone pitched in since some sections were short (1 person doing plated desserts for 60 people) and despite being short-staffed, we finished early! There were compliments from our chef for working so well and compliments from the dining room...can't beat that.   

Succés

Feuilles d'automne 

Chef working on his pastillage/sugar masterpiece 

The final product 

Thursdays after restaurant service are spent finishing what we started at the beginning of the week. This week we made a Succés, hazelnut buttercream sandwiched between two almond meringue sponge cakes and Feuilles d'automne, layers of chocolate mousse and sponge cake decorated with "leaves" of chocolate. The succés was a success (haha!) and fairly easy to make while the feuilles d'automne was my worst nightmare. There's nothing like working with chocolate sheets that aren't thick enough with really hot hands. Every time I picked up the chocolate, the heat of my fingers burned a hole in it on contact leading to some very interesting leaves. 

We also watched chef do pastillage and sugar work to decorate a cake for his boss' wife. The things you can do with food are amazing! 

Baguette dough...it's alive! 

We thought the container was big enough...obviously not 

Baguettes and spring sun...what could be better? 

Bakery on Friday was complete with pain de campagne (country bread), croissants, pain au chocolat, and baguette dough with a mind of its own. We used two types of rising agents in our dough which lead to an overflowing and gooey mass that we managed to control and turn into tasty baguettes. 

Jardin d'Acclimation - Americans in Paris event 

Rick Odums dancers 

There's a really interesting event called "Americans in Paris" going on at the Jardin d'Acclimation until May. Booths with American food, books, etc. plus American police cars, schools buses and SUVs are scattered throughout the park thoroughfare with various sporting events (dunking contests, baseball games, golf) and performances (music and dancing) taking place. A little piece of America right in Paris...

The person who truly sparked my interest in French culture and provided me with a solid foundation of French was in Paris this week...craziness! Mr. Langa, my high school French teacher, was here with some Beaumont students doing a one week trip through France and Spain and thanks to some haphazard planning, we met up on Saturday. About 10 years ago (I'm getting so old) I was sitting in his classroom daydreaming about visiting all the places in Paris he taught us about and drooling over the pastries in the photos he taunted us with and now, I'm here, living that daydream and making those pastries. Thank you Mr. Langa for planting the seed ;) 

I spent my first weekend of vacation grooving to kompa and reggae at two concerts I went to at La Villette, a huge park in the north of Paris. I can't get over how much there is to do in Paris; I love this city and I might just need another year here to explore all this city has to offer. 

So close, I can taste it...

Restaurant service on Wednesday, pastry on Thursday, and bakery on Friday are the only thing standing between me and a much awaited vacation. We've been working hard for the past 2 months and I'm pretty sure that we're all ready to relax a bit. We start our one week of Easter vacation on Friday after boulangerie and while I'm excited for Friday to come so I can spend a week exploring Paris, this week in school is turning out to be rather interesting. But, before I get to that, rewind to the weekend. 

Sunday afternoon, Désirée and I went to Le Réfectoire ( 80, blvd Richard Lenoir), a restaurant with an old school cafeteria feel. The decor is cute - you sit in school chairs surrounded by children's drawings and the enthusiastic staff brings you water in Kool-Aid colored pitchers and updated and more funky cafeteria style food. On Sundays, you have the choice of brunch (a school tray loaded with several dishes - it looks so cute!) or you can order from the rather precise menu, which we did. Both of us had been craving salads so I ordered one with warm goat cheese on toast and Désirée ordered one with seafood; the portions are very generous by French standards. The desserts are updated classics that often include special touches to remind patrons of childhood favorites such as mousse made with Carambar candy, something that piqued our interest. We found the praline cake with cassis ice cream and the Carambar mousse with Bailey's deliciously interesting. If you do make it to Le Réfectoire, make sure you check out the bathroom. 

Cafeteria style

Salad with warm goat cheese on toast

Carambar mousse with Bailey's

Praline cake with cassis ice cream

After a fun lunch, I went to visit Laura to catch up on life and help her with interview questions. She went back to the States yesterday to interview for a highly coveted teaching position in San Francisco and won't be back until the end of April :( ...my dance partner won't be here during vacation, prime time for dancing since I don't have to wake up at 6am. We promised to go out dancing when she gets back - hopefully it will be a celebratory night! 

We spent Monday making a French classic in pastry, the Opera cake. We worked in teams of two to make the various components of the cake (Joconde, ganache, coffee buttercream) before layering it together. Mondays in the pastry kitchen are kind of funny- it's usually the day where things go wrong consistently and you chalk up your tiredness, lack of patience, and slowness to the fact that...it's Monday. Luckily, this Monday wasn't too bad and Désirée I managed to make our Opéra without any major snafus...phew. 

I was filled with child-like excitement this morning because for the first time, we were having cuisine class. Yes, I love pastry but it was nice to change our routine for a day. Our chef for the day, Chef Schaefer, actually helped start the French Culinary Institute in NYC which is modeled after my school. He also happens to be an excellent photographer, poet, and flower arranger on top of being a talented chef. One of my classmates and I were discussing how every chef we have the privilege of working with is not only an amazing chef, but a talented artist who can either paint, draw, take beautiful photographs, or even fashion perfect pigs out of almond paste...crazy! 

Today wasn't about following recipes or measuring out ingredients, but about using the food we had been given to make a simple yet tasty buffet. We were each given ingredients to work with and through the chefs guidance and suggestions plus our own intuition and inventiveness, we made a beautiful buffet lunch. One thing we're not accustomed to as pastry chefs is tasting everything along the way; we rarely taste a product before it's finished. When you're working in the kitchen, you always have to taste so you can balance the flavors and adjust the seasoning, something Chef Schaefer mentioned to us when we sat down to lunch. Our lunch menu:

• Eggs pickled in saffron and beets
• Braised baby carrots, turnips, and artichokes

• Thin sliced raw asparagus with vinaigrette and oven roasted tomatoes

• White asparagus with red pepper vinaigrette and crispy ham,


• A terrine of asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, basil, and salmon



• Salmon tartare


• Raw tomato soup


• Eggplant caviar
• Chicken with zucchini
• Puff pastry straws sprinkled with sesame seeds, piment d'espelette, and paprika


• Pears poached with honey, beets, and rose buds


• Strawberries in a raspberry vinegar syrup accompanied by raspberry/piment d'espelette tuiles in the shape of cherry blossoms
  

Eating a healthy and fresh lunch that we made was a nice change from lunch in the cafeteria, almost wish we could make lunch every day. 

Most of my classmates and I are headed off to be French television stars tonight:) We're going to be in the audience of a show called Ce soir (ou jamais!) and will have the chance to see world-renowned chef of El Bulli, Ferran Adrìa, a molecular gastronomist. Can't wait!