Happy October and Rainy Days

October marks the beginning of a rainy season! It's not just about Autumn and its changing leaves. I have only seen sunlight for a brief moment in the morning a few days ago... then unfortunately I fell back asleep. When I woke up, it was gray and cloudy (as it has been lately). I have also turned on the heat two times so far because my blanket just isn't warm enough. Sooner or later, I am going to have to dish out 250€ to buy another. Can I hold up for one more month until I go back to NY? The cool weather has come too early compared to NY's seasonal transitions.

Anyhow, let's move onto Lesson 09: Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pastry Dough) and Lesson 10: Petit-Four Secs (Petit-Fours Biscuits) and Petit-Four Moelleux (Meringues Petit-Fours). Photos below!

Creepy but my favorite Chef C is seen here smiling directly at my camera as I was photographing him making the Tarte Meringuée aux Poires Caramelisées (Caramelized Pear and Crisp Almond Crust Tart) filling.

I wish we had made the Barquettes au Miel (Honey Filled Barquettes) during the demonstration instead but I guess that would have been too simple of a task. As shown in the photos are the: Bâtons de Maréchaux (Marshal's Batons), Cigarettes, Macarons (Macaroons), and Palets aux Raisins (Raisin Biscuits). It's weird. I thought "raisins" was French for "grapes" but here it's translated as "raisins". "Raisin sec" should be "raisins". Am I confusing anyone here? haha Anyway, je ne sais pas!

Here's a photo of my finished products. Apparently, my midterm grade was not very satisfactory (at least according to me). I need to try harder! Chefs telling me "Bon travaille!" were just lying to me! Meh. We have this thing called "Meeting the Chef" going on in two weeks from now. I'm assuming it's a one-on-one evaluation on our performance. Double meh!

So the following will just be more photos of what else but food! I mean that's all Paris really is about, right? hah Kidding. That's just what I'm all about.

This is just some more examples of home cooked meals. Primarily Asian food, I know. My mom recently just told me to stop eating so much Asian food and start developing a palette for French cuisine. I can't help it sometimes!

There's quite a few desserts here but not all were mine! Only the bottom left one was. So as I had mentioned before, less Asian food, which means no sashimi for me. Instead, I went for a Salmon Tartare. I have my ways about it!

It appears that I've had salmon quite a few times when I've went out with my classmates. It's pretty common and tasty here at restaurants.

The smoked salmon in this photo belonged to my friend.

We also had a go at KFC. It tasted like any other KFC you would find in New York. Nothing different.

Last but not least, the macarons! I don't know why the right one came out looking brown but it was supposed to be a dark yellow. These were bought from Sadaharu Aoki. The flavor on the left is Hojicha and on the right is Yuzu. I really found the Hojicha aromatic and flavorful just like the soft serve back at Mitsuwa. Oh how I miss thee.

I like Aoki so much that it gets its own photo collage as shown here.

They had so many variations of desserts that I wanted to take a bite out of each item! Its interior is so pristine and simple. The walls are all white, chairs are white, tables are glass, and a black tiled floor. They even have macarons lined up in their glass case display on the wall behind the counter! Whether they're real or not, I'm not sure.

I could sit in there all day tapping on my netbook (if I had one) with a cup of café au lait and a Matcha croissant (I'm making this up because I saw croissants that had some vibrant green coloring in it).

I would definitely go back again to try all those flavors! Visitors, I'll take you there if you want to try as well. It gives me a perfect excuse to experiment their other menu items.

I think this is long enough of a post. Tomorrow night is the Nuit Blanche, also known as Sleepless Night. It'd be interesting to check out but my train is not running during those hours so perhaps not. New York is having it too on the same day. Maybe you guys can check it out since MTA is 24/7!

Well, until next time! I have only one day of classes next week (not including French class of course)!

Carbs Galore Among Other Edibles

I find myself eating my pastries for lunch now. Partly because I am cheap and do not want to spend additional money on food and partially because I feel like it's a waste of tuition if I just throw it out. And so as a result, I sacrifice my figure (Not that I have a notable one to begin with). Ah, the tragedy of a poor culinary student living in a foreign country where its currency is against her advantage.

Anyways, onto Lesson 06: Pâte à choux and Lesson 07: Meringue. See below!

Left to right, top to bottom: Éclairs with Crème Chantilly, Chef C piping the Choux Chantilly (Chantilly cream filled puffs), Éclairs with coffee and chocolate fondant and pastry cream filling, Choux Chantilly, Glands (Acorns), Chouquettes (Choux Pastries in front) and Salambos (behind).

Left to right, top to bottom: Dacquoise with Praline Buttercream decoration #1, Dacquoise with Praline Buttercream decoration #2, Dacquoise with Praline Buttercream decoration #3, Meringue Française (French Meringue), Chef DW demonstrating how to make the marzipan flower, and Meringue Suisse (Swiss Meringue).

Here is a photo of my finished products! Wow, I have never exercised my arm so much before in mixing and whisking. I will never take my KitchenAid for granted ever again.

And just for kicks, here's some photos of the food that I've been cooking at home. I rarely cook at home in New York so I can't help but record what I've been making these days. They're very amateur as I don't know any recipes and whatnot. They were edible though! *Pat on the back. :)

Left to right, top to bottom: Sautéed onions and mushrooms with chopped tomatoes alongside spaghetti topped with homemade alfredo sauce (yes, I used the wrong cheese and I didn't have milk), spaghetti with steamed vegetables, meatballs and cherry tomatoes, red onion soup with beef cubes and rice topped with cheese, and beef with red onions mixed with chili paste over rice.

Did I successfully make anyone drool? haha Anyway, two days off! W00ts! Then another 8:30AM - 9:00PM schedule on Thursday. I shiver at that thought. Hopefully it'll be sunny these two days so I can stroll the Parisian neighborhoods again.

Almost All About Sablés and Buttery Goodness

Lesson 00: We learned how to make raw almond paste, praline paste, marzipan, coffee essence, apricot glaze and my least favorite, fondant.

Luckily, most of these are more cost efficient if we purchase it pre-made, however, it's still good to keep in mind its fundamental ingredients. So here's a photo of the finished products.

One of the fondant here is flavored with the coffee essence. Then there's also an example of a blanched almond and a non-blanched one. The toasted nuts gave such a nutty aroma in the classroom. It smelled so good! Hmm, I actually don't even remember what the chef did with the apricot glaze. It's not in the photo here. Eh... Anyway onto next lesson.

We had a 20 minute break in what is called The Winter Garden. It's basically where the students lounge.

Lesson 02: Shortbread! (Also called Sablés in French.) Chef JFD showed us 5 assortments of shortbread: Nantais shortbread, Glasses, Chocolate shortbread, Brittany shortbread biscuits, and Diamonds.

So this is how the demonstrations are done... as seen in the photo. It's almost like how those kitchen cooking demonstrations are done at Macy's. I caught the translator in this picture here in the midst of her speaking.

I had to rely on the mirror's reflection most of the time to see what he was doing. Shifting left and right because of the heads in front of me... I must have annoyed the person who sat behind me. Try to get closer seats next time!

Well, fear not! If you still cannot see properly, there's always the flatscreens all around the room. But I didn't pay 20,000 euros to learn from watching the television.

It smelled of such buttery goodness when these shortbreads were placed in the oven to bake. I almost felt the pounds coming on.

At the end, he cut the shortbreads into pieces and shared it with all the students to taste test. They were quite nummy! I especially liked the Glasses (Lunettes in French) just because of the jam that was sandwiched in between.

Here's his finished products:

There's Checkerboard Cookies on the left plate that was made with the Chocolate shortbread and some leftover dough from some other shortbread. The middle plate holds the Brittany Shortbreads: one sprinkled with sugar and the other brushed with egg wash. The rest that's all over the place are the Glasses. They remind me of Linzer Cookies.

The ones on the left plate consists of leftover dough combined with Chocolate Shortbread dough on both sides. In the middle are the Diamonds (I should've taken a piece of that to try! It had orange zest in it). The plate next to that has the Nantais Shortbread which has been brushed with a coffee flavored eggwash. I like the deep, dark color that is produced from it. Then the rest is the same as mentioned before.

C'est tout pour aujourd'hui! It was a long demonstration but it didn't feel that long. Got home around 10 something and cooked a somewhat quick dinner. I was pretty hungry as I finished it all! This means I have to cook again tomorrow night. Bleh... Might as well, here's what I made.

It's just basically veggies with Vietnamese beef balls stir fried in sesame oil and oyster sauce. Simple but it was pretty tasty to me! Or perhaps I was just hungry... I'm still hungry T_T. Anyways, long post. Tomorrow is the practical. Hope I don't cause a fire in the kitchen!

A Week in the Land of Gastronomy

And I have not eaten a single pastry for the duration that I have set foot here. The one time that I had wanted to take a photo of pastries displayed at a window, I realized that I did not have my memory card in my camera. What the hey. So instead, I will just show my first home cooked meal. I don't consider instant noodles as home cooked so I didn't bother capturing that.

This is just rice noodle that has been stir fried in a wok with sliced red onions, scallion, sliced roast pork (called porc laque), garlic, soy sauce, oil, sugar, salt, and sesame oil. I think that was all I had put into it. It was made up on a whim with whatever ingredients I had at home.

I accidentally made too much so huzzah, I have enough for tomorrow's dinner as well! Then I ate half a petite mooncake as dessert. I hate the yolk.

So today, I ventured out and purchased the slip resistant kitchen shoes that were mandatory for classes. It came out to 25€, cheaper than I had anticipated! Then again, it was a no brand shoe so what can you expect? I just hope it will last.

According to the images provided by le Cordon Bleu, I saw shoes that had shoelaces. According to the sales rep at the store, shoes with shoelaces were not for the kitchen! Eh, so I had to get the Croc-like models. Here they are:

I feel like I'll look like a dork with these. Hopefully my pants will be long enough to cover them.

That concludes my boring entry in France. I'm hungry again so I'll munch on some shrimp chips now.