My cooking class today takes me to a suburb of Paris, about 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital and to get there, Brabon and I had to take the RER C line which takes about 45 minutes direct from Saint Michel Notre Dame. We had to push off earlier as well because my schedule included a "market visit" which I was very much looking forward to experience. The school itself faces the famous "Notre Dame Market" which is considered as the best for quality produces. I also noted prior to booking this class that the French cuisine offered is somewhat unique in that it matches traditional and trendy recipes which will be something new for me to learn. What's more is the chef, Chef Patricia, is a graduate from Le Cordon Bleu Paris and the class is followed by a 3 course tasting and wine pairing lunch. Somehow, I knew today was special, that "Black Eye Peas " had hit me with "I got a feeling that today's gonna be a good day, a good day, a good day".....
So we took off earlier than advised by Corrine (she suggested 8.20am) and arrived at Versailles well ahead of time permitting us to walk leisurely towards the school. Many of the stores were just about waking as we breezed through and easily we spotted the school. We had 15 minutes to spare so we looked around, saw a corner cafe opened nearby and decided, let's go grab a coffee! By now we knew that if we sat outside our coffee will be much more expensive and would probably cost us anywhere between Euro 4.50 to 5.80 so this time we thought we'll stand at the bar, we paid Euro 1.80 each!
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| The corner cafe where we had our coffee on the left in pink! |
After our quick coffee, we walked over to the building of the school and I turned to Brabon and said "Ok, you can go now, I'll be alright". (We had planned like yesterday that he would drop me off and for today and Versailles, he could walk around the district, take photos, visit some churches and pick me when I finish at 2pm.) Instead of clicking his heels and leave, this time he chose to say "But why? Why can't I stick around for a while, meet the chef and who knows, she might invite me to stay for the market visit". "Who knows, she might even asked me to join you guys for lunch" he added. Taken by surprise, I replied "I guess" but in my heart I thought "I don't think so, Mista!" "She definitely ain't gonna ask you" "I mean, you would have to pay for something like that, Mista!" "Because I did!". But I smiled at him and he
SMILED back. Suddenly, the window to the school opened and there she was! For a moment I thought "what a pretty lady", almost blond with a beautiful smile. "Ah!" she volunteered, "Jennifer? Yes? I smiled back and said "Yes, I'm Jennifer". We sort of talk for a bit. "wait, I come down" she said.
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| As I've said before "When a student is ready, a teacher will appear" |
She came down, complete with basket and all, ready for the market and we introduced ourselves to one another proper. We talked a bit more and then,
theennn, I said "This is Brabon, my husband". "He's dropping me off, he will walk around...he'll come and get me when we finish". "Ah" she says. "You are welcome to join us at the market, Brabon?" "I would love to, thank you very much" he replied while smiling and looking at me. "No, no mention, its nothing, you're welcome, come we walk" she said. In my heart I was thinking "Ok, whateva"!
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| Part of Notre Dame Market, Versailles |
We had a wonderful leisurely walk through the market, Chef Patricia showed us the places where she gets her supplies, she enlighten us about all the produce and their source, threw in some history, she introduced us to her friends, owners of the stalls, they were friendly, they welcomed us and I must say, such nice folks. It was a market where you wanted to buy
EVERYTHING or
SOMETHING, AT LEAST, which we did, for Gilbert and Claudia, my nephew and fiancee, we say.
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| This was where we bought the cheeses to bring to Zurich for Gilbert and Claudia. A goat's cheese Camembert and a hard one from the border closer to Spain. The lady was concern enough to seal them for us to last for 2 weeks |
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| I can't remember what this is! |
When we were done, we stopped by a really nice pastesserie to buy some bread and Chef Patricia asked if we had breakfast. I was feeling a bit hungry looking at all those pastries and moreover I needed to try more croissants for comparison, so I settled for that. No regrets, it was really really good, soft yet crispy, and with coffee, magnifique!
So we walked back to the school and Chef Patricia invited Brabon to come up for coffee. Imagine our surprise when we walked in, it was a tastefully decorated, modern and organised school, we loved it!
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| Isn't this like the perfect place? |
Chef Patricia had a coffee machine, she got it going and we sat down, drank some coffee, ate my croissant and chatted. Then she asked Brabon what was his plans while we were cooking and he mentioned that he would go visit some churches. She asked if we were thinking of visiting Chateau Versailles and we said that we intended to do that, after the class.
Then, then, she said "Brabon, would you like to have lunch with us"? "You cannot stay here while we cook so you go to the tourist office eh, buy your tickets for Chateau, maybe walk around a bit then come back here by 1.15pm and join us for lunch"? "Can I"? "I would love to"! he replied. "Yes, as my guest"! she said.
And there I sat thinking "What"? But I smiled and said "There you go, lucky you"! He smiled back, got up, rub his palms and said to me "I'd better get going" and to Chef Patricia he said "Thank you, thank you so much" and to both of us he said "see you later". I walked him to the door and then,
theennn, he dropped the
BOMB, softly he ventured "I charged the battery last night but I don't know what happened, looks like the camera got no battery"! I shook my head and gave out a
BIG BIG sigh.
TSK! as loud as I could. Now my photo taking will be limited, aargh....
After Brabon left, there were 2 other french ladies who made up our class, we had an awesome time!
Our menu consisted of an
Avocado and Grapefruit Starter, Cod Fish with Almonds on Spinach for mains and an Apple Crumble with Creme Anglais Ice-cream.
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| Learning the proper technique of peeling and slicing citrus fruit. Using the wrong technique results in unwanted pithy deposits that will ruin the flavour of the fruit |
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| Caramelizing Apples |
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| The Creme Anglais before it went into the ice-cream machine - heavenly! |
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| Cod Fish with Almonds on Spinach - As you can see, taken with our phone camera - TSK! |
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| Our group photo. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember their names and the lady in white was so nice , she went through the trouble of writing down the names of one of the best restaurants in Paris to have Confit Canard and where to have the best ice-cream too! The lady in red could not speak much English so we didn't speak much with each other |
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| Chef Patricia and I |
I was really touched with Chef Patricia and her warmth towards Brabon and I. As we were almost ready for lunch, she was concern that he was late to arrive. "Jennifer" she said, "Maybe you use my phone and call Brabon"? "He'll be here anytime now Patricia, I'm sure" I reassured her. Of course in my heart I was thinking "Where the hell is this guy, want to join us for lunch and then he's late"! "Man, I hope he comes soon". Then, as we were setting the table I noted further that we had made only 4 Apple Crumble and wondered worriedly about the rest of the meal.. I said to Patricia "Patricia, please let me share my meal with Brabon". To which she replied "No Jennifer, he is my guest, I have seen to it". Later, she of course gave her portion of Apple Crumble to Brabon and her entire meal, were very small portions.
We had a lovely lovely lunch, the food, was extremely delicious. The Avocado and Grapefruit Starter was savoury yet refreshing and the Cod Fish, parfait! You know, I always thought that my Apple Crisp was flawless, how would her Apple Crumble compare to that? Well, her Apple Crumble was flawless too, the crust with ground hazelnuts added another dimension to the taste, and with Creme Anglais ice-cream, becomes a treat. I have not stop nagging for an ice-cream machine from Brabon since that very day and I'm still hoping! Like all good times, we were sorry to leave. But I'm happy to say that I am a proud owner of a video I got of Chef Patricia who is featured among 10 top chefs of Versailles. We parted happily with gifts for each other. A batik scarf for her from Malaysia and a homemade Apricot Conserve made by her for us. One of our fondest memories of Paris is having the pleasure of meeting and learning from Chef Patricia.
It was quite a distance on foot to the Chateau Versailles, we were running late so we had to rush. We were adamant to make full use of the 25 Euro smackers each which we paid for our tickets. Unfortunately, there was a strike happening at Marie Antoinette's garden so that was something we had to give a miss.
We get a break from class tomorrow, It was quite a day!
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| On the way back taken at the fountain |
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| An aerial view of more musicians strutting their stuff from our digs! They played way past midnight,,, |
