Tuesday, May 4th - On My Own and Le Cordon Bleu

This morning I helped David, Davey and Connie get ready and out the door for their 7am ride to CDG and their flight to San Francisco. I had planned to get dressed and walk downstairs. Alas, I have become a wimp and it was oh so cold out. Kisses and hugs took place upstairs.

There were a few trips to get the luggage down with the teeny tiny elevator. (My joke - When the apartment bldg elevator grows up it wants to be an airplane bathroom.)

Last night, I wanted more time with Davey. I held him as he fell asleep and gently waked him this morning. I hope he doesn't grow much or do a lot of new things before I get home. Just when I'd gotten used to the pace of apartment life with the family, I am alone in the apartment, alone in Paris. It feels very strange.

Ash Cloud
Per CNN, the ash cloud is back for parts of England and Ireland. Makes things a bit more interesting.

Le Cordon Bleu (LCB)
This afternoon was my first cooking class. It was a demo at the Cordon Bleu. I mapped out the route and committed the major streets to memory before I left the apartment. After a few blocks of walking in the biting cold, I opted for a taxi. The driver spoke no English and he had never heard of the Cordon Bleu. I helped direct him (with my iPhone map app) and I was very relieved when we found LCB.

I arrived very early and decided to check out the neighborhood around LCB. It was different from the 7th Arrondissmont/ Eiffel Tower area. Very working class, very diverse.. lots of families. There were some interesting shops nearby. Cookware, children's clothing, reasonably priced jewelry. I discovered that none of the shopkeeps spoke English.

I stopped off at what I'm now convinced is the Parisian version of Denny's for a bowl of tomato soup and a glass of wine. The TV above the bar had a surfing competition. I thought to myself, if this is Mavericks, I think I'm going to cry. Fortunately, it was the Hawaii surfing competition... crisis averted

Still early for LCB, I decided to stop by and check in for the class and perhaps check out the gift shop. The woman at the LCB front desk was rather curt and admonished me for arriving early. I was looking for the Julia Child experience and this was it.

There were 4-5 LCB students outside, chatting and smoking. They spoke English and I spoke with them for a few minutes regardng their studies at LCB. Sounds like the coursework is intense. None of them had been hit with celery by a surly chef/ instructor. I told them it was great to hear English. One of the students (a young woman) said they were happy to hear English as well. All was good.

The class/ demo at LCB was part of their "Tribute to Julia Child" series of monthly classes. Chef Marc Thivet had two assistants helping with the prep work (ahh, that's what I need). The dishes Chef Thivet covered included Boeuf Bourguignon, rice with seasonal vegetables and flan. The rice was actually a risotto style preparation and the flan was closer to a souffle (with a good amount of flour added). I learned a few tricks for the Boeuf stew and vegetable preparation and had a few aha cooking moments. Most of the students were Americans (we had an English translator for the class). We were provided with a tasting of each dish and, of course, a glass of red wine.

I met two lovely women as we waited for our class to begin. Joan and Jean are twin sisters from Niagara, Canada. Joan and her husband are starting their retirement with 10 weeks in Paris (don't give me any ideas) and Jean is visiting for a week. After the class, Joan and Jean offered to walk me to the nearby Metro station where I could get a taxi. Their apartment was nearby. I was grateful to get a taxi very quickly.

When I finally got back to the apartment, I did something I haven't done since my childhood in Minnesota. I warmed my frozen backside on the radiator.