2 days in Paris - and started at LCB !

Tuesday, we left Amsterdam early. We got the 8.30 h Thalys train directly to Paris. The journey was very nice and before we knew it, we were at the Gare du Nord. We took a taxi to the apartment in the 15th and were welcomed by (probably) the cleaner of the place. The owner was not available to welcome us. In the fridge, we found a nice welcome bottle of champagne, and there were flowers on the table.

That night we also met Mark and Beth from the US. Mark is in Basic Cuisine, we met a while ago through our blogs. Check out Mark's at: http://parisandcordonbleu.blogspot.com/ !

We had a great dinner at 'La Jacobine' in one of the oldest cobbled alleys of Paris. Today, Thursday, Beth returned back to the States - somebody has to earn some money!

Cristina arrived on Wednesday by train from Spain. Jayne, Cris and I had dinner together that night near our apartment. It was good to see her again. Last time we met, was north of Reykjavik, in a lava field....

Today, the 12th November.... school day. Our first lesson would be at 15.30 h.... That's late! Jayne brought us (me and Cris) to school (oh yeah!) after we had a few coffee's at the cafe where we spent too much time last year.

At the school we met the chefs again, the translators, people from administration, students we met last year etc etc. And I tried to speak in fluent (of course) French ! well...

After changing into our chef's clothes, the first demo started: starter was salmon and watercress salad (chef didn't like the recipe and changed it on the spot), main course was Basque style chicken saute (including deboning the lot - shit...) and for dessert chef Patrick Caals made us Tourtiere gascogne croustillante aux pommes (Try that ! it's great - google it yourself for a translation). I wasn't really hungry because just before class started I had a 'small' baguette avec mozzarella/tomate... of 30 cm. A little bit too big!

In the picture are chef's dishes, not a bad start. He started off class as if we hadn't been away..... at full throttle!

Chef preparing the tasters for us and Leanne tasting (as always.... joke!)

After finishing class, I received a txt message from Jayne - she wanted to cook for Cristina and me. That was really great! I'll tell you all about it later. Now I'm tired, it's 22.30 h and I'm going to bed. Tomorrow 3 classes ! bugger.

And I saw Mark a few times today - with a big smile on his face !

See you all soon,

Sjoerd

PS: The schedule is really really really really really busy ! Details will follow later. goodnight!