Anyway, yesterday Tuesday, 22 August was the day Susan had arranged for me to attend one of the demonstration classes. The demo class is where the chef instructor prepares several recipes, one of which the students will then prepare immediately afterwards in the practical session. Visitors are apparently not permitted to observe the practical sessions. I assume because we would simply get in the way of an otherwise pretty crowded environment, the work kitchen.
I caught up with Susan and several other students as they were getting ready to break for lunch – I had the foresight to bring my own lunch as well – and we all strolled over to a small park by the Vaugirard Metro stop. It was beautiful day, the sun was out in strength for a change and sunglasses were de rigueur so naturally I had forgotten to bring mine. Much of the talk about the written portion of the final exam – some students were clearly unhappy with what they considered to be unfair questions on the exam, and from what I could tell they had a perfect right to be unhappy. Still, the course is largely pass/fail and, as someone in our little lunch group said, “as long as I get 50% I’m happy,” which pretty much echoed the feelings of the group in the park at any rate. For some, however, inequity is, well, inequity and should be reported and made right I guess. (photo: (l-r) Susan, anna, Valerie and Laurie.)
So the written exam is done and now the big worry is the practical portion since it counts for majority of the grade and naturally everyone wants to not only do well but to shine at the same time. That and where to have lunch Thursday after the exam!
But it was too nice a day to forget that the really important thing was we were in Paris, sitting on a park bench and dressed in cute chef outfits – well I wasn’t of course. And thinking of the outfits, the pants, the coats, brings to mind something someone once said to Susan recently, back in Italy I think, that she had in just traded one white coat in for another. A key difference being, besides the logo and name above the left breast, is that one was covered with bodily fluids and the other with chocolate. A significant difference here.
We drifted back to the school. Anna, Laurie and Valerie stopped for coffee on the way – we still haven’t gotten used to French coffee – and at 12:30 we were all in the demonstration classroom, flanked by monitors on both sides of the class (close circuit camera tracking from one side), and a sloped mirror on the ceiling running the entire width of the counter/work tops. It was just like being in a TV studio, actually, or science classroom with the amphitheater seating. I was half expecting them to wheel out a cadaver and really get going.
Several of us were sitting in as visitors, including Georgia one of Laurie’s friends from the US, who sat next to me in the back, and we were all provided with copies of the recipes to follow along, which was pretty cool.
So I had the camera at the ready and we were off, with the chef speaking French, the translator translating into English, questions from the audience occasionally in French and usually in English. At first it seemed a bit frenetic – which Susan said later was not typical. But things soon settled down once the chef and the translator got their rhythm in sync with one another and we watched a master create three different desserts, a couple of them simultaneously. Very cool indeed. (photo: (l-r) Laurie and Georgia.)
After about 2 1/2 hours the demonstration was finished and everyone rushed forward with digital cameras in hand to snap photos. Lest you think they do this just because it is the thing today to take photos everywhere – the simple fact is the students wanted to have a visual record to check their own work later after they finish the practical – “this is how the thing is supposed to look” as opposed to “my god what I have done!”
So everyone crowded up to the front to gawk and snap pictures – and then the feeding began. Everything was cut up, plated and handed out for the tasting – I mean seeing is one thing but you have to know what a thing is supposed to taste like as well, right? Some folks clearly we concerned about their abilities to replicate the tastes exactly so they had to return for a couple of helpings. Please note that there were no large people in the room – aside from myself of course as a consequence of the things Susan brings home, six days a week! Make her stop, please!Anyway it was real blast to see one of the classes in action and I hope to be able to get back for another later this fall.
Wish you were here,
Steve
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