It's Rather Dull in Town I'll Take Me to Paree, hmm

Me Doctor Recommends A Quiet Summer by the Sea, Hmm, Mmm Wouldn't it be loverly?

(My Fair Lady- Wouldn't it be Loverly)

Lesson 3- Normandy

Another day, another 8:30am class. This is compounded by the fact that we've also had 6:30-9:30pm class every day, so by the time I get home and finish dinner it's already time to go to bed.

My schedule for first week of intermediate.

I've complained about our schedule in the beginning of the regular basic class, but on hindsight that was really a small potoato compared to my current schedule. Because I am taking the intensive version of the school, my schedule is now practically air tight. I am really not looking forward to this Thursday and Saturday when I have 12 hours of classes on each day, including back-to-back-to-back classes in the afternoon and evening.

The good thing about starting class this early is I am forced to bike to school in the early morning, which is my favorite time of the day in this city. I'm talking about Paris before 9am, before the scammers, voleurs (thieves), fake-petitioners and tourists mob the city. It's just regular Parisians of all skin color and occupation going to work or minding their own business.

 Rue de Vaugiraud being very quiet at 7am. Quiet streets and crisp morning air.

 My bandaged finger was too thick to fit in the glove.

Anyways back to work. We cooked a pan-roasted ginea fowl for this class, which really just feels like a chicken with tougher meat.

Pow!

The dish is done in a Normandy fashion, meaning we used lots of butter and deglazed with Calvados, a type of apple liqouer that is from Normandy. We also incorporated some apples into the sauce because apples is a local produce. Finally we served some channeled vegetables, which is a way of cutting grooves into vegetables and not what ghosts do to Whoopie Goldberg.

We have Chef Poupard again, who took care of me in the first class after my cut and immediately saw my injured finger today. "ENCORE?!" "Oui Chef...." Anyways, he liked my dish, though he complained that my vegetables were not of the same size, as required, and that my sauce was too concentrated. Oh well, I was operating with one less finger today. Also he said one should never put anything on the rims of the plate, even though Chef Vaca did exactly that in the demo. Also for whatever reason I was stuck with a plate that has a disproportionately large rim. I mean where else am I suppose to put my sauce?

Quote of the class:

Chef Poupard *Pointing at my wrapped finger*: ENCORE?! You cut another finger??

Me: Oui Chef... Encore une fois hier.

Chef Poupard: Unbelievable. Are you married?

Me: Not yet, why Chef?

Chef: You should marry a doctor, it'll do you much good. Incredible...

During demonstration, after I asked 2 pretty dumb questions, I figured I should just shut up. Then I noticed that the chef skipped a step....

Me: Hey Maggie, did Vaca degrease the garnishes?

Classmate Maggie: Oh good point. I don't think so. You should ask.

Me: Nah, I'm done asking questions today.

Maggie: I'll ask. Chef? Did you degrease the pan?

Chef Vaca: Oh...... no, it is um... not necessary. But that was a very good observation madmoiselle. I take note of students being perceptive. Well done.

Me: wtf.......

To be fair, Maggie gave me credit for noticing (THANKS MAGGIE!), and Vaca proceeded in making fun of me for being too afraid of asking questions.

Quel heure est-il où tu es?

Un autre avions et tu repars 
(Simple Plan - Jet Lag ft. Marie-Mai)

I had no class scheduled for today. Cordon Bleu's schedule is known to be quite erratic. Classes can take place during any of the following periods 8:30am-11:30am, 12:30pm-3:30pm, 3:30pm-6:30pm, 6:30pm-9:30pm from Monday to Saturday. Because there are 9 basic groups sharing 3 kitchens with intermediate, advanced and recreational classes, our schedules completely depend on the availability of kitchens and instructors. Cordon Bleu classes are designed so that students can take the basic cuisine and basic pastry classes concurrently, which is advertised as a 40 hours/week commitment. Therefore, for folks like me taking only the regular speed basic class, the advertised class time is 20 hours/week, which sounds incredibly little. The truth is somewhat complicated. First is you would always need to bake in extra time to dress into your cook's uniform because you are not allowed to wear the uniforms outside of school premises for hygene reasons. (You don't want to cook with clothes that have germs and dust all over them). More importantly, because classes can take place any time during the day, there are often awkward times of the day when students have nothing to do. Take one of my weeks as an example:

There are days when I have 3 hour gaps between classes. Days when I have no classes, and quite a few Saturday 6:30pm classes. For students who live far away from school, it just doesn't make sense for them to go home if they have a few hours between classes. Cordon Bleu also provides very few public access rooms for students to hang around, ie just a depressing "Winter Garden" that looks like it was hacked together in the 60s.

All in all, I wish that Cordon Bleu would group all students into clusters of Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Wednesday Thursday Friday or something like that. This would allow students to work really hard for a few days straight, and then have more efficiently timed free time.

So what did I do on my free day today? I babysitted my niece all day! She's absolutely adorable but I think I've changed enough shit diapers for a lifetime. Well I guess this is growing up.