Hemingway's

Out on the town at a bar called Hemingway's in the Ritz Hotel. All the drinks are served with gorgeous flowers like roses and orchids.

Braised Lamb

This double lamb chop is braised with potatoes and onions.

Waiting in the WG

Before classes begin, we all hang out in the WG (winter garden) at school. I think Dominique and Sergio are humoring me while I take their picture.

Plasir

This cake, called Plasir, is made with a chocolate mousse and a vanilla cream.

Poulet Basque

This chicken dish comes from the Basque country so it's wrapped in ham and cooked in a bell pepper sauce.

Picnic

We all wanted to see the fireworks for Bastille Day (14th of July), so we crammed ourselves in with a million other French people in front of La Tour Eiffel for a picnic.

Susan and Dom

Susan and her husband Dom.

Everyone

Here's the scene for Bastille Day in front of La Tour Eiffel. Not an inch of space was wasted and there were about half a million people in attendance.

Sergio and His Women

Women seem to flock to Sergio. Need I say more?

Fireworks

A shot of the fireworks that were choreographed to pre-revolutionary music. They were quite spectacular.

Chestnut Cake

We called this the toothpaste cake because it kinda had the same texture. Not to mention it looks like a porcupine!

Braised Cabbage

Cabbage leaves are blanched and wrapped around stuffing and more cabbage. They did turn out pretty well though.

Boys

Now you can see why I'm so happy in Paris. On the left is Sebastien and on the right is his friend Cedric.

Ghetto Punch

Ashley and Sergio made what we call ghetto punch - water with ice, sliced lemons, some sugar and a handful of frozen wild strawberries. It actually was pretty good and refreshing on an incredibly hot pastry room.

Stawberry Vanilla Treasure

I really didn't like this cake and it was deceptively hard. The cream on the top didn't set very well and as a result, melted as I put it on. To make matters worse, we had to caramelize the top with a blowtorch. Several people had their cakes completely melt.

Tuna

This tuna was "cooked" with lemon juice, perfumed oil, salt, pepper and basil. It resides atop puff pastry and a concasse of tomatoes. Although I really liked my presentation, they chef wasn't too happy and found several problems. Live and learn.

Rabbit

Yep, more rabbit, but at least this time I didn't have to cut the head off. The rabbit saddle is deboned and stuffed with a foremeat, then tied and braised in the oven. I did take one bite, but gave the rest away.

Lamb Again

This lamb is seared and then put in the oven until it's rose. It's served on a tower of spinach, mushrooms and tomato concase.

Air Conditioning

No, the chef isn't hailing a cab with a TV remote in his hand. He's trying in vain to fix the airconditioner in the demo room. No luck though. Instead I pourred drops of cold water on my head every couple of minutes to stay cool.

Petit Fours

In pastry class we made inverted puff pastry and filled it with all sorts of yummy things - ham, sausage, hotdogs, etc. Inverted puff pastry is just like regular puff, but instead of the butter being on the inside, it's on the outside. Imagine trying to roll out warm butter when the room temperature hovers around 80 degrees. It wasn't easy, but after a while (and plenty of flour), it all came together.

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Hmmmm

Anyone up for seeing Stephen Segal in concert?? I'm sure there are plenty of seats left. Hurry before they are gone.