Dr's :(

Tuesday Morning, February 19:

         I had to go to the doctor because the bumps hadn’t gone away, I was really nervous and stressing that I was getting eaten alive by spiders (due to previous issues in France).  So I asked one of our ENSP assistants to take me, we arrived and waited in the waiting area for over an hour before being seen.  We were finally taken back. I sat in the chair and gave my information, with it being interpreted into French.  I then moved over the doctor table, lay down, showed off all my itchy blotches and was asked to sit back in the chair.  The doctor gave her “diagnosis” that I am allergic to something but what is unknown without a multitude of tests.  She prescribed an allergy type pill and some cream.  We then left, and I went to the castle for lunch and class.

         Apparently this is the way my body deals with any type of allergy, although this reaction is different than what I experienced in Rhode Island.  I called my mom once I reached the castle, and she would then talk to my doctor and come up with a solution.  He prescribed me with the same steroid I took with my last allergy flare-up.  It would be overnighted, arriving in a couple days. 

Vienna, Amsterdam & Zurich

I know I'm a whole week behind, but......What a weekend! 

Saturday, February 15:

         We were picked up at 5am, and driven directly to the airport.  We arrived by 6:30, grabbed some breakfast, went through security and waited patiently at our gate.  At 9:30am, we boarded our flight to Vienna.  I was unlucky and sat next to an ape of a man; he was a very large man and didn’t have space comprehension.  He had his knees in my space, his elbow on my armrest, poking me with his elbow and just a bother to sit next to; somehow I managed to fall asleep, and slept most of the almost two hour flight. 

         We arrived in Vienna, bought train tickets, ran to catch the train/shuttle and headed into the city.  From the city, we caught a different train/metro and headed in the direction of the hostel.  We got lost a little bit trying to find our hostel, eventually found it, it was the wrong location, and so back on the train we went, back to the starting location and back on a different metro to the hostel.  The station we got off at was located in a flea market/farmers market/hoarders fest.  The streets were packed with tents and tables of crap, food, and other stuff, the mix of stolen and homemade crap.  Walking through the masses of people with our suitcases was rather difficult.  But eventually we found it, and guess what, it’s located in china town…Awesome!

         We checked in, unloaded our stuff, and grabbed a bite to eat, made our beds and set off to check out the city.  Mallory and I went outside to check out the market.  We each bought a back to city center.  We walked around, grabbed some Baumkucken (a German dessert made of dough) – cinnamon coated, saw some interesting tents some filled with tie dye sheets, others filled with interesting trinkets or knick knacks, Then we hopped on the train back to city center and went to explore.  We came across an amusement park, and even though half of the rides were closed due to the season, many were up and running.  Mallory rode on a chaos looking ride, spinning sideways, upside down, twisting and turning, I didn’t ride, the upside down freaked me out.  The amusement park also have an old fashioned Ferris wheel, but it was 9 euros, so we didn’t ride.  We also found the planetarium, but it too was expensive to enter, so we kept walking.  

         We got back on the train, went a few stops further to see some sights, Mallory got some dinner and we to head back to our hostel.  I had a headache and lay down for a bit, and Mallory ate her food in the lobby area.  Then we joined back up and went to the bar in the hostel, she got some drinks, and just kept her company.  Nine-thirty approached and it was time for me to go to bed, so we headed upstairs, we each got ready for bed. 

Sunday, February 16:

         This morning we woke up bright and early to catch our flight to Amsterdam.  I woke up very itchy, and come to realize I have itchy blotches all over my body, some type of allergic reaction.  We all got dressed, checked out and walked back to the train station, caught the train to city center and then the shuttle train to the airport.  Check in for our flight, made it through security, however my first time ever getting patted down in security.  Walked to our gate and boarded our plane.  Two hours later we arrived in Amsterdam. 

         First stop, our hostel.  It was much easier to find than the one in Vienna.  Found the hostel, located in the red light district, surrounded with sex shops, coffee shops (of course), many restaurants and bars, a great location!  It was too early to check in, but we dropped our bags off.  Mallory and I went out for breakfast, I wanted pancakes; we found a café down the street that had pancakes, and was very busy, a good sign when you’re visiting a new area. Sat down, ordered, and waited patiently.  Food arrived and it was delicious.  

We had wanted to catch a tour of the city at 11am, but it was now 11:30 and we of course missed it.  We decided to wander around and check out the city while we waited for the later tour at 1pm.  Amsterdam is beautiful city, filled with canals, museums, hundreds of bikes, and the scent of marijuana with every turn in the city.  We walked over many bridges overtop of the many canals throughout the city, almost got hit by bikes zooming past, and found the lovely bars where you can smoke and drink.  It was coming up to 12:30pm, and we decided to start heading back so we could catch the next tour.  However we had no idea where we were, we had crisscrossed so many different streets; we didn’t even know the correct direction to head back to our hostel (the meeting place for the tour was up the street from our hostel at the city center.  Mallory and I make a terrible match because between the two of us we don’t even equal one directionally savvy person.  We wandered the streets, up and down, for hours; by the time we made it back to the hostel it was 3:30pm, way past our potential meeting time. 

Time to check into the hostel.  We grabbed the keys, hiked up two steep staircases.   We unloaded, freshened up and I took a nap.  I had a headache was also very itchy.  Two hours later, I woke up, and we got ready to go.  It was time to check out Anne Franks House (Huis in German), the one place I had to go while in Amsterdam.  On the way, I stopped and got some gelato, coffee and salted caramel.  The task should have been easy, however again we are directionally challenged people, and even though we had saved directions on our phone, we again got lost.  In the process we found an amazing sorbet/ice cream shop, and Mallory ordered caramelized banana & strawberry sorbet.  We asked the gentleman at the shop for directions to Anne Frank, and on the way we found a vegan & organic shop, and of course we had to go in and check it out.  After all that and walking aimlessly down many different streets and over different canals, we finally found it.  The line was short, we got right it, and the ticket was 9 euros.  It was 6pm and we had one hour until the doors closed, or so we thought.  At 7pm they kicked us out before we were able to see the entire museum.  It was packed so we made a single file line to walk through the house, taking longer than normally expected.  We were kicked out before finishing three rooms, including the room where the original diary is on display.  Even with getting kicked out before fully finishing and taking in all the memories, it was the highlight of my trip to Europe.  I am so thankful to have been able to visit and realize how thankful I am to be Jewish and to be able to experience the awfulness that was WWII.  Mallory thinks I could be related to Anne Frank!  I am proud to be Jewish.  

After the visit, we went back to the hostel (and made it back without getting lost, success), relaxed for a bit before going to grab food.  I was really craving a burger.  We had seen French fry shops all over town throughout the day I knew I wanted some, so we went down the street, and found one called “Mannequin Pis – Voted No 1 Holland’s Fries”.  We shared a medium and garnished with ketchup, as true American’s do.  We ended up walking through the red light district, seeing the woman behind windows, the sex stores open and of course the red lights lighting up the streets.  Interesting experience. 

I didn’t get a burger, and just went to bed, as I was tired, super

uncomfortable and had a headache again.

Monday, February 17:

         We wake up just as early this morning to catch the train for our plane to Zurich.  We make it to the airport; I grabbed my boarding pass, went through security and waited at our gate for the plane.  We boarded our plane, and it was an hour flight to Zurich. 

         We arrived in Zurich.  We each bought a bus pass, caught the bus to the center of the city and began our exploration of Zurich.  First stop food.  We ended up finding a café and I bought a sandwich and pasta salad.  I scarfed it down.  Then we found Mallory food at a local grocery store that had prepared vegetarian/vegan food options.  Also utilized the Wi-Fi to figure out what to see or explore in Zurich for free.

         Next we checked out the gorgeous canal and the largest clock in Europe.  We continued walking and I bought a giant pretzel, almost the size of my head, walked through the expensive district of stores and caught a random bus.  We got off at a stop that looked interesting, found a park and took a nap in the gorgeous sunlight.  About thirty minutes later, we woke up and decided to venture to see more of Zurich.  We caught a bus to somewhere, and rode it just checking out the sites from the bus.  After about forty-five minutes, we decided we would go back to the airport, we knew it was early, but Zurich is expensive to do anything.  

         We arrived at the airport, printed our boarding passes.  Mallory checked out H&M and other stores inside the airport.  I was just happy to be sitting and trying to ignore my itchiness.  We had a little less than an hour and a half left before our plane would arrive.  Our gate was posted; we went, sat and waited. 

         It was finally time to board our plane.  We had to take a bus to the plane.  We climbed the stairs to the plane, found our seats; I got a window and took a nap.  An hour later we arrived in Lyon.  We thought we could go directly to the train station, but one of our group mates was asked to check her bag due to a full flight, so we had to wait for her bag, which added extra time to our rather tight timetable.  About twenty minutes later, the bag arrived; we rushed to the shuttle to take us to the train station.  Hopped on the shuttle, and thirty minutes later we arrived at Lyon Station.  We luckily had one last train that we could take to Firminy.  Unfortunately, due to the baggage issue, we missed the last bus that would take us from Firminy to Retournac where a cab would be picking us up.  Instead we had to get a cab from Firminy to our apartment, which cost us 70 euros split four ways.

         Either way, we had a great weekend, beautiful places and wonderful experiences. 

 

Week 5 - Confectionery

    

Confectionery week!  Wow what a great week!

This class was a three day week, and yet the most successful and fun class.  We made all sorts of candies and chocolates, including nougat, gummy candy (similar to haribo), lollypops, flavored marshmallows, bonbons, filled chocolates, candied almonds, pralines, pate de fruit (fruit gummies),gianduja, ganache, caramels! 

     A few unfortunate incidents.  My partner and I couldn’t for the life of us temper chocolate on day two, but today, on the first try we each successfully tempered it!  We had troubles with the marshmallows as well.  Our chef, his English wasn’t the greatest (compared to others), and there was a language barrier, so when it came to marshmallows, they can’t be whipped to much or to little.  Each group asked chef about the marshmallows, I thought our batch was perfect, but chef said a few more minutes, and then less than two mintues later, he comes over, stops our mixer and says its over mixed.  So we tried to pipe out the mixture, but from over mixing the product became too stiff and was almost un-pipe-able.  A few casualties with other groups chocolates, from over filling, to tempering issues, to the guitar (cutting machine) being to hot or too cold for the candy.  But all in all a wonderful, fun and exciting week, learned different candy techniques, and enjoyed working with sugar in all its forms.

Midterm

    

Ah midterms!  We don't have practical midterms at JWU, why would we think we'd have one at ENSP.  Well, we did.  We received the recipe packet one week ago, allowing us time to prep and become prepared for the task ahead.   With that time, I wrote out the method of prep for each recipe.  However I completely forgot about planning a schedule, time wise, with everything that needed to be completed.  We had six hours from start to finish.  I was freaking out a little bit.

In six hours we had to make: Exotique Entremet, Tresse bread (similar to challah) and Paris Montaigne.  Within each product were many steps and sub products, which had to be completed in a certain order.  Figuring out that order was my weakness.  I sat down, reading each recipe, the time needed for fermentation or freezing and made a tentative schedule. 

For the most part I kept to my schedule.  We started at 1:15pm, and I completed my midterm at 6:45pm, 30 minutes to spare.  Success!  Everything turned out, nothing was burned, over or under cooked, and looked really good; except I braided my Tresse backwards *sadness* (I apparently switched my hands creating a different braid).    

This was the first time I walked into class not having full trust in myself, with an unknown outcome.  The first time was nervous to begin, not knowing exactly if my schedule would work, if I’d finish on time, or if it would turn out correctly.  

Success!

Strasbourg

     This weekend Mallory and I set off to discover Strasbourg, France.  It has a chocolate museum that I was interested in checking out. 

The cab picked us up at 6:15am, and brought us to Retournac.  From Retournac, we waited about ten minutes for a bus to pick us up and take us to Firminy.  We reached Firminy and caught a train that took us to Lyon station.  Two hours later we finally made it to Lyon.  From Lyon we were catching a train to Strasbourg.  It would take us three and a half hours to arrive in Strasbourg.

I slept the entire ride to Strasbourg; I was exhausted; we went out as a group to go bowling the night before.  We arrived, surprised by the weather.  It had said 50 degrees and sunny, instead it was around 35 degrees and rainy sadness. 

First stop, Chocolate Museum: a fifty-minute bus ride.  Walking down a two-lane street, without sidewalks or a shoulder, in the raid, we had arrived; I was really excited, we had finally made it.  Walked in and surrounded by antique chocolate making equipment and our noses filling with the wonderful aroma of chocolate, we paid the 8-euros to enter.  Next we entered a theater to watch a quick film of the history of chocolate.  The theater leads to the museum, which is when my excitement diminished and I was filled with disappointment.  This museum was geared toward children and novices, not studying pastry students.  Walking through the animated diagrams of the process of creating chocolate, and the tempering method, we arrived in the chocolate shop.  Samples were available, and that was the highlight of the visit.  A huge disappointment.

Next stop the hotel.  Finding the hotel would prove to be a challenging task.  We found the correct bus, but once we exited the bus, we managed to walk up the wrong street twice, take a couple different busses, and walk through a construction area and a sketchy neighborhood before stumbling upon the hotel.  We checked in, took the elevator up to our room and plopped our stuff down in addition to our bodies.  How could we be so tired? 

      Deciding what to eat for dinner became just as difficult.  The weather made us not want to leave or get lost again and frustrated.  We decided on delivery, but what to eat?  Mallory said sushi and of course I can’t disagree.  So we found a restaurant that delivers, the website in French, so ordering became problematic.  After five tries, both on cell phones Internet, via phone and my laptop, we had ordered food; now time to wait the hour and half for it to be delivered. 

Food arrived, and “scarfed down” quicker than it took to arrive.  Delish!  Now full, we weren’t motivated to move.  So instead I tried downloading “Inglorious Basterds”, and over an hour later, it still wouldn’t play, we watched Friends instead.  I think I’ve found someone more obsessed and knows more lines than me!  It is indeed possible, who knew? 

Next day it was time to leave.  We slept in, checked out, and hopped on the bus to take us to the train station.  Since we had some time before our train, we decided to go grocery shopping.  Found one that was open (Sunday is the day where everything is closed); bought some much-needed food.  Hopped back on a train, headed further into town, checking out the sites as we went along.  Hopped off to check out a chocolate and patisserie shop.  Beautiful desserts!  Grabbed a bus going toward the train station.  Strasbourg was a pretty city; if the weather had been nicer and we were here longer we probably would have appreciated it more.  

Arriving at the train station, the sea of bikes outside was a site to see.  Our train was in less than an hour, we each grabbed a pretzel, and I grabbed a sandwich as well.  Waited for the train, it arrived later than anticipated.  We took our seats and off we went.  Four hours later we reached Lyon, where we connected to the next train to take us to Firminy.  At Firminy we had a two-hour wait until our bus would show up.  We both were hungry and needed a toilette, so we ventured into town and found a pizza place, Scooter Pizza.  Ordered pizza, and walked back to the station to enjoy the food.  At least the station was open for us to sit in warmth rather than outside for the remaining time. 

Week 4 - Halfway Through

This week was Revisited Classics, taking classic recipes and placing a spin on it.  I was sous chef, the right hand man for chef.  I was paired up with chef, scaling and mixing recipes with him.  Our chef was Philippe, and it was his first time teaching the class.  He has been a teacher at ENSP for three months.  This posed some problems.  He was a very friendly chef, enjoyed teaching, but didn’t trust our skills or capabilities, and therefore had to demo every recipe.  When one of us had a question, he automatically assumed we needed a demo for the entire recipe. 

         Also, because he has never taught the course before, we were his trial run, and we weren’t able to complete the entire recipe packet in the four days.  We also didn’t execute the recipe as required per other classes.  The final products weren’t finished as needed.  When the last day finally came, and we set up our buffet, we as a class saw the culmination of a not so great week.  We didn’t take a group picture with our buffet because most of us weren’t satisfied with the products. 

         For the first time, two of my products made it onto the buffet: the Mille Feuille (Napoléon) & Tarte Facon St Honore (black current/cassis dessert).  It was interesting learning a twist on classic desserts; I just wish our teacher was more prepared and knowledgeable on the subject at hand.

In class we made:

~ Paris Montaigne                ~Mille Feuille               ~Tarte de Citron

~ Tarte Tatin                                  ~ Tarte Facon St Honore

We semi finished:

~ Éclairs                      ~ Religieuse                 ~ Opera (Frambroise)

We didn’t make:

~Tarte au Chocolat

        

This coming week we have confectionary.  We switch to PM labs for the final four weeks were in France. Tomorrow (today) is my practical midterm.

         One month ago I arrived in France, a thought I only dreamed about for so many years.  In four weeks I graduate from ENSP and leave this magical land, and return to classes as normal at Johnson & Wales University.

      My dreams aren’t stopping now.  If you work hard enough anything is possible!