What can I say but “I’m happy to be here” (right Stan?) I have just completed my first week of classes in the Diploma of Pastry program here at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and it has been absolutely FANTASTIC! The staff, the organization, the chefs, the students, the facilities, the recipes, the demonstrations, and the practical sessions --- needless to say, everything has been great. (photo: at work in the kitchen.)
We began Monday morning, August 7, at 9:30 am for our orientation during which we reviewed the rules and policies of the school, safety tips, scheduling, etc, and then we were given a tour of the facilities and received our equipment and uniforms. We then plunged right in with our first demonstration class, followed by a second demonstration and our first practical class making shortbread, a pastry basic. We also practiced using a pastry bag, making various shapes and just generally getting the feel of how to hold the bag. We didn’t finish that first day until 9 pm. Whew!
Fortunately we did not have to be back in school until 3:30pm on Tuesday, so it gave everyone a chance to catch their breath, especially those students who had just arrived in Paris the Saturday or Sunday before classes began. I felt fortunate to have arrived a week earlier, giving us time to get our feet wet so to speak.
Tuesday was another demonstration followed by our practical class in which we made a classic French apple tart. (Click here to see some of the photos I took in class this past week.)
I won’t go into detail about each class, but in general the demonstrations are given by one of the chefs in French. Once the demonstration is finished the chef displays all of the things that he made in a decorative fashion on a table where we are all able to take pictures of the finished product. There is a translator who repeats everything in English as we go. We have recipes provided in French and English, but nothing else is written down for us as far as the methods involved. Basically, we have to take notes on how the recipe is carried out, that being the way the school feels it is best to learn the techniques and steps involved in any particular recipe. The translators are good, and there is a comfortable rapport between them and the chefs, with plenty of joking and laughter thrown in. A number of students do speak and understand French, but there are also a good number of us who don’t and really rely on the translation.
The practical sessions focus on one or two of the recipes that were presented in the preceding demonstration. The chefs do speak some English during the practicals, but I do have to rely on my fellow French-speaking students for help with translation. And speaking of French I realize that I have a lot to learn before I get to the superior level later this fall. Because this basic intensive level is indeed just that – intensive – I don’t have time to do much more than attend class, but we both plan to start French language lessons come September when my more relaxed intermediate level schedule begins.(photo: St. Honore cake, before the pastry cream.)
What really impresses me is the student body here. I expected it would be an eclectic mix of people from all backgrounds and from all over the world, and, indeed it is. Everyone is here to learn, that’s for sure, and there is a much better sense among the students of wanting to be here compared to what I experienced at Apicius in Florence. A number of them are here just for the basic level, but there are a number of us who will be doing the full diploma program. (photo: St. Honore cake after the pastry cream. Yes she brought it home thank you very much.)
To give you some idea of what I’m talking about, I have to describe this interesting mix of people, backgrounds and nationalities. There is a man from Ireland who lives in Dubai and works for PepsiCo, and who is here on his vacation; then there’s a Parisian woman who works as an engineer but is taking the basic intensive course on her 3 week August holiday; and another woman who is from Canada, has dual French and Italian citizenship (being born to Italian parents in Montreal), is a former ER nurse (go figure) and lives in Paris with her husband and 2 children, and also taking this on her 3 week holiday; then there’s a woman from Spain who studied theology but decided she loves to cook so she is pursuing that passion – her husband is actually in graduate school in theology in England where they are currently living, and she is saving her money to take the individual certificate levels in pastry whenever she can afford it; and the woman from Alaska whose husband is from Vermont (she actually flew out of Rutland to Boston on her way to Paris), who is pregnant, and is taking a year’s leave of absence from teaching French to study and have her baby (and is actually going on to Apicius in Florence after she finishes this basic pastry program here); and the woman Portuguese corporate lawyer who lives and works in South Africa and doesn’t want to work in law anymore; the woman from Washington D.C. who is a fund raiser for the National Cathedral who wants to pursue cooking; and several young people from China; a lovely young woman from Thailand; several young people from Brazil; an Egyptian woman who lives in LA now and is a lab tech at LA County Hospital, who also loves to bake and is here on her vacation as well. Everyone is seeking something new and different, just like me. It is a wonderful atmosphere in which to learn.
My days at school have been generally 9-12 hours long with not much break time, but I keep telling myself that 9-12 hours of baking is much better than 9-12 hours in the emergency room. We start in again bright and early Monday morning for a full 13-hour day, but we do get a break with Tuesday, August 15 being a “bank holiday” in much of Europe (they call it “ferragosto” in Italy”). For the remainder of the week we have 10-hour days, including Saturday. Friday evening will bring a nice respite. The school is sponsoring a dinner cruise on the Seine, with a menu that sounds pretty darn delicious – and this being France wines will of course accompany each course. Steve will be able to go along (the lucky guy).
Speaking of lucky, Steve is in 7th heaven now since I am able to bring home everything I make. For some weeks I have been hearing “When are you going to bake something?” but now it’s “What are we going to do with all this stuff?” Needless to say there are plenty of baked goods in the house now, and Steve is doing his level best to taste as many as possible in the shortest time possible (we don’t want them to spoil now do we?) Things such as . . delightful shortbread cookies, French apple tart, a pound cake with fruits, Madeleines (tiny pound cake-like delicacies), “Gateau Basque” (a pastry cream filled cake), “St. Honore” (a delectable concoction made with short pastry, small cream puffs and chantilly cream), apple turnovers, “palmiers” (thing crispy sugared puff pastry cookies), chocolate éclairs and little “chouquettes” (little sugar-covered cream puffs). Whew! And that’s just the first week!
Once I begin the intermediate level the end of August I will have class only 2, or maybe 3 days a week, so I will certainly have more time to start studying French as well as continuing to enjoy Paris and discovering some of the surrounding areas.
Steve has been spending the last week at Pere Lachaise cemetery so he’s been in 8th heaven (having moved on from 7th of course).
We hope to visit our niece Christina and her new baby Kiera in Giessen, Germany, visit the D-Day beaches in Normandy, go to Verdun and of course explore some of the wine country in the nearby regions and generally get a better feel for France and the French people. We’re also looking forward to Stan and Margaret’s visit in September.
I count myself among one of the luckiest people in the world. Studying pastry in Paris – who could ask for anything more??!!
Take care everyone!
Wish you were here,
Au revoir,
Susan
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