Today we made fish.
We Scaled. Gutted. and Filleted the fish. This is a skill I don't think I will be using anytime after Paris.
It was...pretty disgusting....
The fish turned out pretty well, but I didn't have time to finish my reduction sauce so it wasn't as strong as I would have wanted it. (We made reduced Fish Fumet, a fish stock, as the sauce)
After class, one of the girls in the class sliced her palm (maybe a 2 inch cut? it was pretty big...) when she was putting her knives away. It was scary.
I'm just tired after a very long day today. I have a lot to learn and I have to get better at French and start cooking better too! (My fillets weren't exactly cordon bleu quality...)
-D
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
First Day (Part II)
3 hour practicals are exhausting. That is my conclusion for today.
I am the "assistant" this week so that means that I need to get there early to bring up all of the ingredients that we need to prepare the recipe, then distribute them among all of the students. There is supposed to be two assistants for each class, but the other person who was supposed to come help today wasn't in class. In fact, we had only 6 people when we were supposed to have 8. I struggled a bit to find my way and how to get the dumb waiter (the food elevator) to work...and also struggled with the walk in refrigerator door. I didn't see the latch so when I pulled it didn't open...then the chefs (who have lunch in the room that is next to the refrigerator) said something in French and I thought it meant that the door slides...so I tried to slide it. They all started laughing!! Finally someone actually helped me get the door open, but I was completely red faced by then.
The class itself went pretty well...not amazing since I didn't quite get the timing and I should have looked more carefully at the recipe before we started cooking, but the soup turned out not bad. That made me happy. In cooking class, no one follows the same schedule. Its not like the Chef announces : "Okay, now cut the cabbage, and please stir the soup" rather he just walks around while you prepare it. I was definitely one of the slower ones (there was a guy who had worked in a kitchen for 4 years already and he was *so* good!) but it turned out okay.
Today, I learned how to cut properly (even if slowly), and I only cut myself once, and only a tiny little bit. So it was pretty good. I'm also very proud that I cut my first onion without crying, rubbing my eyes, or having to walk away for a moment to compose myself. YAY! My mirapoix cuts were uneven, but small and my other cuts were pretty good (though often uneven).
As I walked through the metro with my swimming pool sized container full of soup, everyone looked at me oddly, but I was pretty proud of my creation.
-D
Soup:
I am the "assistant" this week so that means that I need to get there early to bring up all of the ingredients that we need to prepare the recipe, then distribute them among all of the students. There is supposed to be two assistants for each class, but the other person who was supposed to come help today wasn't in class. In fact, we had only 6 people when we were supposed to have 8. I struggled a bit to find my way and how to get the dumb waiter (the food elevator) to work...and also struggled with the walk in refrigerator door. I didn't see the latch so when I pulled it didn't open...then the chefs (who have lunch in the room that is next to the refrigerator) said something in French and I thought it meant that the door slides...so I tried to slide it. They all started laughing!! Finally someone actually helped me get the door open, but I was completely red faced by then.
The class itself went pretty well...not amazing since I didn't quite get the timing and I should have looked more carefully at the recipe before we started cooking, but the soup turned out not bad. That made me happy. In cooking class, no one follows the same schedule. Its not like the Chef announces : "Okay, now cut the cabbage, and please stir the soup" rather he just walks around while you prepare it. I was definitely one of the slower ones (there was a guy who had worked in a kitchen for 4 years already and he was *so* good!) but it turned out okay.
Today, I learned how to cut properly (even if slowly), and I only cut myself once, and only a tiny little bit. So it was pretty good. I'm also very proud that I cut my first onion without crying, rubbing my eyes, or having to walk away for a moment to compose myself. YAY! My mirapoix cuts were uneven, but small and my other cuts were pretty good (though often uneven).
As I walked through the metro with my swimming pool sized container full of soup, everyone looked at me oddly, but I was pretty proud of my creation.
-D
Soup:
First Day (so far)
When I had orientation, Cordon Bleu gave me a little book which had my name and then "B". My mother (who was there with me) and I also took a look at the class lists, and jointly confirmed that I was in group "B".
I think ghostwriter came by and changed some letters around...I am in group D! I went to class (at 8:30!) and we noticed something was wrong immediately because there were 10 students in the practical (all practicals are 8 students). Someone read attendance and I wasn't listed, of course. I left and then found that my class starts at 12:30 today! Arghh!
It did give me some time to mark my knives (everyone gets the same knife set, so its important to mark knives to make sure they are identifiable) and do some other administrata.
I will hopefully repost tonight about my real practical when I have it.
I think ghostwriter came by and changed some letters around...I am in group D! I went to class (at 8:30!) and we noticed something was wrong immediately because there were 10 students in the practical (all practicals are 8 students). Someone read attendance and I wasn't listed, of course. I left and then found that my class starts at 12:30 today! Arghh!
It did give me some time to mark my knives (everyone gets the same knife set, so its important to mark knives to make sure they are identifiable) and do some other administrata.
I will hopefully repost tonight about my real practical when I have it.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Apartment and Monmartre (hey its almost an anagram!)
After quite a battle with my computer, I finally got back online! (The reason why there was no post yesterday)
Yesterday we saw our two final apartments. The first was a homestay...and the second turned out to be a sublet of an entire apt! The second was probably the best we saw of any of them (and it was RIGHT next to Centre Pompidou!!!)...but I would be all alone there...so we decided not to do it. So...after much deliberation (or not) we chose the first place we saw yesterday and I moved in today.
Its a nice room in a really nice family. However, I don't think I will ever complain about bad mattresses (or pillows) again! Funny story:
We saw the apt. in the am and then after all of our apartment hunting, in the evening went to the Centre Pompidou (since it was so close to the second apt). While we were in line, we called this family and told them that we would take it. They were great about it and let me move in today - we agreed on 11am. Then today, when we arrive (late) at around 11:30 [tugging suitcases through metro turnstiles is no fun.] the woman suggests that we go upstairs to see the room now that she put sheets on the bed etc. We go upstairs...and the sheets...they look kind of wet in places...
...the dog, pissed off that the woman hadn't taken him for a walk that morning...pissed on the sheets. YUCK!!! The woman redid all the sheets and washed the pillow and the comforter so that when I came back in the evening everything was clean again.
So today, my last day with my mom, after we got settled in the room, we went to Montmartre. We had a really fun time going into all of the galleries and then after we heard the bells announcing Mass (in Sacre Coeur on top of Montmartre) so we went in. I'd never been to Mass before, but it was pretty interesting. More interesting though since I had fun trying to decipher what the priest was saying in French. The church architecture and organ music helped make it enjoyable too...but still couldn't sit through more than 15 minutes :) Alas. Thank goodness I'm not Christian.
Then I came back to the apartment, talked a little bit with the family and then to bed.
I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am (EEEK!!!) and I need some good sleep since I don't want to cut myself tomorrow in the practical!
-D
Yesterday we saw our two final apartments. The first was a homestay...and the second turned out to be a sublet of an entire apt! The second was probably the best we saw of any of them (and it was RIGHT next to Centre Pompidou!!!)...but I would be all alone there...so we decided not to do it. So...after much deliberation (or not) we chose the first place we saw yesterday and I moved in today.
Its a nice room in a really nice family. However, I don't think I will ever complain about bad mattresses (or pillows) again! Funny story:
We saw the apt. in the am and then after all of our apartment hunting, in the evening went to the Centre Pompidou (since it was so close to the second apt). While we were in line, we called this family and told them that we would take it. They were great about it and let me move in today - we agreed on 11am. Then today, when we arrive (late) at around 11:30 [tugging suitcases through metro turnstiles is no fun.] the woman suggests that we go upstairs to see the room now that she put sheets on the bed etc. We go upstairs...and the sheets...they look kind of wet in places...
...the dog, pissed off that the woman hadn't taken him for a walk that morning...pissed on the sheets. YUCK!!! The woman redid all the sheets and washed the pillow and the comforter so that when I came back in the evening everything was clean again.
So today, my last day with my mom, after we got settled in the room, we went to Montmartre. We had a really fun time going into all of the galleries and then after we heard the bells announcing Mass (in Sacre Coeur on top of Montmartre) so we went in. I'd never been to Mass before, but it was pretty interesting. More interesting though since I had fun trying to decipher what the priest was saying in French. The church architecture and organ music helped make it enjoyable too...but still couldn't sit through more than 15 minutes :) Alas. Thank goodness I'm not Christian.
Then I came back to the apartment, talked a little bit with the family and then to bed.
I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am (EEEK!!!) and I need some good sleep since I don't want to cut myself tomorrow in the practical!
-D
Friday, January 4, 2008
Et Voila. My first day at Le Cordon Bleu
I had my new student orientation at Le Cordon Bleu today. We started with a very basic, boring and long orientation go over the entire cordon bleu program...and all of the cordon bleu offerings (we even got a quick intro to the gift shop...euh). Then we had a tour of the school and got our uniforms and all of the other good stuff (read: knife kit) that comes with our hefty payment.
The school looks great :) Its fairly small, but there are 7(?) industrial kitchens. The format of the school is a 3hr demonstration class (with students in all the "basic cuisine" groups attend together) and then perhaps that day, or most often, the day after, a 3 hr practical where groups of 8 students use the kitchen to make one or two of the recipes the chef showed during the demonstration. In the practical, every student gets some of the counter space, but his/her (its about 50/50) own oven and range w/ 4 electric hotplates. Its not bad.
On to the goodies:
The uniform didn't fit me...at all. I exchanged it and decreased the size of both the jacket and the pants. While the pants now fit me better (though I, like everyone else in the class will need to get them hemmed) the jacket still seems large. Perhaps you will have to judge when I post fbook pix. (Once again...when I get my USB cord).
The knife kit was better :) I was salivating over it prior to getting to C.B. but its not as big a deal as I thought it was going to be (though its still great!). Other than the Chef's knife (9") and a basic serrated knife, I probably won't be needing most of the other tools when I'm back in my own kitchen. We'll learn how to use a lot of the tools and will use them at the school...but my gut feeling is that I will not be filleting a fish back in Palo Alto. (Even if Scott did like fish!) Nontheless, its very professional and pretty amazing to learn how to use all of the tools. For a description of the knife kit, check out: http://chezchristine.typepad.com/chez_christine/2006/08/lcb_knife_kit.html
We had a brief break for lunch, and then we had our first demonstration at 3:30pm. This was on a pretty basic vegetable soup...that didn't even taste good. HOWEVER the point of the soup was more to learn the cuts of food and basic knife skills. It was pretty interesting.
Alas.. the class was 3 hours long. Its now 1am and I'm tired...so I shall have to cut short the blog post. (Went to an absolutely amazing restaurant for dinner... maybe I"ll chronical that experience, and more apartment hunting, tomorrow)
-D
The school looks great :) Its fairly small, but there are 7(?) industrial kitchens. The format of the school is a 3hr demonstration class (with students in all the "basic cuisine" groups attend together) and then perhaps that day, or most often, the day after, a 3 hr practical where groups of 8 students use the kitchen to make one or two of the recipes the chef showed during the demonstration. In the practical, every student gets some of the counter space, but his/her (its about 50/50) own oven and range w/ 4 electric hotplates. Its not bad.
On to the goodies:
The uniform didn't fit me...at all. I exchanged it and decreased the size of both the jacket and the pants. While the pants now fit me better (though I, like everyone else in the class will need to get them hemmed) the jacket still seems large. Perhaps you will have to judge when I post fbook pix. (Once again...when I get my USB cord).
The knife kit was better :) I was salivating over it prior to getting to C.B. but its not as big a deal as I thought it was going to be (though its still great!). Other than the Chef's knife (9") and a basic serrated knife, I probably won't be needing most of the other tools when I'm back in my own kitchen. We'll learn how to use a lot of the tools and will use them at the school...but my gut feeling is that I will not be filleting a fish back in Palo Alto. (Even if Scott did like fish!) Nontheless, its very professional and pretty amazing to learn how to use all of the tools. For a description of the knife kit, check out: http://chezchristine.typepad.com/chez_christine/2006/08/lcb_knife_kit.html
We had a brief break for lunch, and then we had our first demonstration at 3:30pm. This was on a pretty basic vegetable soup...that didn't even taste good. HOWEVER the point of the soup was more to learn the cuts of food and basic knife skills. It was pretty interesting.
Alas.. the class was 3 hours long. Its now 1am and I'm tired...so I shall have to cut short the blog post. (Went to an absolutely amazing restaurant for dinner... maybe I"ll chronical that experience, and more apartment hunting, tomorrow)
-D
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Le Francais
I have never been happier that I speak at least some French.
Although some people speak English, most people can't say more than a few simple phrases. This is a problem. Ordinarily, I would do my best to speak only in French...but when I'm trying to make sure I know how many minutes I get in my calling plan, and if my phone has free incoming international calls, and if there is free internet in the apartment (or any connection whatsoever for that matter), the last thing I want to do is use my broken French. Of course that is what I end up doing because no one speaks English.
Another frustrating thing I shouldn't be complaining about...My accent. I don't speak French very well, my grammar sucks, and I have a fairly limited vocabulary. However my accent is good. So I walk into the cell phone store asking if the employee spoke English (in French) and he replies that my French is better than his English. This did turn out to be true, but its happened frequently enough that after the first few basic words I say to people, they assume I speak French and then go rattle off *really* fast. Normally I can understand most of what they say, but then they start looking at me weirdly when I have a really hard time answering them.
Went to the American Church in Paris looking for apartment ads, found two...went to one already. The apartment was small (though I'm used to that) but there was no Internet. The woman, a nice Vietnamese woman, mentioned that it would only take 2 days to get it...but I can't take the risk that something won't work and I won't be able to use the 'net. So went that apartment.
Next we have an appointment at 5pm in a place slightly outside of Paris, but still on the Metro. Its a family homestay but its about 20 metro stops from cooking school...eeek. Perhaps it will work out, but I'm now doubtful.
At 7pm and at 8pm we have other appointments. The 7pm is with a woman who graduated from Berkeley in California, so I hope I like her room because it seems we could have some things in common. (In addition to the fact that she speaks English fluently!)
OH. Yesterday's apartment was *excellent* but she has someone coming to look at it on Saturday who expressed interest before us...so if that person doesn't take it, its ours...but if that person likes it then we're out of luck. This is why we're looking for other apartments now :)
-D
Although some people speak English, most people can't say more than a few simple phrases. This is a problem. Ordinarily, I would do my best to speak only in French...but when I'm trying to make sure I know how many minutes I get in my calling plan, and if my phone has free incoming international calls, and if there is free internet in the apartment (or any connection whatsoever for that matter), the last thing I want to do is use my broken French. Of course that is what I end up doing because no one speaks English.
Another frustrating thing I shouldn't be complaining about...My accent. I don't speak French very well, my grammar sucks, and I have a fairly limited vocabulary. However my accent is good. So I walk into the cell phone store asking if the employee spoke English (in French) and he replies that my French is better than his English. This did turn out to be true, but its happened frequently enough that after the first few basic words I say to people, they assume I speak French and then go rattle off *really* fast. Normally I can understand most of what they say, but then they start looking at me weirdly when I have a really hard time answering them.
Went to the American Church in Paris looking for apartment ads, found two...went to one already. The apartment was small (though I'm used to that) but there was no Internet. The woman, a nice Vietnamese woman, mentioned that it would only take 2 days to get it...but I can't take the risk that something won't work and I won't be able to use the 'net. So went that apartment.
Next we have an appointment at 5pm in a place slightly outside of Paris, but still on the Metro. Its a family homestay but its about 20 metro stops from cooking school...eeek. Perhaps it will work out, but I'm now doubtful.
At 7pm and at 8pm we have other appointments. The 7pm is with a woman who graduated from Berkeley in California, so I hope I like her room because it seems we could have some things in common. (In addition to the fact that she speaks English fluently!)
OH. Yesterday's apartment was *excellent* but she has someone coming to look at it on Saturday who expressed interest before us...so if that person doesn't take it, its ours...but if that person likes it then we're out of luck. This is why we're looking for other apartments now :)
-D
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
In Paris!
We arrived in Paris this morning...6am...eeek! Perhaps what was more annoying is that we stood in line for getting our passports checked for about 45 minutes. I was disappointed that they didn't even stamp mine...they just swipe it and let you go through. My entire passport is empty even though it should have two France stamps in it now.
I was surprised by the quality of food on the plane. AirFrance takes its food seriously. Even though we were jam packed in the plane like sardines, we had:
Middle Eastern -style seven-grain salad with shrimp
Cheese Ravioli with basil sauce (I got this) OR Breast of chicken with paprika accompanies by Lyonnaise potatoes and French green beens (mom got this)
Camembert Cheese
Coffee-chocolate chip cake (tasted like cinamon...the only bad thing on the list)
A mini-baguette and chocolate.
Oooh and I could have gotten wine with the meal (gratuit) but declined and chose OJ instead.
Pas Mal! (We also got a small breakfast)
Since then, I had my first Crepe for this trip...I'm sure it won't be my last since its right outside of the hotel we are staying at. ...speaking of which....
THE HOTEL ROOM IS TINY! I knew Paris hotel rooms are small, but this pretty much hit a new low. I will post pictures when I get my USB cable to transfer the photos (I was stupid and forgot to pack it).
Anyways, we've been on a mission to find an apartment. We visited the first which was okay, but not excellent. Also in a slightly more seedy part of town. I'm really excited to visit our second apartment where we have an appointment at seven, because its pretty close to the school and sounds pretty nice. Since we have a habit of getting semi-lost (any surprises there?) and taking forever to understand the metro, we should go now.
-D
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