A Case of the Wednesdays

**Caution:  This post is heavily laced with complaints.  Enter at your own risk***

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 has been a crappy day.  I think I may have a touch of seasonal mood disorder or whatever that psychological condition is where you are affected by the weather...that is something, right?  Or maybe I am just crazy.  Who knows.  Anyway, today has been cold and rainy, and my mood has kinda been the same way.

See how dreary it is??

I only had one class today, however, it was the first cuisine practical where we were actually being graded, so my stress level increased exponentially.  We were supposed to make a caramelized onion and anchovy tart (it sounds gross, but it was actually pretty good...basically a pizza without the sauce, which is right up my alley!!).  We had the demo yesterday afternoon, and of course, the chef produced a tart that looked soooo easy and beautiful and delicious.

Totally scrumptious, right?!

If we are being honest, mine was none of the above.  For whatever reason, I completely skimped on all of the toppings because apparently I want my customers to zero in on the bottom layer of non-caramelized onions.  When the chef came around and tasted each tart, he kindly let me know that I rolled my dough out too thin, hence the reason it did not rise properly (and why the crust was so screwy).  Also, he said that my onions were still crunchy and not completely caramelized like they should have been.  I think he was being a bit dramatic on that one, but whatev. 

Now, obviously, me being me, I had no problem picking away at the crust and consuming it in record time, but the rest of this disaster when straight into the garbage.  (Insert long winded, dramatic sigh here)

But, before I even got into practical today, I realized that one of my two hats had gone M.I.A., which totally sucks because that means I have to spend money on buying another ugly hat just so I am always prepared...boooo.  The lockers themselves are the size of a shoebox, and the locker room is even smaller -- so imagine 20 girls running around like crazy trying to get changed and keep up with all of their crap...AT THE SAME TIME!  I feel like I would lose my head in that room if it wasn't attached to my neck.  So from now on, I am going to be even more neurotic than I already am and quadruple check every time I go in there and come out to make sure that I have E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G!

I have had pretty good luck (so far) on getting the stains out of my jackets in the washing machine at home, but the stupid machine keeps eating my buttons!!!!  The jackets have a vertical column of faux-buttons, if you will, so if the front of the jacket gets really dirty, you can just flip the front, and Voila!  You have a clean jacket.  This one jacket, however, is now missing 2 of these buttons, due to my hungry washing machine, so it looks incomplete.  ( I apologize if that doesn't make sense...I'm not the best at explaining...just trust me, it doesn't look good.)

Also, my Mom is coming on Friday, and I have really been looking forward to it since she left...BUT I have class ALLLL DAY and into the night (21:00, to be exact).  Then, I have to go back bright and early on Saturday morning...the day that we had scheduled (3 weeks ago!!) to go to Versailles.  (Insert long winded, dramatic sigh x2 here)

Because I had had a bad day and the weather was completely crummy, I just wanted to lay in my sweatpants and mindlessly watch something on T.V....but wait!  I don't understand a damn thing on my 3 channels, so that doesn't really get me very far.  I started searching around on the internet looking up comforting things that reminded me of home (mostly The Bert Show), and I got sad and really started to miss my friends and family.

In the grand scheme of life, I know that I really don't have anything at all to complain about, but I am just homesick today, and I miss unsweet tea and a good dose of trashy American reality T.V.  I will be fine tomorrow, I just felt like it was important to get this out today and to let everyone know that Paris isn't flowers and sunshine all of the time (only most of the time!).

So, I will end this day with the following comforts:

- A piping hot shower
- A big bowl of nice warm broccoli (I haven't had a green vegetable in at least at week...)
- A glass (or two) of my 1,86 euro bottle of rose
- At least one delicious Madeleine that I made in pastry yesterday (I won't even tell you how many of these I have had so far...)

So cute!!  I actually got a "good job" from the chef on these! Woo!

and I will not let Wednesday, September 8, 2010 get the best of me.  "After all", in the words of my Southern sister, Scarlett O'Hara, "tomorrow is another day."

- à tout à l’heure!