semaine de sept.

     I made my way up to school for Stag on Thursday to learn all about the internships. Since we generally have all of our Demos with the Grand Diplome students (Cuisine and Patisserie) it was odd, quiet, and calm to have only half of us in the classroom for a meeting. Two of the administrators and one Chef explained what the timeline looks like for obtaining internships, what types of establishments we can work with, and the expectations that must be met to secure an internship. Speaking French is pretty high on the list along with the obvious skill, responsibility, and work ethic necessary to be placed. I will have to work with the chefs a bit on the timeline for my placement since I have obligations state side next summer, but I'll cross those bridges when I get there.
     After Stag, I went home, relaxed a bit and got ready because our student party was being hosted by the school that night. Every session they rent out a club for all of the students to attend and enjoy some food and drinks and socialize with one another. Coincidentally, my friend Joana's birthday was also the next day so it was an opportunity for all of us to get together and celebrate with her a bit as well.
     The party was from 7-Midnight, so Sara and I met up around 7:30 in the same district as the party to get a glass of wine before heading over to the party together. When we wandered to find the party, we found the street but the club had changed names since the event was originally planned by the school, so after about five minutes of strolling up and down the street, we recognized a face from school and followed them into the club. We arrived around at 8:15 and hardly anyone had arrived yet. We grabbed some food and found a table of girls that we knew from school and chatted and enjoyed some hors d'oeuvres for about an hour until the rest of our friends started trickling in.

Some of the LCB team

     Pretty soon, the whole team arrived and we were all bunched into our booth enjoying the free food, drinks, and music. About an hour later we were all on the dance floor to the eclectic mix of middle school era hip hop, Beyoncé, and Michael Jackson. At midnight, we all sang Happy Birthday and toasted Joana.
    The LCB party was ending, so a few of us decided to head over to the bar with the wine cave that Allie and I had gone to a few weeks back for a night cap and to continue the birthday celebration.


Wine cave adventures.

    An hour or so later after some good chats and entertaining people watching we decided to call it a night and piled into an Uber to take us all home. The driver was friendly but his navigation was not working so well, so what should have been about a 20-30 minute ride to get five of us home turned into an hour long adventure with me as the last stop. Oh well, it made for a good story and we all made it home safely which was the important thing.

Caramelized Pear Tart

     The next afternoon I had my practical to make the Caramalized pear and crisp almond crust tart. the meringue topping meant another day whisking our lives away but in the end I was pretty pleased with my piping and the finished product. Since I the recipe wasn't my favorite (not a huge raisin fan) and I was holding out for the next days demo (Croissant and Brioche, yay!) I left my tart in the Winter Garden for others to enjoy.
     I woke up early on Saturday and trekked through some light rain in the darkness super excited about demo, it was a double class schedule to allow enough time to prep and proof the croissant and brioche dough. Our practical was also going to be a double so a lot of the demo involved covering the organization and timing of the day to accomplish everything in time (we'd be prepping four different recipes).

Chef's incredible Croissants et Pain aux Chocolat

    The demo was amazing. Chef had prepped the dough the night before for us so that it would be super flavorful and had come in two hours early to let the most of the croissants proof so that we could all enjoy the highest quality product possible. He said that he didn't want to be pretentious, but that the croissants would be the best that we had ever had and may even be the best we will have while we're in Paris. He didn't lie. The pastries were not only beautiful, they were so delicious. They were flaky on the outside, and buttery and melt in your mouth amazing in the center. He and the assistant cut up the pastries and laid them out on the demo counter, which our entire class promptly devoured. Best early morning breakfast demo ever.
    We had a break in between the croissants demo and completion of the brioche, so we all hung out in the winter garden until it was time to head back. Chef prepared at least 6 different types of brioche presentations and variations, and once again we devoured the spoils pretty quickly at the end of demo.

Falafel and Fries

     After class, Sara wanted to head back to E.Dehllerin to purchase a rolling pin to practice and we both were in the mood for a little vintage shopping for presents etc. We spent the afternoon wandering and shopping, and suddenly it was dinner time. We were in the Marais (adorable area of Paris with tons of shops and cafes, etc.) and Sara knew that we were near the place boasting the best falafel in Paris. We stopped in and enjoyed some spicy and delicious falafel and a bowl of French fries that we'd been craving.
    After our meal, we were re-fueled for a couple more hours of wandering, and eventually found ourselves back on the lovely Rue Montorgueil. We'd been walking around for about 6 or 7 hours by then, and once again, were craving something sweet. We went on a mission to find some ice cream and eventually found a sweet little DIY Fro-Yo place. I was super excited because it felt familiar and Sara was excited because she had never been to a frozen yogurt place like it before. We made our yogurt sundaes and sat on some stools outside people watching before calling it a night, heading to the metro, and saying our goodbyes for the evening.
   On Sunday I slept in and made plans to walk to a vintage shop that Sara and I had wanted to check out the day before but was closed. After about an hour of walking in the rain, I made it to the shop to find a handwritten sign noting that it would also be closed for the day despite its regular hours. Joy. I had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with friends at a restaurant for Joana's birthday round two, so I headed to the neighborhood near the restaurant and walked around a bit more before deciding to warm up and dry off in a Starbucks for a bit to kill some time. Slightly lame, I'm aware, but it was nice to have some familiarity on a rainy Sunday. I enjoyed my Machiatto and a book for a couple of hours before meeting everyone at Candelaria, a cantina and bar that I had been wanting to try out since I read about it in the school gazette.
     While it was small and we were extra close and cozy with our large group (a common occurrence for our mob), the bar itself was awesome. The front looks like a typical hole in the wall cantina, but the tacos are amazing. through the door in the back all speak-easy like you're transported into the hip décor and dim lighting of the bar area which had some delicious cocktails. What I was most excited about though, was that they had Pisco, which I had not had in over 2 years since Peru. After I ordered a Pisco sour, it became a trend and suddenly everyone seemed to have one in their hand. Delicious. After a few hours and a couple of drinks, we said our goodbyes and called it a night.
     On Tuesday I ventured out the financial district of Paris and had an appointment to open a bank account. My advisor was amazingly helpful, spoke English, (the reason I chose the bank, I didn't trust my French enough to operate my finances successfully) and had my account all set up and ready to go in less than an hour. I wandered home enjoying my small victory.

Brioche and Croissants galore.

     Bright (or dark in reality) and early Wednesday I made my way to school for Brioche and Croissant practical. I had been stressed and slightly worried about the challenge and all of the work that went into the double day, but was pleasantly surprised. The day proved to be much more relaxed and enjoyable then I originally expected and ended up being one of my favorite practicals. (The delicious finished product helped as well). In the end, there was definite room for improvement and my croissants definitely could be flakier, but overall I felt good about the results and learned enough to improve on them next time.