Monday, October 17, 2011

And another one gone...

Halfway through October we were abandoned by yet another good friend and Cordon Bleu student, Lesley Kim. She returned to her beloved Canada, leaving another big gap in our social circle. But that's okay because now we have someone nearby to visit when we are Stateside again.

Just before Lesley left, we accompanied her on a mission to a village called Épernay in the Champagne region to return a few bottles of wine to the Dom Perignon headquarters. It was lovely driving through wine country, where neither Charlie or I had ever been. Aside from vast vineyards, the countryside is also dotted by quaint little crumbly villages such as the one for which we were destined that day.

Despite Lesley having called ahead to confirm that the return could be made, she was met with the usual French response to many perfectly sensible requests: C'est pas posible (It can't be done). Of course it can, you just have to go through the process of arguing about it until the person with the red tape concedes. Just about anything can eventually be accomplished if you know that French culture expects you to argue for it a little bit.

Anyway, she eventually succeeded and we proceeded to wander aimlessly around the town. This didn't last long because we were running out of daylight and still had cigars to smoke and video to shoot. This is the fruit of our labor that day:


Stay tuned next week for an update from Chef Charlie and more Smoking in the Park!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

October? More like ROCKtober!

So much happened in October that I'll have to give it to you in small doses.

First, with my fancy new mac freshly imported from the U.S., I devoted myself full time to my freelance translation work. As it turns out, if you are available and good (which I am, of course) people will throw more jobs at you than you can even take. Finally I have managed to break into gainful self-employment. I make more money than I ever have, I actually care about and enjoy my job and I can do it in my pajamas! It's not without its setbacks, of course. For one, unless I consciously moderate it, I will work 12-hour days and completely neglect any semblance of a social life. Since I began I have slowly started to re-coup some of my own time, but it's hard to say "no" to clients when doing so too many times may imply them never asking you again. The work-life balance is definitely tricky. But hell, it beats commuting and being office bitch to someone who makes more money than me. In my last 15 years as an employee I have managed to work for some real dicks. No more.

My "office"

The first couple weeks of the month were filled with food and friends, namely Brian, who would be departing for the U.S. soon. His departure also implied that we would (temporarily) be taking in his feisty feline, Sriracha, in order to find her a new home that was not the animal shelter. Two months later, she is sitting at the foot of my bed as a type this.

Before he left there was some serious fun to be had. My personal favorite bit of this was our outing to the Jardin d'Agronomie Tropicale just outside of Paris where we had a picnic and, of course, smoked in the park.


The following weekend we went to dinner with Brian and his friend Leslie at his favorite restaurant, Chateaubriand. This particular restaurant only offers a set, multi-course meal for dinner and the majority of what we ate was absolutely delicious.

Beef cooked sous vide, apple infused with celery juice and seaweed

Blood pudding, purple potato, potato and lemon chips

Haddock filet with seasonal vegetables, (radishes, daikon), beurre blanc

Chicken breast sous vide (with fried skin), wild mushrooms and an oyster

 Goat milk yogurt sorbet, mint, basil, caramel chips

No complaints here!

The next morning while I slept in, Charlie and Brian took Leslie to Bastille market where Charlie bought the ingredients necessary for Brian's goodbye dinner at our place that evening.

Much to my dismay, this consisted of preparing the stinkiest dead animal that my nose has ever come into contact with: wild hare.

 The search is on.

 Is this what you're looking for?

 Taking Bugs' pants off

Captive audience

 The first course that evening was this tasty tartare of mackerel with persimmon and tangerine. 

The main course was braised wild hair, mushroom parmentier, glazed turnips and balsamic-glazed figs. 

Everything tasted good, but I had difficulty bringing myself to eat much of the hare after smelling it in its various stages of preparation throughout the day (an odor akin to landfill).

As I'm sure you figured out by now, the cooking never stops with Charlie. Hence, a few days later, ravioli.

 Filled with mushroomy goodness

I'll leave you with this last photo of us during a stroll through the Jardin des Plantes one afternoon.

In love