Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Seems like my weekend keeps moving forward. I decided to work Sundays, so now I get Mondays and Tuesdays off. There’s nothing much to do in Paris on Sundays anyway (for a non-museum lover like me), except go to church and do laundry. Saturday was a very busy day chez Pierre Hermé – the sun came out, it was 56°F (this is warm considering we’ve been at 30-32°F the whole week) – everyone was outside, eating, drinking coffee, shopping – buying pastries at Pierre Hermé! I was working like crazy, making Ispahans nonstop. We anticipated the Saturday crowd and so I made 4 trays of Ispahans (120) in addition to 12 bigger cakes the day before. I made 120 more on Saturday, and when we checked the fridge Sunday morning – we sold out!!! Can you believe that? How I wish my patisserie would do this well… We were all très très très fatigués. I needed the weekend badly.

As always, Monday was my bistro day. I went all the way to the 9th arrondisement to sample Casa Olympe, a very popular bistro with a woman chef! I came just in time, before the place filled up with businessmen in suits. I heard the two suits next to me thanking the waitress for seating a charming girl next to them. They said they have a very good view for lunch. Heh. Feels nice to be complimented for once, after feeling ugly and dumb in the kitchen for 2 months now. I still felt quite uneasy being all alone in my table, but when my food came I forgot all about it. I took the 35 euro menu (you really have no choice but to take the prix fixe) and started with a Chestnut Pancake with Poached Egg and Lardons, followed by Tuna with Pearl Onions over Eggplant, and Poached Pear in Red Wine. Very satisfying.

A L'Etoile d'Or -- discovering Denise Acabo's food finds

After lunch I decided to visit A L’Etoile D’Or, a food specialty shop selling rare finds from all over France. The patronne, Denise Acabo, is a charming lady dressed up in a preppy high school uniform, with her red hair in tresses. Apparently she’s quite famous – mentioned in dozens of books and magazines, from Patricia Well’s Food Lover’s Guide to Japanese pastry books, and even Marie Claire! I decided to make conversation and mentioned that I was working as a stagiare at Pierre Hermé – I ended up staying in her shop for over an hour – she showed me her collection of magazine articles dating back to 1984 – with stories of famous chefs and their restaurants and patisseries. She told me about her favorite patisseries and what I should get there, which restaurants she loved and which ones disappointed her. She was really chatty, and I didn’t even have to say anything except “Ah, oui?”. I ended up getting a few things, like Bernachon chocolate (you can only find this in Bernachon’s shop in Lyon, but Mme. Acabo managed to become the exclusive distributor in Paris), a small bottle of Banyuls wine (she said I should drink some with chocolate), and Sucre de Pomme from Rouen.

Since Mme. Acabo was raving about Gerard Mulot’s patisserie, I decided to stop by his shop and get a few things on my way home. I got a Tarte aux Fraises des Bois (Wild Strawberry Tart), Mabillon (caramel entremets with apricots), and Paris Brest (Choux Pastry ring with Praliné Buttercream). Tasting all these pastries comes with a price – I gained 2 lbs. already. I have to find some other passion that’s calorie free.

Gerard Mulot’s Patisserie in the 6th	Mulot’s Window Display
Mabillon, Tarte aux Fraises des Bois, Paris Brest	Casa Olympe

Posted by Karen @ 01:20 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Work has been pas mal the past few days. Christmas rush is over, Valentine’s rush is over – there’s only Easter left, but that’s not for another month or so. I’ve been helping André with the viennoiseries – croissants, pains aux chocolats (croissant dough with chocolates), kugelhopfs (brioche with dried fruit immersed in melted butter, almond syrup and sugar – specialty of the Alsace region), cannelés, Millefeuille Praliné (puff pastry with praliné buttercream and crunchy chocolate layer) and other buttery delights. You won’t want to know how much butter goes into those things, but they’re ‘Oh so good!’. We only make about 15 kugelhopfs a day, so if you’re planning to visit the boutique and get some, come in the morning, around 11am! That’s when they just come out. Mmm.

I am feeling much better about my French conversation skills. We had a guest stagiare from Stephane Vandermeech’s patisserie in the 12th (famous for his Millefeuille and Galette des Rois). She worked with us for 2 days, and she was surprised that I’ve only been in France for 3 months. I could actually carry out a conversation with her and ask much better questions than just ‘Ça va?’, heh.

Finally got to try Le Café des Delices last Monday (I was the first customer for lunch -- I arrived at noon; the French usually lunch at 1pm). Since I work Saturdays, I get Mondays off now. Not bad, coz’ I get to try a few bistros that are only open M-F.
Some pictures I took this weekend…

Saturday – Got some cakes from Laurent Duchêne
Monday -- Had a wonderful lunch at Le Café des Delices	Then bought an egg tart at Maison Kayser next door
Then tried to walk off the calories in the Luxembourg Gardens

Posted by Karen @ 07:56 AM PST [Link]

Friday, February 14, 2003

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! My Valentine's day was spent at work, sticking rose petals and raspberries to heart-shaped Ispahan (see picture in previous entry) cakes. When I got out at 2pm, there was a line outside Pierre Hermé’s shop.

What is Valentine's day like in Paris? Well, same as anywhere I think. I saw a few guys walking home with roses, saw heart shaped stamps at the post office, and I know Galeries Lafayette has a big party tonight for singles -- they organized the "7 minute date" so that each person can meet a lot of people in one night. As for the guys in the kitchen, some are going out to dinner with their girlfriends, and Chef Damien said he might be late tomorrow because Valentine's Day is THE night for great you know what. As for me, I stayed home and did my laundry; but hey, although my valentine is thousands of miles away, he sent me roses -- I feel the love. :)

Posted by Karen @ 12:00 PM PST [Link]

Monday, February 10, 2003

Sleepy. Sore. Tired. Been feeling like this since last week. They finally switched me to a different kitchen -- I now work behind Pierre Hermé’s boutique in the 6th arrondisement, along with 6 guys with nothing but sex in the head. Typical kitchen. Wake up at 5am and take the metro with one eye closed. Been really tough, especially in this freezing weather. But I finally got to meet Mr. Hermé! He's there everyday, but he doesn't really care who I am -- I just shake his hand in the morning, say Bonjour!, and that's it.

I work in the chocolaterie section with Chef Olivier and Quentin; been helping them prepare for the valentine rush. My first day we made hundreds of boxes of chocolates, and I brought home 3 bags full of ‘rejects’. Yum, enough to last me a couple of months. Mr. Hermé’s chocolates are reputedly the best in Paris right now, according to Edward Behr (Art of Eating No. 60). If you get a chance to buy some – try the milk chocolate with passion fruit ganache, and the one with sesame nougatine… Mmm…

The cakes will equally blow you away. So much work goes into each, definitely worth the 3-4 euros you’ll spend. Here’s a little sampler I brought home with me:

Ispahan - macaron cake filled with rose buttercream, lychees, raspberries	Tartelette au Cafe - shortbread crust, coffee ganache, coffee chantilly
Surprise - meringue shell, almond biscuit, strawberry and exotic fruit marmelade (this is the best!)	Carre Blanc - poached pears, caramel cream, some berry thing

I've decided to try all the top rated patisseries here in Paris, so aside from Pierre Hermé, these are some of the places on my list: Laurent Duchene, Mulot, Lahrer, Sadaharu Aoki, La Maison du Chocolat, Jean Paul Hevin, Peltier, Kaiser, Sucre Cacao. I passed by Sadaharu Aoki's boutique last Friday -- this seems to be the most recommended one by my colleagues at Pierre Hermé. The boutique looks very similar to Pierre Hermé's -- the cakes were beautifully decorated and very elegant as well, but the taste was far from Mr. Hermé's stuff. With Pierre Hermé's cakes, you get a wide range of flavors that all complement each other. It just really opens your mind to new tastes. Here's a sampler from Sadaharu Aoki's boutique:

Aoki Winter Sampler - Symphonie, Mont Blanc, Green Tea Millefeuille, Choco Vanilla Cake	Mont Blanc - chestnut cream, blueberry compote (I think), shortbread crust, chantilly
Symphonie - macaron, raspberries, darjeeling and vanilla pastry cream	Chocolate Vanilla Cake with Praliné - white chocolate, praline ganache, hazelnut dacquoise

Posted by Karen @ 05:34 AM PST [Link]

Saturday, February 1, 2003

Shortly after I wrote the previous entry, I was wondering why Garry hadn't called to greet me yet, and I was secretly daydreaming about the possibility that he could be in Charles de Gaulle airport right now and be at my apartment at any moment. I was thinking, "Hmm... I called him last night and couldn't reach him, and he said something about calling me up this morning and he didn't... maybe he's coming..." I didn't want to be too hopeful because there was a good chance he just fell asleep in his room and forgot to call. Anyway, I didn't want to leave the house, because maybe, he did decide to take the 12 hour flight from SFO to Paris for just 2 days despite all the stuff he has to do at work. "Yeah, right," I said, but before you know it, the doorbell rang and we were hugging each other. This is THE birthday.

All happy with my cake from Picard!	Didn't have real candles so we used tealights instead.
Ate too much, I look sleepy already.	The Best Gift Ever!

He presented me with a scrapbook with selected pictures from the two and a half years we've been together. I think it's the sweetest gift I've ever received. He also made reservations for Ze Kitchen Gallerie tonight and Tour d'Argent tomorrow. So I'm going to eat out, everyone in my family called, and Garry's here -- Happy Birthday to me. :)

Posted by Karen @ 07:52 AM PST [Link]

Joyeux Anniversaire à moi! I always feel quite low around my birthday, and I especially felt lonely this year because I knew I would be spending it alone. To make things worse, I was starting to get frustrated at work. Although I understand written French pretty well, I still have a hard time when people speak at a normal pace, especially in an informal setting; thus, in the kitchen I often feel dumb and inept, and I’m afraid my colleagues might feel the same way about me. Sometimes I want to explain why I wasn’t able to arrange the parchment papers, or why I had to put the pistachio ganache in this bowl, and blah blah, but it’s too much of an effort. They don’t have time to wait for me to think about my explanation and I don’t have time to think about it either. And when I bring Chef Eddy 50g of water instead of 500g, all I can do is shrug my shoulders and paint a sorry expression on my face. What they don’t know is when they tell me to do something, like to prepare cinq cent gram d’eau, deux cent cinquante gram du sucre, trois cent gram du miel, etc. etc., I have to process all that in my head, translating the numbers and the ingredients – but in the kitchen, everything is vite vite vite (quick quick quick), and the Chef does not give a damn about embarrassing you in front of everyone else too. When you do something wrong, everyone else will know about it. Chef Eddy will shout it to the world, “Chapeau Mademoiselle!” (Well done! -- sarcastically)

Pierre Hermé Laboratoire -- where I work right now. This is not his boutique, so it looks quite shabby.

I was thinking, should I tell them it’s my birthday tomorrow? Will it make a difference at all? Would I feel better being greeted by people I hardly know? Finally, I told Michel, the 19 year old blond hair blue-eyed patissier from Bretagne (Brittany), whom Eddy loves to tease because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. “Il faut le dire Karen” (You have to tell us these things). Before then, he was joking around, saying we should all go out to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate Chinese New Year, so when he found out it was my birthday, he said we should definitely go out to dinner and a few drinks. So he treated me to a Japanese restaurant around the corner, and we went to a bar in Porte d’Orleans called Auto Passage (not sure if this is the name, I forgot already) and met up with his friends Pierre, Vanessa, Charlotte, Alexander, 17-19 year olds, but I felt quite comfortable with them. One of their older friends, Christophe, came and joined us later, they called him ‘Papa,’ and at first I thought it was because he was older (32), but I later found out he was going to be a priest in 18 months!

So I ordered a mojito and we waited till 12am and they all sang “Happy Birthday to you!” (in English!) So to answer my question -- Yes! It made me feel better to be greeted by people I hardly know. :)

I have a whole day left for my birthday -- so far, my mom and my two best friends have called already. My mom said she'll call me several times today, so I won't feel alone. She's so sweet. :) Well, gotta get offline now, somebody might be calling! :)

Posted by Karen @ 01:44 AM PST [Link]