Octobre, or I love Paris, or won't be in Paris for long, or finals week

10/13 or so/06

October in Paris…well, it’s a little quieter here. People are starting to wear their coats and boots. Lots of scarves again. It has been in the high 60s, low 70s and pretty sun. Chestnuts are in all of the open markets now and, I’m almost done with school!

We have the ingredients for or final cuisine exam…they give us a basket of stuff and we whip up something that tastes good, looks good and is cooked to the right temperature. So, we have sea bass (which we get to filet, yahoo), 8 jumbo prawns, 500g of clams, wild mushrooms, eggplant, snow peas, fennel, tomatoes, potatoes, a red bell pepper, figs and some herbs. Wish me luck! I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll make, I’m just stuck on the eggplant.

Did my first sugar sculpture on Friday. It was a little scary, but it turned out pretty. Tomorrow we do it again and this time we make pulled sugar flowers and leaves which will be mounted on the base. I took a picture of my first effort, and I’m going to take a picture of tomorrow’s results. Hopefully you’ll be able to see some improvement.

Feeling a little blah…not sure why. Getting ready to pack up all of my stuff and leave the Paris portion of the adventure. It’s Sunday as I write this and there are a lot of people in my neighborhood. BHV is open, which is a small miracle since they are always closed on Sundays. I went to a neat cooking supply store with some cordon bleu chicks last Thursday. I have some nice new molds and a new silpat (like a non-stick place mat for working with sugar). My favorite new mold is in the shape of a pyramid (for rice, coucous, etc.).

What do you think of sea bass with a pistachio crust (reduced fumet w/ clams), glazed figs and eggplant with herbs on a skewer, snow peas and mushrooms tumbling out of a fennel “flower,” and some cute turned potatoes?

P.S. 10/26/06 I made the pistachio fish today and the brochettes in a practice practical for our final. Yay! It all turned out nicely. Now if I can do the same on Monday (in 5 minutes less time) I’ll be sitting pretty..AND..Stefano arrives November 1st!! No more blahs : )