A Moveable Feast

Me and the sexiest chef alive

Morale has been going up again. I realise how much progress I made in the last months, and how much I keep learning in the restaurant. No major hick-up in the last two weeks. By the weekend, most negative thoughts are blown away, and I know that I can do the world's best Bearnaise Sauce. Usually I go out on Thursday night to start my weekend, and change ideas, either have a glass of champagne on the Champs-Elysees, go to the movies, or to a theater or opera/ballet in Paris, to make the most of my time in this city.

I need to report an incident that will make all my female readers very jealous. Last weekend I went to a wine tasting in the bar of the famous and fabulous Meurice hotel, about which I will write a seperate post later. The one thing that I did not expect to happen, is that the 3 star chef Yannick Alleno left his kitchen to greet in person the attendees of this wine tasting. My heart started to race, after all he was elected the sexiest chef this year in France, and is probably one of the coolest and most talented chefs worldwide, and besides being an idol for many chefs, he is really sexy, but I am repeating myself. He appeared in the bar after I had already tasted my 4th glass of red wine (it was a tasting without spitting), so all mental inhibitors that would usually prevent me from behaving like a silly tourist were gone by that time and I threw my camera at the person sitting next to me and then directly into his arms, without even asking whether he would agree. It was a very happy moment, for me at least, and while I do not want to work for him ever, I will eat from his plate any time....

Jamie Oliver : grow up ! Gordon Ramsay : stay in the UK ! George Clooney : learn to cook and do real espresso first ! Brad who ?

Rollercoaster

I have been rather superficial about my life #2 in the last months here. On top of posting nice photos I often wanted to write about the bad things and emotions, but they were usually blown away by the arrival of my weekend, so that stopped me from complaining here too much. The truth is though, that this career change remains very hard, and I am having a little moment right now, with the need to get rid of some frustration. While during my year at Ferrandi the challenge was to get confidence into my skills and into the capacity to become a cook, it is really now the social environment, that is causing often doubts and unhappy moments.

The good or rather neutral days are still more frequent than the bad days, so I try to hang in. What happens now regularly is that whenever I have just recovered from a "bad incident" and shift towards thinking again that the restaurant I work in is a real good opportunity, something will happen that brings me down for a couple of days. Most of the time it is an unexpected comment from a colleague, often on a personal level, either insulting or agressive in a way that sometimes I even get scared.

Besides the French chef, and the French chef-owner I am the only white person, the only with a professional cooking diploma, and the only one above 25, (and on top the only woman) so somehow it is probably normal, that I cannnot feel really happy there. But being not unhappy 80% of the time is already a big progress compared to my previous experiences in the two star restaurants... So my days continue to be a constant up and down. I just long for a bit more emotional stability, but it would require that I could become less sensitive to the comments of the guys. Probably I have already become a bit tougher, but it is not enough to go to work as happy as I had imagined I would be, when working as a cook one day.

Tonight by the end of the shift the rollercoaster could not have been more extreme. I have produced the Bearnaise Sauce this morning, in a rather big quantity, that is good enough for probably 100 servings of the filet dish. Bearnaise sauce is not really easy to produce, it is a fine line between getting it perfect or failing it completely by making either scrambled eggs or have it turn into liquid butter. Anyway, by the end of a busy and tiring evening, one of the waiters asked for an extra serving of the bearnaise sauce. This made me already smile. Then, 5 minutes later he came back again into the kitchen and said :"Ulla I don't know what you have done, but the customer said, this was the world's best Bearnaise he has ever eaten." This comment made me almost cry. I mean all I have been going through the last two years is driven by the motivation to share my passion with others, and make them happy by cooking them something they will love. So while I was trying to hold my tears (of happiness) back, and tried to not too much jump up and down, but stay focussed on sending out the last plates, I was eager to share this with the chef.

When the chef came back into the kitchen, I told him about the customer comment, and his answer was "on s'en fout", which means something like "we don't give a shit", and then went on "and the customer next to him might hate your bearnaise". It wasn't meant to be a personal comment, it is just showing the chef's negative attitude towards customers, whose feedback means nothing to him, as he thinks all customers are stupid and don't know what they eat. He went on, talking about stupid customers and how little one should care about their comments. I was pulled down from my cloud, and really hurt and disappointed, and asked him to stop talking about the topic. I think he was surprised by my reaction,... But I really was not able to hear another word about stupid clients or discuss with him. His and my attitude and motivation to be a cook could probably not be more opposite. So my happiness about the Bearnaise comment was completely blown away. I know I should just remember that one, and ignore the chef's attitude, .... I know, I know, ... I will be able to in the future.

Foie Gras lollipops

I spent Friday and Saturday in Grenoble (life #1 location), which is always creating very mixed feelings. I am happy to see former friends and colleagues, stop by my favourite shops, restaurants, cafés. But each time it is hurting a little bit, because I cannot help asking myself why I gave up living and working in that town, while I am there. Especially when the Alps are still snow covered, contrasting with a pure blue sky. It is too beautiful.

Friday night I was very lucky to be invited to dine in one of the best restaurants in Grenoble. L'Escalier. The owner, Alain Girod, was one of my "consultants" that I contacted in 2006 before leaving HP to get more feedback on my plans to become a cook. Among several cooks and restaurant owners, Monsieur Girod was the only one, who warned me that my biggest issue would be my future coworkers. A comment that I didn't really take too serious at that time, but now I know how true his prediction was.

He joined our table for the aperitif, and supported his point again, underlined by some funny examples from his own experience.

My favourite course that evening, the foie gras lollipops, that were part of his very original "Menu baroque".

Full official title of this starter :

"Trois sucettes (chupa-chups) de foie gras enrobé de chocolat :
- chocolat blanc gingembre confit
- chocolat au lait poivre rose
- chocolat noir poivre de Séchuan"

Besides the original presentation, a very creative and surprising combination, you bite into chocolate and you find foie gras. I think I will do some experimenting at home, to reproduce this...

L'Escalier
6 place Lavalette
Grenoble
(+33) 4.76.63.01.58

Le Yumming Tasting Club

Last Saturday I was invited to an amazing dinner by chef Diane. She was my class mate in the Ferrandi Anglo class (one of the three mousqueteers), and after her stage she continued her culinary education by joining the prestigious "sup" ( as in superieur) class of the ESCF. In parallel she created her first business, which she named "Le Yumming Tasting Club". Apparently I inspired the name, as I had told her once that she has the habit of always using the word YUM when she wants to say tasty, good, delicious, etc.. "This is YUM !" is one of her most frequent exclamations...

Instead of cooking in a restaurant, she creates gastronomic dinners in her home, a beautiful typical French appartment near the Louvre. I always tease her and her husband Eric of living in the King's and Queen's appartment, as even their adress is "rue du Louvre". So her customers can enjoy at the same time outstanding French gastronomic cuisine, and the typical setting of a Parisien family home. A bigger cultural event, than just going to a restaurant. She will soon host a relatively big group, so that dinner last Saturday was also a little test for her, and I was very happy to have been selected as one of the guinea-pigs (although I was dead during work last Sunday as a consequence).

I have no worries for the quality of the food and the service Diane provides, only that she won't charge enough ;) Here are some pictures of that evening's menu. It was insane....

If you are interested in such a dining experience at chef Diane's either for yourself or for a group of friends that are visiting Paris, let me know and I will get you in touch with her.

Merci and Bravo Diane.
19.9/20 !
Good luck for next weekend ;)

Amuse Bouches
Gaspacho Andalou, Beignet de Parmesan, Dattes farcies de foie gras enrobeés de Lardo di Colonnata, sauce poivrons rouge

Entrée
Salade de Chèvre, caviar d'aubergine fumé, crevettes, coulis de tomates et tapenade

Plat
Ballotine de Poulet avec farce mousseline aux épinards, abricot et pignons de pins torréfiés, navets nouveaux aux champignons, quinoa vert, purrée de cresson.

Fromage
Rocamadour avec salade d'endives en deux façons

Dessert
Anti-stress (chocolat/framboise), jus de fraises, sorbet.
(my personal favourite of the evening, an Alain-Ducasse-inspired recipe. YUM.YUM.YUM.YUM.YUM)

How I became a waitress

Last weekend I became a waitress. Now before you get worried about another career change in my up and down adventures in French kitchens, this was just for a couple of minutes. And it was in Germany.

My mother had planned to celebrate her birthday last Friday with my father, my sister and some of their closest friends in a restaurant near their home (a little town in north-west Germany, somewhere between Hannover and Amsterdam). What she did not know, was that my sister, my grandmother and I had prepared a big surprise together for that evening since a while. My mother thought that I was working in Paris, and that her monther was at her home in Bavaria, about 700 km away, but in fact my grandmother and me met on Thursday evening secretely at my sister's home, my grandmother (87 years old!) arriving by train and me by plane.

Thursday the three of us spent a day together "secretely" in Hanover, where my sister lives, and the next day we all travelled to the restaurant (2 hours from Hanover). I had told the restaurant owners about our surprise plans, and they were all excited about the idea and wanted to help us make it a big success. So while my parents, my sister and their friends arrived, my grandmother and I were hidden by the owner family in the breakfast room of the hotel/restaurant. Then, when it was time for my family and their friends to look at the menu, the restaurant owner came into the breakfast room, I put on the waitress uniform, took the menus under my arm and went out in the dining room. Everybody looked at me with this "a new waitress ! And she reminds me of someone"-look, and when I handed the menu to my mother, she couldn't believe it. I think the pictures tell the rest. The surprise was more than perfect.

   

I messed up the subsequent distribution of the menus, so I did not get hired by the restaurant. I gave my mother a couple of minutes to recover from "the shock", before I gave the secret sign to the real waitress, and ordered a glass of champagne, which meant, she was now supposed to get my grandmother from the breakfast room, whom my mother believed to be in Bavaria. And then my grandmother appeared with a glass of champagne. This was too much...and my mother didn't know anymore whether to laugh or to cry.

We did not stop laughing all evening, and it was lots of fun for everybody.

Below two snapshots of my "little" sister and me. Difficult to say who's the younger one of us, isn't it !?!. First still well behaved, then a couple of glasses of wine later falling with our heads -pretending to be tired- on the table during a boring speech of one of the party guests, whose identity I will not make public here. But I can say we did not fail to get more attention than the speaker by doing this ;)

   

Because I work Sundays, unfortunately I had to travel back already the next day to Paris. So it was a very short trip but definitely worth it. But I'll be back soon on a friends & family tour through Germany (and the US) in August, when the restaurant will be closed for 4 weeks...

Jetzt faengt das Leben an...

Liebe Mami, bonne anniversaire, und viele liebe Geburtstagsgruesse, feier schoen, flipp ruhig ein bisschen aus.

Fuer das Geburtstagsstaendchen moechte ich Dich gerne auf diesen Blog-Eintrag verweisen :

http://moveablefeast.typepad.com/a_moveable_feast/2007/11/mit-da-faengt-d.html

2 months late

I had almost given up hope this year. Eventually with only two months delay I am able to put away my Sub Zero Down Ski jacket that I have been wearing since November now everyday. Just when we almost got used to the nightmare, temperatures rose for the first time this year above 5 degrees this weekend and it stoppped raining as well. Actually the thermometer showed 25 degrees, and so spring was simply skipped this year and we moved directly from winter to summer within one day. Sorry for the boring topic, the wheather. But no. It is amazing how sudden sunshine has the capacity to change my mood and thoughts. From one day to the other I have given up plans to leave this city, country or even the whole continent, to move to the carribean forever. Paris (probably like any other place in the world ?) becomes an irresistable city in the sun, and thoughts about one day opening a little bistrot here (why move to Provence ?) even crossed my mind.

Just 10 minutes walk from my home, the Luxembourg garden below, where Parisiens and tourists relax in a beautiful setting, as soon as the sun is out.

Ferrandi Anglo - the next generation

Last Thursday I went out dining with Joan and Andrew. They are both readers of my blog and current Anglo students at Ferrandi in Chef Sebastien's class. We wanted to check out the tasting menu at Ze Kitchen Galerie, which received its first Michelin star this year. The 7 course menu was amazing, although we found the use of ginger, lemongrass, coriander and lots of foam became a little repetitive across the menu, and somehow in my memory the combinations of spices and condiments had been a bit more creative in the past. One of the desserts was so good, that I ordered it a second time a la carte after the end of the menu. It was "glace chocolat blanc - wasabi, pistache - torrone, jus de the vert" (white chocolate ice cream on pistachio-wasabi sauce). Trop trop bon.

By the end of the meal and a good bottle of Chablis I felt sorry for the two for having to get up the next morning early for the cuisine class. So Andrew came up with the idea to invite me to join the class for the regional menu at Ferrandi the next day, which was a day off for me. I was so excited about the idea, and hoped chef Sebastien would not have any objections.

In the middle of the night, 8:30 am, I received Andrew's SMS, that everything was o.k. I was so happy to have that opportunity ! I joined the class at noon, and as they were late (nothing has changed compared to last year ;), I could sneak around in the kitchen and watch the students work and chat with them about their experience for an hour. Some had just finished their first stages at the same restaurants I had, and it was fun to hear about their impressions. Of course I also took the opportunity to share with Chef Sebastien all my up and down adventures of the last months. 

Check out the current Anglo class below, some great talents among them, you will certainly see them in a couple of years on magazine front covers when they have become famous chefs. From left to right : Eldar, Chef Sebastien, Amanda, Andrew, Chris, Joan, Julie (both hidden), and Felipe.

And this is the menu that I was lucky to taste, based on specialties of the Charente-Maritime region. I was amazed to see what the students were able to create after just a couple of months training, and I admire Chef Sebatien's everlasting energy to teach people who don't even know how to hold a knife within a couple of months the foundations for this passionate profession, over and over again every year. Chapeau Chef !

   

   

Dear Anglo 2007/08 class, thank you for the invitation, the great menu and the opportunity to spend time with you. It was a great pleasure to meet you. Good luck for the exams and your cooking career !

Amy Macdonald - Mr. Rock & Roll

This song is currently playing in an endless loop and quite loud whenever I am at home (and not sleeping between services). It reflects my current good mood, or manages easily to get me into it...

Le Pont Alexandre III

On my day off today I walked a lot trying to enjoy Paris, despite the ugly winter wheather I am getting now really tired of. To walk from the Dome des Invalides in the 7th to the Grand Palais in the 8th arrondissement you have to cross the Seine on one of Paris most beautiful bridges, the pont Alexandre III, a gift from the Russian Tsar to France for the Universal Exhibition in 1900. An opportunity to take some postcard pictures.

   

Tarte fine aux tomates, chorizo et chevre frais

This month I am back at "le froid", the garde manger and patisserie section, where all starters and desserts are prepared and plated. Whenever I get to do a new "entrée du jour" or "plat du jour" like the one today I think I have won the lottery by working in this bistrot. Who needs a two star Michelin recipe ?! I love those simple, easy and quick to make but beautiful and tasty ideas, and I keep track of them in a little notebook, for potential later use in my own place....

Today the special starter was a "tarte fine" : tomato slices, chorizo (spicy Spanish sausage) and goat cheese arranged on puff pastry. And I got to make them !

For the special of the day we usualy prepare 10-20 pieces. This is my "workbench" this morning. They were finished in the oven before the service by 11 a.m.. Then during service, when there was a customer order simply put a minute under the salamander (grill) again to reheat, with a tiny heap of salad in the center.

The chorizo looks a little bit burnt, but the chef insisted that I leave the tartes that long in the oven, to make sure the dough "puffs" up correctly. I really would have liked to take it out a little bit earlier...

Unfortunately, out of the 30 clients or so that we had today, only 3 ordered this starter special. A pity, because the combination while it is surprising and maybe not so common, tastes simply delicious. So the starter of the day turned into an "amuse bouche" for the dinner service tonight (last photo), and probably becomes the staff meal tomorrow....

Are you the chef ?

Tonight I had another one of those happy moments, that remind me of the reasons why I am going through all this. Yes, despite all the nice photos and stories and all the things that I am learning, I am still "going through something", (especially crazy coworkers). While there is much less pressure and pain in the bistrot than in the two star restaurant, I still can't say that it is a place I really love going to, and in any professional kitchen I will probably never be as comfortable as in the HP environment, until I will be running the show myself. Or maybe the grass was just greener on the other side ? ;)

Anyway.... tonight during service one of the waiters mentioned that there was a chef from New York among our guests. I was very curious, and kept asking the waiters for details, but they didn't bother. So after my service was finished, I walked by the table that the waiter had shown me. And to my surprise there were four women. So I just stopped, and started talking to them (nothing to even think about in the two star restaurant). I asked where they were from (new jersey), which restaurant they was working for. And it turned out they had just talked about me as well, as they were excited to see a woman coming out of the kitchen. An then the killer question "ARE YOU THE CHEF ?" Oh that felt so good ! I know that the rest of my work week will be more fun, because I am now reminded that all this is a transition and I am working towards being able to answer "YES !" one day.

Millefeuille de carpaccio et choux vert croquant a la thai

Here is one of my favourite entrées du jour of the bistrot I have been working at now for two months already. The chef proprietaire, while running this so traditional french bistrot, loves thai cuisine and from time to time he adds a thai twist to the starters or dishes of the day. Therfore there has always to be ginger, lemon grass and coriander in the fridge. I love it, but it is not very well accepted by our customers, who come to our place mainly for blanquette de veau, foie gras, pied de porc or sole meuniere, so unfortunately this entrée du jour did not sell at all.

Millefeuille means "thousand leaves" and while originally the name for a dessert with alternating layers of puff pastry and vanilla cream, it is used these days for any dish that has at least two alternating layers of two different ingredients. Typing this it just comes to my mind, that with this new "fashion" Lasagne could be called in a much more sophisticated way something like "Millefeuille de boeuf tomaté, feuilles de pates italienne et parmiggiano gratiné". How about that !?!

I had been in charge to "produce" this starter, and I liked it so much that I redid at home.

Green cabbage is shredded and fried just a minute in oil, only peppered, not salted (the salt will come later through the soja sauce). It is very important that the cabbages stays crunchy. For the seasoning mix olive oil, soja sauce, finely chopped lemon grass, garlic, coriander. (At home I also added chopped ginger an a little bit of hot red pepper). Season the cabbage with this mix like a salad. Alternate layers of thinly slices raw beef filet and seasoned cabbage three times. Finish with a coriander leaf.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everybody...

Danke Nina fuer die Vorlage ;)

An ordinary day - part 2

During my break in the Café de la Place I decided I needed to do a bit more than just not sleep if I wanted to make the day feel a bit more extraordinary. The issue was, because of French laws I couldn't take a day off, and because of the working hours I couldn't really go out or celebrate or meet friends.

The only people I would be able to meet this year on my birthday were my new colleagues. So before returning back for the dinner service I bought the best chocolate cake in my neighbourhood patisserie. My new colleagues were really pleased, and I was glad that I had done it, because even if I hadn't told anybody about my birthday in the morning, they had found out through management. So one of the waiters surprised me with a flower bouquet, and then they put the "happy birthday" tape on very loud. Eventually I got the birthday feeling. After the service, the waiters invited me for a glass of champagne, and so on my way home in the metro with my flowers in hand, I could not stop to smile all the way....

Tomorrow after the lunch service my weekly 2.5 days off start, and I will take the train to Brussels where I meet my parents, and so the birthday feeling and smile should continue.