The Rentals

It is so hard to blog when I have the rentals visiting. I would like to start off the entry with this beauty.  Actually these two images because I cannot decide which one I like more. (comments are welcome)

I will try my best to remember the important things from the last week.  The important things like our last demo where Dad fell asleep. 

Yes, he fell asleep when the chef had one of his twenty minutes of silence.  We had Chef Trenchant (the one who reminds me of Stanley Tucci). 

I think I should give my final opinion about the program now that it's over. 

Would I recommend it? I am torn. 

Based on the facilities I would say absolutely not. I cannot speak about the men's locker rooms, but most of the women's locker space was in the "basement" that had no ventilation so the smells of people linger for quite some time and the rooms are small and too many of us are shoved in with our knife kits and shoes sprawled all over.  We all try and change as quickly as possible, each of us thinking that we are the most important because our class starts in 20 minutes. 

As far as the kitchens that we use, they are not quite spacious enough for all the students, but what's a little flour on your dry butter before you start your folds. (sarcasm, it's a "jamais" situation), or who cares if Chef Cotte throws your dough across the table while taking your space to roll out someone else's dough (that happened far too many times to me). 

The demo kitchens aren't bad if you don't mind occasional mouse sightings (luckily I never saw one). 

The products however, I have been told by N, are the best, which is a plus. 

The chefs. N told me that none of them are Meilleurs Ouviers de France (MOF), http://www.meilleursouvriersdefrance.info/ which basically means that they are a champion of a pastry competition which crowns them the best at their profession. I do have to say though, that Chef Cotte could be a croissant and p.a.c MOF. I also say that LCB is where chefs go to "die". There were few chefs in my program that actually taught us, and others that would just do the work for us.  Chef Hottie (not just because he is my favorite) actually took time to teach us technique. Most chefs, when I had a question, or needed help with something will do the work for me without really teaching me the technique. As I wrote on the comment packet they handed out, Chef Jordan (Hottie Chef) is the only reason I wouldn't want my money back for the program.  He was the only one who didn't seem like he had something better to do. 

The last issue I had was the off site campus events. First was the dinner that I wrote about earlier and the second was the student soiree. This may seem like a petty issue to those who didn't go to LCB, but I was bothered that they originally had said that we get 5 drink tickets, but when we got there, we got only 3.  It was pretty annoying to most of us. It showed how they make things seem better than they were. 

Over all, I am very torn.  I think that it was an okay program for me, but for someone like N, who has now researched other schools, she would probably like more specialized classes like they offer at the RItz escoffier, maybe more attention to detail and something cleaner.  I also thought that they should have given us another class, something smaller with a chef where we could have more personalized attention and make something that we aren't comfortable with.  I thought that just making the product one time was not enough for me. 

I guess I should jump ahead to my FINAL.  I practiced this whole week for the exam on Friday November 4th. I studied everything BUT puff pastry and brioche (who gets puff pastry on an exam, it takes forever).  Well, I did and I was pretty screwed.  I had to make the most disgusting dessert, the pithivier, which I had originally thought was a PTVA (pretty pathetic).  Well, the thing really sucked.  I had reviewed the almond cream that goes on the inside on the ride over to school that morning, so I knew how to make that part. 

Back up.  I got to school an hour early, so I went to Carefour to get some yogurt for breakfast, naturally. I ate my apricot yogurt at the tables outside of the Starbucks around the corner from school as the sun came up.  I saw Nicole pass by so I followed her to school.  We got there before anyone else.  We sat in the "Winter Garden" for a little before going into the dungeon to get dressed. Olivia came in after we were dressed.  She got dressed and sat down with us. She reached into her bag for a bandaid to cover her nose ring, but when she pulled her hand out of the bag, it was almost dripping with blood. Thirty minutes before our exam this is what she looked like. 

How Special 

We all hiked up to the third floor. When we got there, I said, "The one person I don't wan to see here is Jordan." At that moment, Nicole leaned in, just to see Jordan standing there. N and I had mini heart attacks.  It was the only time I wanted to see one of the "i'll do it for you" chefs there. At least I got to see his hottness again.  He came out of the room, throwing Nicole back, as she had been leaning against the door.  Hottie opened his hand, and in it there were little colored chips, green, yellow and red.  Olivia grabbed a yellow chip, I didn't know what to grab so when there was only one yellow left, I took it.  Jordan said "green, you have St. Honore, come with me."  I think I vomited. (I had messed the chouquettes up twice while making that and I didn't want to have to whip anything). 

He came back out and said,"red, is moka".  VOMIT. Olivia hated that to the depths of her being so she turned and gave me a hug.  Writing about this now is making me extremely nervous.  He came back out and said, "yellow, you have the pithivier." I can't even describe how I felt but I looked over at Olivia and said, "I have NO idea how to make this, lets do everything at the same time."  One detail that needs to be said, Olivia has a steel trap memory so I think I was pretty strategic in picking her color chip.  We got into the room and I chose a place across from her and kicked Dae Yong out of the spot and shooed him across the table next to Liv. I stood there like an idiot.  All I remembered was that I needed to melt butter (like it said on the sheet) so I did that.  Lets just say the rest is history. 

With 45 minutes left in the class, I was still working on my pithivier.  I was cutting out the flower petals around the outside when Chef called out, and I wont forget this, "puff pastry, you are LATE."  He would tell me to hurry up, while he stood behind me watching.  I was pretty freaked out.  We were supposed to make a tart shell with a crimped edge, then our assigned cake. So in theory, I had three things to make because with the pithivier dough we had to make twists which require another 10 minutes.  It was basically a nightmare. One kid had to start his puff pastry over again. 

I was just hoping that mine would puff. Once mine went into the oven, I died.  I began to make the twists so I rolled the dough out and cut it into a square. Chef, who was still standing behind me at that point pointed to Olivia's and told me I didn't need to make mine so big.  I cut mine down then egg washed it, sprinkled cinnamon, chopped almonds and nibbed sugar on them and rolled over them with the rolling pin.  I cut them out and then attempted to roll them, but they all rolled in instead of out.  Hottie told me at that point to take my time.  I threw them on a baking sheet and surrendered them to him.  I started to feed the dough into the shell for the tart. It didn't come out that great because it was done in a matter of minutes but I was working to the last second.  N and I realized today that Chef probably took mine out early as an ass saving move so I wouldn't be late. They take off half a grade for ever 2 minutes late you are, I believe.  Luckily I finished at the second 5 second warning. 

I will end this disastrous entry by thanking certain people. 

In no particular order:

I am extremely happy I challenged myself by doing this program. I am usually frightened by new and challenging experiences but after this I feel far more confident in my abilities.  Maybe my mom was right all these years about being able to do anything I want.  

Another very deserving thank you goes to Shibani Lal for not wanting me as your friend.  I never would have ended up becoming so close with Narges. I cannot thank you enough for that. You can also thank your friend Sandy for not liking me too. 

Another thank you goes to Olivia, Nicole, Tawni, Eunjoo (sp), Cheng Cheng, Michael Mike, and Virginia for making me feel so loved and wanted, oh and thanks for tolerating my constant nonsense and singing in class. I'm not sure who I can tell to Cheng up their attitude or anything else frankly because no one will understand that. And when I say I'm going to vomit on them, they might just run away.  Thanks for not running from me. AND to Rodrigo, who was kind enough to give me his food when I demanded it. He's my favorite "cuisiner/chef".

N, thank you for all the above but mostly the hug, well the second one. Oh and occasionally switching your outfit for the daily photo shoots.

Claire: Thanks for giving me the wrong arrival date 4 times, then denying it, then reading this and calling me "the worst"

Nick: for remembering my birthday. 

JLC. Thank you for the call. It was more than you know and probably remember. 

Thank you FA for that stupid marching lizard video that makes me laugh every time, even when I miss home.

Alexandra, Emilie and Audrey. Thank you for being the best Frenchies I could ask for.  I will be seeing you in LA soon, or else. 

Thank you for everyone who visited me and made my trip (and food experience) that much better.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't have made it through without your homey spirit. You all deserve your own line but I'm distracted by the music. 

Elyse, thank you for the book that will lead me to no longer fit into an LA size. 

If I missed anyone its because I'm distracted by my music. 

M&D.  Thank you for giving me the world and offering me this chance to "find my independence", but I'll still need my room at home. 

I suppose I should thank Paris and all the people here for putting up with my walking in the streets, eating ALL their food and singing too loudly in the streets. 

This is starting to feel like a yearbook entry... 

Bisous. 

It Smells Like Home

HOME!

My mommy is here cooking in the kitchen. It smells like home and the floor is dirty just like home!  I could not be happier.  I'm eating all the steamed broccoli as if I've never seen a green veggie. 

I think I will post pictures now to show you what mommy made, although most of you know what she makes, but tell you how it made me feel. 

First, I've been missing avocados, which I have only recently begun to like.  She brought me avocados. YUM. They were in the mache salad (one of my favorite lettuces). Haricot vert, one of my favorite veggies, amazing.  Basically the whole meal was home in a beautiful/ different setting than home setting.  It was a much needed, a better rose for dinner. I don't think I could have asked for a more perfect meal.  

The soup had broccoli, leaks, and green onions in it.  It was perfectly light on the cool night. Mommy also made a mushroom pasta with three different mushrooms, all fabulous.  I am so stuffed but for the first time I feel healthy stuffed. 

On the walk home from school with M we stopped at a bakery that Narges and I have gone into a few times that have these beautiful, flat apple tarts.

N and I have always marveled at the idea and the beauty of the rustic looking desserts. 

Mommy and I got a flat tart aux pomme for dessert. 

After dinner, I started to do the dishes. Half way through, I turned to my mom who was still eating (she eats so slowly) and my dad who was already ipadding again and said, "guess what I am for halloween.... a French Maid".  It was one of those moments where my dad pulled out his iphone to take a video.  Sometimes when one of us does something funny that they want to capture, they make us redo it maybe three or four times or as many times as it takes to get it clearly after they've heard it enough not to laugh the entire way through the 'scene'. 

Time to sleep.

Bisous

Rose

I must say, Narges and I both agreed that the Rose salads were a bit underwhelming today.  There was something with apple and black radish that N said that it "tasted like hell".  I didn't mind it as much, but it was not great.  Also on the plate was a broccoli and cabbage thing.  I usually love the cabbage salads they have but this was far from good.  It was almost a little sour and bitter (raw broccoli?).  They didn't give me any carrot which I asked for, and they also switched the green beans on me from quinoa and haricot vert to haricot vert with some white creamy sauce.  Balf. would have been grossed out completely.

The guy who took the order was also a bit odd and special. He didn't get any of it right.  N got the mushroom quiche. It was yummy and her green salad was fresh and crisp with deliciousness. We got a brownie and citron polenta cake for dessert.

MOMMY AND DADDY ARE COMING TOMORROW/ 14 hours away!!!!!!!


Tonight I'm going to l'Entrecote tonight with N.  I'm very excited.  Apparently they serve the same thing to everyone; a salad, steak w/ fries and a dessert.  The perfect place to go to before mommy comes.

I shall report back and make you all jealous while you eat Mexican food and In 'n out and make me 5x as jealous.

Bisous

Lazy

I'm being very lazy and have decided to post pictures of the last day that E and E were here visiting.  As I recall, we had an AMAZINGLY delicious lunch at the restaurant in Hotel Costas.  Their penne pasta with tomato sauce rivals and might just be better than the one at Delfina (dare I say it).  I just don't like the scene at Costas. I brought Narges along with me for lunch to meet EC.

E/E had actually gone to Rose, where we were originally supposed to meet before I realized they're closed on Mondays... oh well, they got a nice walk in.

After lunch, EB ran off to a meeting and N, E and I went to fine the Neuhaus in the 8th.  I must say, it wasn't nearly as good as the one in Brussels because the chocolates weren't as fresh, but EC got to taste what I had been raving about.  Even Mr. EB "I don't like chocolate" liked the chocolate filled with caramel that oozed out all over us. We stood in Neuhaus for 30 minutes trying loads of chocolate, buying one at a time, until I bought 6 chocolates.  They are just so good!

Post Neuhaus coma, we discovered we were close to the Arc de Triomphe so we walked to it, stopping along the way to find a lock (explain in a second) and some face spray that EC had read about on a blog.

One of the bridges in Paris, crossing the Seine (for those who don't know Parisian geography) is called the lovelock bridge where people go and signify their love with a lock attached to the wire on the side 'wall'.  EC thought it would be sweet to put one on, so we went looking for a lock.  We hit two birds with one stone, I got her the lock and I got her to go into a Monoprix.

Later that night we went to The Blue Elephant for Thai food!  Yum.  It was pretty good, but not as good as the Chinese we'd had the night before or the Korean BBQ the first night I saw them. We did have good company though.

Once we left the restaurant it was raining so we ran down the st to find the nearest creperie. We walked into some little hole in the wall where we ate creps, laughed and EB even danced (which I FAILED to get on video).

I had the most wonderful time with E/E.  Almost the best time I've had here yet.  I've loved each visit I've had, each one is so unique!  BUT IT'S ALMOST FRIDAY, WHICH MEANS MOMMY AND DADDY ARE JUST A FEW DAYS AWAY!

Last night after a VERY stressful practical I went to the school bar with Olivia and Narges.  I have to admit, it was pretty fun, until the guy who 'rejected' me walked in.  I had to leave, so I invited a few people to have dinner with me and my Frenchies (Emilie and Audrey).  Oh how I love those two girls.  I haven't seen them enough, but now that they are done with their final projects for school I will have more time to see them.  I pawned my pistachio log cake off on them.  Audrey ate it at the table at the restaurant.

I've also been thinking a lot about what my first meal will be when I get home, other than Maaaaa's cooking.  In n out, Bay Cities (obviously not if it's Monday), Golden State OR some good old Mexican food.


Bisous

Hottie Chef

I don't think that I can wait to blog about him! Today my pastry came out looking a little less than good. It had puffed up completely and looked as if it was leaning to one side.

I decided immediately that I needed to know why it had happened, and the only person I know to ask is Hottie!  He's extremely helpful, and not bad to look at.  I rushed up the stairs one floor to pay him a visit.  I knocked on the door of the room he was working in.  He turned around and smiled, I think I started to blush.  I signaled to him to come into the pantry as I mentioned that he seemed so happy.  Not once did the look on his face turn into that mean, frustrated look, even then I showed him my disaster.  I can't remember exactly what was said, although I remember the reasoning for why my cake turned out like that, because he was so damn hot.

He is my rendezvous in Paris, I just have to figure out how, and quick!

Today was a pretty decent day, other than the amount of 'twists' I ate.  We were supposed to use the left over puff pastry dough to make twists with cinnamon, chopped almonds and nibbed sugar, so I made some, then I made a "cinnamon roll" out of one, and put the stuff in the middle of another and closed it so it looked like a piece of pie.

Today we had the Stanley Tucci chef for our practical.  I also like to call him the "se bon"chef because no matter what is happening in class he says everything is fine, as in, it's okay to add the next thing, or go to the next step. I do like him because the room is not tense when he is there, and he lets me talk and sing as much as I want.

Today after class it was pouring rain so Olivia, Nicole, Tawni, Na(r)ges and I sat inside waiting for it to die down. We discussed the proper way to say that lightning struck (I didn't think that saying it had lightninginged really worked anymore). We realized that Olivia and I were wearing the same colored sweater and scarf, so Narges wanted to take a picture of us twinzies. Olivia said, "I'll do the 'Coco face'".  She nailed it, I must say.

My day has come to an end with a bowl of a variation of Barbie's lentil soup and some rice.  I have sworn off sugar (until tomorrow).

I might not write about the weekend, but just post pictures.  I had an amazing weekend with my cousin and her bf.  I love cuz, but EB is growing on me.  I approve.



Bisous

Song of the day

Pistol Annies. Hell On Wheels.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOKtbJfNLFk

BUTTER-LESS

When I got here, I was excited to be with people who were passionate about food like I am and older and more maturer than people in high school.  It turns out that I was wrong.   I'm no longer part of our "group" and I'm not sure why.  Luckily I made another a friend before things went downhill. It's put a damper on my experience, but the first two months were well worth it. In the last few days, I've been really home sick because of what is happening. 

The most exciting thing to happen was that Narges and I tried another p.a.c.  It wasn't very good, but it had a really good buttery flavor to it (Claire, you would have hated it). it was at a bakery on my way home, but just off the path a few steps. I got a half of a baguette there and finished it before I got home.  The one thing I will really miss is the bread, smelling the bakeries from blocks away and walking past bakeries.

On my way home, I stopped for some groceries and ended up running across the street in the rain to get into my favorite Italian specialty stores. The man behind the counter speaks Italian (naturally), French and English!  He also has long(ish) hair and wears a headband to keep it out of his face, he's not bad looking. I stood in the store trying different cheeses, oh lord were they good. I got buffalo mozzarella and a goat cheese from Napoli and some ravioli/ bundled looking things. 

I'd like to skip ahead to the most important thing, my cuz is in town!!!!!!  I cannot even explain how I felt when I saw her. I may have cried a little.  I miss my family so much!  We went to her and Eric's room for a little for a package from Ma and so they could take a little break after their lunch. In their room was a little gift on the table with a note inside that said "welcome home, this one's for you, Coco". We were all puzzled as to who would be sending ME something to their hotel room.  It took us about 20 minutes, until Eric found a card in the bag that had the hotel's PR persons name on it, Coco. Even then, Eric was the first one to figure it out that it was from Coco and not to me. They gave me the candle anyway to keep.  

We left the hotel to go walk around and we ended up at Rick Owens and the Palais Royal where I took some shots of E/E because its a sentimental spot for both Erin and I.  We dragged our butts around the 1st to the 2nd where Eric wanted to do a little shopping. All Saints was the store of choice and Eric got a nice pair of boots and leather jacket.

It got cold, so we walked back to the hotel to freshen up before we had Korean BBQ!

I love me some K-BBQ. 

We ended up back at the hotel for some tea, but they wouldn't serve us in the dinning room because there were too many people and they don't serve hot drinks in the bar at Hotel Costas, so I went home while E/E went to drink tea in their room. 

Saturday I rode to school on a bike so I left early incase anything happened.  Well, I got there really early, an hour and thirty minutes early (eek).  I was dreading being there, just sitting by myself in the Winter Garden (not what you think).  I'll describe that thing later, or maybe just take a photo of it. Olivia showed up first in her thick knit, white, matching scarf, gloves and hat and a black coat. Nicole was next, eating some kind of almond pastry.  Around 3, this really nice guy, Rodrigo, who is nice enough to share his cuisine food with me, came out with some chicken with tarragon sauce.  It was delicious after the 3 bowls of corn flakes that I had eaten earlier.  We all hung out a bit before we got our aprons, hats and napkins on and went up to class. 

We were all praying for chef Trenchant (the guy who reminds me of Stanley Tucci), but we ended up having, who I call Chef Tom's Dad, because he told us he had a son (I asked to see pictures, naturally, and the kid is beautiful, blond and blue eyed). Chef TD is tall and handsome, very handsome. He was also extremely sweet.  BUT, he put ME in charge of the baking! EVERYONE'S CAKES. Normally the chefs bake, as Hottie Chef says, "I do the baking!!!"

Once I got into class I was in my in my zone.  I get nervous at first and forget absolutely everything that I have to do, but it's when I enjoy the day most.  I can't say that I am a creative in ways that my family members are, but the kitchen is my space to be myself and create masterpieces, even if they don't come out as professional as the chef's cakes. I enjoy classes when I am able to sing things, or sing what I am doing and then Olivia sing back to me.  Like, "Oh, I'm whisking my egg yolks" or something stupid like that.  During the practical Olivia and I were doing lots of call and responds. Other than being completely freaked out at having to test the cakes, which I do at home anyway, I was very happy.  At one point my cake was in the freezer, my cream was whipped and in the fridge, my egg yolks were whipped, chocolate melted and raspberry jam put into the piping bag, I was standing around wondering what to do.  I actually thought, what Chef Hottie would have had me doing at that point, because there is generally NO time to be standing around eating left over cake and jam (that happened a lot today). 

At certain times our  chef would disappear and we would start eating the scraps of cake and dipping them into the raspberry jam (holly crap was that good). At the end of the practical one of the other chefs walked into the room and I was eating so I broke off a piece of the left over cake and piped some mousse onto it and then some raspberry jam and gave it to him. (It was the perfect bite, as Cup would say).  We all realized after we had made the cake that it was BUTTER-LESS! It was very exciting.  Our bites out of the cake after critique were a little bit bigger then. 

That night, E/E came over to see my apartment so I cleaned for a good 30 minutes.  Cuz asked me if I was serious about cleaning for that long, but I was, I had cleaned a lot, but I still had stuff all over.   We left to go to their friend's apartment on our way. Before we left my apartment Erin asked if we should bring something to their friends so I suggested that candle but a few minutes later Eric decided he didn't need it.  I'm pretty sure I'll end up giving it back to Eric for his birthday or something.   We went to this rad Chinese restaurant that had red light. The main floor was the dinning room, and below was a bar/ lounge that had live music. We sat on two couches with two small round tables in front of us. We ordered a lot of food, but not all of it really fit so comfortably on the table. There was so much, it was almost like you didn't know what you were eating, but everything was really good. 

There was a sweet chili sauce that was for dipping and it was amazing.  There were actually three small cups of sauces that were brought to our table that someone who will remain nameless, asked if they were soups. The best things were the beef satay, the chinese chicken salad and the vietnamese crep with beef. I didn't take pictures because I was too busy eating. 

After we finished dinner, we headed down the street to some apartment party (BARF). It was so stuffy in the apartment, and I couldn't breathe in without getting some smoke. I felt as if I was smoking.  We also missed the memo that we needed masks.  There were so many people in the apartment, I was so incredibly suffocated. Luckily we only stayed for max. an hour. I'm not so into apartment parties (aka 50 people shoved into a 2 bedroom Paris apartment). 

We finally left the party and we decided to walk, not take a cab back to the hotel. That was a mistake because we stumbled around for an hour trying to find a cab, with Erin yelping in the background about her feet falling off. Eric convinced some lady to take us while she wanted for her husband (probably lover) to get off work. We ended up at the hotel where we ordered some dessert. Eric really wanted a crep but all they could offer was cheesecake with chunky cheesecake ice cream.  Generally it is almost impossible to get a cab between 1-5 am but I was lucky to have the hotel be able to call one for me. 

I will post about my lovely day today with Cuz and E tomorrow, or whenever I find time.  

My program is over and I cannot wait to go home, but I am already missing being here and learning everything Hottie Chef has to offer me. 

Bisous