Well, the week is almost over. The week has been uneventful...I actually skipped class twice in all this week. The first time was when Margaret was visiting me on Monday and the second time I skipped class was on Wednesday. So cuisine was really easy this week, since I only made it to school once. The cuisine was boring, a very easy day - Karen, I did make bearnaise sauce. Mine was a little tarragonish, so I might need you to show me how you do it - measuring is so overrated. I hate it, but I am suppose to do it here.

Thanksgiving for me was ok. It is weird not being at home for a big holiday. I hated it. I have never missed a holiday at home, celebrating with family and friends. However, my sophomore year I did stay at school for Easter, but can you really count Easter? I don't think you can. So we just won't. It was a little hard, but I was able to have a good Thanksgiving dinner for myself. I fixed stuffing in the microwave, mashed potatoes, green beans with sliced onions, sliced turkey from the deli and I got a little help from Campbell's to make gravy. It wasn't a bad dinner, but it wasn't home!

Well, just three weeks until I begin my journey home! Happy thanksgiving to everyone I was not able to say it too. Take care.

So Margaret arrived in Sydney on Saturday, more specifically around 10:30 at my wonderful accommodations known as Maharlika Gardens. We spent some time catching up on our lives and then went down the road to a local bar. We drank some beer and caught up on the gossip from home, however we did not know much between us. We played some pool, drank some more and talked even more.

Sunday, we woke up and made some phone calls to the States. Then got ready to venture into the city. We first went to pay for the Bridge climb and then went to find lunch - fried fish with french fries (I know, real nutritious), but who cares, we are on vacation! Then we went to find a taxi to take us to Paddy's Market. We were taken to the wrong market, so we walked a spell and then decided to get another taxi.

Paddy's Market is only open a few days of the week. On sunday's the market closes at 5, it was just after 4, we had to hurry. We had plenty of time to look around in the mass chaos and find lots of gifts for people. It was very productive. We then walked George Street. George Street is the main street in Sydney. It runs the whole length of the city, just about (the important parts of the city). We were at one end and had to go the other end. The bridge climb was at 6:55.

The bridge climb was completely worth the money! We got there at 6:30 to rest At 6:45 we went to sit in a room and watch a cheesy movie talking about the experience of the climb, then we were moved into another room to get informed on the climb and sign papers and get a breatherlizer test (we were good to go). Finally, we were given a suit and put all our belonging into a locker. You are not allowed to wear bracelets or watches. Then we were shown how to get into our harnesses and gathered various other equipment, such as a fleece hat, a fleece pullover and a hanky. Slowly, but surely we moved through the large room to the make shift ladder and cat walk, things that we were to encounter while on the climb. I went first, no problem. Margaret went, no problem. There was one couple from Chicago who were on their honeymoon, two girls from England and one guy from...Denmark? Finally, we got radios and we were on our way to climb the bridge.

You begin the trip be walking through a residence and then begin walking up above the cars and be the port. You climb through some close corners and have to duck a few times. Then comes the one of the hard parts, going across the water on the catwalk - about 50 meters above sea level and you can see everything to the left, to the right and below you, perfectly! Then the hardest part, for me, was climbing up the 4 ladders. It was nerve racking, at least I thought. But it was so cool! You climb in between the highway where the cars are. Then you begin the climb upwards. It was amazing. The sun was setting as we reached the ladders and as we made our way up to the top, we could see the city lights and Sydney in all it's glory! We got many pictures - Margaret and Me with Sydney Opera House in the background and then again a group shot. We then began out decent downwards, getting another picture of me and Marge with Sydney behind us. Then came the dreadful climb downwards, the 4 ladders. Now we were climbing down between the two trains. It was, well, an adventure all in itself. We were finished. The climb at night was amazing. Thanks Ms. McCall for suggesting the night climb!

Then we got dinner at a nice Italian restaurant called Amo Roma. It was a great Italian dinner of pasta and bread and a bottle of red wine. Delicious. Then we hailed a taxi and went back home where I passed out and Margaret was hyper, yet again. She was hyper last night too, not going to sleep for awhile.

Monday, I decided to skip school. I slept in and it felt GREAT! Margaret and I woke up eventually and got a bus into the city, yet again. We went to the Imax theatre to see what was playing. We brought tickets to see Extreme at 5. Then went to find a light lunch in Darling Harbour. Then we went to walk around and hang out in the beautiful weather. At 5 we went to watch the movie about extreme skiing, snowboarding, surfing, rock climbing and something else. It was pretty cool.

After the movie, we walked to George Street again to find out dinner - Est. Dinner reservations were at 6:30. This dinner was amazingly good, so good. We got drinks, a great meal and great wine. For dessert, they give you little treats of goodies. Some were better than others. The whole experience was very nice. Daddy, the wine list was amazing! You would have loved it. I wish you were there to tell me about the wines though.

We got done with dinner around 8ish. Again, we got a taxi to take us home. The night was easy, just watching tv and hanging out...eventually going to sleep. It was great spending time with marge, seeing a face from home. It is not far off, but i'll be coming home soon! I hope ya'll have a happy Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!

In life we are presented with things we just don't understand. Well in culinary school I have some things that I do not understand. The first thing is why do students take pictures of the chef's items when they are not even finished? They stand there, crowding the table, blocking other people's view of the food and take pictures every five seconds, NO JOKE. I find it ridiculous. I also find it kinda funny. Oh well, perhaps they do this to learn. Who knows.

The other thing I found annoying was Le Cordon Bleu schools. I needed to fax information to the school in Paris...so I asked LCB Australia to fax the pages for me. Unfortunately, they do not fax internationally and they do not have anything to do with the other LCB schools. How stupid is that!!! I was so pissed. How are you gonna run an infamous school in 20 different locations and not have anything to do with any of the other schools? I just don't understand it.

The count down to coming home has begun, officially, there is now less than a month! The next few weeks are going to be crazy busy - lots of theory tests and final assessments. Classes have been going well, busy at times. Cuisine you stay busy the whole time, doing work and that is all. In patisserie, I have ample time to sit around and do nothing. I get all my work done and have nothing else to do. The chefs let me help them out or just play with something else.

I got to look at my grades for cuisine and patisserie. I am have good marks and I am doing well. In cuisine, I talked to one of the chefs and he told me that I was doing fantastic. He wished that he had more students like me in his classes. I told the chefs that I was leaving after basic, they want me to stay and continue with them. A part of me is tempted in staying, but the other part of me, really wants to go to Paris. The chefs told me that the curriculum is totally different then Australia - having one day to watch the chef demo the lesson and the next two days to do the lesson myself. Plus, the kitchens in Paris are not as spacious, very crowded and hot. Oh well, atleast it will be winter in Paris. I am excited though to be going to Paris, I mean it's Paris - the home of culinary arts, museums, beauty and so much more. I even found a place to live in Paris...hopefully it will all work out.

There isn't much news to report on this week. Life is getting to be very tiresome. I've shown up late to school once already. It is so hard to get out of bed. Besides being late to class once, the only other news is that Margaret is coming to see me. She is coming to stay with me for a few days, Saturday until Tuesday. I can't wait to see her, a friendly face from home!

I dedicate this blog to my uncle Randall. I go down to his house and my aunt Karen's to chill out and just relax. During this time I catch up on my disney movies, eat really good food (ie chicken salad), get to see family I usually do not get to see, have the closest thing to a little sister with my cousin Mary Alice and go fishing with my uncle and cousin, Harrison.
I went fishing with my uncle and cousin a few years ago on their boat in the bay. It was so much fun. We went out to catch bait and then go find places to fish for about an hour or so, during sunset, the fishes feeding time. During this time, besides being eaten to death by the bugs, I caught a few fish. We got back to the house and we began to fillet them. Uncle Randall taught me how to scale a fish, gut a fish, fillet the fish and take the skin off. Little did I know, Randall was helping me to be miles ahead of the rest of the students in my cuisine class.
So uncle Randall, thank you for showing me how to do all that needs to be done to a fish. I impressed my chefs. However, we were not allowed to use a knife to hold the skin when skinning the fish...I was quite sadden about that one. I liked holding two knifes, one to hold the slimy skin down on the cutting board and the other to skin the fish itself.

The reason why I am dedicating this blog entry to my uncle is...you guessed it. We worked with fish this week in cuisine. The first day we had an easy day, not working with fish. We made a warm goat cheese salad, a whole roasted baby chicken and creme caramel's (to be unmolded the next day). I got good reviews.

The next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent with fish. I poached a fish in broth and vinegar - the vinegar taste, not so good. It was served with a Hollandaise sauce. A thanks needs to be taken to my aunt Karen...she is a master at the hollandaise and bearnaise sauce. So I had a step up on that as well. So thanks. I also made fillets sauted in butter - very good.

Wednesday, we were supposed to go on a field trip to the Sydney Fish Market, but it got cancelled. It sucked, but atleast I was able to wake up by 7 and not 4. So I was very happy about that one. The coolest thing about this was we deboned a whitening and gutted the fish from it's backbone, only. It was very cool. I'll show you when I get home. People do not debone fish like that anymore, it's old school, but a good thing to know how to do.

In class, the chef asked who wanted to fillet the salmon we had. I raised my hand and he let me try. However, it did not go so well. I missed the backbone! He had to take over the task. I am not used to working with that big of a fish - like 20 pounds. I like the two pounders, much easier to handle! Oh well. Chef Josepf was impressed that I volunteered to try...he liked that. He did not think anyone would volunteer for the task, I surprised him.

Patisserie was all about Puff pastry this week. It is a pain in the ass!!! It is rolling a huge pad of butter into dough about 5 different times, in a period of about 3 hours. The dough has to rest everytime you turn the dough - to relax the glutein. A turn is just folding the dough in a special way and rolling it out. It is a task to do. Unfortunately, this will be on my final assessment, along with making eclairs...so the assessment will be busy! I've made pies, mini apple pies ( Will you would love these! I think they are better than an apple pie, but you can be the judge when I get home), filled pies with savory items, cookies...the list just goes on. Everyday is just gets alittle more repetitive, so it can get alittle boring.

There was a bit of a hiccup this week in patisserie - a student quit one of the classes and transferred to the other patisserie class. The teacher, Karin, was not happy, the one from Switerzland. I felt bad for her. It seemed that she was going to cry in class, but she did not. Terrible. Oh well, it happens, I guess.

Another thing going on in my life is my awaited life in France. I have been trying to get everything ready for me to go to France, in the next month. I have to get a visa, a place to stay, a plan ticket and pay tuition, among the important things. I found out that I cannot apply for a visa over e-mail, I have to go to the consulate to get the visa. So I am hoping the long procedure of getting this visa will not take me the required one to two months to get it. But France has been very helpful and I think things are worked out - I will get the correct visa and be able to go to school with out having to come back home. Originally, I would have to apply for the long stay visa in the states, go to France on a tourist visa to do the first cycle, come back to the States to obtain the long stay visa during my break of intermediate and superior cycles and then return to France to continue the schooling and the externship. WOW, it just wears me out writing this all. All in all, things are good now, all figured out.

I learned today that I should be practicing my lessons at home. I had no idea. People actually go home and practice the lessons. Hmmm,I feel kinda left out, but I think I will manage. I am reading text books and just learning that way. Brushing up on terms and what not.

Well, school is going well, just busier. Good news though, Margaret McCollum is coming to visit me in a week, next Saturday. I can't wait to see a friendly face! It is going to be so much fun. We are going to the city to the spend all of Sunday there. Shopping and a good dinner. Well, other than sleeping and going to school, there isn't much else going on. I hope life is going well where ever this might find you. I look forward in seeing ya'll soon. Take care

Laura

Hello everyone. It is Sunday afternoon here in Sydney, Australia. It is rainy and a tad cold outside, but it feels wonderful under the covers with the window slightly ajar and writing to ya'll. I have finally figured out my phone card and was able to make a few phone calls today. It was great to hear the voices from home. This week has been filled with lots of cooking and playing with choux paste.

I thought I would try to explain my week, as some of you have been alittle confused. So...cuisine runs for three days a week; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It begins at 7:25 with a demo by one chef, sometimes two, and ends at 2. Every week we change kitchens between kitchen 12, 13 and 14. Each kitchen has their own chef. Kitchen 12 is ran by what I think is the head chef, Chef Chris. Then next kitchen is 13, who is ran by another chef Josef and another chef only on Mondays. Then the last kitchen is 14, who is ran by three different chefs on three different days. However, all of these three kitchens are in one large area divided into the separate kitchens.

Patisserie is on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This begins at 8 and ends at 2:30. Everyday we had a different chef, but stay in the same kitchen. Our chef on Thursday's is Chef Gert - he is so cool. I really like him. He is very inquisitive and likes to talk. He is messy when demonstrating with chocolate. I love that! Friday Chef is Karen, but pronounced Corine, or something like that. She is from Switzerland and has big huge doe eyes. Her teaching methods are a little different from all the other chefs I have. She is a bit tough on some students, some more than others. She finds fault and criticizes without telling any positives, not what I was taught. When I helped grade NHM 115 in college, we were told to begin with the positive, then tell the negative and then end with another positive. Chef Corine does not do this....it pisses some, most, of the students off. Then finally Saturday's chef Karen. I love her! She is so cool!!! Since school is not really in session we are allowed to do anything, within reason. Chef Karen is just awesome.

Cuisine this week started off doing pastries...weird huh? It went well. Chef Chris told me I was "right on spot". The next day we made risotto - it was good, it just needed alittle more liquid. Everything else, was right on spot. And finally on Wednesday chicken and souffle. I made a perfect sauce, finally. I was happy.

Patisserie was filled with making choux paste and piping out designs. Choux paste is what people make eclairs out of. Choux means 'cabbage' in french. When it bakes it spreads out and resembles a cabbage. We made choux puffs, filled with cream Chantilly on Thursday. Friday we made eclairs. Saturday we made Paris Brest - a dessert made for the cycling race from Paris to Brest. It was fun. We also made swans. By Saturday, my arm was a little warn from beating the batter.

Choux paste is a mixture of fat, flour, water and eggs. Your first cook the fat, flour and water together, to cook the flour. Then take this mixture off the heat and beat in eggs, in my case 6 eggs. Then you are able to pip the mixture and bake it. This choux paste can be used to make so many different desserts. We have to make eclairs for our final. So this was good practice for the real thing.

Today, Sunday, I called a few people and then went to the grocery store. I could spend hours there, just walking around. Then home to put things away and write to my faithful blog readers. I hope everyone is doing well. Well, tune in next week to see about my culinary adventures. good day mates.