Getting ready.... the knives have been sharpened !

Only 2 weeks to go before I go to Paris. This week I am sorting out all the stuff that I received last year at the basic cuisine course : my uniforms, plastic containers, knife-set, padlocks, kitchen shoes, notes and old 'recipes'. And I still have to make those kitchen trousers a lot shorter...

This weekend it's time for some practicing in the kitchen again: dinner for 6. I think I'll try last year's exam dish: Dorade fillets (sea bream) with fennel. And I might even do some turned potatoes... after all, what's a dish without potatoes! The menu sounds a lot better in French actually: filets de daurade poêlés au fenouil - oh yeah!
We'll have a nice salad on the side and for dessert a meringue 'thing' with coffee or tea.

And today I had all my Cordon Bleu knives sharpened again. They look fantastic now ! There are a few places to do that in Amsterdam, but one of the best is a company called 'Moes'. After they have sharpened the knives, they're as good as new.

See you all soon!
Sjoerd

'Julie & Julia' - an early Sunday-morning film

Last Wednesday, we received an invitation from 'La Cuisine Francaise', the Cordon Bleu Cookery School here in Amsterdam to watch the movie 'Julie & Julia' this Sunday morning. 
The film isn't out in The Netherlands yet, so this was a great opportunity to watch it.


The preview was in the Tuschinski Arthouse cinema in Amsterdam, a very nice old cinema in Jugendstil and Art Deco style. Directly after te film everybody was invited for a Cordon Bleu style tasting at the cookery school.

Classical dishes like 'petit chaussons au roquefort', 'boeuf borguignon' and 'mousseline au chocolat' were served with a glass of wine. Very, very nice. Please check out Pat's Cordon Bleu/ La Cuisine Francaise website (culinary activities, workshops and cooking sessions) for more LCB cooking info in Amsterdam.
Thank you Pat and Madelijn (and LCB) for organising a very very entertaining Sunday ! I'll keep you posted on all my Cordon Bleu adventures in Paris!

Jayne & Sjoerd

I'm a bigolarist.... !

A what? A bigolarist ! And what the £$@!* is a bigolarist????

Well, let me tell you - the bigolaro is a pasta 'machine' from Northern-Italy. That makes me a bigolarist when I 'turn' my pasta with this machine. I bought this thing only a 2 weeks ago, and it's great fun to use.
It is actually a pasta press, and as you turn down the handle, the long spaghetti's come out.

If you do it right, the spaghetti comes out as long as the room. Sometimes even longer! This is great fun to do. Make a bit of dough in advance, and when your visitors arrive they can make the pasta themselves. Success guaranteed!

Result ! very good spaghetti.

Normally, when I use my standard pasta machine, I let the pasta dry a bit before I make it into tagliatelle, but with the Bigolaro I put in the (rested) dough immediately into the press. You can use a standard pasta recipe for this.

You can make 4 different kinds of thick pasta with this 'machine' - there are 4 dies available: bigolo (which is the fat spaghetti), rigatoni, tagliolini and tagliatelle - see picture !

This great piece of kitchen 'machinery' can be bought in Italy at a company called Bottene.

The type that I have is 'hand press B'. You have to order the little bench you sit on separately. And the bigolaro comes with 2 dies - bigolo and rigatoni. The tagliolini and tagliatelle have to be ordered separately.

When I asked for more information by Email at Bottene, I got in direct contact with the Dutch supplier who happens to have his business here around the corner in Amsterdam. Delivery within a few days. Great service!

In the picture, Jayne is cleaning the spaghetti die.

There is a bit of video footage available on Youtube. Check it out and start after about 2.30 minutes to see some kind of funny Bigolaro parade... It's hard work...
Another (not too good quality) video can be found here;

I found this 'machine' through a very nice and interesting website. A Swiss guy, Francois-Xavier (FX) is keeping a great food blog with unusual stories. Check it out on FX-cuisine!

The bigolo article can be found here.

All the best and see you all later,
I have to turn my Bigolaro tonight...

Sjoerd

visits...

This year, there are a few people visiting me during the course. Jayne will of course be in Paris a few times (at the beginning, maybe for my birthday and at the end of the course) and Henk will visit for a short weekend in November. 

In the picture is Brynjar, Cristina and Jayne. (visit NL of B.& C.)

Cristina, from Spain, will also be in the Intermediate class again. We were in Basic Cuisine together last year and had lots of fun.

Brynjar, Cris' man will probably be visiting C. a few times, flying in from Iceland.

And maybe Dr.Frank will pay me a short visit to have a look at the 'Centre Pompidou'. Visiting the CP has been on his wish list for quite a while and this is a good opportunity to finally see it. We'll see.

And Henk, here during our last trip to the underground bone collection of Paris, will be back.

I'm looking forward to the visits! not too many - I'll probably be too tired to entertain them anyway...

Skype - free calls during the LCB course

Occasionally, like last year during the course, I will be on-line / on the phone. My Skype account is still active. If you want to call me, for free, my Skype name is : sjoerdservaas

(Re)activate your Skype account now or download it through the Skype website.
easy-peasy!
Talk to you all soon !
That is, when I'm not too tired...

Paris apartment booked

Well, it certainly took some time to find a good apartment. I wanted to try something new and looked around in the 6th arrondisement. To cut a long story short - this area is way too expensive....

I was looking for a 70-80 sqm apartment with a good kitchen and preferably an extra bedroom. I tried many agency's and got many quotes, but $£@%, they are expensive!

So, back to my old place in the 15th. Great.

And this time I could bypass the agency; I went straight to the owner to book the apartment. It's only a 20 minutes walk to the school, or I can take a (free) bike - see also http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/ (The first half hour bike rental is free.)

My very nice apartment has got THE best view of the Eiffel tower !

Yes, yes, it's that long thin thing in the middle of the picture - that's my 'perfect' view of the Eiffel Tower.

Isn't it great.....

We'll be traveling on the Thalys train to Paris on 10th November and we'll be going back to Amsterdam on Saturday 19th December.

It's about time I dust off my old LCB 'basic cuisine' binder and start practicing again!

I'll be back soon,

Sjoerd

Back to Paris - I've booked (and paid..)

July 2009...

Time for a change ! again...

Finally I've left my job. There is plenty of time available now to sort out my future.

I've decided to go back to Paris again to do the Cordon Bleu Cuisine course. Last year I did the first part, Basic Cuisine, and now it's time to do part two: Intermediate Cuisine.

This Nov/Dec I will be part of the Intensive Cuisine group.

Normally the course is 11 weeks but the intensive is done in 5 weeks.... pretty intensive indeed! I'm really looking forward to go back to Paris again. I have paid ($£@! a lot) for the course today, and the only thing now is to sort out a nice apartment. We'll manage that too ....

Talk to you all later,

Sjoerd