As of Monday, I am in London LCB! This is good news. Right now I am only in superior patisserie, but I have high hopes that I will get into superior cuisine. I am very excited. And yes, Herndon, you need to look into finding a plane ticket to London now, not Paris.
If anyone knows of anyone that knows of a place in London…pass it on my way!

School is slowly coming to an end. You would think school would be winding down, but it is just the opposite. School is picking up, with lots of practicals and demos and just being busy. Next week is my last full week of classes, and then I have a week of classes, final demos and written exams. The last class, in cuisine and patisserie, is a demonstration that the chefs will put on for us, but we will not be preparing them. Kind of sucks, but I guess it is a perk for us.

In two weeks I have the written exams for cuisine and patisserie, so I have been trying to study for them. It is a little hard. In cuisine, I have to memorize 10 different recipes, ingredients and quantities, plus the different regions in France and what makes that region so profound. For patisserie, I have to memorize 8 different recipes, ingredients and quantities. On top of memorizing recipes, I have to memorize culinary terms and procedures. I hope they have a review like they did for us in Australia.

There was not a lot of exciting events this week. There was one exciting day at school. On Tuesday, as you know or maybe you didn’t, it was Mardi Gras. The French celebrate it in style! I came to school around 11 and they had a small buffet set up for the students. They were serving a bubbly cider, baked goods associated with Mardi Gras and one of the chefs was making fresh hot waffles serving them with delicious toppings. It was a feast and it was so good! People where acting kind of silly, but I think they were just excited. It was a nice break from the sandwiches we usually eat everyday.

This is just an update....

I am in LCB London. It is not official yet, but it will be as soon as I send in some paper work and sign a few things. I begin March 23rd 2007 until June. I only got into superior patisserie, not superior cuisine. I am on the waiting list, second on the waiting list. There is still time for me to get in, but there is no guarantee. So please keep your fingers crossed and think good thoughts so I can get in.
The worst case scenario is I am in London for 6 months instead of the three originally intended. I will still receive le Grande Diploma, so that is good news. If I have to stay for 6 months, then I can go travel England, maybe go see my cousin in Germany and even come back to see friends here in Paris. The possibilities are endless. What is 3 more months to a life long dream?

I will be coming home for a couple of days in March. I will arrive back in the States March 14th until March 20th. I then will travel to London to finish out my program and receive Le Grande Diploma. If anyone is at home during this time I would love to see you. I will be writing more at the end of the week. Until then...a bientot!

What’s that saying? When in Rome, do as the Romans do? Well in Paris, you do as the Parisians do. Drink, eat and enjoy it. In what profession allows you to drink before noon? Food. We have been given wine and more wine in demos and in practical a few times.

The past two weeks have been busy and it is only going to get busier. Last week we were given our midterm grades. I am doing well. I am above average for both patisserie and cuisine, but just barely. Our midterms are given for each group we are in; I am in group A. Group A is the best group there is and I am not being conceded. Group A and group B are the best groups to be in and have the highest group averages. Groups A and B in basic had the top 5 in the class for both patisserie and cuisine and I got put in the better. The over all class average is lower than the group averages, so I know I am doing better then most students.
The grading is out of 5., for patisserie I have a 3.78/5. The group average for A is 3.75/5. I have to do better, I can do better. For cuisine my average is 4.05/5. The group average is 4.01/5. Isn’t it weird that the area I am in interested in is worse then the area I don’t really like? Maybe I should rethink the area I want to go in. Or perhaps this just means that I need to concentrate in patisserie to do better.

Unfortunately this is the only news I have to report. What a dull life I lead. I have just a month left for intermediate cycle. Next week is hell week. We were supposed to have the international buffet on Friday, but they cancelled it. They did not get enough entries to put on the buffet. So I do not have to go to school on Friday. But because of this, this means that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have three classes each day. My schedule is long and hard with demos and then practical right after another. My week starts at 8:30 and ends at 6:30. Tuesday I have class at 12:30, but I don’t get to leave school until 10. Then the next day I am back at school by 8 until 6 or so.

There is still no word on London. I am trying to find out if all the students have responded and paid up for the next level. If all the students have paid, that means I will be staying here in Paris. But if some students have not responded then I still have a chance to transfer….that is what I want.

To Sybil and Bill:
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a wonderful night on the town, in Paris. It was my first time to eat a delicious meal and share it with friends from back home.

This week was actually busy. A couple from home, Bill and Sybil Sylvester, also next door neighbors to my mother's house, came to Paris to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They invited me to dinner on Tuesday to a great restaurant, L` Atelier de Joel Robuchon. I met them there at 6:30. We enjoyed a delightful glass of champagne and looked over the menu. Poor Bill was in the middle of the two women gabbing the whole night. We all decided on the same thing, the tasting menu, with a red and white wine to accompany the respectful courses.
The night was wonderful. The food was unbelievable. The people superb. The set-up of the restaurant is a mix of Hot n Hot from back home. It is an open kitchen with a frame, if that makes sense. Imagine a wide open space; with tables and storage underneath. Then on top of the tables are huge opened window frames. In the "window panes" are large glass jars filled with thinly sliced and curled zucchini and orange peel; or a rectangular glass container holding stuff tomatoes or little mushrooms. The sight is so cool to see. It is dark what seemed to be wood and red linings to some of the furniture, my favorite color, so I loved it.
This place is so popular. There is a long line of people who wait to be let in at 6:30. The restaurant only takes reservations at 6:30 then it is everyone for themselves. I think they are always busy. I can see why. The food was unbelievable, 9 different courses. We started off with an amuse bouche, which really teased the taste buds, foie gras mousse and a light sprinkle of truffles went every so nicely with our champagne. It was served in a shooter glass with a little foam on top. It was so good, melt in your mouth good. Then the meal began. Scallops served raw and sliced very thin, a langoustine ravioli, a deep fried cod quenelle which was my favorite, water chestnut soup with foie gras and sea bass simply prepared. The seafood courses were all amazing and went perfect with the white wine.
The main dish was either lamb chops or sweetbreads. While I try to be adventurous, I opted for the lamb chops, as did Bill and Sybil. It was so good, little tiny chops and mashed potatoes. It was yummy! Then we ate a mixture of fruits in their own syrup with a dollop of basil sorbet (so good!) and finally dessert, chocolate sensation. It was exactly that. It had chocolate mousse, silver balls that were crunchy that were throughout the layers of chocolate and sorbet. It was amazing. Dinner was, well there are no words to describe it. If you ever get the chance to come to Paris, go eat there!
So Bill and Sybil, thank you so much for a wonderful meal. I had a great time.

As I said, this week was busy. Class was class, cooking and watching really boring demos. Cuisine was alright, but nothing too exciting. In patisserie this week we tempered chocolate, milk and dark. It was fun. I love working with chocolate. I have to try to work cleanly and come out of the practicals still in a white uniform. This is very hard for me, but I am improving. The students here have never tempered chocolate, so I was the first one to do it, without the chef looking over us. The chef told me it was superior! YAH ME. But I wish we got to do something different, since I had already tempered chocolate and done some of the treats. Oh well.

Friday was the student dinner. Our class is so big, they had to split us into two groups. I got to go to the better restaurant, Cafe Minotti. It is a wonderful Italian restaurant. The chef is a close friend to one of the chefs at school. The school rented out the whole place. Tables were pushed together in the three different rooms and we all met at the restaurant by 8. I sat with some kids who were in my group, A, and a french woman who I did not know. I was told the last student dinner, basic, they ate good food and drank way too much. Well the intermediate student dinner, we ate great food and people drank too much wine.
We were given an amuse bouche of a room temperature broccoli shooter. It was yummy. Then we ate thinly sliced tuna that was seared and served on a circle of puff pastry and a tomato compote. The next course was a shrimp risotto which was so good, it just needed a little salt and some cheese. The main course was a slice of veal with a balsamic reduction, gnocchi and a little wedge of cabbage. Then a cheese course of Gorgonzola and two slices of pears and finally the dessert of chocolate mousse, a crunchy middle and nuts on top of a chocolate glaze that surrounded the entire chocolaty mass. It was phenomenal! The dinner was served with red and white wines and we were given plenty of it. I drank espresso to finish the meal and enjoyed every last drop. Daddy, this is a meal you would have loved!
We finished the meal around 11 or so. People were drunk off of all the wine they drank and happy from all the food they just consumed. I left with a few other people to find a taxi a few blocks away. People were still there drinking and contemplating going out. I went home to find my bed and catch up on sleep.

This week was fun. I enjoyed myself. The meals I ate were unbelievable and I hope to eat like that again, very soon. It is Sunday, so I have prepare for another week of lame demo classes and cooking. Monday, I get to cook with pigs blood as a thickening agent for a sauce. I tried it in demo. I don't believe I will be taking this dish home with me. Well, stay tuned for more adventures....au revoir and a bientot.

This week has proven to be a little more exciting than last week. On Monday I was in a cuisine practical when an admission’s person came to take me out of class. She told me that I was not enrolled in the next cycle, the last cycle to my nine month course. She told me that I never applied and that there was hardly any room left. I told her that I did apply for the spot, last year when I Fed-ex my application to them. I was in the middle of cooking and needed to get back to my stove. She told me to go see the admissions people after class. I finished cooking in a not so good mood.

So I went after class to talk to one of the women in the admissions office. She is the woman I have been dealing with since the beginning of all this nonsense of applying. She was the one who accepted me into the program and sent my letter of acceptance with the dates through the end of superior. She told me that I could get a seat in the patisserie course but not in the cuisine course. I would be on the waiting list. GREAT. Just great! If I could not get off the waiting list for the cuisine course I would have to stay here another three months to get my diploma. OR, I could try to transfer to the London school (the only school they will transfer my funds too). What I did not understand was why I was not already accepted into the superior courses. They have known I was coming for both intermediate and superior in cuisine and patisserie. The reason behind this mayhem: I did not send in another application with the fee for superior level. When applying to different schools or transferring, you have to apply for each level (I think that is just for Paris), sending in the application and application fee for each level, however if you are starting with basic through superior you just have to apply once. I was never told this, upon applying. I was pissed!

I got the woman to check with the London school if there are any openings. The next day I went back to check…the London school was full. So I asked her to put me on the waiting list, just in case. I was not going to know anything from the Paris school until Friday. This was only Tuesday. I had a lot of waiting to do. The waiting turned to thinking and the more I thought about it, the more I came to think that I would be better off in London, where they spoke English. Maybe then I would learn something.

LCB Paris is a wonderful school, but just like any school it has its pros and cons. One of the major cons is the language thing. Even though there is a translator you can’t communicate with the chef in the practical. This is because there isn’t a translator in the practical, only in the demos. Another thing they forgot to mention. I figured if I am going to go to culinary school I might as well try to learn something and make it worth my while. In superior I will be able to get by (if I have to stay), by watching the chefs in demo, but I will not be learning anything. I am not the only one who feels this way. Plenty of other students feel the same way I do; they learn nothing in class, even with the translator. The chefs never explain why they are doing something this way, or why add this to that sauce. They just do it. And it is so frustrating.

I love Paris, but it is not worth my time or money if I am not going to learn anything. The name of LCB will look fantastic on my resume, but what good will it do if I can’t hack it in the kitchen? The name of Le Cordon Bleu will help me get my foot in the door, but I would make a fool of myself and the school if I cannot perform when I get there. Perhaps I am just trying to justify my reasons for leaving, but I think they are solid reasons. I just have to pray I get into London….PLEASE GET ME OFF THE WAITING LIST AND INTO LONDON!!!! Think good thoughts!

What have I learned you might ask? Well…..this week I learned how to debone a whole chicken, by myself. When the chef did it in the demo, I could not see anything. He was too far away and was not really explaining how he did it. He just began cutting telling us he was deboning the chicken. So when we got into the practical everyone was just kind of cutting blind. The chefs do not really stay in the kitchen to help out. They come and go, more going than staying. Students help one other, but it’s hard to do that when no one could see anything and when no one knows what they are doing.

I have worked a lot with chicken, well cockerel, and fish. I have tasted and cooked squab, guinea fowl, lamb, lots of duck and on Thursday I got to cook and eat lobster. Cuisine in Australia was taught a little differently. There we did at least three dishes and presented them to the chef at different times. Cuisine in Paris, you cook the entrée (one of the three dishes the chef prepares in demo) and serve it to the chef at whatever time you get done. It is a slow pace here in the kitchens of Paris…not the running of the bulls for pots and pans, no eye gouging for a strainer or fights over produce. Paris is run much smoother. In my class, there is not competition, unless you make it for yourself. The atmosphere is quite, you hear the water boiling, smell the item cooking and you have time to get lost in your thoughts, kind of.

You are busy in the class, just not as busy as in Australia. I take my time. I decided to do things my way. I decided when I am in the real world; I will be on my own. I won’t have anyone looking over my shoulder, correcting my every move. I will have to fend for myself. Of course I will have to do it their way, but I also need to find my own voice within the crowd of chefs. Since the communication here is,well not there, I figured I could do it in the way I see fit. If they have a problem with it, they will just deduct points. I will still graduate and I will graduate doing it my way. Stubborn much? Yes and proud of it!

This next week I will be cooking fish, rooster and lamb. I will be playing with chocolate in patisserie, tempering chocolate. Tempering is making the chocolate pretty, in simple terms. I did this in basic for a week; They did not temper chocolate in basic. This should be interesting. Maybe I can work on coming out of the kitchen clean, not covered in chocolate for once. Doubtful, but perhaps.

Patisserie is completely different than cuisine and completely different then in Australia. Patisserie in Paris is run very quickly. There is hardly any time to think. You get in and go, running from the start. I am so concentrated on my work, I forget to smile. One of the chefs, chef Jean-Francois, always comes up to me and tells me to smile. It’s funny. Class here moves fast, gets slower in the middle and then speeds up towards the end. Patisserie class in Australia was slow paced…taking your time to enjoy making your cake or assembling your master piece. You never had to hurry. It’s all strange, very strange. If I could mix…the patisserie class from Australia and a mix of Paris’s cuisine with Australia’s cuisine, that would be ideal!

Well, I will keep ya’ll updated on the school situation. Pray that I get into London. I really want to go. Six more weeks and I am done with intermediate. Wooo-Hooo!

What are life’s simplest pleasures? What do you get out of them? A wonderful cup of tea or coffee as a pick me up…it brings a smile on your face as soon as you hear the kettle going off or the smell of the roasted coffee beans making your delightful cup of coffee? Perhaps it is the satisfaction of completing a long task or making that deal that you have been working nights and days for the past weeks. Maybe it is as simple as a hug and a kiss from your kids or a simple “thank you” after washing their clothes…life’s little pleasures are endless and different for everyone.

One of mine is simple: people watching. I love to people watch and what is a better place to people watch then in Paris, France? You can sit in a side café, drink coffee (another life pleasure for some) and just watch the world go by. You see all sorts of people pass by, dressed interestingly, some people with their dogs that you JUST know fits their personality, or people who are just on a walk to enjoy the lovely winter day. My favorite place to people watch is in school. It has it all.

My school has a place called the Winter Garden, where students gather to talk, eat, drink, copy notes and so on before and after classes/demos. Every student spends plenty of time here, in between class, after class and before class. The Winter Garden has two vending machines for drinks, one for cold drinks such as coke, water and tea; and another machine that is filled with many coffee options, only two of the options work though. A great deal of money is put into those machines.

After purchasing a beverage of your choice, people sit down and begin talking. It is always with the same people, the same groups form. In basic, when you arrive, you are quickly thrown into groups, (A, B, C, D and so on) these groups become your family. You form clicks and that is who you will hang out with for the next nine months of your life. It makes you feel that you are in high school again, a transfer student. You know no one, you’re an alien. Since I came here late, I do not exactly fit into any of the clicks. I am what you call a loner, the same word used in high school. I sit by myself, read a book or the lesson and just watch how everyone conducts their business.

There are many groups, usually paired together from where you are from in the world. There is a group that sits and talks so fast….but it is not French, it’s Portuguese. Then at another table, or tables pushed together, there sits a rather large group of Asian kids. They all speak in their native tongue, pointing with their chopsticks and giggling. There is a table that is made of most American kids and another one for the mixed company of the combination of nationalities. I’ll pick a table and people come sit with me and then get lost in their own conversations. I don’t mind though.

I think the best person to look at is during my cuisine demos. She is of Asian decent. She has bleached her hair, to a light brown mousey color. She has painted her face with make-up badly, but she is sweet. She has a great smile. She kind of reminds me of Mrs. Haversham in Great Expectations. Well at least in the way she has done her make-up, not her personality. I think she likes men, since she wears a wedding ring. But she always makes me giggle when I see her. Sad, I know, but I don’t care.

Now, I know what you are thinking, ‘poor Laura, she doesn’t have any friends.’ Well I do. I have made friends, in my group and outside of the group. Since everyone knows everyone, I kind of stand out like a sore thumb. People come up and talk to me, asking me if I did intensive to catch up to be in intermediate with them. Then we begin talking about Australia and their program. I have the option to hang out with them and maybe soon I will. It’s just I am still not used to this schedule.

Life is still good. I have a washing machine in my apartment and I love having it. I can do my laundry every week and have clean jackets for every practical. It’s great. I have also just discovered the Itunes store on-line. So I have been trying to download movies and episodes. But this has proven much more of a challenge, since my internet is a little hard to operate. It has a mind of it’s own, but it has been cooperating for the past week! Well, I better go….hope you are all doing well, until next week.

Well it is the end of another week. It’s had its ups and downs. Waking up by 7 has proven to be difficult. On Friday, I was so tired, I could not get up. I finally got out of the bed by 8 and got myself together and out the door. I had to take a taxi to school. I got there in less than 5 minutes, perfect. The past two classes, we have only had three in all, we have had in patisserie we have made things I have not liked, so I don’t get to bring them home with me. I give them to other people. Hopefully soon we will be making something I like to eat. The patisserie course only meets 20 times in the span of 10 weeks, not the 30 times we meet in Australia.

I am saddened but happy to report that I will be coming home earlier than expected. It is a double edge sword. Instead of coming home in October, I will be coming home sometime in June, the later part. School ends June 1st. I think my mom and Mac are going to come over for my graduation and then we are going to do all the tourist things you are supposed to do in Paris. It’s gonna be great.

My life here is almost the same like it was in Australia. I wake up, get dressed, walk to school, do the school thing, walk back home, eat dinner, and go to sleep. Then repeat the process Monday through Friday, and one more Saturday this week. Since there are a few friends here I will hopefully make myself get out of my apartment and venture out into this wonderful city.

In school I have yet to really learn anything that I cannot pick up in a cook book or just ask someone. I did cook Guinea fowl for the first time a few days ago...it wasn't very good. It needed more taste or more seasoning. We worked with fish yesterday, boy am I getting good at handing fish, deboning it, taking the guts out and poking the eyes out. It's gross, but kind of cool at the same time. Thank you uncle Randall for showing me about fish, it really is helping me.

The one thing I have found to be the same in each school are the chefs and their communication. Perhaps it is unfair for me to say this, with the language barrier, but chefs cannot communicate very well, with each other or with us. For instance, yesterday we made a Jamaica cake. It is layers of sponge cake with two different types of mousse, coconut and mango-passion fruit, surrounded with a layer of sponge. Then topped off with neutral glaze and fruits. The layer of sponge around the cake was supposed to be cut 2/3rds of the way of the cake tin...the sponge cake was not supposed to come to the top of the tin in other words. This was what we were taught in demo, BUT during the practical the chef told me to bring the sponge cake all the way up to the top of the tin. IT WAS WRONG. The worst part of it all, I knew it was wrong. When grading came around, I know he took off for the cake, but he said the glaze was done perfectly.

The lesson of this story is: from now on, I will be doing what I think I should be doing. If I get counted off for that, then so be it. In the real world I will not have a chef to look over my every step, I will have to use my common sense, or of what I have, to do what I think is correct. Why not try it while in culinary school, when I have a chef(s) to look over me and critique me. I rather try to do it my way anyways....I know, I am stubborn, but that's just who I am. I like doing things my way. After all, don't we all!?!

I am sorry to say there isn't really anything to report on. My life is pretty much the same routine over and over each day. School and home, with the occasional stop off at the market to get a few items for dinner. The markets here are unbelievable! There is this one, about half way from my home and school. They sell fresh produce of fruits and vegetables. The produce looks amazing. I brought some apples yesterday, I have yet to try them, but I know they will be so delicious. I'll let you know in the next entry. Until then, a bientot