Le Menu Regional: Béarn (The last regional meal...)

Typically we start prep for regional meals at 8am, and then have lunch together. Instead we started prep after our wine class and lunch. That means we drink more wine from this morning paired with our dinner. Good times in culinary school !

Today we cooked a meal from the region Béarn, but according to our geographie teacher, Monsieur Le Poah, our menu wasn't really from the region Béarn but more from the Basque country in general. Our menu was extremely filling.

Amanda invited Samantha (Manhattan), and Enyo (Togo). Enchanté !

Piments pequillos farcis à la morue. Really good but the peppers had no spice. I kept piling it on. The farce is salted cod.




Self-portrait


Axoa de veau. This is pretty much fajita filling minus the cumin and chili pepper spices.


Nicely cut peppers and leeks


Millefeuille de Thon au poivrons et fromage de brebis. I loved this dish! Tuna and goat cheese - fabulous combination.


I love seared tuna.


Veau sautée, sauce béarnaise. This was originally supposed to be grilled salmon, but the order didn't come in. It was still fabulous though. I was so full by this point. But I was able to manage eating a third of this. I love béarnaise sauce. But it's not really from Béarn (but cerfeuil and estragon are!)


HAHHAAH, here is Canadia making fun with Andrew. For some reason, Andrew has always been stuck with recipes that require making a sabayon. A few times he had to do it over in the beginning because the eggs scrambled, but now he is a sabayon king! Look how intense he is - whisking away! Go Andrew!


Here is Monsieur Le Poah on the left, and Chef Sébastian. Monsieur Le Poah is an awesome teacher and is so knowledgable. Super nice too.


Poulet et poulpe basquaise. This was my dish. We were given this recipe for our final during Christmas (sans poulpe/octopus). Similar to fajita mix sans the spices too. I put so much garlic but couldn't taste any. (On top of hot spices, I have garlic withdrawal). I accidentally overcooked the potatoes so most people didn't get any. Oops! By this time, everyone was full and could barely eat any of this. Monsieur Le Poah really enjoyed this, and finished it all. So did Chef. Troopers!


Poulpe !


Gâteau Basque, Sorbet à l'Izarra. I really enjoyed this. It was simply a crème pâtissière filling with cerise (cherries).


Last regional meal group shot. (Andrew still working his sabayon). *Sniff Sniff*


Bon App !

Le Menu Regional: Bordelais + Toots & Matt visiti'

Toots and Matt are in town ! They flew into Paris the same day as I did. Great timing too, because they were able to join us for regional meal.

Fricassée de girolles aux croûtons et persil frit


Pointes d'asperges dorées au beurre, sauce bordelaise


Queues d'écrevisses en timbale, vinaigrette de sauce Nantua


We got an almost whole agneau.


Agneau de lait de Pauillac en deux services: poêlée de cèpes et pommes parmentières, flan d'huitres


Cannelés, Sorbet au sauternes


Like their chef whites? Matt was able to squeeze into mine (almost). Showed his figure well.


Later that night, Toots and Matt treated me to a delicious Tibetan dinner at Kokonor. First time for all of us. I am no connoisseure on Tibetan food but I really enjoyed it. We ordered a salad (nothing special), and these vegetarian samosa type things with an excellent sauce. These were really good. Who knew vegetarian food could be good? We also ordered beef curry which was different from your typical curry. It was more like a stew with a touch of curry, but non-spicy. Extremely tender. Very good. They mixed up our order and gave us a pork stir-fry. It tasted very Chinese. Originally we ordered fish. Since we came in at 11pm, 30 minutes before closing, we decided not to change it. For dessert, we got some ice-cream, as well as a rice pudding. I love rice pudding and really enjoyed it here.



The owner was dining with some friends a few tables down. He was speaking Mandarin so when I left, I told him "thank you" in Chinese. He was quite happy to speak to a Chinese person. We chatted for a bit and he told me where he was from, and that his chef was from Shanghai. My Mandarin is more than rusty (think 4 year old level) so I ended up speaking a mix of Mandarin and French which probably sounded quite funny. I also mentioned that I moved here to learn French cuisine. His friend was like "OH C'EST BIEN, C'EST BIEN!" Hahha, it was cute! Anyway, I want to come back another time and try some different things. Thanks Matt + Toots !

Kokonor
206, rue Saint-Jacques
75005, Paris
01.43.29.96.14

We did some bar-hopping on our way out in the 5th.


And after, we took a cab to Pigalle and hung out at an Irish bar that me and my school friends often hang out at. It was an interesting experience. One of the bouncers there was a total douche bag. Matt bought this crappy pastry covered in powdered sugar. He wrapped it in paper and put it on the table in the bar. Toots was moving it and it accidentally spilled powdered sugar all on the table. So you can imagine what it looked like. The douche bag came by and asked us what it was. lol. We tried to clean it up, but he came by with a sponge. Then he started telling me in a really condescending tone where the trashcan was. I'm like "Oui, JE SAIS !" x 10. Then he says the same thing to Toots. I told him she doesn't speak French, and he kept telling her to throw it away MAINTENANT (now). F'in douche. We just sat there for a bit. We would have left but Matt had already gotten drinks. Afterwards, Toots left the wrapped pastry on the table and we got out of there fast. HAHAHA

Long story short - there was a really drunk American guy that got kicked out but kept coming back in. When we walked out, the bouncer pushed the drunk dood onto a CAR. And right in front of me - I totally could have gotten smashed. The drunk dood came back (not to fight), and the bouncer hit him in the face a couple times. And later, he picked up a wicker bench and hit him on top of the head with it ! F'in crazy. Of course, the drunk guy was an idiot - we have no idea why he kept going back. But still, the bouncer was such a ass for taking cheap shots to a guy who clearly didn't know what he was doing and was not being violent. Ughhh, well we hope the douche found our shitty little pastry on the table.

We wanted to go to a club but it was already around 3AM. We called it a night, went home and had some ramen. Ah, nuttin better than "it's so f'in spicy" ramen in the middle of the night.

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 !

Le Menu Regional: Poitou Charentes + CAP Test 1

Today was my language test for the C.A.P. The C.A.P. is a state-wide diploma. If I pass, I would be a "certified" cook in France. It is the most basic degree/diploma. (France has other degrees like the BEP or BAC Pro). One of the requirements is a second language test. Naturally, I chose English. My test was at 11am so I did my mise en place for today's regional menu, and then went to take the test outside of Paris. I had to bring in an article in English, so I brought in an article on Chicago banning Foie Gras. It was really easy to say the least. When I walked in, I only spoke a few words of French to the interviewer. The test itself only took 20 minutes, and when I started speaking English, the French lady interviewing me asked, "have you been to the United States? You have a bit of an American accent." HAHAHA It was great. Anyway, I was in and out of there quickly, and returned to the Regional menu just in time to eat lunch. Also, we were to have a last minute guest dine with us - Ulla.

Huîtres en gelée


Couteaux aux asperges avec Mouclade


Moules Marinés


Chevreau, Farci poitevin (We got a whole baby goat!)


Cheesecake. Sorbet au pineau et melon


Btw, we were instructed to burn the cheesecake like that. This type of cake is very popular in this region. It was funny because people were like "something is burning!" And then I said "oh GREAT, it's perfect!"

Le Menu Regional: Bretagne

Coquilles Saint Jacques a la Bretonne




Carpaccio de langoustines aux oeufs de lumps


Petits pavés de bar vapeur, sabayon a l'hydromel, creme de mangue




Ragout de homards aux haricots de Paimpoi


Crepes tiedes fourrées aux poires

Le Menu Regional: Picardie

Goyères valenciennoises


Crème de chou-fleur aux moules de bouchot


Parmentier de kippers


Carbonnade de beouf à la flamande. I was put on this dish today. Braised endives with apples. Delicious.


And of course, beef which was braised with spices and pain d'epice (spice bread).


Glace de chicorée et son galopin. Sorbet à la bistouille

Le Menu Regional: Rhône-Alpes

Cervelle de canut. Cervelat pistache en brioche, sauce vigneronne. Me and Julie's dish.




Quenelles de brochet aux ecrevisses


Ragout d'abats


Poularde de Bresse demi-deuil


Sorbet a la liqueur de chataignes. Bugnes.