I have only had class for 2 days but I was happy for the weekend to arrive. Laundry was top priority. This is something I'll be doing a lot since I only have 3 uniform tops, 3 aprons, and 3 dish towels. They need to be kept clean because appearance and uniform cleanliness are part of the grading. The washer in this apartment is unlike any I have ever seen before. The knobs and dials on it were a complete mystery. Luckily the instructions are here in the apartment. Unluckily, they are in French. Thanks to cartoon drawings and about 30 minutes of translating, I was able to figure out how to use it for the first time a week ago. The wash cycle takes 2 to 3 hours depending on your temperature selection! Another peculiar aspect of many French apartments is their lack of a dryer! Don't ask me why. If I come back for the next course, I'll make sure to get a place with a dryer. So, my place resembles a shack in the barrios with clothes hanging all over the place.
Unrelated side note: When I moved in here 2 weeks ago, I heard the sound of Opera from the apartment above. It was a mixture of Opera played on a stereo and the apartment resident actually singing along. I am no expert and opera is not my cup of tea, but they guy sounded pretty good... like a professional. At first I thought..this could be charming...European...a taste of Italy in France...Now, 2 weeks later, I want to KILL him! Luckily for me, I think he is employed, because I only seem to get the opera on a limited schedule. Now that I have vented.....
Sjoerd and Jayne invited me over for dinner last night (Saturday) along with Sjoerd's Intermediate Cuisine classmate Cristina from Spain. The dinner was focussed around Vacherin cheese. I researched the cheese before dinner so that I could match a nice wine with it and discovered a fascinating story on this cheese. What makes the cheese special is that it's only available in the winter months. Additionally, since we are all intrigued by the forbidden, a tantalizing fact about Vacherin is that it was banned in the USA. Here is the history of the cheese if you're interested Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club - Cheese Club. Jayne placed the cheese in the oven to soften it and served it along with an array of veggies and fruits. We just drizzled it on the food. It was very tasty. The wine I brought was a White Burgundy which was recommended by my local wine shop as a match for the cheese. Cristina brought a delicious mixed berry tart to finish off the meal. Yum. Thanks for a nice dinner guys. By the way, if you're interested in following Sjoerd's Intermediate Cuisine adventures you can visit his blog at Sjoerd's adventures @ Le Cordon Bleu Intermediate Cuisine Paris 2009 . He also has a link for his blog from his time in the Basic course last year which has a great assessment and summation of LCB.
Today I took a walk to the Sunday Bastille Market famed for being the largest street market in Paris. The market is located at Place de la Bastille where it runs along one of the streets that spoke out of the circle. As I neared the Bastille, I could see many people with their personal shopping carts in tow, walking from all different directions toward the center of the circle as if we were all being drawn by some magnet to the same spot. This was the place to be! It was enormous (think Seattle's Pike Street market times 10 or 20) with a dizzying selection of produce, fish, meats, herbs, etc...It was fun walking around and seeing the displays. I walked for about an hour and I am not sure that I actually saw the entire thing. I managed to load up on some goods for the week. I liked the look of this mushroom stand. Very cool! Below is a cheese vendor. I tasted some cheese from him, but did not buy any.
Unrelated side note: When I moved in here 2 weeks ago, I heard the sound of Opera from the apartment above. It was a mixture of Opera played on a stereo and the apartment resident actually singing along. I am no expert and opera is not my cup of tea, but they guy sounded pretty good... like a professional. At first I thought..this could be charming...European...a taste of Italy in France...Now, 2 weeks later, I want to KILL him! Luckily for me, I think he is employed, because I only seem to get the opera on a limited schedule. Now that I have vented.....
Today I took a walk to the Sunday Bastille Market famed for being the largest street market in Paris. The market is located at Place de la Bastille where it runs along one of the streets that spoke out of the circle. As I neared the Bastille, I could see many people with their personal shopping carts in tow, walking from all different directions toward the center of the circle as if we were all being drawn by some magnet to the same spot. This was the place to be! It was enormous (think Seattle's Pike Street market times 10 or 20) with a dizzying selection of produce, fish, meats, herbs, etc...It was fun walking around and seeing the displays. I walked for about an hour and I am not sure that I actually saw the entire thing. I managed to load up on some goods for the week. I liked the look of this mushroom stand. Very cool! Below is a cheese vendor. I tasted some cheese from him, but did not buy any.
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