Back to the drawing board

My life has been stagnant for a while now. I feel like I’ve wasted a year doing nothing…. Time waits for no man…so very true… But regretting it and doing nothing will get me nowhere. So yeah, it’s time to get back on my feet and fulfill my dream,…mon reve!

cup of cake

i had never considered making cupcakes before. i had only tried it once and didn’t think i like it. in my opinion, they looked pretty, that’s all.

after seeing how popular it is, i decided to give it a try. maybe i will enjoy cupcake after all.

 1st trial: didn’t like the frosting. made from icing sugar+butter+milk. gritty and the sweetness gave me headache. ouch!  

2nd: chocolate mint cupcake. tried using italian buttercream. much better! very smooth, creamy. yet has the right sweetness. 

so, have i changed my opinion on cupcakes? don’t think so. i prefer muffins. they may not look as pretty, but they look more inviting and rustic. cupcakes look too chic…they also taste better compared to cupcakes. n minus the frosting, which is better for your tummy (ha! yea right!).

time to move on. next, will make some muffins.

some baking

i took it out too early. oven is acting weird. bottom part of the choux is getting a bit burnt while the top is still raw

can’t claim this to be punition. i just looked up the recipe from the internet. taste really buttery and friable.

magic cube

magic cube is IN at the moment here back home. my cousin(13) has been practising for over one month and is now able to solve it in under 1 minute. what do they feed kids these days?!?!?!

spend my time wisely…not.

on holiday mode…STILL?!?!?!?!. i have been doing nothing for the past 3 months after my return, except for some traveling and  eating(as usual…). went to singapore last month. enjoyed it very much. i got to meet a friend from ESCF. it feels weird cos i saw her the first time on the other part of the world, and then met her again in a country that is very near to home. we ate in Tampopo, japanese family restaurant. 

my friend had the beef curry rice…looks very cheesy.

pork ramen is wonderful,the size is quite big…very filling.

CANELE Patisserie in Paragon. cakes are good enough.not trying to be a snob , but i understand that excellent ingredients are hard to get. the cream, the butter,the almond powder,the flour, they are the most important. and they are expensive here and the quality are not the same with the ones in paris(i feel bad for having to compare everything with paris,paris,paris. but the patisseries and ingredients there are really the top). 

TWG, a tea place similar with Mariage Freres. I like the chocolate cake, not so much about their teas…

this is my favourite, ramen in tomato soup by WARAKU.

last days in paris

 

 

macaron au marron from boissier

 

5 more days n im going back to indo for good. so what have i done on my last days?packing and eating….lots of eating….poking my stomach *boink*boink*

l’atelier de Joel Robuchon – had dinner with 2 of my friends (they are the ones who taught me how to be a food expert.think i have graduated from foodsnob101 and foodsnob102 with flying colours. but who is going to help me get thru the foodsnob103 and so on??!!T_T) . the food was excellent.going back there wih mom n bro tomorrow, actually

aubergine,mozzarella,semidried tomatoes

 

bonemarrow

 

suckling pig as my main

 

choux, vanilla ice cream, choc. sauce - nothing can go wrong

 

more of  patisserie des reves

brioche feuillette

 

des gateaux et du pain

pistache griotte saint honore

 

ice cream @martine lambert. definitely the best in paris!!!!

shop looks simple, taste says anything but that!

 

l’ami jean. bistro of the year. lives up to its name. a bit annoyed with the reservation problem.reserve for dinner @22.00(would like to have it earlier but couldn’t coz it was fully booked).arrived @ the restaurant n had to wait until 22.30 to be seated.like their service despite all that. the place was full n hectic but the staffs still managed to joke around. they offer tasting menu:2 entrees, 1 main , 3 desserts…3 DESSERTS??!!!!didn’t know what they will bring out(only the chef knew), but we wanted to be surprised. my friends n i immediately took the offer. everything was amazing. best bistro dessert i ever had, too bad can’t finish them all…

one my foodsnob101 and foodsnob102 teacher’s (i have 2 teachers, remember?) comment: “hmmm…we don’t know what we are eating, but it taste good….”

entree1:emulsion de cepes with crouton n chives

 

 

the only explanation i can give, it's pork...with some veggies...

 

dessert1melon soup with mint n peanuts(?)

 

dessert2:best riz au lait!!!!!!!!!!

 

banana,chocolate, caramel sauce(?), with lemony taste with 2 meringue sticks...not very good description

 

sadaharu aoki

tarte au citron

 

cojean

colourful juices

 

la cantine de troquet- had more pictures, but unable to post them.dunno why ..maybe i have had to much food…?

girolles(spelling mistake?) n jambon

bittersweet

had my last day of stage today. suddenly had a mixed feeling- sad n happy @ the same time. the time i spent for my stage is exactly 10 weeks. during those weeks, i kept counting the days. now when it is all over, i actually feel there is something missing(but if you tell me to go back to work i will not do it^^)not really missing the work, just the people. i met some nice people there. it is a pity that i started to be more open to the people there just a couple of weeks before.

 one of the sous chef can’t really remember my name, i actually find it funny. he called me ‘lee’ for a few weeks. and today, my last day, he called me ‘nelly’ the whole day. an improvement, sort of^^, since it sound more like my name, rather than ‘lee’,which is not even my surname!

stuff that i have learnt during stage:

1. bises. i am used to it by now.
2. saying ‘bonjour’ to everyone before start the work and ‘au revoir’ @ the end of the day.
3. french cursing words. they keep replaying on my minds now. the P and M words……
4. work cleaner(compared to before)

patisserie des reves indeed

a new patisserie just opened this week. the owner is Philippe Conticini- MOF patissier. the patisserie is quite different compared to others, so the name la patisserie des reves suits it well.

so what is different?

decor n display – very chic. as you go into the store, you can see a round table in the middle of the room with one cake of each type used as display only. a display of  kouign-amans, brioches, tins of dried nuts on sides of the room.  

the service –   one of the store keeper will then take down your order. go to the cashier n pay. go to another counter n wait while your order is being taken out from the kitchen n being wrapped.

the packaging – pink coloured box. n serviette that is made out of cloth instead of mere paper!

 

the store from outside

kouignaman,the white cloth serviette n pamphlet that contains info about their cakes

cuteparis brest

the kouignaman was good!had a bite of the paris brest(as you can see in the picture).not a fan of praline.had the whole thing and wouldn’t mind having more! but AND im sure praline lovers will like it. there aren’t many choices of cakes since it has just open. maybe going back again nxt week.

3 more weeks!!!hurrayyyy!!!!

my stage is ending in 3 weeks…woo hoo!!! glad that i can make it this far. just to refresh your memory, i’m doing my stage in l’Hotel Plaza Athenee. dunno whether any of you have heard it before, but it is very well known here and it is one of the Dochester Collection. before i started my stage, i was told by the head of the Human Resources that working in Plaza is really “fort”. at that time i was thinking ‘ of course it will be hard. i know it is hard. but i can do it’. i shouldn’t  have been that overconfident, i should have believed her. it is hard. physically n mentally<—–i think it’s just me. being so far away in a foreign country and working in a place that speaks you totally don’t know is a scary experience +, people @ work are just co-workers, they are not you friends even though they do bises every time!——- never it crossed my mind that working there will be as intense as i am experiencing right now.

couple of weeks ago, i burnt the casserole @ work. still don’t understand how did that happen! thinking back, it was actually really funny. but @ that time it was no joke! i immediately lost my confidence, the chefs didn’t trust me anymore. they all like ” $@%#**&^&$#%  Fenny. attention uh” felt so useless. but i think last week i slowly gained back their trust. hopefully this week will be better. i have to learn my mistake, get over it, move on n never repeat the same mistake again.

even though i do not like the stage, i am still glad i decided to go on. i really learn a lot from them(think i keep repeating myself on this).i get to see how a real kitchen work. how they do their mise en place, what kinds of equipment  they use, how they store their products, etc. my sis told me experience is expensive. she is right.

i’m not sure though whether this litte experience is good enough for me to open my own place. but i decide to continue with my plan and gain more experience while managing my patisserie. actually, what keeps me from not giving up the stage is my dream to open my own patisserie. so it is really my goal for now. i already have a bit of ideas on how it would be like, my future patisserie, that is.. so just going to continue in my planing n in prayer. 

enough of the heavy topic. all patisseries that i know of closed last few weeks, except laduree n sadaharu aoki. so didn’t get to eat cakes for one month. since they are opening this week(am very happy to inform you), i’m going to start to visit them again, starting tomorrow.

love n hate

i both love n hate my stage. loving it coz i learn many things that are not taught in school, i learn about kitchen layout, how they do stuff, basically all about labo de patisserie in the real world. don’t really understand why am hating it though….maybe because i am stuck in a confined area for 10 hrs everyday, having to ask chef  every time what to do, don’t really talk since my french sucks. n working makes me feel more homesick.

believe me. school kitchen and real kitchen are totally DIFFERENT. an example: made creme anglaise and tried to strain it. ask my favourite chef to help me hold the chinoise. halfway through the process, his comment was, ” (in french)what’s this?this is school way of doing. get rid of the chinoise.use mixer.then it’s good.”

think i’m more used to the system in the kitchen now. more confident in doing things. physically stronger, understanding more kitchen terms.