Terrine day

Today was terrine day in Charcuterie class. But since none of it was ready, I only took a pic of this. Trying to avoid waste - roasting rabbit bones.

Bon Anniversaire, Andrew !

I decided to have a "Surprise" get-together for Andrew. Originally, I wanted to do one for Andrew and Chris but Chris wasn't able to make it. I initially just contacted Andrew's friends from back home who actually live in Paris, and a handful of people from School. I spent most of the afternoon prepping little "tapas" and finger foods like cherry tomatoes, olives, parmesan crisps, garlic sausage, sour cream and onion dip, guacamole, crackers, cookies, etc. Nothing fancy at all, but nice and simple. His "birthday" cake was a financier, of course. (I had been making financier's almost every night for awhile to try and get a recipe I was happy with. And I always make Andrew eat them and critique them for me.)



It started with just a few of Andrew's close friends.


Then it escalated to a lot of people. I wasn't sure if people would show up or not but it turned out to be a pretty cool party. Here is Alex molesting Eldar. Alex's signature move at any party.


I have some evidence ! This was within the first two weeks of school when my friend, Sean came to visit (hence within an hour of Alex meeting Sean).


Amanda, Enyo, and Andrew in the corner. Amanda said that some French people mistook them as a lesbian couple. Gee, I wonder why ! They are quite touchy feely so the rest of the night if they hugged or something, I would always call them lesbians. ahahahha!


Felipe, Brian, Eldar


Amanda, Samantha, Alex, Chris HK


Afterwards, we headed out to the Bastille to go bar-hopping. People drank and had a good time. Andrew and Tristan were singing Queen in the streets. And Amber busted out her laptop in the middle of the street to play the Queen song that they were singing.

Andrew had a fabulous surprise birthday soirée which resulted in this:

That's him giving his best friend, Tristan a piggy-back ride.


And he has no recollection of it all.

Happy Birthday !

Au Fils Des Saisons

Tonight Andrew, Chris, and his friend Tara from out of town, and I went to eat at Au Fils Des Saisons. A quaint little bistro with no sign in front on a quaint little street in the 3rd. We were all quite late but fortunately they were not mad at all (it was empty at that moment). The food there is fabulous ! I loved the little details they put into their dishes as well as the decor of the place.



Look how cute !




I ordered the seared foie gras with lentilles and sausage. This was heavenly. The foie was melt in your mouth perfect. The combination of the lentilles and sausage was delicious. Very rich so of course I had Andrew help me finish it.


Andrew's scallop dish. Good shit.



Chris ordered tortellini. Ummmm


Perfectly perfectly cooked magret de canard. I am getting hungry again just thinking about it. The tomatoes were so delicious. The pomme de terre was good but really rich - they could have reduced the size of it. Andrew helped me finish, of course.


Their signature "cooked for 7 hours" confit de canard dish. Andrew and Tara ordered it and said it was super bon.


Traditional Millefeuille. In school, we baked our millefeuille until it was golden brown, but traditionally, they are cooked this dark so it has a bit of that bitter, burned taste. I have yet to 100% acquire a taste for the burnt millefeuille (I am more at a 51%), I would say this was properly executed. The custard and fresh fruit was delicious. Not too sweet which is the way I like it.


The strawberry coulis served with it.


Overall, great place. Nice atmosphere, deliciously presented food, and great prices for the quality of the 3-course prix fixe - 31 Euro. I will definitely be back.

Au Fil des Saisons
6, Rue Fontaines du Temple
75003 Paris, France
01.42.74.16.60

Le Menu Regional: Bourgogne

Oeufs en meurette à l'os à moelle. This was fantastic.




Terrine de poireaux à la truffe de bourgogne, vinaigrette à la truffe. This was my dish. Simple - but I wasn't a big fan of it.




Escargots à la bourguignonne


Chèvre à la dijonnaise, ragoût de fèves. Goat meat. It tasted like chicken and rabbit.


Côtes de Beouf à la bourguignonne, pommes croquettes


Look at this big, honkin, piece o meat.


Tartes Bourdalouse aux poires pochées au cassis. Sorbet au cassis. Loved this tarte.


Chef Sébastien, Andrew, and Chef Stephane


Bon App !

Chef Pascal Barbot ! ***

Every year our school has a guest chef come to do a demonstration for our class, and to answer any questions we may have. This year, we were able to have Pascal Barbot from L'Astrance*** come ! How exciting ! He came last year as well. My chef and Pascal used to work together at L'Arpège. They were also both on Iron Chef Japan together a few years ago representing Alain Passard (which I still need to watch as it's sitting in my VCR player at home). My chef told us that when we see him, we wouldn't expect him to be a chef. He was right. Pascal is such a cute little man with a smile on his face all the time. He was super nice and demonstrated some fabulous dishes for us.





Fine lamelles d'avocat et tourteau à l'huile d'amande douce




Jus capucines




Petits pois, chorizo et capucines






Carré d'agneau grillé, choux "Duchy" et curry noir


Everything was so delicious. I loved the first dish since citrus, avocado, and crab are some of my favorite things, however, the last two dishes had a combination of flavors that were really different - I can't say that I have ever tasted anything similar. It was fantastic and definitely an unforgettable experience.

Pascal's restaurant L'Astrance*** only serves 28 covers a night and is open Tuesday - Friday for lunch and dinner. There is also no menu, and you have to book a couple months ahead of time. Having a restaurant like this has always been an amazing concept to me. Hopefully, I will have the pleasure to dine here this summer.

L'Astrance
Executive Chef: Pascal Barbot
4, Rue Beethoven
75016 Paris
01.40.50.84.40

Le Menu Regional: Languedoc Roussillon

Today, my friend Kat was able to join us as a guest. She is in the French pastry program at school, however she is American/Chinese. It was nice to have a friend join us.

Petits pâtes de Pézenas


Encornets farcis


Pélardons Marinés


Cassoulet. Me and Amanda's dish today. It was so rich since everything was pretty much cooked in duck fat. I took one or two bites and I was done.


However, I was able to eat all of this. =D
Crèmes Catalane. Sorbet de muscat de rivesaltes


Bon app !

Lasserre **

How amazing is it that as a class, our chefs and the director of our school bring us to dine at Lasserre, a two Michelin star restaurant serving traditional French food. Ok, so technically I paid for it since it is included in our tuition... but I have to say that life is good =). I have been looking forward to this moment!

It was really nice to get in a dress and put on some makeup for a change. And realize that when I am not in my whites sweating at school, I am actually a girl ! Unfortunately, I decided to wear one of my most uncomfortable dresses. But that's okay. I still had a good time.

When we arrived, they served us champage and delicious hor d'oeuvres of gougères, quail eggs, and foie gras. What a way to start a meal.

Who are these people? They are... cleaned up ?


Picture time !


Me and Rodrigo... er Felipe


And on to the menu.

Amuse bouche - this was a type of "flan" made with asparagus and fava beans. It was a fantastic starter.


Asperges de pertuis, sauce maltaise. I enjoyed this dish very much. I love asparagus, caramelized onions, and blood oranges.


Sole à la royale et aux morilles. This dish was fantastic. My fish could have been cooked a tad less though.



Pigeon farci André Malraux. I was so beyond full at this point because everything was so rich and tasty, but still managed to have a few bites. My pigeon was slightly overcooked. The farci was made of foie gras. Delicious but I had Andrew help me finish this plate (as usual).


Déclinaison de pommes au caramel. But of course I had room for dessert. I loved the ice-cream with the mousse on the left. The right dessert was good as well but a bit too sweet for me because of the caramel.




Café - look at the cute logo


Mignardises. No matter how full I am, I seem to always have room for dessert and mignardises ! After our meal, chef Jean-Louis Nomicos came out to say hello.


Looking sharp !


Happy and full, on our way home in the metro.


I gotta say that Lasserre does a really good job at serving traditional French food at it's best. The service is superb - they always serve the ladies first. The bathroom, however, reminds me of the 70s. Hah, but whatever, that is not important. Food comes first.

RESTAURANT LASSERRE
Executive chef: Jean-Louis Nomicos
17 avenue Franklin Roosevelt
75008, PARIS
01.43.59.02.13