Day 5: Cheese and Herbs

12PM: In the Kitchen

          Today was the greatest day ever- just take a look at the photo I depicted during the pastry demonstration! It was our last day in the kitchen, which is kind've sad because I have been having the best time working in the kitchen with Chef Patrick. 

 

          In today's lesson, we did a lot of knife cutting. It was great because knife-cutting is something hard to practice because you don't want to waste your food. For today's lunch, we made a chicken morel- similar to a chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, and this amazing grilled shrimp with terragon butter sauce salad- it was delicious! The mashed potatoes were a result of our tourne potatoes waste. I LOVE mashed potatoes- and found this a creative way to use waste! Now, I always have an excuse not only to practice my cutting skills, but also to make mashed potatoes! YUM!

Here is a depiction of my terrible mushroom carving skills

How am I supposed to go a day without seeing Chef Patrick!!

2:30PM- Pastry Demonstration

                    

          My favorite demonstration. Not only because our chef was delicioso, but the pastries were so heavenly! And the best part? I got to make my own gluten free, raspberry free concoction!! The one on the right is what I like to call Aimeril's Mint Mocha Frappuccino- White chocolate whipped cream with a coffee mousse and Mint pastry cream- topped with caramelized tumbleweed and a nougatine on the side. The one on the left was a coffee and chocolate mousse- with so much rich and heavenly chocolate! I ate maybe.....2 of each? Yup...2 of each. They were divine. I was so excited about my concoction as well! This is what I live for- CHOCOLATE! The best part about this demonstration was the effectiveness of decorations has on the eyes- because my favorite saying is that we eat first with our eyes :]. 

5:30PM- Cheese on Cheese!

          What an awesome experience we had today! We got to meet a MOF in Cheese- I call him the cheeseologist. Today was the day I longed for the most besides the wine tasting and pastry demonstration- because cheese is honestly a blank slate to me! In America, our love for cheese is slim to none- our most popular is our American Cheese- AND IT ISN'T EVEN CONSIDERED CHEESE! Isn't that so sad? I have a lactose intolerance, so when I went to my doctor before I came to Europe she told me that the way cheese is fermented in Europe is totally different than in America and it will not upset my stomach- and she was right! The only one that upset my stomach was the Rockefurt- which I found out is fermented with BREAD! As most blue cheeses are. Learning this surprised me because it is something I never learned when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Instantly, I wrote this on the Celiac Forum Blog- because even OUR blue cheese is fermented with bread! EEK!

         I learned the importance of cheese and its "age"- because when you have new cheese, it is very mild and also very mushy. Older cheeses are much more firmer and "stinky". I do not prefer the newer cheeses- my favorite turned out to be the epoisse! I brought some home and broiled it- DELICIOUS!

          Unfortunately, we did not roam through Lyon on this night, mostly because we went out last night, unsuccessfully. It's unfortuante to say that the only bars in Lyon are american-style, and every time we show up they play the song "American Idiot". But we did enjoy the remainder of our cheese and fruit for dinner- which was delicious. I slept like a baby, too- dreaming of the pastry Chef Dillat and so sad that today was our last day for hands-on cooking. Oh Lyon, I don't want to leave your beautiful culture!