A Moveable Feast

some sunshine after the rain

I have not had much desire to post about my stage lately, as things got worse, and I had some really bad days, where some people treated me really badly, and as my ego is not the strongest those days I ended up spending some sad and frustrated evenings, wondering why the hell I was here and what I had run into. However I figured out that it would not be fair, to judge the whole brigade, it is just three individuals who find their biggest pleasure in giving me public lessons and treating me like shit all the time (verbally and also physically, by pushing me really agressively out of their way), unfortunately those are very dominant and talented individuals, so they are recognized by the rest of the brigade.

But just like outside summer is eventually here, there is some hope for sunshine after rain in the kitchen as well. The apprentices go back to school in September, that means one week out of two they are not working in the restaurant, which will be a relief, to not see or hear some of them. Also there will be a couple of new apprentices coming on board, so maybe the target for humiliation and making fun about will change to them. I already feel sorry for the new kids arriving. Then in mid October some people that make my life difficult will leave definitely to go and work for other great chefs in France. the number of covers per service is going down as well, and with it the stress level overall. We used to have almost 100 covers per service in the last weeks, and with the end of the French summer vacation we are going down to 20 for lunch and about 50 for dinner. It makes a big difference.

A great change occured already yesterday. After four weeks in "le froid" (the cold), preparing and plaiting mainly lobster salad I was assigned yesterday to work in patisserie for the next two weeks. It is like night and day. It seems to be a different world. I was treated like a human, and the pâtissiers were eager to teach me and make sure I would learn something. The complete opposite to the last four weeks, where usually I was sent away when I dared to ask a question, or clearly told how stupid I was, when I made the slightest little mistake. I cannot believe this is the same restaurant. Finally. This is how I wanted my stage to be !

Normally the time in the patisserie will be limited, as assignments change every two weeks now, but I plan to ask the chef, whether I can stay two weeks longer in patisserie. It might sound strange, but my objectives have shifted from learning as much as possible, to enjoying myself as much as possible and have a bit more fun. I still don't dare to take pictures in the kitchen, just to avoid to give them one more reason to make fun of me, so I took the pictures below from chef Jean Coussau's book "Aimer la cuisine du Sud-Ouest." (Loving the South-West cuisine). The lobster salad I was plating for the last four weeks and one of the desserts (la pistache dans tous ses états) that I am preparing and plating now :

      

(photos credit of Jean-Patrick Gratien in "Aimer la cuisine du Sud-Ouest", Jean Cousseau, Editions Sud-Ouest).

The other good news is, that my most regular blog readers are planning to visit mid September to spend a week of their vacation here, so I will take the opportunity to eventually eat in the restaurant (and take real pictures of the dishes). And Chef Cousseau suggested that I take a couple of days off to "montrer leur la region". Très gentil et généreux Chef ! So I will definitely do !

Le Forêt Landaise

This  Monday was the first full day off after busy four weeks, which represented the most important season for the restaurant. Eventually the weather has turned to what it should be in August, and the sun came out. Just in time !

I took "my" bike and went 30 km south to the seaside resort of Hossegor, a town where I had spent my first vacation in France ever 30 years ago. It took me about 3 hours including pauses de café and photo breaks. Almost all along the way there was a dedicated bike path through the Forêt Landais, the biggest European forest. After the last tough and busy weeks this was a wonderful way to relax, take some distance and enjoy the beautiful nature in this area.

Cabrel, part 2

Francis Cabrel came back to eat here ! Just 2 weeks after his last visit. Must have been the lobster salad I prepared last time.

At the end of the service, the sous-chef asked me if I wanted an autograph, I think he was reading my mind. So Jacques Cousseau, the brother of the chef Jean, asked Francis Cabrel for an autograph, which he signed on the dessert menu. I was VERY happy. It says : A Ulla. Gros bisous. (Big kisses).

What a nice souvenir !

Homard pour Cabrel

Despite my maybe premature conclusion, that this stage is not going to be a very positive experience for me, and that the 4 months are going to be very hard, there have been some highlights last week.

One of them, was a special client of the Relais de la Poste, the French singer Francis Cabrel. He is actually one of the first French singers I got to like when I moved to France 13 years ago, and not only because of his blue eyes... Actually it was the first French CD I bought in France in 1994 (one of my regular readers should remember this...) And, yesterday he had dinner here !!! He is actually from the area, and got of course a special treatment. Every plate that went to his table was announced with his name, so that we would pay super attention. "On y va avec les entrées por la table Cabrel !" I was very excited, because I got to plate his starter, a lobster salad. And the fact that I did that made me smile the whole evening. Somebody suggested, that I should write a little message on the plate, but I resisted. Unfortunately  he did not visit the kitchen after dinner as some clients do, but I was happy just to know that he was there.

Click here to see him performing one of his well known songs, "La Corrida", a song about the bullfights that are currently happening at festivals in the region, and the reason why we have no day off until end of August.

The other highlight was the visit of my friend and Ferrandi classmate Cathleen. She stopped by with her family on the way to their vacation in Biarritz. I almost cried when I saw her. Being day in day out with the brigade of teenagers in an almost dead town is slowly but surely driving me crazy. So I was very happy to be able to talk to somebody my age and my wavelength.

I did change assignments and am no longer behind the pass, but preparing and plating the lobster and langoustine starters but it is still not much fun yet. Maybe I am picking up speed and coordination, learning to do several things at a time, but besides that, the only thing I learnt is that this is not my world, and I will never feel comfortable in such an environment. Too many cultural differences and complete mismatches with my values (especially the army style communication). Most of the time I feel like being in a prison camp, locked in with boys that while they are surely fantastic cooks, talk most of the time about silly things and behave a bit crazy, and I ask myself how I deserved this and what did I do to myself. I think this is nothing special, but typical for those kitchen environments around the world. Like Anthony Bourdain described already in detail (read kitchen confidential and you'll know it all). In addition I have the impression, that they don't have a very high consideration of me, make often fun of me and think I am stupid, when I just sometimes ask questions, to be sure I have correctly understood. And still often when I offer help they send me away, even though it is clear that they could need help. Not funny.

So I am thinking a lot about what am I going to do when returning to Paris in November. Previously I had thought I would spend a couple of years in gastronomic restaurants, but after this experience, I know that won't help me on my way to learning for my own bistrot, and I need to accelerate the way to independence. And my future two-Michelin star restaurants experiences will be limited to eating there.