So, after an exhausting Friday, I was pretty excited for Saturday because Mom and I were plan to visit Versailles...but wait! I had class at 08:30 in the morning! Ah!!!
06:45 came waaaaayyy too soon, and I was not the least bit excited to go run around a kitchen for 3 hours in my cuisine practical. As I was groggily stumbling around my apartment, dreading the cool chilly air that awaited me outside, I noticed something peeking out from the bottom of a stack of clothes in my armoire. What was it, you ask?? My big, red, comfy Georgia hoodie!!!!! When I packed it in my suitcase, I promised myself that it would not see the light of day, and I was only allowed to wear it around my apartment...but I absolutely could not resist! I rationalized wearing it because A. It was Saturday in Athens and I'm feeling particularly nostalgic this football season (even though I think it was technically still Friday night in Athens when I put it on, but whatev) and B. I figured I was the only moron out at 07:30 on a Saturday morning, so who would see me wearing it anyway?!
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| Woo! Go Dawgs!!! Although, according to my sources, I don't think it wasn't a very good weekend to be a Georgia Bulldawg...but oh well, there's always this weekend! |
In practical, we made a dish of puff pastry with leeks and poached eggs with Albufera sauce (pretty much lots of butter and cream, of course!) that we observed in demo the day before, and it was definitely an interesting experience. The dish wasn't hard, per se, there were just about a million and one things going on at the same time that needed to all come together simultaneously at the end...a typical day in the kitchen! I was doing pretty well keeping everything organized up until the stupid poached eggs. I have never poached an egg in my life, and it is pretty difficult! Rather than ask the chef for help like most people were doing, my stubborn self decided it was best to poach my eggs by trial and error. I honestly have no idea how many eggs I went through in order to get 4 decent looking ones, but I ended up having to run down to the basement kitchen and get another rack of eggs because I had used so many! The kicker is, we only had to plate one for the chef to try, but the recipe called for 4, so I kept on poaching until I had 4 (I hate to admit it, but they all ended up in the trash because I am pretty sure they would not have passed health code...). Three hours later, I was finished and I got a positive review from the chef --- poached eggs and all (she did say my leeks needed more salt. They use A LOT of salt here...and butter...and cream....it's disturbing).
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| Voila! |
Another cuisine practical under my belt, and Mom and I were on the RER headed to Versailles!
Because we didn't get there until after 14:00, and it was such a beautiful day, we decided to just tour the gardens and save the Chateau for another time when we had the strength to fight the crowd.
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| In front of a statue of Louis XIV --- can you spot the Starbucks cup and Rick Steves tour book in my hand?? Don't judge!! |
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| The front gates to the Chateau. Rick Steves says that it is real gold...I don't know if I believe that... |
The gardens were absolutely incredible!!! The entire place was packed with a 940385098354 people, but it didn't feel like it at all because they are SO HUGE (except for the people who ruined our picture below...)!
We ended the day at a really good Chinese restaurant because it is pretty easy to get burnt out on French food when you are surrounded by it every second!
Mom left on Sunday, and Nicole and I started on lots of homework for school. Who knew you had homework in culinary school, BUT we are diligently working to get caught up on rewriting recipes and learning vocabulary for our final so we aren't trying to cram it all in the week before. Our study sessions usually involve baguettes, cheese, wine, and classical music...how French! On Sunday, however, we had wine and potato chips because the fantastic boulangerie by my apartment is closed on Sundays.
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| Everything is better with rose! |
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| We saw these rotisserie chicken and thyme chips at the store and had to try them...I don't really know how to describe the flavor, except they taste strangely like rotisserie chicken and thyme... |
Well, that was my weekend in a rather large nutshell!! I feel like ever since school started I have been constantly playing catch up to get everything done, but I will continue to try and post as soon as I have a free moment. Also, I signed up for weekly French classes...woo! They start on Thursday and they are at the school, so I will let y'all know how they go!!
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à tout à l’heure!
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