semaine de six.

     Thursday I woke up and got ready to head to the Eiffel for our class boat tour. It was fun to see everyone all dolled up and out of chef's whites. We boarded the boat which was insanely stuffy and warm and enjoyed a glass of bubbly while chatting and fanning ourselves at our table before we took off.
    The Chefs and administration welcomed us to the boat, talked about the menu they had selected for the day, and gave us a handout to fill out and return with questions about the menu. With required attendance, there had to be some scholarly portion right?


First Course, Scallops

    Pretty soon, our first course was arriving and we all enjoyed our scallops served in coral sauce. Some of those who chose the vegetarian option or n seafood menu also shared their first course with us, and in classic foodie fashion we all dissected and discussed the dishes. Since wine pairings were included with every course as well, some of my friends who are taking the first wine course module currently also impressed us with their knowledge and abilities in sharing the finer points of the white wine we were enjoying.

Second course, Duck Rossini

     Still in need of fresh air, we all wandered outside to cool down a bit before the second course arrived. We took in the sights along the Seine and took cheesy tourist-y photos together and some took selfies with the Chefs who had joined us for the cruise. The second course was being delivered so we returned to the table to enjoy our Rossini duck with turnips. Mine was prepared well, but some people said that their meat was a little over done (the crew was cooking for a lot of people); we all agreed that the mashed potatoes were a hit. More warm food in the warm environment meant that we were in need of more fresh air though, so as the boat was turning around to head back, we stepped outside again to enjoy the sights some more before our dessert showed up.
     For dessert, the Chefs from school decided to go with the classic Crepes Suzette. They were good,

Dessert, Crepes Suzette

but since we were all still sweltering, we all made plans to get some ice cream together after we docked. What can I say, we're foodies? Also, there's always room for ice cream!
     After we docked, our group wandered up to the Champs de Mars to be precious and tourist-y and take a group photo in front of the Eiffel while we were all dolled up. Once we accomplished our mission, we trekked to the metro to head over to Cite for the best ice cream in the city at Berthillon. I got a Caramel nougat cone which did not disappoint, but we all shared little bites to try the other delectable offerings as well. We then stopped for some wine and headed to our friends apartment nearby to hang out for a few more hours. Sara and I were chatting and since we had no class until Monday, we decided that the following day would be the perfect opportunity to take a day trip to somewhere in the French countryside. She left to head home and a few of us realized that the day had escaped and we were hungry for dinner. (Yes, it sounds like all we do is eat, which is partially true, but there's plenty of walking etc. in between meals...most of the time haha). My friends Joana and Nora told us all about a place that apparently has amazing sandwiches on focaccia bread in Saint Germain de Pres in the 6th, so we ventured away from Cite and began walking to the 6th. About halfway there, we lost part of the group who no longer wanted to walk, so Nora, Joana, Alex and I continued on our mission for sandwiches.
    They were worth the walk. The girls had not lied, I had a salmon sandwich with walnuts and arugula and it was amazing focaccia bread. I'm sure I'll be back. Saint Germain des Pres is also home to Grom, a gelato place just down the street from our sandwich shop. For the second time that day, we decided to stop for a little gelato on our way to the metro. I enjoyed my Tiramisu and salted caramel all the way home when I finally got there at about 11pm.

     The next day I woke up and started chatting with Sara and researching different day trips that we could do. We both decided that a trip to Giverny to see Claude Monet's home and garden's and the impressionist museum sounded like the perfect sunny Friday. We met up at about 12:30 and caught the train which was only about an hour ride. We love Paris, but we were super excited to get into the countryside for a bit to take in some of the charms it had to offer. We stepped off of the train and decided to walk the 5km to the Museum and Garden to fully enjoy and appreciate the day.
    Walking through the quaint streets and across the Seine I felt like I was walking through a fairy tale since the buildings and foliage were exactly as you would imagine them. It was easy to see how and why an artist such as Monet would reside and find so much inspiration here.
     Along our walk, we saw a charming restaurant in a garden with amazing smells wafting from the kitchens and decided
that we were definitely going to return there for lunch/dinner later.
     We went to the ticketing office, purchased our combined house/garden and museum tour tickets, and entered into Monet's garden oasis. We were here in early fall, I can only imagine the grounds in spring and summer; I'll definitely have to come back, because why not?
     We wandered through the flowers for awhile and then headed down to the Japanese garden and pond to see what we were in-a-very-cliché-but-not-ashamed-way excited to see; Monet's water lilies. We walked down the stairs and through the tunnel to the water garden and instantly understood the attraction and inspiration.
     Despite the fellow tourists, the garden is so serene and beautiful; we were pinching ourselves that we were actually there.
    After taking a bazillion pictures and fully appreciating the water garden, we worked our way back up to the house to tour that as well. The old country house is extremely vibrant and colorful; the walls are covered with Asian art that must have inspired him and brought him joy. We toured the upstairs first and then found ourselves in his studio, which to both of our shock, has a bunch of his original paintings hanging about, including a couple of my favorites since I was a little girl.

View from Monet's bedroom

The trip just kept getting better and better. We both loved the charm of his bright yellow dining
room and dreamed of cooking in the large country kitchen. We wandered the gardens a little more and then decided to go back to the garden restaurant before checking out the Impressionist Museum.
     We split a carafe of Rose with our 3 course meal and split and enjoyed our tartine and walnut salad appetizers. Sara had Salmon for her entrée and I had lamb. We then split and shared our desserts, mine was the apple crumble and hers a caramel cream parfait. It was a decadent way to spend the day, but we were loving it.
   After our meal we wandered down the road back to the Museum, and since it was closing in about 30 minutes, we essentially had the run of it to fully take in the art, which was wonderful. It was a very cultured evening, and as they shut down the museum we made our way to the shuttle back to the train station. We had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we wandered some more around the town to take all of it in.
    We made it back into the city about 9pm, and decided that on Sunday we would keep the culture train running and take advantage of the free museum day and check out the Louvre. After a quiet Saturday. we knew that the queue for the museum would be madness, so we wanted to make it to the Louvre as close to when it opened as possible. We met up right as the museum was opening at 9am, and waiting in line for 30-40 minutes before making it inside.

Even the ceilings in the Louvre are stunning

    In need of food and caffeine, we stopped for a coffee and pastry before heading into the amazing maze that is the Louvre. We decided that our best bet was to start with the Mona Lisa to get there before the massive crowds formed and then leisurely go from there. Our plan worked pretty well, and after checking out Mona, we spent the next 6 hours with a brief lunch break wandering around the halls and taking in as much as possible.

    I knew that the place was massive, but it was so incredible to go from room to room, seeing Raphael's masterpieces one minute and ancient Greek and roman sculptures the next. We would start in Ancient Egypt and turn a corner into Marie Antoinette's travelling tea set. Down the steps we were in a Medieval dungeon and then we were faced with Hammurabi's Code of Laws. I fell in Louvre with the place (pun intended) and made a plan to make a monthly pilgrimage on the free Sundays to cover as much ground as possible and take in as much as it has to offer. It's fairly overwhelming and after a few hours you become over saturated with the immensity and grandeur of it all.
     After we left, we thought that we might try heading to Angelina for the famous Chocolat Chaud, but the line was massive so we headed for the metro and said our goodbyes.
    Monday morning I had a demo for all kinds of delicious tartelettes. Chef prepared six different kinds of tarts, all delicious, but we would only be making two in our practical the following evening; orange and chocolate. I was surprised after the demo to find that the citron (lemon) and orange tarts were my absolute favorites from demo. The orange especially was creamy and delicious; the orange wasn't too overpowering but just enough to flavor the tartelettes. Needless to say, I was excited to get in the kitchen the next day to make them myself. After demo, Allie and I decided to wander up to the 7th to check out an American Library that she had read about. While we walked we were able to correctly give a family of tourists directions somewhere and were pretty pleased with ourselves.
     Unfortunately, the library was closed when we got there, but in typical Paris fashion there was little treasures and plenty to see as we wandered. I swear there's something surprising and exciting to stumble upon every day, whether it's the façade on a building, some street art graffiti, or another little café to try out for another excellent meal. After meandering around the 7th and along the Seine a bit more, we walked back to our respective homes for the evening, planning to check out the library another time.
     On Tuesday, the practical went well and I was pleased with the final product, and the flavors were still delicious.
     Today we had a demo for a caramelized pear tart and Chef also made honey filled barquettes, which was the class favorite of the two recipes. We'll be making the pear tart in practical on Friday though, which is good since I won't bring the pear tart home and I still have a bunch of tarts and orange pastry cream in my fridge at home.
     After demo, two of the groups hung around to have our one on one meetings with Chef since we're now halfway through the basic course. Basically, the Chef gave us a copy of our grades and our class average so that we can compare our progress and see what we've been doing well and where we need to improve. Overall, our group's average was very high and I was right on par, so the Chef said that I was doing well and French Chefs are harsh graders; all of this was good news, I was doing well and I need not worry. Whew!
    Tomorrow we have Stag, where we will get to learn more about the internships following graduation from Superior next summer; so I'm excited to hear what options might be available!