A Winter in Paris: Faux parents and dinners

I have decided not to take the metro anymore, so I walk to and from school. The first month of being here, my 6 mile walks were enough to keep me in shape, but apparently my body needs something else as well. Maybe its the pasta I eat every night. Oh well. To join a gym here is ridiculously expensive for just three months, around 760 euros, so I've decided to use the gyms at the hotels that my friends stay in when they come to visit, regardless if they are visiting me or not. I hope it works. I thought about going for runs, but I'm pretty sure I'd have to find a place to run that doesn't have any food stores or else I'd keep stopping to eat. To make my point, I will tell about me trip to school Wednesday morning (I've completely lost track of the days), I actually think it may have been Thursday. I had class at 12:30 so I left my apartment with enough time to make a few stops along the way. I wanted to walk with Shibani, but she didn't pick up her phone when I called (she ended up showing up at school 10 minutes before class and miraculously made it with a smile on her face). My first stop was Poilane, about 10 minutes from my apartment. I put on my headphones and walked out the door, jamming to dynasty by Dada Life ft. Kaskade and Haley, my obsession for the past few weeks.

Poilane had the most upsetting p.a.c. It seemed like it had been improperly made because there weren't really any layers. There's also a difference when you toast something and get a golden brown crisp, and burn something and end up with a crumbling mess. Unfortunately it was a mess but the chocolate was to die for. I ate 2 bites to make sure it wasn't a complete disaster, then I ripped the chocolate out and threw the rest away.

When those things happen I wonder if its a sign for how the rest of the day will go. We had 2 classes in a row, both demos. Well the first was some stupid (slightly informative) food safety in kitchens lecture and the second was a demo. I originally thought that the first class would have been a follow up on the lessen they had originally given about dairy products and sugar. I actually happened to enjoy learning about their products although it made me more reluctant to want to go back to the states where every animal has been messed with.

Come to think of it, does PETA actually do anything other than throw red paint on dead animals (fur coats).

A few blocks down I walked into another boulangerie with two large women who resembled British folk. They both had their backs to me which gave me an extra minute to inspect and decide if I wanted to risk another p.a.c disaster. I got the p.a.c and rummaged through my wallet to fine 1.10 euro (potentially the cheapest one yet). I finally got to use all those penny like copper coins, .01 euro .02 euro and .05 euro that I had previously deemed useless.

I unwrapped the p.a.c and took a bite. It was perfectly crumchy and flaky.

The way you can tell is by the flakes that stick to the sunscreen or moisture on your face and lip balm on your lips. After I bit into the second p.a.c, I had my hand over my mouth for at least a couple minutes making sure I lapped up every last flake. Here's the downside, the chocolate was awful, not even awful but inedible. They should team up with Poilane and make the perfect p.a.c.

I finally made it to school with a belly full of chocolate, butter and sugar (what else is new). The first lesson was pretty awful, and slightly informative. The woman who gave the lecture was a guest speaker, and a fresh breath of non-LCB obnoxious women. It felt like it went on for hours. It lasted about two hours with all of the bogus questions that were asked after. I was shocked. The whole lesson was a powerpoint on how to act in the kitchen, how to safely operate in the kitchen and how to store foods and not once was the issue of double dipping a spoon to try something mentioned. The woman said not to try things with your fingers because they aren't clean, but completely missed the fact that you shouldn't use the same spoon twice to taste a sauce or anything. I brought up the issue and she said you have 10 fingers but don't use any of them because they are dirty (she completely missed the point). Sometimes I swear, these people are useless.

The second class was a demo, and I think we learned how to make a caramelized pear tart. When we tasted it, it was pretty nasty. I was certainly not looking forward to making one.

The next day, I had to make that tart. It was a pretty scary environment. Chef Hottie (not that hot anymore but he will retain the name) was acting pretty frightening, standing around without saying a word. It was the only time I've feel completely terrified in the kitchen. Mine came out relatively well and the chef actually said I could sell it in a shop, which is about all they care about. I didn't dig into mine because I was giving it to friends who were coming in, so I dug into Olivia's after she had tried some. The damn thing was mind blowing. I ate 4 large bites of it before we decided to pack up and go. I brought my tart successfully all the way home with me.

The next night, I met some friends Paul and Lauren for dinner (yes, I will claim them as friends). We walked to the restaurant Thiou. It was around 8 pm and warm, mid to high 70s warm, but beautiful. We walked along the Seine, West, a route I hadn't yet gone. The beauty was incredible. Everything was lit up with soft light just enhancing enough its elegance, beauty, history and importance.

I kept exclaiming how excited I was for Thai Food. And this Thai Food was amazing. We had chicken skewers with a creamy peanut sauce, little gem lettuce cups with chopped samlon and another one with tuna. We had a soup, that I don't really recall, and my main, pad thai. I generally don't like pad thai but it was insanely amazing. The flavors were so bold, tangy and sweet. The food was phenomenal. I ended up splitting a molten chocolate cake with L and it was amazing and decadent.

I eat Thai in the states, but nothing like that.

I had Friday off so I woke up late. My friend Sophia, who I went to high school with and who is also studying in Paris informed me that she was on my street, so I went out to meet her for a bit. We have been so busy that we haven't had time to meet up, pathetic, so it was so nice to see her! I continued down the street to Rose (of course) to pick up lunch to take to P and L for a picnic in the Tuileries. On my way to Rose I thought I would stop for my favorite p.a.c because I wanted one, and wanted to bring them one as well. Sure enough, when I got there, it was CLOSED. I don't mean closed as in for the day, I mean bye bye, gone forever, Cup won't ever get to try the magic that once was. I was extremely sad. I walked a little slower.

R.I.P

I walked down the street and figured that I had to move on and try something else, so I did.

The p.a.c was wonderfully crisp and delicious. The marais knows a good p.a.c. It was however a little too extra greasy and the chocolate was on the left side. None od that really bothered me. It was fabulously crispy and the chocolayte was a little less than 65% but still amazing.

I got to Rose depressed and oily. They were almost out of salads at 1:30. I ended up getting cabbage and beets; seaweed and cucumber; broccoli, pesto and potatoes; a quiche with carrot and sweet potato; an American biscuit (that I ate along the way, amazing) and a slice of their citron cake.

I walked back to the Tuileries with the bounty and met P and L. It was not a nice day. I think it was about 86 degrees. We sat down on a bench and some green lawn chair and enjoyed our meal. Rose rarely fails.

I came back to my apartment and enjoyed the heat from my dining room table with my windows open in anticipation for my L'Atlier dinner at 10:30. I know that I've been saying things are amazing, but I can't help but use the word. Things are just amazing here, other than the fleas and dirt. I got dressed and rushed to the restaurant. We shared 6 dishes. We started with a nicoise salad (called something else), it was so delicate and had such bright flavors. We also had mozzarella, eggplant and pesto, which did nothing for me. I personally only like buffalo mozzarella, and nothing else is worth my time. Third was a chicken broth with fois gras ravioli ( I don't do fois gras so I just ate the broth and it was light while being hearty). The spaghetti carbonara came in a large plate with a bowl shape carved out of the center and it was perfectly twirled to fit the bowl. It was creamy and peppery with chunks of bacon. The last thing we had was a fish dish, I will spare descriptive details, but it was light and fried perfectly. It tested delicate and light as fish should.

The dessert menu came and I was all over it. I had seen a mont blanc on the counter a few seats down so I decided after having the famous one at Angelina, to get it. Oh lord was it phenomenal. Granted it's only my second mont blanc experience, it was perfect. The chestnut puree on top was light and not thick like the one at Angelina. There was an ice cream like center, which I don't know if that is protocol or not, but it worked. There was almost a caramel bottom with little bits of meringue on top in the shape of chocolate chips. The second dessert was a passion fruit souffle which I didn't care much for but it had an amazing passion fruit sorbet that I died over. The third and last dessert was a dark, rich chocolate mousse with Oreo cookie crumbles on top and little chocolate bits in the middle. I polished each off, other than the souffle.