Not 9:30AM but 3:30AM

It's been nearly 5 weeks since I've been back to New York and I'm definitely suffering withdrawal. Everything has become a "In Paris, blah blah blah. It's so different compared to here!" or "When I was in Paris, I did blah blah blah." I'm betting that most people around me are tired of hearing me whine about my short lived life in another country. It's too bad that I didn't even get a chance to blog here before I left! 

My boyfriend came to visit me and helped me clean up my mess on rue Dulac. I probably would have panicked more and broke down much earlier had he not been there with me to take my mind off things. Thanks boyfriend! 

So here I am sitting in the home I grew up in; typing this up at nearly 4AM. Quite obvious that I have plenty of time to spare and am in no rush for what normally people would be doing at this hour: sleeping and then waking up for work. Yes, currently still unemployed. This means more baking at home! I actually haven't kept up with my original idea of baking something once a week. I did bake twice and am in the process of making a Chai flavored ice cream. Here's a picture as proof.

I made two flavored eclairs with a crumble on top as opposed to fondant. Passion fruit flavored pastry cream and chocolate pastry cream with a hint of passion fruit (I do like the fruit indeed!). With the leftover egg whites from the pastry cream, I decided to make macarons with them. The shells were colored with Intense Red (the label was no joke; it was eye blinding-ly red) and flavored with lavender. I made a pistachio ganache filling but unfortunately it wasn't enough so I used the rest of the chocolate pastry cream. It was too sweet for my taste but some people liked it, which is all that matters!

I'll take a picture of the ice cream when (or if) it gets churned tomorrow. We're experiencing a heat wave for this week and our air-conditioner at home has decided to take multiple lunch breaks so it makes this into a pretty hot situation for ice cream making. Hoping for the best!

I'm getting a little lazy now so maybe I'll post up some other pictures for next time! I think I should also rename the blog as it's not really so etranger anymore.

Fickle Weather and Trip Planning

It's been a little more chilly these days around again while the previous week I had to open the windows because it had felt so warm. It's like a tug of war between winter and spring! Or something of the likes.

Anyhow, we had our Lessons 05 and 06 this week thus far. (Lesson 07 tomorrow but I'll post that next week). We learned to recreate typical restaurant dishes such as the Crème brûlée au caramel and layered cakes with buttercream and ganache. Oh yeah, we also learned ice cream for the first time. I totally missed where they took the bowl of freshly made (not frozen yet) ice cream but it went out the room and was brought back in later when it was needed. There is a freezer in the classroom... I don't know. Anyway, pictures below!

Why yes, we made a fancier style of macaron known as Macaron Anis-Framboise (which is a raspberry filled macaroon with anise flavored pastry cream) and my favorite cake, Opéra. I forgot which way the accent mark for the "e" went so I didn't pipe it on. Unfortunately, Chef caught it and commented about my lack of an accent proceeding to draw into my glaze with his palm pilot stylus. Hence, that mark you see there is obviously not piped on. Don't ask what that horrible design on the corner is. He was stopping everyone from continuing on so I randomly rushed to just fill up some surface area.. Meh.

Onto other things outside of school, I had my first fondue here in Paris with some classmates. We ordered two different pots of cheeses. It was so tasty dipping bread and potatoes into them! Extremely tummy satisfying but a few hours later, I was hungry again. hehe. One meal a day does that to you.

And now with regards to the trip planning, there's quite a bit going on! This weekend will be a mini trip to Lyon by train. There will be an exhibition focusing on trends in the food and catering industry. There are a few schoolmates who are also attending. (It is an event that our school is promoting and participating in.) While we are there, might as well check the city out, right? The month after, two friends and I will be flying down to Milano for a bit during our break between classes. Hope the weather will be good.

The Friday on the week that we return to Paris, Sally will be visiting! I'm pretty psyched about that! Shortly after, my brother will fly in and we'll be heading down to where else but Italy again. Florence and Venice are on the itinerary. I would have preferred Athens but I guess that will have to wait. The calendar is quickly getting filled up with events! On the other hand, my wallet is quickly emptying out. Traveling is a bad addiction.

Anyway, until next time!

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)!