Tuesday, December 24, 2002

I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow. Everything just seemed to pass by so fast -- Garry and I were window-shopping at La Grande Epicerie, this food mecca for gourmands, and I suddenly felt homesick after hearing 'The First Noel'. My first Christmas away from home, and I can say it's very different; in fact, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Yes, I didn't have to kill myself shopping for people, but maybe I like that better. It's wonderful to be here with Garry, I'm happy, but something's missing -- maybe the kids wearing their Santa hats, my dad singing his Christmas music, and my mom's voice, greeting everyone a Merry Christmas, and everyone else greeting Kris a Happy Birthday. I'll call them later...

Walking By Ile St. Louis Above the Seine River

Garry and I have been spending the past few days walking and eating around Paris. I made reservations at some of the best restaurants, and so far, we've tried Michel Rostang and Le Carré des Feuillants, of which we found the latter to be one of the best, a great introduction to white and black truffles. We also discovered a sweet white wine we liked, from Jurançon, the region where Alain Dutournier, the chef and proprietor, came from. The only bad thing about eating out... we both feel like pigs and gluttons afterwards. Well, the only way for me to know how to cook good food is to try them -- C'est la vie!

Got my Patisserie Diploma already! Here's a picture of me with Chef Nicolas Bernardé, receiving my diploma last December 20...

Patisserie Diploma -- I finally get to wear the Toque Blanche (the hat)

Posted by Karen @ 02:19 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

I'm done with class! Yey! We ended our last day with champagne and petits fours. I think everyone did pretty well today.

My Sugar Final

Sugar Gallery

Posted by Karen @ 02:42 PM PST [Link]

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

I've been practising my sugar work for the big 6 hour final tomorrow... can't wait for my classes to be over! Here's a prototype of what I'm doing tomorrow. Been practising it for 2 days now. Tomorrow I hope I'll do better, but I'm pretty happy with this one already.

Garry's arriving on Thursday, just in time for my graduation on Friday. We're going to the famous Paradis Latin (French Cabaret) for a dinner and a show with the rest of the class. Should be fun.

Went to the Prefecture de Police today -- got the Carte de Sejour stamp on my passport! Yeah! I can travel now. Still have to go for my medical checkup though, and from what I've heard, you have to spend 2 hours going from room to room, getting X-rays and having your cellulite checked out. Heh.

Had lunch at Angelina's, where they serve this ultra rich hot chocolate. Basically, it's a small pitcher of melted chocolate. Yum... but oh do I feel the flab!

Posted by Karen @ 05:52 AM PST [Link]

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

We had our first sugar day today. Chef Pascal showed us how to use poured, pulled, and boiled sugar for geometric shapes, flowers, ribbons, and leaves. During our practical, we only used poured and boiled sugar, tomorrow we’ll get down to the harder stuff like roses and leaves. Working with sugar is quite difficult; similar to chocolate, you have to pay attention to the temperature. Too hot and you won’t be able to shape it correctly, too cold and it won’t harden. Although I screwed up my first batch of poured sugar because I forgot to put in the glucose, my succeeding attempts went by smoothly and I’m quite happy with my sugar piece today. I lucked out with my chosen color combination -- my chef liked the ‘harmony’ of my colors… By the end of this week, we should have something like what Chef Pascal made today. Note that everything in the piece is made from sugar. Cool huh? :)

Posted by Karen @ 01:54 PM PST [Link]

Monday, December 9, 2002

Today was a fun and relaxing one – we were free to do what we wanted with pastillage (paste made of powdered sugar, cornstarch, water and gelatin). The hardest part was making the pastillage and kneading it so it’ll be smooth; after that, you just have to color, roll, and shape! I made a fish and two hats. :)

Posted by Karen @ 03:11 PM PST [Link]

Saturday, December 7, 2002

I’m so glad the week is over. We had another 9 hour session yesterday, ending with another Examen Blanc, this time making a chocolate centerpiece of our own design. I thought I was the only one nervous about this test, but my friend was telling us she couldn’t sleep because she kept thinking of her chocolate centerpiece. I was meditating in the morning in the hopes that some divine intervention would inspire me to create something impressive; but alas, 10 minutes into the test, and I still had no idea what I was doing. I just started tempering chocolate and went from there… I came up with this futuristic chocolate centerpiece.

Some Outer Space Thing with Chocolate

Chocolate Roses

--some chocolate hearts from the chef
--Chef Nicolas's gigantic centerpiece and other ideas

Posted by Karen @ 02:10 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

I had class for 9 straight hours today. After the first 3 hours, my head was spinning, stomach growling, and I could hardly smile. Today was chocolate day. I had reason to dread this day. I’ve tried to temper chocolate before and have never managed to get it right. Chocolate is very sensitive – you have to follow the temperature curve or it won’t be brilliant, it could form bubbles and might not even harden. The temperatures differ for white, milk, and dark. Dark chocolate for example, you have to bring it up to 45°C, then lower it to 27°C, then raise it back up to 32°C. If you raise the temperature higher by 1 or 2 degrees, then you have to start over.

Chocolate Art

We made chocolates filled with praliné, and another type filled with caramel. In the evening we made our chocolate centerpieces – I am quite disappointed with mine. My chef lined up all our centerpieces right next to each other, and he commented on them one by one. It was quite obvious than I wasn’t an artist, but I refuse to let this get me down.

I didn't have time to write about our day with Pâte d'Amande (Marzipan). It was similar to playing with Play-doh.

The snail really doesn't belong with the chicks but I didn't have enough space

Posted by Karen @ 03:56 PM PST [Link]

Sunday, December 1, 2002

Mom’s here! Like all moms, she came with lots of things I didn’t need. I guess that’s one of the perks of having a mom, you know there’s always someone thinking about you more than you think of yourself.

Can’t believe it’s Sunday already. Another hard week coming up… last week was a very tiring one for me. We ended our week with a ‘White Exam’ or ‘Examen Blanc’, consisting of two hot restaurant desserts – Blinis de Fruits Rouges En Gratin (Gratin with Blinis and Berries), and Sablé Breton Aux Framboises (Brittany Shortbread with Raspberries). I did well with one plate, but the other one lacked some oomph. Oh well, it was enough to pass…

After the test we had another demo and practical, and we made different types of confections, Pâte de Fruits, Pineapple Jam, Marron Glacés (Candied Chestnuts – very expensive stuff!), and White Chocolate with Nuts.

Posted by Karen @ 01:32 AM PST [Link]