la huitième semaine.

     Following croissant and brioche day, I enjoyed a quiet day at home on Thursday. Originally, we thought that that practical was the only class that we would have for the week because a theory class was not highlighted or well marked on our schedules. Luckily, some of the students caught the error and notified us on our Facebook group so that we wouldn't be counted as absent.

     So, Friday afternoon I made my way up to campus for theory class. After figuring out the weirdness of the scheduling with the Chef and translator, we listened to lecture for about an hour and headed down to the Winter Gardens. Nora asked if I wanted to join her and Joana to Angelina, a tea house infamous for it's incredible Chocolat Chaud, and I of course decided to join. Angelina's has been on my Paris list of to do's for awhile, and with the weather starting to turn I couldn't think of a better time to make the pilgrimage.

     We changed and headed to the metro to make our way to the 1st and then waited in the thankfully short (for Angelina) line anticipating out treat. The tea room is so much larger than I imagined, incredibly beautiful; we chatted and took it all in while waiting to be seated (we were cut in line a couple of times, obnoxious, but we tried to remain patient. Tough when chocolate is involved.) Finally, the hostess led us to the very back of the restaurant/tea room where we got out own table in the corner looking out at the whole place.

     Our very friendly waiter arrived and with a knowing smile took our order for troix Chocolat Chaud. A few minutes later he arrived with our mugs, the pot of Chocolat, and a bowl of Chantilly cream. We distributed the beverages and took our first sip. We all paused for a moment and looked at each other; definitely worth the hype. I had been coming down with a cold and the warm, rich liquid was exactly what I needed to soothe my throat. The chocolate was just the right balance of bitter and sweet with a wonderfully thick and smooth texture; this was definitely not the instant from back home. We spent the next couple of hours enjoying our warm beverages and chatting. Completely content and knowing that we would all be back again, we wandered back to the metro and said our farewells for the evening.



Just some of our Moroccan feast

    Saturday we all had plans to meet up to celebrate Nora and Alex's birthdays (they had been on Wednesday.) Alex texted me in the afternoon and invited me to a group dinner for Moroccan food before we met up with the rest of the team in Bastille at a wine bar. Seven of us met up at the restaurant around 8pm and immediately were impressed with the décor; it was elaborate and beautifully tiled, like being transported right into Morocco. A couple of the girls mentioned that one of their Cuisine Chefs (who is also Moroccan) had recommended the place, so I was looking forward to the food. We ate family style and tried a bunch of starters and tagines, each better than the last.

It was a feast, and I was stuffed by the end but ready to meet up with the rest of the group in Bastille.
    When we made it to Barbat, the birthday girl and a couple others were waiting for us in the lounge. We ordered some wine and made space for everyone as the rest of the group trickled in and we sat around swapping stories. After a couple of hours, we decided to move venues since we were in the mood for dancing and went down the street to a little hole in the wall we had seen on our way to le Barbat. We danced and hung out for a bit but Nora wanted to try out a real club made for dancing; so after striking out in Bastille we hailed a cab (after quite a bit of effort; where are all the cabs when you need them?) and went to a club called Showcase that Nora's friend had told her about. It's right on the Seine under a bridge, and while the cover was a little steep, the music and venue did not disappoint. I was along for the ride with the birthday girl, and we had a ton of fun dancing for the next 2-3 hours to the great music provided by the live DJ. We finally decided to call it a night and walked and talked the whole way back to my apartment to crash.

Our "Brunch" of Indian cuisine

    We had plans to meet up with Joana and Goni for Indian food the next day, so after sleeping in a little we got ready and metro'd over to the 6th to meet up with the other girls. The food was delicious and exactly what we were in the mood for (we'd been craving Indian and talking about it for most of the weekend). After swapping stories about the rest of our nights, we decided to take advantage of the incredible weather (sunny and 75 degrees in late October!) and walk around for a bit. We window shopped at a couple Patisseries that Goni's Paris food guide book suggested and then wandered over to the Rue de Seine to get some gelato from Grom. We wanted to enjoy our treats and relax in the Jardin de Luxembourg to fully embrace the sunshine. After waiting in the 30 minute line, we finally got our ice cream and wandered to the park.

     We found a cluster of four chairs near the grass (after unintentionally scaring a poor man away who was going for one of the chairs until he saw us, whoops) and

sat for a couple of hours seizing the day. The clouds were starting to roll in so we played it safe, headed for the metro and parted ways.

Pear Charlotte

     Monday I had class first thing where I demo and practical back to back to learn how to make a Pear Charlotte. The recipe didn't have any components that we hadn't done something similar for already, but the construction and process to make the cake was pretty involved and had lots of little steps. Chef was in a fun and jokey mood for demo which made it light hearted and fun, but we knew we were in for a bit of work during practical.
     The practical wasn't my strongest day in the kitchen (Murphy's law at work, couldn't find things etc.) but in the end I was still able to create and assemble my cake fairly well and felt good about checking the recipe of the list.

View from my window yesterday after some Autumn weather.

     Yesterday and today I had no class, so I took advantage by laying low after an eventful few days to work on chores around the house and start studying for our exam coming up this Friday. Tomorrow morning I have another demo, so for this evening studying is the name of the game. Crazy to think that I'm already only four lessons away from completing Basic, time flies!