The real world...

After spending a fun "vacation" week with my mom and Wayne gallivanting around Paris, Nantes, and a chateau in the Loire Valley, it was time to start my internship. I should have taken the fact that I didn't know what time I was starting or where to go on my first day as a sign of the craziness that was to come with my internship at La Grande Epicerie.

On the quai of the Seine

Have you ever seen a steel drum musician play classical music - Amazing!

Went to visit two of my favorites...Josh and Phillip at Le Petit Flore in Nantes

I arrived at La Grande Epicerie on Monday, July 6th and after hearing my fellow classmates' stories about their internships, I was a little worried, but didn't have any expectations. Would I be writing the name of a famous hotel with mini chocolate chips on 500 financiers every morning or dealing with a chef who was super serious and critical? Well, let's see...I ventured down into the 1st basement (we have two) with the chef, was told to change into my school chef's uniform and report to the lab. Then I was thrown to the lions...ok, not literally but I was thrown right into the mix and spent my first day more as a member of the petits gateaux team and not a lowly inept stagiare(intern). We have three stations in the pastry lab - petits gateaux, entremets (cakes) and four (oven). Another stagiare, myself and 4 other people are on petits gateaux and we're responsible for making petits four frais (mini desserts such as cheesecake, clafoutis, linzer), tarts (chocolate, lemon, strawberry, raspberry) and several other things (millefeuille, éclairs, etc.)

Emerging from the metro with a view of my workplace

During my first week, I was less than pleased with my stage because the people telling me what to do seemed to be totally clueless. They would tell me how to do something, I would do it, and then one of the chefs would come around to tell me that I should have done it differently. Plus, our station seems to make pretty much the same thing every day. One of the things I take solace in is that I work with friendly people who don't really look down on interns as peons. The things I make in the lab are put in the pastry case just like everyone else and I'm incredibly thankful that I don't spend the day peeling fruits or washing dishes like some interns do.

It's hard to believe this is my third week at La Grande Epicerie. Even though my internship is not really meeting my expectations (we do everything on such a large scale and with machines that I often feel like I'm working in a factory), but I'm enjoying it more than I did at the beginning and getting more comfortable. Despite this fact, I think I'll stay for 3 months and not 6 month as planned because I think working for a smaller pastry shop would be a more beneficial experience considering my future goals.

Here's to my 4th week at La Grande Epicerie...hope it's a good one!

Wow it's been a long time!

So, I realize that I have been a total delinquent and haven't updated in far too long. Life has been chock full of craziness so let's see if I can get you caught up.

My last post was about my final exam which I passed - woohoo! Our exam was over two and a half days. To get through the exam without stressing too much, most of us told ourselves it was a regular class day. Unfortunately, knowing that you're getting graded on your products creates stress that either pushes you to perform better or worse. In any case, when the test was over, we could all breath again and it was time to celebrate.

The Sunday after our final exam our class took a trip to the Pays Basque (Basque country). The Basque country is located along the border of France and Spain and the region is brimming with culture and proud of it! I won't go into a lot of details about the trip because it would take forever but I'll give you the highlights.

Side of the road photo shoot - Anglopat '09!

St. Jean de Luz

Biarritz

We arrived in Biarritz which is a cute and highly touristy vacation spot with magnificent views of the ocean. After a quick breakfast (yes, some vegetarians are weak and give in to their love of bacon) and a photo shoot, we were on our way to our home away from Paris, Cambo-les-Bains. We drove up several hills to our "home" for the next few days to a chorus of "Chef...slow down....CHEF!!" This chorus would become a part of our everyday adventures through the Basque country accompanied by white knuckled grips of anything we could get our hands on in the mini bus. Our "home" for our trip was perfection in a valley. We stayed next to a blueberry farm in a quaint house run by Laurent who was an amazing cook, host, and cider pourer ;)

Yummy organic breakfast every morning

The view from the valley house we stayed in

Laurent, our host, pouring cider for aperitif

We spent the next few days exploring the region, eating some of the freshest and most amazing food I've ever tasted (trout tastes amazing when you eat it down the road from where it was raised and who knew fresh blueberry preserves and ewe's milk cheese tasted so darn good), baking/burning in the sun and relaxing after an intense 5 months of school. One of the highlights of our trip was on our last morning in Cambo-les-Bains. Some of us woke up early to go blueberry picking before we left and oh my goodness...fresh picked sun-ripened blueberries are divine. I never cared for blueberries until I tasted fresh ones and now I find myself on the hunt for blueberries as tasty as the ones in Basque country...to no avail :( I'll just have to make my way back to Cambo-les-Bains to go blueberry picking again...anyone interested in accompanying me?

Fresh blueberries..delish

Picking

When our class returned to Paris/school, it was time to prepare for graduation. We had each chosen two dishes (one savory, one sweet) from our respective countries for our graduation buffet so we jumped into making the necessary preparations. I decided to make Jamaican beef patties (Ya Man!) and mini carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - have to represent the American and the Caribbean cultures! I had purposely chosen two things that were relatively easy and I was thanking God on graduation day that I had made that choice due to the ensuing confusion.

Jamaican beef patties - Would have made grandma proud ;)

My mom and Wayne came to visit me and they arrived on the morning of my graduation in plenty of time to settle in and then meet me at school. Ha, nothing ever works out that easily. Let's just say my mom forgot to call me when she landed (it was only the last thing I said to her before she boarded the plane) which resulted in me stressing out to the point I couldn't make any progress in the kitchen and my stomach was in knots. Three hours after she should have landed, I hadn't heard from my mom. I let my chef know I couldn't get any work done because I was worried and I was leaving to scour the city of Paris for my mother...well, not exactly. Timing is a funny thing and as soon as I walked out of school and was on my way to my apartment who should call but...my mom. After taking her and Wayne to my apartment and giving them a tutorial on how to lock and unlock my door ("You live in Fort Knox!), I was off to finish my cupcakes and patties at school. Thirty minutes was all I spent at school before I was out the door again for an interview with HR at the place I'm doing my internship, La Grande Epicerie. Luckily after a super quick chat, I was back in the lab and with calmer nerves, I finished my two dishes and got them on the buffet table in a fairly timely manner.

Due to the fact that our school was officially closed when we graduated and no one was around to set up for graduation, we started pretty late among lots of confusion ("We don't have silverware or plates for people to eat with/on!") Eventually, our informal graduation ceremony started and after remarks from the director of the school, the director of our program and both the pastry and cuisine chefs, we were given our certificates...5 months and x amount of lbs. later ;) I completed pastry school in France, a dream come true.

Thanks Chef!

Everyone kept saying...Oh, is that you're older sister

...haven't heard that one before

We all attacked the amazing buffet and complimentary champagne afterwards and bid our goodbyes to those whom we wouldn't be seeing anymore. It was truly an amazing, trying, eye opening, intense and interesting 5 months that I was kind of sad to see end. As our chefs kept telling us...Now it's time for the real world. Bring it on!