trois semaines.

     Each morning last week started bright and early with 8:30am classes, so in total I had three demonstration classes learning recipes and two practical's where I actually baked. On Wednesday, I started my morning by baking my apple tart, which went pretty smoothly, and I found that I was less nervous in the kitchen the second time around which was a relief since I'll be spending lots of time there for the next few months.
     After making my tart, I went back to my apartment and had a quiet afternoon at home since it had been a busy few days. On Thursday, I trekked up to school for our morning demo where we were learning all about choux pastry and primarily learned to make a Saint Honore. It's a cake with a sweet pastry crust surrounded with caramelized choux or puff pastry mounds and filled and decorated with Chantilly whipped cream. Delicious, to say the least. After demo, we had class photos so we waited around and arranged ourselves as the photographer coordinated two group photos for our group of 150 pastry students.
    After the pictures, Sara and I decided to venture out and check out some second hand and vintage stores that we had read about online. We found one in the 17th that was extremely reasonable, and managed to both walk away with some treasures (including wool sweaters, winter coats, and even a pair of Italian leather heels for Sara) and both of our tabs were less than €15. Score. It was such a lovely afternoon and we decided to indulge in our favorite activity; people watching and eating at a café. We found one that suited us (table in the sunshine, good foot traffic, decently busy) and looked over our options on the menu. Realizing that the most cost efficient option would be to split a carafe of wine rather than simply have individual glasses, we decided to be thrifty and split the carafe along with a flatbread pizza. Rough life, I know, but what are two girls in Paris to do?

Parisian lunch hour

     Realizing that we weren't too far of a walk from Montmarte, we decided to stroll over and wander the charming streets since Sara had not yet visited that part of the city and I was game to explore a little more. While wandering, we found some great little shops to look around in for window shopping, but our spidey-senses went off simultaneously and we both gravitated towards this lovely vintage shop. From the outside it looks super tiny, but the two small rooms upstairs with racks full of reasonably priced recently acquired items was only the beginning. The spiral staircase that led to the basement is where the real treasure hunt began. We spent almost a solid hour scouring racks and bins in the two room basement where we scored dresses, tops, leggings, and boots. Again, both of our tabs were less that €20. We realized that this would be our new go to shopping locale and got the card from the owner; we would definitely be back.


My haul for the day of shopping, all for less than €30.

     We wanted to take in the view of the city from Sacre Cour cathedral after our self indulgent afternoon, and being the dedicated students that we are, purchased a couple of pastries to enjoy while taking in the sites.

Pastries and Paris <3

          Once we reached the peak, we settled on a staircase to enjoy our treats and the view while listening to a string quartet entertaining the masses. What is this life I'm living? The clouds were starting to come in so we wandered back to the metro and called it a day before our early morning of class making our Saint Honore's the next day.

Saint Honore

   At practical the next morning, I slightly messed up my choux pastry (not enough salt, shoot) but still managed to complete my cake.
    I spent my afternoon at home and then met up with Allie in the evening for dinner. She had a couple of friends in town for the weekend and we decided to go on a food crawl so they could take in as much French cuisine as possible. We started at a pretty famous café in the 6th where poets and writers once used to dine and split some starters and a bottle of wine. We had a lovely mozzarella and tomato salad and I tried escargot for the first time. It was prepped in a pesto sauce, and I must say, I actually quite enjoyed it!

Starters at Café Flore

Steak Frites

     Since this was only our first stop, we moved on to a restaurant that only serves steak frites. The waitress comes to the table, asks how you would like your steak cooked, (rare and medium are the only options) marks your choice on the table, and returns with your plates prepared with their "secret sauce". I'm a big steak fan so I quite enjoyed the meal; while not the fanciest, it was a great place to try out.


The wine "cave".

     We moved on to a wine bar that Allie had read about, which is a standard bar upstairs, but a wine cave in the basement. The place is literally a stone tunnel bathed in red light and it's frequented by tons of locals around our age. We got a bottle of wine and found a spot in the corner to take in the music, people watch, and chat.

    Time crept up on us, and with an early start the next morning for our next demo, it was time to get home for a few hours of sleep. Saturday I packed my things and prepped for the day before heading to class to learn how to make Cake aux Fruits (way better than an American fruitcake, trust), lemon pound cake, and Madeleines. Sara and Allie had read about a techno parade that was happening later in the day in our school newsletter, so we had decided earlier in the week to check it out.
    After demo, we metro'd over to Sara's adorable neighborhood and got ready at her place. We walked over to the start point and went to a café to enjoy a beverage while we waited for some friends of Sara's that we were meeting (both named Tim, it was a tale of two Tim's) and for the parade to catch up to us.
     We had occasionally heard shouts and seen waves of people, but we knew that we weren't in the heart of it yet since techno music and 300k people would be pretty difficult to miss. Just as we suspected, we knew when we had found it; madness to say the least. The five of us spent an hour or two wandering with the parade, people watching as people climbed light posts, danced on bus stops, and enjoyed the festivities. We were surprised by how young most of the crowd was, it was a lot of young teenagers, but it was all entertaining and mesmerizing.

     Feeling like we had experienced the parade amongst the masses, we settled in the another café in the center of Republique and enjoyed a drink while watching the shenanigans continue. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon this way, until finally the parade continued without us and left the square. The most impressive thing was watching the clean up crew immediately making it look as if nothing had ever happened. No less than 30 street cleaning trucks swept up the area, and within an hour you would have had no idea that 300k techno lovers had been parading through the previously shut down street.
    It was hitting dinner time, and Tim 1 had to head into work (he's a chef, we all bonded over food, what else?) and the remaining four of us wandered over to a charming little walking street full of restaurants and cafes to enjoy some dinner. It was 6:45 and the kitchen wouldn't open until 7:30, so we enjoyed a basket of bread, cheese plate, and a bottle of wine. After a lovely meal and our long day, we said our goodbyes and headed to our respective homes.

Madeleine's and Cake aux Fruits

     I relaxed at home and did boring laundry on Sunday (school uniform included, necessary,) to take advantage of my only day off from class for another five days and woke Monday morning early to bake my Cake aux Fruit and Madeleine's.
     Yesterday was another demo day where we learned several puff pastry recipes. After class, Sara and I decided that we were going to take advantage of the sunshine while it lasted (81 degrees and not a cloud in sight!) and enjoyed a picnic at the Champ de Mars (the park at the base of the Eiffel). We stopped at a grocery store and picked up a baguette, a couple types of cheese, an eggplant spread, some figs, and a mini bottle of wine at the bargain price of €5 each. Ridiculous, and amazing, I know. Sara and I have decided to start a list of all the things in France that are more expensive than wine here. So far, we have Coca Cola (at a restaurant) and a pack of gum on the list. So silly. We hopped on the metro, wandered until we found a lovely spot near the base of the tower in the shade, and enjoyed our meal.

Hotel Plaza de Athenee

    After a lazy time at the park, we decided to venture around the city and perhaps stop for some ice cream. We never did find any ice cream that suited our fancy, but the beauty of living in this city is that you never know what treasures you'll stumble upon as you go and where your day might lead you. We ended up walking all over, finding exclusive designer shops to peruse and window shop, the Hotel Plaza de Athenee, (where Carrie stayed in the finale of SATC, total fan-girl nerd out moment for me) and up the Champs-Elysees. We ended our afternoon at a quiet café for a cup of café au lait and said our goodbyes until later this evening.

  I have a practical this evening making apple turnovers, and Palms (puff pastry heart shaped cookies) so this afternoon I'll take in the Fashion Museum with Allie and go for a run. Loving life, what more can I say?