gracecarmel

Valencia, Madrid

2009-06-19T12:00:00.001+02:00

Valencia also had a central market in the city center. It was much smaller than that of Barcelona but much, much cleaner.

We had hoped to try some of the fresh seafood as we had in Barcelona but there were no stalls serving food inside the market. Instead, we headed to one of the stands just outside the market. The paella and arroz negro were again surprisingly salty. I guess that's just the way they do it in Valencia...

Valencia is supposed to be known for its beaches so we went to Playa Cardenal to check it out. Quinn and I sat in some beach chairs under a straw umbrella to get away from the blistering Spanish heat.

Next stop: Madrid
I'd never ridden in a first class train in Europe but we had reservations in a first class car on our 3 hour 40 minute train ride to Madrid. We were served cava, drinks, and snacks, offered reading material and headphones for the movie, and were seated in spacious reclining seats.

We got to Madrid, and my first impression was not a very good one. Right away, I could feel that the city was not particularly safe. When trying to find a place for dinner, each place we looked into was filthy and the floors were covered in trash. We finally settled for eating at Museo del Jamon where it looked slightly cleaner but still had some trash visible on the floor.

Our hotel, Hotel Intur Palacio San Martin, was very centrally located. It was just a 2 minute walk from Plaza Mayor and the neighboring shops, cafes, clubs, and restaurants.

Valencia

2009-06-18T12:00:00.001+02:00

Our 3.5 hour train ride to Valencia left early in the morning and got us into town just before lunch time. Since Paella Valenciana was originated in Valencia, it had to be our first meal in Valencia. The dish was one of the major reasons we chose to make a stop in Valencia... we're such foodies! At Raco del Turia (Carrer de Ciscar, 10), we had sangria, eel with potatoes, seafood paella, and Paella Valenciana. The Paella Valenciana is garnished with snails, rabbit, chicken, and green beans, not exactly what we had envisioned. Both paellas were surprisingly salty but were perfectly cooked al dente and full of flavor.

Valencia is an amazingly beautiful city. The "old" part of town consists of plazas and monuments, including La Llonja de la Seda (the first commercial trading center fully equipped with a court, prison, and trading floor).

After taking in the old town, we headed to the "new" part of town, which was where the opera house, aquarium, and city of arts and sciences were located. The architecture was impressive and a beautiful site to take in.

Orxata in Spain is different than the Mexican Horchata we are used to in southern California. It's not as sweet and slightly yeasty but refreshing and tasty.

It was Restaurant Week in Valencia (the same concept as Dine About Town at home). We chose a restaurant from the brochure but when we got to the restaurant, it was far from what we had expected. We tried another restaurant also participating in the Restaurant Week, but no tables were available. Next door was a tapas place, Las Cuevas, with a very "local" feel and tasty food.

Just down the road was a plaza where we sat on the steps, drank beer (sold by the guys walking around saying "cerveza fria"), and relaxed.

Barcelona

2009-06-16T12:00:00.015+02:00

The curtains in the hotel blocked out all the sunlight making the room pitch black, and we didn't wake up until 3pm!! We must have been exhausted!

After finally making it out of the hotel, Quinn and I headed to La Rambla and had tapas for a late lunch at El Choquito. We had potatoes, more potatoes, chicken, and salt cod fritters. I was a happy camper with my potatoes :-)

Just across the street from where we had tapas was the St. Josep Le Boqueria Market. The place had tons of stalls filled with fruit, vegetables, candy, meat, seafood, and other goodies. My favorite was the 1 euro fresh fruit drinks that many of the stands sold. Quinn had the strawberry coconut, I had the mango coconut, and we were in heaven! They were amazing! Yummmmm!!!

From just outside the market, we saw gondolas high in the air. We asked around to see where to catch one and then ended up going to the castle at Parc Montjuic. It was a beautiful view!!!

With a couple of hours before dinner, we headed to Parc Guell to see some of Gaudi's work. It was a small hike up to the park where we saw the famous Gaudi iguana, colorful benches, and houses. From there, we also had a great view of the city. It was past 8pm when we were at the park so it was peaceful with not too many tourists - great for picture taking!

Barcelona's Arc of Triumph...

When we had dinner with Tracy and Matt the other night, they had recommended a restaurant called Commerc 24 so we made reservations for dinner there. They had 2 tasting menus, the grand festival and the festival. The boys all got the grand festival (10 courses), and I opted for the festival menu (7 courses). It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Each dish was carefully presented and showed the such creativity. We lost count of the number of courses during our meal (so many!). After 3 bottles of wine and closing the place down, we were all happy campers.

Vichissoise with truffles

Olives stuffed with anchovies & golden macadamian nuts

Grissini with pesto, Filo, parma, lime, and basil

Avocado and lobster makis

Marennes d'Oleron oyster C24

Marinated sardines with blood orange and wasabi

Cold infusion with flowers and seafood

Consomme with parmesan, egg, and truffle

Razorshell and tangerine yakisoba

Tuna tartar

Cod fish with artichoke

Duck rice with foie gras

Sole with morel mushrooms

Sirloin with roses and berries

Cheese plate

Mandarin-passion-mint & muesli yogurt passion

Sable with pineapple and meringue

Bread, oil, chocolate and salt

Nougat with tuille cigar, chocolate, and coffee

Black sesame oreo with vanilla

Barcelona

2009-06-15T12:00:00.005+02:00

Our last day at 21 Rue Montorgueil... Ryan and Ricardo left on an early flight to Barcelona, and Quinn and I stayed behind so we could meet our landlord for the apartment. She lived in Bordeaux but was in Paris for a few days. As we turned in our keys and went through the motions to tie the loose ends on the apartment, she told us that our building was about 200 years old. When she had bought the flat in 1984, our apartment was 2 apartments at that time with no kitchen or private bathroom. The entire building had a communal bathroom and shared a sink. There wasn't even a shower or bath! We also learned that the hot water heater held 100 liters, that the street used to be even more lively when she lived there years ago with butchers and more markets.

Given the hiccups we've had when going to the CDG airport in the past, we headed over on the RER a bit early. No hiccups on the RER this time but our flight was delayed and we spent forever in the gate area (5 hours!). I had a chance to catch up on my blog though... Paris is such a huge airport that I'm surprised the facilities haven't been upgraded. There are no bathrooms in the gate area (you have to go outside and back through security again) and no air conditioning!

We finally arrived into Barcelona and got to our hotel by about 10pm. We were meeting Ryan and Ricardo for dinner but we stopped at the corner cafe, a frankfurteria, to grab some hot dogs to hold us over. I couldn't believe the hot dog nonsense we were served was our first meal in Barcelona but when you're hungry, anything will do!

We later met Ryan and Ricardo and headed to Carrer del Born where we walked around seeing the many different tapas restaurants. We stopped in at Taller de Tapas for patatas bravas, monkfish, octopus, and shrimp tapas. We walked around the area taking in the scenery, then headed back to the hotel.

Our last day in Paris...

2009-06-14T12:00:00.004+02:00

Quinn and I spent most of the morning and afternoon packing up the rest of the apartment while Ryan and Ricardo went off for some more Paris sightseeing. After Quinn and I dropped 2 of our big bags off at the hotel we'll be staying at when we return to Paris, we were tros soif!! It's been really hot in Paris for the past few days and was a perfect day for some gelato at Deliziefollie. We sat on the steps at the end of Montogueil as we devoured our gelato and reminisced on the great times we'd had on our street.

For our last dinner in Paris, Quinn, Ryan, Ricardo, and I met up with Chris and Michelle for dinner. We also met Tracy and Matt who were traveling through Europe and had just arrived in Paris.

After good food and great company, we all walked towards Montorgueil to catch Deliziefollie before they closed. Take 2 for gelato today!

Ryan & Ricardo in Paris

2009-06-13T12:00:00.005+02:00

Ryan and Ricardo arrived into Paris this morning! They did a bit of sightseeing going to see Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, the pyramids at the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower - a blitz through Paris!!

Quinn and I headed to Gare du Nord to make the individual reservations for our Eurail pass. While we were there, the French were striking...

After riding with Ryan and Ricardo towards the Arc, Quinn and I stopped in at Laduree for pastries and coffee.

Quinn and I met back up with Ryan and Ricardo for lunch at Cafe du Marche on Rue de Buci and dinner at Le Grapillon.

We all got dessert!! Their chocolate cake is the best chocolate cake I've ever had!! ...so rich and delicious and soooo chocolatey!!

Beers at Cafe Pointe Saint Eustache

Making macaroons, Fellini

2009-06-12T12:00:00.008+02:00

Chris and Michelle came by the apartment after their tour at the Miss Manon Boulangerie to make macaroons. I showed them how to make caramel, chocolate, and lemon macaroons, which we made while enjoying a baguette sandwich lunch and some vin rouge. As we were waiting for the macaroon shells to cool and as we were assembling them, we snacked on quite a few. By the time we were all done, we'd each had too many to count!!

After we'd stuffed ourselves full of sugar, we headed downstairs to Cafe Marie Stuart for some drinks and people watching on Montorgueil.

For dinner, we headed just a couple of blocks down to Fellini, a cute, romantic Italian restaurant. Throughout dinner, we began talking about our engagement, some of our future plans, and next steps.

We slowly walked home through Les Halles as we took in the vibes of the neighborhood we've come to love so much and call our home for the past 3+ months.

Quinn telling everyone our happy news over e-mail...

We're engaged!!!!

2009-06-11T12:00:00.008+02:00

Our trip to Paris has been so memorable, and tonight has made it even so much more meaningful. Quinn made reservations for dinner and was keeping the location a surprise. We jumped on the metro and headed towards the Latin Quarter. We arrived at Le Coupe Chou, a cozy, romantic French restaurant and were seated in a small section in the back, which we had all to ourselves.

Quinn had brought my "graduation present" for finishing my course at Le Cordon Bleu and presented it to me before dinner. As I tore through the wrapping paper, I saw that it was a Louis Vuitton purse! As I looked inside, I saw that there was something else there. In a small Louis Vuitton clutch nestled inside the purse, I felt a box. Before I could process what was all happening, Quinn was beside me down on one knee. As he told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, tears started streaming down my face and I said YES (even before he asked me the quintessential "will you marry me" question)!

After he had slipped the ring on my finger and sat back down, the waitress came to our table with a bottle of the 2003 Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage Brut, a bottle that we had picked up when we traveled to Champagne. Quinn had come to the restaurant the day before, scoped the place out, and dropped off the bottle of bubbly without me knowing (sneaky!).

Dinner was beyond delicious, but I was in such shock and so happy that I hardly touched my food! It's ok though... Quinn (aka my garbage disposal) ate most of my meal.

We walked through Paris after dinner passing by the Notre Dame. As we crossed Pont Neuf, we stopped to sit on one of the benches where we had a view of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Seine River. It was such a romantic night and being in Paris made everything so much more magical. It was even before we started dating that Quinn and I would meet at Starbucks and daydream about taking a few months off to live in Paris...

Starting to pack...

2009-06-10T12:00:00.000+02:00

It was another rainy day in Paris, and I've come to enjoy the sound of the rain as it hits the windows.

I can't believe how fast the last few months have gone... It feels like it was just yesterday when we arrived in Paris for the first time. We started packing our things today as we prepared for our Spain trip and our journey back to reality in the States. The apartment is pretty much all packed up, and we have only 5 more days on Rue Montorgueil. Paris has become like home, and we've learned and grown so much in the days we've been here. I wish I could put time on pause so that we could spend more time in this city I've come to know so well.

After being out so much the last few days, we decided to eat-in for both lunch and dinner today. We had spam, rice, and eggs (thank you Mom!!!!!), and Quinn made garlic noodles for dinner.

Mom and Dad head back to London, Le Grapillon w/Chris & Michelle

2009-06-09T12:00:00.000+02:00

Today was Mom and Dad's last day in Paris. :-( We went to the Le Meridien and then grabbed a quick bite before seeing them off at Gare du Nord. Instead of taking the Gaite transfer to Montparnasse, we walked to Montparnasse to avoid the up & down and up & down of staircases.

A picture of my parents' personal Paris guidebook...

Chris and Michelle arrived into Paris just the other day so we met them at the apartment and then headed to Le Grapillon for dinner.

The desserts at Le Grapillon are amazing but what better way to end the night... more gelato!
Chris - We're not counting, but how many scoops have you had today? ;-)

Pizza Rustica, St. Eustache, cooking shops, Luxembourg, Dalloyau, chinatown

2009-06-08T12:00:00.006+02:00

Mom and Dad met us at the apartment just before lunch. We headed to Pizza Rustica across the street for a quick bite. We had a view of Pizza Rustica from our apartment window, and it was on my "to do" list to try the place out before we left Paris. In our first weeks in Paris, Quinn had wanted to grab a bite there but I couldn't fathom paying $7 for one slice of pizza. Now, I consider a $7 lunch cheap after being exposed to the high cost of Paris living!

We toured St. Eustache after lunch, and although this historic monument is just around the corner from our apartment, we hadn't taken the time to learn the history of the church until now. The church was once the church of the royal family, and Louis XIV received his first communion there. I thought the most interesting part was seeing the sketches of what the neighborhood looked like when the old Les Halles market was still in this part of the city. The church dates back to the 16th century and was rebuilt after times of turmoil and the French revolution.

The neighborhood of Les Halles used to be the culinary center of Paris with the fresh markets. Nowadays, there are few markets but there is still an abundance of cooking stores. We went to Mora, La Bovida, A. Simon on Rue Montmartre to do a little shopping. It's kind of like going to Sur la Table back in the states, but it's the real thing!

It was a typical rainy day in Paris, but nonetheless, we headed to Luxembourg gardens to see the flowers and the greenery on the grounds. From March through July, it rains, on average, 13 days out of each month.

One of our fav rainy day escapes is Dalloyau next to the Luxembourg gardens. We had opera cake (it was originated at Dalloyau) and hot chocolate (yum!).

The 13th arrondissement of Paris is the "chinatown" of the city. We went to Thai Vien, a Chinese/Laotian/Thai restaurant, in the 13th for dinner. King of Thai used to be my all-time fav Thai restaurant but I think this one takes the cake.

Sacre Coeur, Le Relais Gascon, Montorgueil, dinner at home

2009-06-07T12:00:00.011+02:00

We started the day off at Sacre Coeur for Sunday mass and then headed up to the dome to take in the beautiful view of Paris. It rained on and off all day but while we were Sacre Coeur, the blue skies and clouds were a beautiful backdrop against the white travertine stone.

Just a couple blocks down from Sacre Coeur is our fav salad joint, La Relais Gascon. Quinn and I took my parents there for salads loaded with lots of goodies: foie gras, smoked salmon, and gizzards. Oh my!

While I began to cook dinner, Quinn took my parents down our street for another tour of the shops, patisseries, and chocolatiers.

My first dinner to cook for guests after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu was for my parents. I made sea breem with a white wine sauce, boiled turned potatoes, glazed carrots, and a garnish of tomato concasse with a mixture of avocado and parsley on top. I had also been planning on making escargot with "snail butter," but I didn't realize until just before dinner that there was no can opener in the apartment. The snails in France come canned, and it was an odd realization that a can opener is not a staple item in a French household. So, with the "snail butter" that I had already made, I made garlic bread instead.

After dinner, I had a little belated birthday surprise for Mom.

We sent my parents home past midnight once again!

Showing Mom & Dad Parisian life...and more sightseeing

2009-06-06T12:00:00.009+02:00

Quinn's breakfast... millefeuille

We met Mom and Dad at Le Bon Marche to kick-start the day. We went next door to La Grand Epicerie to show them all of the gourmet food at the upscale grocery store. La Grand Epicerie is my favorite gourmet food store in Paris because it reminds me so much of Marche in Toronto. When we were there today, it reminded us of Costco because of all the free samples they were giving out!

Cafe with a heart-shaped sugar cube hanging from the side...

The Seine River cruise for Bateaux Mouches departs near the base of Pont d'Alma. Once we got onboard, we sat upstairs to enjoy the view. The Seine River cruise is a great way to get an overview of the city's sites in an hour. It comes with commentary translated into 6 different languages!

For some more sightseeing, Quinn and I gave my parents a tour of Rue Montorgueil where they saw the fromageries, cafes, boulangeries, patisseries, chocolate shops, vegetable market, fruit markets, butchers, fish markets, wine shops, flower shops, and more. We stopped in at a few of the stores to pick up some goodies (cheese from the fromagerie, baguette from the boulangerie, pain au chocolate from our fav Maison Jouvin, wine from the wine shop).

At L'Atelier du Chocolat, we ordered two cups of chocolat chaud. To make the hot chocolate, the sales-woman broke off some chocolate pieces from the baskets of chocolate and stirred in some fresh, hot milk. That's what I call fresh hot chocolate!

My mom was a bit snap-happy with the camera, but thankfully she was because now I can use all of her pictures for my blog! Thanks Mom! :-) 250+ pictures a day with 12-14 hours each day out on the town equates to 1 picture every 3 minutes.

A picture of Quinn and I going into our apartment...

One of my fav part of my parents' visit was just hanging out, enjoying each other's company, and being able to show them what our Paris experience has been all about. Relaxing with cheese and wine at home...

We grabbed some drinks across from The Frog and the Rosbif, an English pub that Mom saw on TV back in Cali.

Checking out the ingenious idea of the Parisian bikes...

Parisians eat much later than we do as Americans. Restaurants don't usually open for dinner until about 8pm and the dinner rush is around 9:30pm. Tonight, we didn't sit down for dinner at Aux Troix Maillets until about 11pm, which in Paris standards, is completely normal.

Le Cordon Bleu, more sightseeing, more French food

2009-06-05T12:00:00.011+02:00

I took my parents to school today for our graduation ceremony for the Basic students. After the ceremony, I gave them a quick tour of the small school, and we went upstairs to the first floor demonstration room for a buffet lunch. They were serving risotto, saffron chicken, amuse bouches of various items, and lots of other finger foods. They also came out with dessert trays filled with macaroons, financiers, and miniature tarts. Yum!

I took my parents to the Cité metro stop so that they could do some sightseeing at Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame.

After going home to change into my walking shoes, I met my parents at Notre Dame and then took them back to Montorgueil. Along the way, we strolled past the sidewalk nurseries and then went underground so I could show them the Forum des Halles shopping center just below our nighborhood park.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the colorful scarf and beautiful necklace!

We headed to Grizzle Cafe towards the Marais for dinner where we had another dinner of traditional French fare (duck confit, roasted chicken, and hachis parmentier with duck).

Benoit, Miswa, Quincampoix, Gras

A visit to Montorgueil would not be complete without a stop at Deliziefollie so we stopped there after dinner for coffee and gelato.

Day 1 of sightseeing with Mom and Dad

2009-06-04T12:00:00.008+02:00

Today was Day 1 of sightseeing with Mom and Dad. They went to the Louvre in the morning to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the countless sculptures and paintings adorning the walls of the former palace. While we waited for their text message, I baked some homemade chocolate florentines and macaroons to take to our picnic.

As I was baking, I received a call on our land line from someone speaking in French. He said he was a florist with a delivery for me. I was so confused because I didn't think anyone had our phone number and address in Paris. When the delivery came, it was a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Greg and Tam with a note of congratulations for finishing school. Thank you Greg and Tam!!! I was really touched by the thoughtful gesture.

Quinn and I met my parents for a picnic lunch in front of the museum. We brought baguette sandwiches and my homemade goodies.

We walked towards Place de la Concorde and stopped at the Tuilieres Gardens where Parisians were relaxing near the fountains.

From there, we verged off to Place Madeleine where we stopped at the famous Laduree salon de the for coffee and pastries. We talked about Parisian life, the culture, and how the French can spend hours upon hours drinking their cafe.

Afterwards, we went to Fauchon down the street where we looked at all of the expensive gourmet food (caviar for 8,000 euros/kilo, truffles, 14,000 euros/bottle of wine).

Saint Madeleine was closing for the day but we were able to go in for a couple of minutes to see the inside of the church.

We took the metro to Champs Elysees and window shopped at Mercedes Benz before heading towards the Arc de Triomphe.

We admired the flowers on the apartment window sills as we rested our feet while admiring the view of the Arc de Triomphe.

We took the metro again to see another Paris must-see, the Eiffel Tower.

Ecole Militaire and peace monument

Dad was impressed by the great bike system in Paris. All throughout the city, you can rent a bike for a minimal fee and return it to any other bike station in the city... pretty handy!

After a long day of sightseeing, we headed to Le Nemrod for a late dinner and some drinks.

Final exam, Mom and Dad arrive in Paris!

2009-06-03T12:00:00.008+02:00

Whew! I'm finally done with classes! I had my final exam today at Le Cordon Bleu. The 2 dishes chosen for the exam were the hot fish terrine and the roasted duckling with turned turnips. I pulled the yellow chip, which meant that I had to make the fish terrine. Ironically, the fish terrine was my least favorite dish of the entire session. Thankfully, it was much easier to make the second time around, and chef actually helped a couple of us run the fish through the tamis (I need more muscles!).

My parents arrived into Paris while I was still at school so after class, I headed home to drop off my things and then took the metro to the Le Meridien where they were staying.

Quinn and I played tour guide as we walked through Paris. We took them to Rue de Buci and sat down at Da Rosa before deciding to go 2 doors down to Fromagerie 31. We had such a good experience there the day before that we wanted to go back. This time, we got a plate of 9 different kinds of cheese and a bottle of the same Quincy wine.

We walked back to Les Halles and showed our apartment, the view from the apartment, and the neighboring streets to Mom and Dad.

Our favorite restaurant in Paris is Le Grapillon. We've been sending everyone there but we haven't been back since our first week in Paris so we decided to take my parents there for their first French meal in Paris.

After our 3 course dinner, we walked back to Montparnasse to show Mom and Dad the way back to the hotel.

Fromagerie 31, Amorino

2009-06-02T12:00:00.007+02:00

Paris has many fromageries (cheese shops) all over town. Fromagerie 31 (64, Rue Seine, 75006), however, allows you to sit down and enjoy a degustation (tasting) of their cheese along with wine either inside the shop or on the terrace outside. Quinn and I spent our afternoon at Fromagerie 31 sipping away a bottle of wine with a plate of 12 different kinds of cheeses (goat cheese, camembert, chevre, bleu, comte, and some other kinds I can't remember).

While we were enjoying our cheese and wine, we made a new friend, a bird we named Henry. Henry kept visiting us at our table, taking baguette from our hands, and flying back and forth from its nest.

Amorino is a big gelato chain in Paris. We hadn't tried it yet since we're big fans of Deliziefollie, but just so that we could make the comparison, we stopped in for a cone on our way home. Their presentation was nice, like a flower, but the gelato was just mediocre.

Another pic of my favorite part of the Seine...

Le Marais, Le Dans Noir

2009-06-01T12:00:00.004+02:00

More falafel!! Yum!! Being a hot, sunny day, there were long lines outside both Mi-Va-Mi and L'As du Falafel. To escape into some shade, we decided to pay the extra 2 euros to sit inside at Mi-Va-Mi instead of devouring our falafels by the road side. Eating inside had several benefits: a plethora of sauces/condiments, shade, free water, a bathroom, and seats!

After several attempts, we finally made it to Korcarz, the Jewish bakery on Rue des Rosiers. Unfortunately, their pastries look much better in the windowfront; I tossed my roule chocolat after only a couple bites... not worth the calories!

We took a nice lengthy walk through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th arrondissements in search for the perfect cafe for a cup of coffee. Our goal was Gocce Cafe, but they were closed when we got there... boo! We did, however, get to stroll down Passages des Panoramas, a cute little indoor alley of shops, cafes, and hotels.

Dans le Noir is a "dark" restaurant where you eat in pitch black. I put my purse in a locker provided by the restaurant, and we "ordered" our dinner. Each course was a surprise so we really only chose how many courses to consume and what to drink. We were guided to our tables by our waiter and were seated with 4 other people. We were in complete darkness and had to rely on our other senses to guides us through our meal. It was definitely an experience: taking the time to "taste" the different flavors in our mouth and trying to decipher each bite, feeling the different textures in our mouth, and relying our stomachs to tell us when we were full instead of by the visual of an empty plate. The experience really makes you take a step back and realize how much we "eat with our eyes." It also makes for interesting conversation with the others at our table, especially when you can't see them. After our 3 course meal, we were taken into the receiving area to pay our bill. There, we were shown pictures of what our plates would have looked like in the light.

Sunday market cooking, picnic-ing, night-shooting

2009-05-31T12:00:00.010+02:00

After stopping by the corner cafe for a typical Parisian breakfast (cafe and croissants), we went shopping at the local Sunday market on Rue Montmartre. We bought fruits, veggies, and fish, and I went home to make lunch. I filleted the fish (dorade) garnished with tomatoes, onions, and avocado, and made a white wine sauce to go with everything. I'm planning to cook for my parents when they come to Paris next week so I was "practicing."

We crossed another thing off our "to do" list: going to Les Halles for a picnic. We have a park within a 1 minute walk from the apartment, and I thought it would be a shame if we missed out on picnic-ing there so we stopped by Stohrer, picked up some goodies, and brought some wine. I finally got to crack open the book I brought to Paris with me! I also have a new dessert to add to my "must-try making" list: fraisier (pictured on the right). It is layered with chocolate, bavaroise, genoise, glaze, and strawberries... sounds easy enough!

After a couple of drinks and good conversation at our neighborhood cafe, La Pointe St. Eustache (the same place where we had breakfast this morning), Quinn and I went night-shooting along the Seine and at Notre Dame.

Wine & cheese tasting lunch, La Maison du Chocolat, Hippopotamus

2009-05-30T12:00:00.000+02:00

O-Chateau offers wine & cheese tasting lunches inside the old wine cellars that were built to store wine during the reign of Louis XV. We were greeted into a long, small, and narrow room by our sommelier, Sebastian and seated ourselves at a u-shaped table among 12 other people. Sebastian went into great detail about how Champagne is made, the effects that the "terroir" has on the wine, how wine is classified in France (AOC's), how to "read" the wine before tasting it (i.e. determining the climate by looking at the color of the wine), and much more. I was impressed by how knowledgeable he was about wine but what impressed me more was how passionate he was about wine. For our tasting, we had a Montmarthe Champagne, a Domaine de la Garenne (Sancerre from Loire), a Domaine Venot (Cote Chalonnaise from Burgundy), a Chateau Lanessan (Haut Medo from Bordeaux), and a Domaine du Grand Veneur (Cotes du Rhone from Rhone) along with a plateful of cheese and a selection of sliced meat.

La Maison du Chocolat is a chocolatier we've heard about over and over again. They have a location inside the Louvre so we picked up some chocolates before heading to a nearby cafe for coffee. The "Zagora" was my favorite; it was a mint-infused chocolate in which you could taste the fresh mint (not like the artificial mint flavor in most candies and choclates).

Being tired of French food, we ventured off to the 13th for Thai... we were too hungry and ended up at Hippopotamus instead. The service was horrible, but the food was good (hunger is the best spice!).

Oysters and beer! A nice walk down Champs Elysees

2009-05-29T12:00:00.000+02:00

One thing I love about Paris and living on Montorgueil is that you can just walk downstairs and there is so much to explore. We headed down the street for some oysters and beer at Taverne Karlsbrau where the oysters were humungous (we ordered No. 2's and No. 3's), the beer was refreshing, and the french fries were sinfully delicious. It reminded me a bit of going to Hog Island Oyster Co. in the Ferry Building in San Francisco when Quinn and I would go for happy hour to enjoy oysters and beer.

More turned apples...
I could call this "studying" for my final exam! I've actually started enjoying turning fruits and vegetables. It's therapeutic!

With all of the "not so healthy" food we've been eating, I decided that I needed to go for a walk. Since I don't have classes anymore, I haven't been getting in my daily 6 miles of walking to/from school. I headed towards the Champs Elysees to take some pics and get some exercise. One nice thing about the Champs Elysees is that the sidewalks are so wide that you don't often have to dodge people while you're walking. One thing about Paris that perplexes me is how French people have no regard for other people on the sidewalk. When it's obvious that I'm going to collide with someone else because there just isn't enough room on the sidewalk, I usually contort my body to pass by. However, the other person doesn't. I don't get it! I had a laugh when I was reading David Lebovitz's blog, and he mentioned that one thing he would miss about Paris if he moved away was the brusque-ness of Parisians and how "shoving someone out of the way is far less-effort than contorting yourself to try and move around others." It's sooo true!

Last demo class! Moulin Rouge

2009-05-28T12:00:00.008+02:00

I can't believe classes are now officially over. We had our last demo class today and all that's left is our final exam next week.

We had a gala menu theme for our last demo. Chef made racks of lamb, duxelle stuffed tomatoes, braised little gems, rose-colored turned turnips, honey glazed carrots, potato gratin, and baked Alaska.

Potato gratin (my fav!)

The making of baked Alaska (looks like I got a bit snap happy)...

We had our tasting as usual after Chef was done plating everything, but since today was our last day, we got Champagne too!

We headed to Pigalle for dinner since we had tickets to see the Moulin Rouge later that night. On a nondescript side street, we found Chez Toinette, a restaurant that serves traditional French fare. At first, I looked at the menu and nothing seemed appetizing because I'm on French food overload (I didn't know that was possible), but after the food starting coming out, I was very pleasantly surprised. Everything was perfectly cooked, seasoned well, and reminded me of homemade food. It was probably one of my fav meals in Paris! Quinn even stated that their tarte tatin was better than Laduree's!!

With only a couple of weeks left in Paris, we're knocking things off our "to do" list. For one, we got tickets to see the famous Moulin Rouge. Neither of use had any expectations and had no idea what the show would be like. It was entertaining, had good music, and was artistic. It reminded me a bit of the dinner shows on a cruise ship (except for the lack of clothing). The acts consisted of singing (actually lip syncing), dancing, juggling, miming, acrobatics, and a swimming act with snakes. Contrary to what the online sites say about seating, the seats are not preassigned. We arrived at 10:30pm (half an hour before the show), and the line was already really long. We were seated around 11:15pm (showtime was scheduled for 11:00pm) and enjoyed the bottle of champagne that was included in the ticket price.

Last practical class!

2009-05-27T12:00:00.004+02:00

We had our last practical class today :-( We made the duck a l'orange from yesterday's demo and Parisian-style gnocchi from last Monday's demo.

Turned apples for lunch...

By far, the worst meal I've had in Paris... it's probably a good thing that I don't remember the name of the restaurant. At least Quinn's cheeseburger was tasty!

Lesson #29, seaweed butter

2009-05-26T12:00:00.006+02:00

It's my last week of classes before our final exam, and I took Quinn in to one of my demo classes so he could see what it's all about. We made magret de canard a l'orange, ratatouille, pike perch with Maderia jus, and escargot & wild mushroom tartlettes.

Ratatouille!

Snails in a can...

We did some window shopping at Au Bon Marche and picked up some goodies for a picnic at La Grand Epicerie (including seaweed butter!).

We grabbed some drinks and a late dinner at Bianco, the Italian restaurant down the street. When we ordered beer at Bianco, we were trying to compare how the two different sizes (25cl and 50cl) would compare to fluid ounces. Later, we bought a 6-pack of 25cl and they're tiny, just over 8 ounces!

Lesson #28, making macaroons

2009-05-25T12:00:00.002+02:00

Today's demo class...

Warm goat cheese salad with bacon and a vinaigrette dressing

Stuffed chicken legs, Madeira jus with caramelized apples

Chocolate and orange mousse with an orange salad

Trying to get in my veggie intake for the day...

For our demo class, we made the stuffed chicken legs, Madeira jus, and caramelized apples. There were only 5 of us so it was a little quieter than usual, and since the recipe wasn't complicated, we finished in 2 hours. It was also blistering hot so Chef made us a grenadine and water concoction to cool down.

The best way to make French food into Asian food... make fried rice out of it!

Making macaroons... Take 2 - Success! I got feet!

Sewer tour, crepes, macaroons

2009-05-24T12:00:00.000+02:00

I'm not quite sure how Quinn convinced me to go to the Sewer Tour with him... I was okay up until the point that the self guided tour led us to an area where the floors were grates and below us was the sewer... the actual, real, stinky sewer. I did, however, learn a couple of things. I found out that the Seine River doesn't just look polluted with sewer water but it actually is. Waste used to be dumped into the Seine, and even now, when there is a risk for flooding, the sewers are pumped into the Seine.

Crepes for lunch!

It turned from spring into summer overnight. It was 85+ degrees today (although it felt like 100 degrees with all the humidity!), and I could hardly stand the heat! On our walk home, we stopped by the park next to the Louvre for a nap in the shade.

I finally decided to try making macaroons. I went shopping for ingredients, aged the egg whites, and thought I was all set. When I opened the package for the "sucre en poudre," I discovered that it wasn't powdered sugar but regular granulated sugar. Oops! Since it was Sunday and all the markets were closed, I was out of luck... and so I made what I'll call "almond meringue cookies," which were pretty much macaroons with one subsituted ingredient. I made a chocolate ganache filling, and they tasted pretty darn good even if they didn't look like the macaroons in all the window fronts.

Viennoiserie, Thai Vien

2009-05-23T12:00:00.001+02:00

I have never eaten so many croissants in one day...

We took a viennoiserie class at Le Cordon Bleu where we learned how to make croissants, pain au chocolat, and brioche from start to finish.

Kouign amman: This viennoiserie is made with the same dough used for croissants. When "turning" the dough, sugar is used instead of flour. Then, the dough is rolled, sliced, and placed into molds. When baked, they are sweet and buttery with a caramel crisp.

We had boxes of goodies that we took home with us (croissant overload!)

Cold buffet lunch

Verrine with mashed avocado with parsley, shrimp, cream sauce, diced avocado, paprika

For dinner, we headed to the 13th for Thai, Laotian, and Chinese food at Thai Vien. This place is a hidden gem. It was like King of Thai but... better!!!!

Filipino beef steak, Lesson #27

2009-05-22T12:00:00.000+02:00

I was craving Filipino beef steak, and Quinn surprised me by making some for lunch (Thanks Quinn!). It was very reminiscent of when my mom used to make it when I was younger and we'd eat it with bananas.

Today's demo class...

Sea bream fillets with fennel

Guinea fowl with cabbage

(the ingredients are cooked in the oven, decanted, molded, and put back in the oven)

Fried pear filled puffs

(made using the same method as apple turnovers but they are deep fried instead of baked)

For our practical class, we pan fried sea bream fillets, made an emulsified butter sauce, sauteed tomatoes, and made julienned fennel with dill. One trick we learned today was how to pan-fry fish in a stainless steel saute pan. To keep the fish from sticking to the pan, we lined it with parchment paper, drizzled some oil, and cooked the fish on top of the paper. It worked wonders!

Catch up day...

2009-05-21T12:00:00.000+02:00

Today was a day of catch up and American Idol breaks. Go Kris Allen!

I took some of the things I learned at school and applied it to our fav comfort food. For the spam, I cut the pieces into larger cubes. I made scrambled eggs according to the method we learned in demo a couple of days ago, and I molded the rice for a nice presentation.

Spam, rice, and eggs - Le Cordon Bleu-ified

Sauteed potatoes - Take 2 (made by Chef Quinn)

Deliziefollie gelato

Lesson #26, student party

2009-05-20T12:00:00.005+02:00

Another day of class... On the menu for today's demo: French-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, hot fish terrine, Bavarian cream with coffee sauce and chantilly. We also had a quick demo on fried eggs and an oeuf on plat.

In the winter garden at school... made by the Superior Patisserie students...

We made the hot fish terrine for our practical class. This was by far, the hardest practical for me (in terms of manpower... I need more muscles!). To make the fish terrine, strips of salmon are precooked in the oven and wrapped in blanched spinach. The terrine mold is buttered and lined with parchment paper and spinach. A mousseline stuffing is made by cutting pike perch into pieces, running it through the food processor, adding egg whites, and then running it through a drum sieve. Afterwards, cream and softened buttered are whisked into the mixture and then it is put into a pastry bag to be piped into the terrine mold. It sounded easy and looked easy when chef did it during demo but it took lots of muscle to run through the fish through the drum sieve and then to whisk in the cream and butter into the thick mixture. My fish terrine turned out well according to Chef's comments when he tasted my dish. The texture tasted a bit like chewing gum, but Chef said that I had made it correctly according to the recipe.

Quinn made dinner and some amazing croutons!

We had a student part at The Frog and British Library where we mingled, danced, snacked on bar food, and had an open bar.

The Accenture office was right above the bar so I had to take a picture!

Written exam, sauteed potatoes, Angels & Demons, Anahuacalli

2009-05-19T12:00:00.003+02:00

Exam day! The written exam was a breeze, and I finished in less than 15 minutes. It mostly covered the glossary terms in our binder and ingredients from our recipes.

When I got home from class, Quinn surprised me by making my fav sauteed potatoes. Yum!!

Today was the last day of UGC's 3 euro promo so we headed to the theaters to watch Angels & Demons. It was entertaining but a bit gruesome for me.

Since we're on a "no more French food" kick (is it possible I'm tired of gourmet food?!), we headed to Anahuacalli for Mexican food. It's the only Mexican restaurant we've seen in Paris so far. The food definitely hit the spot and was like comfort food since it reminds us of being in California. We had guacamole, enchiladas, and flautas with Coronas.

Lesson #25

2009-05-18T12:00:00.001+02:00

Today's demo was one of my favs. Chef made chicken fricasse with tarragon sauce, turned vegetables, Parisian-style gnocchi with bechamel sauce, and an Italian meringue with raspberry jus, poached apples, and French toast.

For the chicken fricasse, we were taught how to cut the chicken. For this dish, the chicken is cooked with the bone, but the bone is removed prior to plating. After cooking the chicken, the remaining bones pull right off of the hot chicken. This was probably one of the most useful things I've learned since I cook chicken quite often at home, and I'm always torn between deboning the chicken before cooking it or not at all.

To cut the chicken into 10 pieces for this dish (after prepping the chicken):

1. Remove the wing tips and reserve for making chicken stock for another recipe.

2. Remove the remaining wing at the 2nd joint.

3. Remove the ends/knuckles with a cleaver, push down the flesh, and remove the small bone.

4. Remove the leg, thigh, and oyster from each side. Run a boning knife along the leg and thigh, then pivot it back and continue to cut through.

5. Separate the leg and thigh by cutting through the knuckle, which you can feel with your fingers.

6. With a cleaver, remove the ends/knuckles of the leg bones and push the flesh back.

7. On the thigh, expose the bone by running your knife along the bone. This will make it easier to remove after cooking. At this point, you can tie the thighs with twine to hold a nicer shape.

8. Remove the neck and the bottom of the carcas from the breast.

9. Remove any protruding ribcage bones.

10. Split open the breast bone by tapping a cleaver in the middle of it (on the back/interior side of the breast).

11. Run your fingers along the breast bone, and pull it out.

It would probably be hard for anyone to follow the steps above without seeing it done, but at least I know I can recall this from memory in case this dish is on the final!

Tarragon is my new favorite spice. It gave the sauce a nice undertone and goes very well with the chicken. The sauce is made like a lot of the other sauces we've made. After browning the chicken, and the pan is brown on the bottom, it is decanted, degreased, and then shallots are added. Next, it is deglazed with white wine, reduced, topped with veal stock and fresh tomatoes are added. Coarse salt and pepper are added along with the chicken pieces. After the chicken is cooked and decanted and after the sauce is reduced, the tarragon is added.

We also made turned vegetables to accompany the dish. For today, we turned carrots and daikon to an olive shape and potatoes into a cocotte shape. I don't yet enjoy turning vegetables but it's growing on me.

Time to study...

2009-05-17T12:00:00.003+02:00

For each course taken at Le Cordon Bleu, there is a written exam and a practical exam. Together, they make up 55% of your total grade. I took the time today to study through my binder of recipes, ingredient lists, glossary terms, meat cuts, and other notes since the written exam was just a couple of days away. Quinn and I headed to Dalloyau for coffee, pastries, and study time.

Thai food!

2009-05-16T12:00:00.004+02:00

One of the things I miss about San Francisco is the abundance of good Thai food. We tried going back to one of our fav restaurants tonight (Le Grapillon) but there was a sign posted on their door saying that they would be closed for a few days. It's interesting how the French just close up shop as they please. It's common to find notes on doors of restaurants saying that they will be back in a few days. Most often, it's because the staff is so small and they're on vacation. It all goes back to the mentality of "work to live" instead of "live to work".

We were disappointed, but strolled down the street to check out what our other options. We found a Thai restaurant, Vieng Siam, just a couple of doors down. It was a small, hidden gem with delicious food. Their menu was very simple, and like most restaurants in Paris, there weren't more than 10 tables in the entire place. I found it odd that most Thai restaurants in Paris don't offer Pad Thai on their menu and began to think that it was an "American" version of Thai food (i.e. like the California roll is not exactly Japanese). I wikipedia-ed the dish and I had guessed right. The "western version" of Pad Thai is much heavier than the drier, lighter version found in Thailand.

Another observation on French culture... It's not often that you will find people waiting for a table at a restaurant, and during dinner, I realized why that was the case. If patrons go to a restaurant when the establishment is at capacity, they will be simply turned away instead of being told how long the wait will be. I had seen this before and saw it again at Vieng Siam. Restaurant-goers kept peeking their heads in only to be told that there were no tables available. I guess it makes sense given that most meals can be up to 3 hours in length, and it would be difficult to gauge when a table will come available.

Lesson #24, Cafe Constant, Les Petit Carreaux

2009-05-15T12:00:00.007+02:00

Chef made pork medallions with charcutiere sauce, pommes Dauphine, trout flan with truffles, a port wine sauce and fresh fruit gratin with sabayon.

I headed over towards the Eiffel Tower during my break in between classes to meet Quinn for lunch at Cafe Constant.

For our practical class, we made the pork medallions (sauteed), charcutiere sauce (composed of veal sauce, sucs from the pork medallions, mustard, pickles, and cream), and pommes Dauphine (deep fried mixture of choux pastry and mashed potatoes).

Criollo from Stohrer...

Quinn had a friend in town from SF so we headed down the street to Les Petit Carreaux to grab some drinks.

"Morning at a bakery" tour, Star Trek

2009-05-14T20:59:00.016+02:00

The Basic Patisserie students at school were off to their "Pastry Shop Visit" this week. Since I'm only taking Basic Cuisine, I decided to search out my own pastry shop tour. Using mygenieinparis.com, I found a tour of the Miss Manon boulangerie patisserie in the 4th arrondissement. I signed Quinn and myself up for a tour for this morning. It was one of the best experiences we've had in Paris, and we'd highly recommend it.

We arrived at Miss Manon and stated, "Nous sommes ici pour la visite," and we were greeted by not one, but two tour guides. Both spoke fluent English (whew!). The four of us sat down inside the pastry-filled boulangerie patisserie and had a breakfast of pain au chocolat and café. The pain au chocolat was still warm and one of the best we've had in Paris!

We dropped our jackets and bags off in a little room downstairs and then were off to venture behind the closed doors of the inner workings of a bakery. The establishment was several stories, and we headed downstairs to have a vist with the two "bakers." Both men were responsible for making the various breads, including the baguette tradition and baguette classic. We were given a little bit of background on the bakery: Miss Manon was 1 of 6 in the area and had been in business for 10 years. Next, the baker explained the difference between a classic baguette and a traditional baguette. Just a few days ago, Quinn and I had discovered that these were two different types of bread! Both are of the same weight (250 grams) and are made in similar fashions. The traditional baguette (baguette tradition) has 50% fresh active yeast and 50% of a homemade natural yeast concoction. The classic baguette (often referred to as just "baguette") is made with only fresh active yeast. We had a chance to take a slice of both to see which one we liked best. I like the classic baguette because it was so much lighter and fluffier inside.

I'd learned in school that you should never mix salt with yeast because the salt kills the yeast. In today's visit, the baker actually showed us this concept in action. He poured salt on a pile of yeast, and minutes later, we saw that the salt had liquified the yeast. He explained that this is why salt is added towards the end of the mixing process.

In addition, water is added during various intervals instead of adding it all in the beginning; this allows the dough to be more elastic. A boulangerie like Miss Manon sells 600 classic baguettes and 400 traditional baguettes daily. A customer, however, never sees more than 15 to 20 baguettes on display at a time; the baker constantly refreshes the basket as fresh bread is baked.
We were also shown the different types of flour that are used by the baker. He grabbed a handful of each kind (6 different types!) so we could feel and see the differences. There are specific flours used for baguettes, for croissants, cakes, etc. In France, flour is categorized by a number. Each category is based upon the amount of flour that has been extracted from the grain of wheat (i.e. how much ash content is in it). For example, the flour used for making croissants, type 45, is the whitest of the flour types and 0.45% of it is ash content. On the other end of the spectrum, whole wheat flour, type 150, is the brownest of flour types and 1.5% of it is ash content. The browner the flour, the more husk is contained within it.

After the dough is mixed, the dough is put into bins and set to rest for 24 hours in a refrigerator set at 3 degrees Celsius. The dough is ready after only 3 hours of resting, but leaving it to rest for a longer period of time creates a better flavor within the bread, which is what this particular bakery prides itself in doing.

Next, the dough is placed on a cutting apparatus where it is portioned into even pieces.

It is then put into a machine that removes the gases from the baguette, shapes it, and lengthens it to the appropriate size. We were shown how this was all done and also had a chance to see how the process is done manually as well. We even got to try it ourselves! We made traditional baguettes and also braided some bread with the traditional baguette dough.

From that point, the dough is set to rest on silpat sheets at 23 degrees Celsius for 2 to 3 hours.

A wooden board is used to place the dough onto a conveyor belt and marks are created on the bread with a razor blade before the dough is pushed into the oven.

Our next stop was the 1st floor area (what us Americans know as the 2nd floor) where they were making chausson au pommes (apple turnovers). The chaussons au pommes are pastries filled with either apples or apple sauce and are encased in puff pastry dough. We shaped some of them using cookie cutter type molds.

Nearby, croissants were being made, and we watched as we waited for them to show us the process from start to finish. As we waited, we were offered freshly baked croissants to snack on. They were fresh right from the oven and were definitely the best we'd ever tried! We also had a tasting of the raw croissant dough... it tasted like butter!

I thought that we had perfectly timed taking this tour because I had just shown Quinn how to make puff pastry. Croissants use the same method of "turning" the dough, and we had a chance to see how this was all done on a large scale using a machine. It's amazing to see how much butter goes into making these buttery, delicious treats (check out the huge block of butter!)! Before each time through the machine, the dough is folded so that it results in creating 81 alternating layers of butter and dough.

A cutting mold is put into the machine and the dough is cut into the desired shape. There was a mold for making croissants, one for pain au chocolat, and one for tarts.

The baker ran the dough through the mold for croissants and we had a chance to stretch them out and shape them.

Next, he ran the dough through the cutter to make pain au chocolat. He also showed us how to cut the dough using a knife to make the croissants and pain au chocolat.

We tasted the long chocolate sticks used for the pain au chocolat before it was placed onto the dough.

The baker shaped the pain au chocolat and also explained that if you fold the dough in a certain way, the chocolate would fall out of the dough (catastrophe!).

The dough trimmings are folded back into the dough so that nothing goes to waste.

We were told that 60 croissants could be made from the pile of trimmings sitting to the side.

We headed to the room next door where there were several men were making pastries. There was a table where someone was peeling and coring apples and another where someone was lining molds to make charlottes. The cake lining for the charlottes was carefully measured and cut using a series of rulers, stencils, and knives.

We went to the far table to see how Bavaroise (Bavarian cream) was made using a high tech machine (the machine cost 60,000 euros!). Bavarian cream is an egg custard stiffened with gelatin and mixed with whipped cream. It would be later used to fill the charlottes we had seen getting their molds lined.

Vanilla and Kirsch (a cherry brandy) were added to the Bavarian cream to give it flavor before it would be mixed with the whipped cream. As we watched the vanilla seeds being scraped from the vanilla bean, we got into a discussion about the cost of vanilla. Nowadays in Paris, you can get a kilo of vanilla beans for 200 euros. However, when Coca Cola decided to make their vanilla Coke, the price skyrocketed to 2,000 euros per kilo because Coca Cola had bought up all of the vanilla from Madagascar! Vanilla is so expensive because it is so labor intensive. Although vanilla can be naturally pollinated by birds, the retail vanilla is pollinated by hand.

Some of the pastries are garnished with chocolate shapes. Chocolate is put into a container and then melted in the microwave, and we were shown the finished product before we headed back downstairs to finish off our baguettes.

We took home our freshly baked bread, and later made baguette sandwiches for lunch!

I didn't know until recently that Quinn used to be a "trekkie" when he was younger. We took the metro home from our bakery tour (it was pouring outside!) and looked up movie times for the new Star Trek movie. Quinn told me the next showing was at 11:50am. I looked at the clock, and at that exact moment, it was exactly 11:50am. We looked at each other and then raced out the door. I love that the movie theater is only 2 minutes from home! We sat down in the movie theater while the previews were still playing. The movie was both entertaining and exciting. The best part was that our tickets cost us only 3 euros each!!!

Lesson #23

2009-05-13T12:00:00.000+02:00

As I entered the winter garden at school, a guest chef from Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa was making decorations into fruit and vegetables. Watching him carve the fruits and vegetables reminded me of being on a cruise ship!

Wow, I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks of class and then my final practical exam. We're not on lesson 23 of our 30 lessons. During class today, we were given a list of recipes from which they would be picking for our final exam. Included in the list were several recipes where we had to truss poultry, others where we would need to fillet fish, and in 3 of the 10 dishes included a rice accompaniment.

During demo, Chef made beef strogonoff, rice pilaf with vegetables, salmon and watercress gratin, and grilled langoustines with spices with a virgin olive oil sauce.

I had a long break between classes so I headed to a nearby cafe to catch up on blogging. I haven't blogged in a week!

It's funny how accurate the weather forecasts can sometimes be. I checked the hour-by-hour forecast before leaving for school in the morning, and it said that it would be mostly cloudy for the majority of the day and then would be raining at 6pm. At 10 minutes 'til 6 (right about time for me to head back to school from the cafe), it started pouring rain. Thankfully, it let up slightly just as a paid my bill and ran towards school.

For our practical class today, we made the beef strogonoff and rice pilaf with vegetables. It wasn't until after I'd gone home and eaten it for dinner that I learned that the cut of meat we had used was filet mignon! In France (and almost everywhere else in the world), they call their cuts of meats different things than what we do in the States. Today, we used the tail end of the tenderloin, which in U.S. terms translates to being filet mignon.

It was a warm night, perfect for some gelato, so we headed to our fav Deliziefollie where I got the caramel and Italian expresso gelato. I think my waistline may be starting to see the effects of my daily indulgences and my classwork :-( Thank goodness I lost all the weight at the beginning of our trip so that my clothes still fit!

Practical #22, Lenotre

2009-05-12T12:00:00.001+02:00

I'm finally getting the hang of turning vegetables. My turnips didn't look half bad during practical today!! We made the veal chops, turnips, and onions from yesterday's demo class. I'm just now starting to get a little tired of the food we're making at school. I think it may be an overload on calories. I couldn't even bear to eat my classwork for dinner and instead opted for a baguette sandwich.

We headed to Lenotre on Champs Elysees for coffee, studying, and pusoy dos. The ambience at Lenotre was peaceful and beautiful being surrounded by the greenery of trees on the open terrace. The service was exceptionally poor, and the Cafe Lenotre (cafe with chocolat chaud) was mediocre. Quinn quizzed me to help me study for my upcoming written exam at school. We also played a few games of pusoy dos!

All day in class...

2009-05-11T12:00:00.000+02:00

I had a full day of class today. Starting out with a practical in the morning, I made the veal chops, jus, and grand-mere garniture that we learned how to make during our demo class on Saturday. Over and over again, we've been making glazed onions. I guess it's a good thing that we've repeated it over and over and over again so we get it right but I sometimes wish they'd teach us some new things as well...at least they're yummy! I've heard that in Intermediate Cuisine, the students make forcemeat stuffings over and over again...

There was a special conference today being put on by an American dietician. Her demo was about using different oils during cooking and the different properties of each. We were given handouts that showed the different composition of fats (saturated, monosaturated, polysaturated, omega-3) in different kinds of oils and the smoking point of each kind of oil. She recommended that we incorporate more omega-3 rich foods and oils in our cooking. Canola oil in particular has a high percentage of omega-3's while most other oils have very little or none. Some foods rich in omega-3's are fish (i.e. salmon) and nuts, particularly walnuts. Interestingly, I also learned that it can be harmful to your health if you let oil come to its smoking point. At that temperature, the oil begins releasing a toxin, which can be harmful to your health. Oils should be stored in cool, dark places, and unrefined oils only have a shelf life of several months before they go rancid. Unrefined oils are more unstable than refined oils because they are cold pressed and haven't been treated chemically or with heat like refined oils. We also were able to do an olive oil tasting of oils from Italy, Spain, and France. Each had their defining characteristics on the palette. According to the dietician, olive oils can range in quality and taste depending on where and where the olives were harvested. Oils are a bit like wine in that aspect, and we tasted them in a similar fashion.

To end the demo, we had a tasting of a lemon olive oil sorbet. I've never had anything like it! It was creamy, tangy, and unique.

In demo class, I made roast duckling with turned turnips and pearl onions. We learned how to truss and roast a duck (very similar to the method of trussing and roasting a chicken). Chef also made warm oysters in a muscadet sauce with leeks as well as a cointreau and orange souffle.

We had another serving of millefeuille from the pastry cream and puff pastry we had previously made. Pastry cream always gets sweeter as time passes, and today, I think I overdid it on the sweetness factor! I'm almost all pastry-ed out! (not quite yet... but almost!)

Ma Bourgogne, adventures into puff pastry

2009-05-10T12:00:00.003+02:00

Deciding what to do on a Sunday afternoon is always a challenging task because half of Paris shuts down on Sundays. The usual markets aren't open, and most restaurants and stores are closed as well. Thanks to David Lebovitz's "Sunday Dining in Paris" blog, we decided to head to Le Marais to Ma Bourgogne for steak and frites. Apparently, all of Paris goes to Le Marais on Sundays because the streets were packed! We've found on Sundays that most of the city is very quiet but then there will be small pockets of bustling activity. Ma Bourgogne was packed full of tourists and locals. Quinn had the steak and frites; I had the steak tartare. Yum! It definitely lived up to the online hype, but if you're not in the mood for steak, go elsewhere.

The service at Ma Bourgogne was excellent, the best we've had in Paris. Ironically, if we were back home, it would be the "expected" service you would get in almost any restaurant. Since the service tip is already included in the bill, the level of service in restaurants and cafes is much different than it is in the U.S. I haven't quite decided if I like the way we do it at home better than the way it is done here. In the U.S., you can expect a cordial, attentive waiter who will work for a tip. When the bill comes, the tax is added onto your bill and you have some discretion on how much you'd like to leave for the tip. Here, all of the prices listed on the menu already include the tip and tax. You don't have to think.

Day 2 of puff pastry: We continued our adventure into puff pastry today, and completed the last three turns on the puff pastry that we started yesterday. From this, we made millefeuille, palmiers, and I mimiced (sort of) the "St. Honore" dessert that we had at Laduree one afternoon. I'll need to work on my piping skills, but other than that, the millefeuille turned out perfectly! Quinn and I were surprised! It was like heaven on a plate. To make the layers of pastry, we weighted down the puff pastry with a casserole dish in the oven. It turned out flaky, buttery, and delicious. Next, I piped out the pastry cream I had made onto the layers of pastry. For the top layer, we smeared on some caramel sauce. My first attempt at making caramel sauce was a big failure so I was happy to see that my second attempt was a successful one. Never again will I buy caramel sauce in a jar!!
With some of the leftover puff pastry dough, we made mini palmiers (puff pastry sprinkled with sugar).

I'm glad to report that I'm using some of my newfound culinary skills at home. I can't wait to have an "American kitchen" again. When looking for the apartment online before coming to Paris, many of the apartment ads listed having an "American kitchen." I never quite googled what that meant but I have a feeling it means having a full size refrigerator, a stovetop with more than 2 burners, and a real oven. We take so many things granted at home (including the security of being able to have daily hot showers!)!

I also made soft boiled eggs for the first time in my life. We learned how to make them during one of our demo classes so I thought I'd try it at home!

Demo #21, Stohrer, puff pastry

2009-05-09T12:00:00.000+02:00

Chef made lightly saffroned mussel soup, veal chops and grand-mere garniture with jus, and Italian style strawberries with pistachio biscuits during demo today. The Italian style strawberries with pistachio biscuits dessert was fresh and creative, and I'll be making this one at home sometime. The strawberries are marinated in balsalmic vinegar and sugar and are plated on top of a pate sable sucree (biscuit) made with pistachios (or hazelnuts). It's also served with whipped cream containing basil and plated with a "deep fried" basil leaf. Chef taught us how to mimic deep fried herbs using the microwave.

For an afternoon snack, we headed to Stohrer to pick up a Reglieuse (like an eclair but shaped differently) and a millefeuille. We also stopped by our neighborhood markets to pick up some sandwich materials.

Today, I taught Quinn how to make puff pastry. We cleared the dining room table, made the dough, and completed 3 turns. While waiting for the dough to rest in the fridge, we started watching episodes of American Idol Season 8 (my favs are Kris Allen and Adam Lambert!).

Berthillon, Pusoy Dos, Le Timbre

2009-05-08T12:00:00.004+02:00

We finally made it to Berthillon on a day that it was actually open! We snacked on a brownie and a tarte tatin with ice cream. The brownie was gooey, rich, and delicious. The tarte tatin was sweet and satisfying. Being a well-known tourist destination, we found ourselves surrounded by English speakers and lots of (loud) people. Although their desserts were good, I'm writing Berthillon off as a tourist trap that I won't return to.

On the walk home, we stopped by BHV, the department store next to Hotel de Ville. It was like a mix between a Macy's and a WalMart. There, we picked up some playing cards for some pusoy dos entertainment back home. Pusoy dos is a card game that is a variation of Big Two. I couldn't find the complete set of rules online for a 2-player version of the game (although I didn't look too hard) so Quinn and I came up with our own version from what we could rack from our fuzzy memories.

To play, the cards are dealt into 4 piles of 13 cards for 2 players. Each player is
given 2 of the piles. One of the piles is the player's hand; the other pile is kept face down and is used to refresh a player's hand so that a player always has 13 cards in his/her hand. The winner of the game is the one who is able to get rid of all of his/her cards first. The first play is done by the player with the 3 of clubs or the person with the lowest card and subsequently, the players go back and forth trying to beat the other player's last play. If a player cannot beat the last play, then he/she can pass, which then allows the other player to play again. The following plays can be made: single card, pair, 5 card poker hand. We played pusoy dos through the night while snacking on some wine and cheese. It's a fun, quick game that has us addicted!

Le Timbre is a restaurant that is owned and run by an English man. He is the cook, answers the phone, and pretty much runs the whole place. There was one waitress who was at the restaurant who helped him out. It's crazy how small the staff sizes are here! We went to Le Timbre for dinner, and we were surrounded by all English-speakers. We even helped some of our neighbors decipher the menu, which was only written in French. The cuisine was traditional French fare, and I recognized many of the items on the menu as dishes I had learned at school. We had white asparagus in a citrus vinaigrette, the lamb with pureed potatoes, quail with granny apple puree, the millefeullie, and chocolate mousse quenelles with a jasmine tea flavored creme anglaise.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-05-07T12:00:00.001+02:00

During my practical class today, I grilled tournedos, made potatoes Pont Neuf, turned some artichokes, and made Bearnaise sauce.

The tournedos were cooked quickly on the grill, and we were tasked to cook 3 pieces; each piece was to be cooked to a different level of doneness (bleu-very rare, saignant-rare, and a point-medium rare).

We used the deep fryer to make the potatoes Pont Neuf, which are basically just evenly cut steak fries. Pont Neuf is my fav bridge in Paris, but primarily because it's the bridge closest to home. The fries were once sold on Pont Neuf by street vendors, which is where they got their name.

We learned that turning artichokes would be the technical skill we would be tested on during our final practical exam.

The Bearnaise sauce is made with the same method as Hollandaise sauce but includes a reduction of other goodies.

We were surprised when we first came to Paris and discovered that there were so many Japanese restaurants. In particular, there is a concentration of Japanese restaurants on Rue St. Anne, which is only a 10 minute walk from the apartment. For dinner, we headed in that direction to dine at Akita to satisfy our sushi craving. I was searching for recommended sushi restaurants and found some good online reviews for Akita. As I was searching for more information on the restaurant, Google brought me to a web page for the Akita Restaurant in my hometown of Escondido! Akita (in Paris) had a good ambience and the food was decent. It seems that in Paris, the majority of Japanese restaurants serve a very similar menu of sushi boats, skewers, and chirashi bowls. Our expectations for the sushi weren't high since we knew it wouldn't come close to being as good as Okoze back in SF.

Quinn and I shared a sushi boat filled with sashimi, nigiri, and maki as well as some yakitori of chicken and cheese skewers.

Lesson 20 demo, Jean Paul Hevin

2009-05-06T23:00:00.009+02:00

During demo, Chef made Flemish leek pie, grilled tournedos, turned artichokes, Bearnaise sauce, potatoes Pont-Neuf, frozen coffee parfait, chantilly, and a caramel and cognac sauce. The turned artichoke was used as a sauce container for the Bearnaise sauce.

For an afternoon snack, Quinn met me at Jean Paul Hevin chocolatier. I had the Caracas, a rich chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse (yum!), and Quinn got a gateau de fromage blanc. By the name, we thought it'd be cheesecake, and it ended up being a very light and fluffly version of the cheesecake we're used to back home. We stopped by the chocolate shop downstairs and got a macaroon and salted caramel for the road.

Starbucks, X-Men, Latin Quarter, Berthillon, Forum des Halles

2009-05-05T21:01:00.005+02:00

I'm usually a big Starbucks fan back home, but since the coffee is so much better at the random cafes here, I haven't indulged into a Starbucks craving. Today, however, we were waiting by the movie theater for our showing and wanted to see if Starbucks coffee would measure up to the coffee we've been having... and it didn't. It was too light and not at all pleasant. :-(

Quinn has been waiting for X-Men to come out in theaters so since I had a day off today, we went to see an early show. A matinee show here is a show that shows before noon, and we just happened to be seeing an 11:20am show. The movie was entertaining but a bit too violent and had too many themes of betrayal.

For lunch, we headed to the Latin Quarter for some Greek food. It's called the Latin Quarter because Latin was the language primarily spoken in that area during the Middle Ages as it was the international language of learning.

At Maison de Gyros, we had the gyros plate, and it was sinfully delicious.

Every time we try going to Berthillon, we end up at a different establishment or it's closed. Today was no different. We passed by the Ile de St. Louis on the walk home and thought we'd give it a try, but it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays... oh well... until next time.

We were still able to get some Berthillon ice cream at one of the nearby vendors and enjoyed it while sitting on a bench next to the Seine River. This was our third time trying Berthillon ice cream, and each time, I think it will be better.... but, this will be my last time trying Berthillon ice cream since it can't seem to beat Deliziefollie.

We stopped by the Forum des Halles to do a little bit of window shopping. It's so convenient being just 2 minutes from home!

Lots of walking! Another day of class... more flan...

2009-05-04T20:59:00.004+02:00

I had another long break between classes today so I decided to catch up on my physical activity and walked 12+ miles today going back and forth from school to home. I've been listening to the audiobook for Da Vinci Code so it makes my walks more entertaining.

During our demo class, chef made salmon marinated in dill, traditional veal stew with rice pilaf, and a sugar tart. We made the traditional veal stew with rice pilaf during our practical class later in the afternoon. I wasn't expecting a stew to have a cream base. It was pretty easy to make and one of my favs that we've made so far.

I continued my experimentation with the flan recipe from one of our previous lessons. This time I made it with raspberries, and then just to make sure I had things right, I made two separate raspberry flans tonight.

Grizzli Café, Dalloyau, flan

2009-05-03T23:00:00.000+02:00

We found another café that made it to our list of favs. Grizzli Café serves generous portions of scrumptious goodness, and it's open on Sundays! I had a typical Parisian salad (greens, potatoes, foie gras, smoked duck, tomatoes, and cheese), and Quinn had the duck confit. It was our first time trying duck confit, and we couldn't believe it took us this long to try it!! Quinn rated it as one of his "top 3" meals in Paris. Yum!!!

Another afternoon hanging out at Dalloyau...

Chef made flan during demo the other day, and I wanted to try it at home so I made one with peaches and kiwi. The flan isn't what I would usually define as flan since it has more of a cakey texture but it's something new and yummy to bake!

Our daily dose of bread :-)

Versailles

2009-05-02T23:00:00.000+02:00

We took a day trip out to Versailles to check out the royal palace and the gardens. Versailles is just a quick 30 minute train ride outside of Paris.

We got to the main courtyard, and it was jam packed with people. We had bought our "Le Passport" tickets at the local tourist office so we were able to bypass the long line for ticket sales.

The gate made of gold leaves outside the Chateau and lining the courtyard mysteriously disappeared during the Revolution. A replica was built and unveiled in 2008, which cost 5 million euros.

After waiting in the security line, we headed towards the gardens. On weekends, the Fountain Spectacles can be seen int he gardens. The fountains are turned on and are powered by the gravity of the Seine River water just as it was during the time of Louis XIV.

The grounds were massive. Thanks to Rick Steve's audiotour, we learned about some of the history and about how the grounds were used during the time of Louis XIV, Louis, XV, Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette. Thanks to Hollywood and the movie Marie Antoinette, we had some ideas of what life might have been like at Versailles hundreds of years ago.

My fav part of the day was when Quinn and I rented a boat to take out to the Grand Canal and Petit Canal. We had a mini-picnic on our boat and had some entertainment from some nearby swans.

We walked up to le Domaine de Marie Antoinette, which consisted of the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, a summer house, the Temple of Love, and the Hamlet. These grounds were used by Marie Antoinette when she wanted to escape to a more comfortable place.

On the walk to le Domaine de Marie Antoinette...

Inside the Grand Trianon...

The Hamlet

We saved the Chateau for last. I've never been to a palace/museum with so many people! We listened to Rick Steve's audiotour and followed the masses of people from room to room.

Finally back in Paris, we enjoyed dinner at La Grille Montorgueil just down the street.

A picnic at the Eiffel Tower, finding a café...

2009-05-01T23:00:00.001+02:00

It was yet another "bank holiday." I think France has a bank holiday about once every week...

Since it was a beautiful day and I had no classes, we decided to have a picnic on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower. We relaxed for several hours, lounged around, and enjoyed the great weather and each other's company.

We went shopping for picnic supplies on our street. We had a picnic with a baguette, pain au chocolat, a chocolat eclair, a millefeuille, some prosciutto, smoked salmon, camembert, some aged gouda, and red wine.

For those that forgot to pick up a bottle of wine, there are people who walk around selling wine and beer.

After all of our energy was zapped by the blazing sun, we decided to head to a café for cover (and to lounge some more). Our first choice was Dalloyau, our fav. When we got there, a parade/protest was underway and Dalloyau's electricity had gone out. Our second stop was Au Pied Cochon. Unfortunately, we could only get a table if we were planning to eat there. Our third and final stop was La Point St. Eustache café at the end of our street. We could only get drinks there but were told the kitchen was closed. Every café has particular hours when you can eat and when you can drink, and it varies from place to place. It's so hard to keep track!

We were able to get a café and a soda and had some entertainment while we sipped on our drinks. As I sipped my 4+ euros soda, Quinn reminded me of the day that I was absolutely starving but had absolutely refused to get a slice of pizza with him. The slice of pizza was 7 euros and based on principle, I was not going to spend the equivalent of $10 on a slice of pizza when I could get a whole pizza back home for that much. Today, I bought a bottle of soda that cost me about $6... I've finally come to accept some of the absurd prices here.

Seasonal fruit flan, tartare sauce, shrimp beignets, eggs, eggs, and more eggs

2009-04-30T23:42:00.004+02:00

I love when there is a dessert component during demo class. Chef made seasonal fruit flan today, and I can't wait to try it at home.

Chef also made veal marengo, potatoes anglaise (again!), shrimp beignets, tartare sauce, and eggs every which way. The tartare sauce is made by first making mayonnaise and then adding herbs, shallots, and hard-boiled egg. Someone asked why mayonnaise in the store is white but when we make mayonnaise, it is a pale yellow. Chef replied that it was the preservatives in store-bought mayo that makes it white - eeewwww!

At first, it seemed a bit weird to me that they would teach us how to cook eggs but it makes much more sense now. How silly would it be if you attended Le Cordon Bleu but didn't know how to properly boil a hard-boiled egg? During Basic Cuisine, we've been told that we'll learn every way that you can cook an egg. We've already learned the proper way to make omelettes, and today, we learned about hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs, coddled eggs, and fried eggs (but not the kind of fried eggs we're used to). For hard-boiled eggs, bring a sauce pan of water to a boil, salt the water, gently place the egg in the water, remove the egg after 12 minutes, and place in an ice bath (or run under cold water). By putting the egg in the water after it starts to boil, it will re-center the yolk. By salting the water and placing the egg in an ice bath, it will make the egg easier to peel. For soft-boiled eggs, do the same as you would for hard-boiled but remove after 6 minutes in boiling water. Coddled eggs are placed in ramekins in a hot water bath before being placed in the oven. Fried eggs (in French terms) means poaching the egg in oil - yikes!

I had a 4 hour break in between classes so I met Quinn for lunch in St. Germain at Cafe Mabillon. Thanks to the handy dandy internet, we saw that someone had posted that Cafe Mabillon had the best croque monsieurs and croque madames in Paris. That person must have had too much wine with their meal because Cafe Mabillon was mediocre at best. It was overpriced and the food was below average. At least their fries and the service were halfway decent. The tables are uber-tiny there so when I went to cut into my sandwich with my fork and knife, I flipped my plate (it was hanging off the edge of the table) and knocked over my wine glass. Oops! In a matter of seconds, the waitstaff had cleared our table and poured a bucket of hot water over the spilled wine on the sidewalk. I was impressed how quickly they resolved everything. I guess I'm not the first to have made that faux pas at their restaurant.

During practical class, we made the shrimp beignets and tartarte sauce as well as the cheese souffle that was from one of our first demo classes. The shrimp beignets are marinated in parsley, oil, and garlic and then dipped in a frying batter before going in the deep fryer... pretty easy... I would have liked to learn how to make them without using the deep fryer since that is one item I will never purchase. It's such a shame that the cheese souffles only last just a couple of minutes before they deflate. At least they still taste good after they deflate!

It's dangerous that Deliziefollie has such good caramel gelato and they are just downstairs from the apartment. I indulged in a cone of caramel and amaretto gelato after class since it was such a warm night!

Beef bourguignonne, potatoes anglaise, and heart-shaped croutons

2009-04-29T23:33:00.002+02:00

If I had to choose between beef bourguignonne and caldereta, I would choose caldereta in a heartbeat. Everyone was raving about beef bourguignonne but I couldn't get over the fact that caldereta is just sooo much better!! :-)

We finished off the beef borgogne during our demo class this afternoon, and when Quinn and I chowed down for dinner, we had it with some leftover rice... we're true Asians... can't live without our rice.

We're starting to make the same things during practicals and demos that we've already done. I don't know how many times we've turned potatoes and cooked them in salted boiling water... I guess they want us to practice turning our vegetables... At least we don't have to turn mushrooms everyday!

To plate with today's dish, we also made croutons. Chef showed us how to make heart-shaped croutons so that's what I did with my white sandwich bread during practical. The croutons we've made are probably one of my fav things that I've learned how to make. Never again will I buy a bag of croutons at Safeway! Homemade is soooooo much better (and sooo easy!). When we plated our dishes today, we were taught to dip the end of a crouton in the beef bourguignonne sauce and then dip it in chopped parsley. It's so easy and adds a little flare to the presentation. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to do that to all of my croutons during practical class so I threw the chopped parsley and leftover croutons in my tupperware and hurried home.

Cafe Verlet, Red Meat-Part 2, Student dinner @ Guy Savoy's L' Atelier Maître Albert

2009-04-28T23:15:00.009+02:00

You really can't go wrong when you get coffee in Paris... or maybe that's because I can't tell the difference between one Parisian cafe's coffee to the next. We saw an online recommendation for Cafe Verlet as the best coffee in Paris so Quinn and I checked it out before my class. It was the first actual coffeehouse that we've gone to in Paris; the only other coffeehouse-type places in Paris that we've seen have been Starbucks chains. While Cafe Verlet had a selection of coffee beans from all over the world, I couldn't tell the difference between the coffee that we had there and the coffee that we'd get at our neighborhood cafe... oh well. Since it was lunch time and I would be in class for the next few hours, I ordered a crumble to tide me over. After Quinn and I devoured it, I realized that I probably needed something with at least a little nutritional value for lunch so I ordered the Quiche Lorraine. It was fluffy, tasty, and yummy!

During today's demo, Chef finished off the beef bourgogne, made potatoes anglaise, croutons, prime rib, and tomatoes provencal. He warned us not to eat too much before tonight's student dinner, but I couldn't help myself!

Le Cordon Bleu holds a student dinner for each 3-month class session. Ours was held at one of Guy Savoy's restaurant, L' Atelier Maître Albert. The menu consisted of a cold pea soup with a poached egg, cod with pureed potatoes and herbs, roasted chicken, veggies, a rhubarb madeleine with ice cream (and poached celery?), wine accompaniments, and coffee. Quinn joined me as my guest for dinner and he had a chance to meet the Chefs as well as some of my fellow classmates.

Red Meat-Part 1, the search for the perfect pastry cream recipe continues

2009-04-27T23:58:00.005+02:00

Our series on red meat started today. We learned the different parts of the cow and what cuts they produced, and during demo, Chef made the marinade for beef bourgogne, roasted sirloin steak with jus, beef with onions and carrots, and pureed potatoes (mashed potatoes!).

I had a lengthy break between classes so I walked home to meet Quinn for a quick lunch before his boxing lesson and then continued my search for the perfect pastry cream recipe. We had FIVE different pastry creams as part of our tasting: the one I made two nights ago, the one I made last night, the two I made this afternoon, and the pastry cream in Stohrer's millefeuille. I also made another batch of choux pastry to accompany the various pastry creams I concocted. I varied the amount of eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, cornstartch, and cooking methods in my different recipes and I found a winner! Thank goodness! I'm on the verge of pastry cream overload. For three days in a row, I have had pastry cream and/or cream puffs for dinner... probably not the best thing for my girlish figure.

When I got home, Quinn gobbled up the sirloin steak, jus, and mashed potatoes that I made during practical. I've made mashed potatoes a million times at home with some success, but never have I made mashed potatoes like I did tonight. They were delicious! This recipe's a keeper!

Le Relais Gascon

2009-04-26T17:40:00.001+02:00

Le Relais Gascon, "the salad joint," has been on our list of to do's since we got to Paris. I read about their amazing salads on some online reviews and it definitely lived up to the hype. My salad came in a large bowl with greens, foie gras, smoked duck, lots of potatoes, and tomatoes. It was, by far, the best salad I've had in Paris (and maybe ever). The dressing was light and tasty, the potatoes were perfectly crisp, and you can never go wrong with foie gras! We had a long lunch accompanied with a carafe of wine and followed by cafe creme.

Deep in thought...

A lot of our time in Paris has been focused around mealtimes. I'm not quite sure if it's because of the lifestyle here, the great food, or both. Only in Paris will I hardly think twice about spending $60 on lunch. Lunch is now my fav meal of the day. Only in Paris can I have a 2 or 3 hour lunch any day of the week. Splurging on lunch and having a more reasonable dinner (i.e. last night's dinner of cream puffs :-)) is one way we've managed our budget in Paris. Paris can be a very expensive city, but you can still experience all of the great food at a more reasonable price if you splurge during lunch instead of dinner.

Pho 14, Dalloyau, cream puffs

2009-04-25T23:14:00.005+02:00

A lot of our restaurant picks are from our research on the internet and the guide books that we have. Most recommended place are pretty decent or outright delicious so we took a lengthy walk over to the 13th arrondissement to try Pho 14 on Avenue de Choissy. The place was packed and there was a line of people waiting outside to be seated. We both ordered pho, their signature menu item, and were incredibly dissapointed. It's only in France when "average" equals dissapointment. It was an average bowl of pho, nothing special, and not too tasty. At least it
was cheap (in Paris standards!).

We made a repeat visit over to Dalloyau to try their Opera cake. After the last time we went to Dalloyau, I did some research online and learned that Dalloyau was the original creator of the Opera cake so of course, we had to go back and have it there. Quinn had the millefeuille, which is inching up on our favs list. One thing that I love about the cafes in Paris is that you can order just coffee and/or dessert and sit for hours on end. The waitstaff won't bring you your check until you ask for it since they consider it impolite to give a guest the check before it's asked for. We sat for a good 2-3 hours enjoying our cafe cremes while I studied some of my notes and Quinn was on his laptop.

We've been eating a lot of pastry cream lately in the different desserts that we've been eating so I decided that it was time for me to do a little bit of baking. I made choux pastry and pastry cream to make cream puffs, which is what we ended up having for dinner (oh so healthy). I was also going to make caramel sauce but ended up burning it so I made a sugar decoration instead. I am now determined to make the perfect cream puff. It might take me a couple of times, but I have some ideas on how I want to tweak the recipe I made.

Le Grand Epicerie picnic, Giverny

2009-04-24T23:02:00.004+02:00

During one of our first weeks in Paris, we visited Le Bon Marche and what we thought was Le Grand Epicerie. It turns out that we had gone to the cafe of Le Grand Epicerie instead of to the store itself. It's a gourmet food store the size of a supermarket. It reminded me a little of Marche in Toronto but a whole lot bigger!! Any foodie would love strolling the aisles of Le Grand Epicerie.

They had food aisles that represented the different parts of the world. For the U.S. and Canada, they had peanut butter, Dr. Pepper, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and lots of marshmallows. It's too bad that they didn't have any ketchup chips!! It was interesting to see what was considered "American" since the one "American" meal I can think of (hamburger and fries) isn't even really American (origin was from the German port of Hamburg).

Le Grand Epicerie has everything you could think of. They carry 5kg jugs of Nutella, duck confit in a jar, and have huge sections for the usual French staples (bread, pastries, fish, meat, different ethnic deli stations, produce, wine, etc.). I guess the sections are much like any other supermarket but the food is just so much better!

We went shopping for a picnic lunch and picked up Bordier butter (beyond delicious - recommended on David Lebovitz's blog), a baguette, comte cheese, wine, chocolate croissants, foie gras, and prosciutto. We had an amazing time sitting in the park, being goofballs, and feasting on our picnic. Today's picnic was one of my most fav experiences so far in Paris.

After we were all stuffed full of French goodness, we headed towards Gare St. Lazare to catch our train to Giverny. Giverny was the location of Claude Monet's garden and home. The water lily pond in Monet's garden was often the subject of his famous painting. The gardens and the pond were beautiful. I got a little snap happy with my camera!

Gelato pit stop (as we stood in line to get into the gardens and Monet's house)

Monet's beautiful gardens

Reflections on the water lily pond

More fish... Laduree, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower

2009-04-23T23:52:00.004+02:00

I had back to back classes again today, a demo and a practical. We're on "Part 2" for our series on fish. On the menu for today: breaded and deep fried stips of sole, green sauce (mayonnaise with chlorophyll), salmon escalope with sorrel, and brill fillets in a white wine sauce with potatoes anglaise.

After class, Quinn and I went headed to Champs Elysees to one of our favs, Laduree. Apparently, you can't sit inside for tea and dessert when it's dinner time so we sat out on the terrace. I had the Saint Honore (puff pastry with pastry cream, chantilly, caramel, and almonds) and the chocolat chaud. Quinn had his fav tarte tatin and cafe creme.

We sat on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower, hung out, and took pics. It's so beautiful at night and so romantic! There were tons of people having picnics and drinking wine. I can't wait to go back for a picnic!!

Fish-Part 1 & Hollandaise, Stohrer

2009-04-22T23:48:00.000+02:00

I had back to back classes starting with a demo and then a practical following immediately after. We're onto fish so during demo, Chef made poached hake steaks (in a court boullion) with a Hollandaise sauce and pan-fried sole with nut-brown butter. We also learned how to turn more vegetables (oh such fun): carrots, potatoes, and zucchini.

One of my fav breakfast dishes is eggs benedict. Now that I know how to make Hollandaise sauce, I can make it at home!! They make Hollandaise sauce much thicker in France than what I'm used to back home but it's soooooo good. I wonder if they use more butter the Hollandaise here.... In France, butter comes in blocks and not in the "sticks of butter" that I'm used to. For the Hollandaise sauce I made today, I used an entire block (that's more than 2 sticks of butter!).

Quinn is always full of surprises. When I got home, he had dessert ready for us for our after-dinner sweet tooth indulgence: millefeuille, tarte chocolat, and a pistachio chocolate log. Yum!