Dinner for friends

On Saturday night Bao, Sam and I had the privilege of cooking a multi course meal for 8 friends. The three of us decided from the beginning that we would cook and serve the whole meal...unlike most of the time where we actually sit down with the people we've cooked for...The only catch for the invitation was that you had to eat whatever we decided tomake and you had to accept a wine assignment. (Thank you Michael at Sherlock's for helping us with this part.) Here is what we served:

When people arrived, they were greeted with grapefruit lavender martinis as well as puff pastry cups filled with grits, kabana sausage and topped with a fried quail egg.
Now...on to dinner...

Oh. I don't have very many pictures because the cooks were supposed to remember to take photos, but we were busy drinking lots of yummy wine...so...you know.

Amuse: a "caprese" of red and yellow heirloom tomato sorbets, whipped mascarpone and basil oil; paired with Il Procecco



First course : pan seared halibut, asian pear and kiwi salad, carrot ginger puree; paired with a Ginjo sake


Second course: foie gras with brandied pears and caramelized honey; paired with a sauternes that I can't remember

Third course: veal cheeks with chanterelles and figs, old vine zinfandel reduction; paired with Greppicaia, Bolgheri Superiore

Cheese course: arina goat gouda and manchego with sweet pear chutney; paired with St. Bernardus Wit Bier

Dessert: the Violet, recipe from Chef Olivier Bajard MOF, sugar dough, white chocolate, cassis violet coulis, vanilla pastry creme and strawberry salpicon; paired with Francois Montand, Blanc de Blanc

If you're in Atlanta...

You should do this with part of your Saturday night.

On an unrelated note, it's official. I'm 1/8 Cherokee. I'm not sure what that means for me, but it's kind of cool to know. I spent the weekend in Robbinsville and it was too much to go into here. But it was all very, very good.

Atlanta Woman Magazine article

This is a nice little piece that Atlanta Woman put on their website. (about me)

Residual

Relationships sometimes break.

The fragments of life once together seem to be everywhere right now. And I can't step back yet and see the lessons learned in the bigger picture.

Instead, it's just sad.

Beer Dinner at 5th Earl Market

In June we did a beer dinner at the 5th Earl Market in Decatur. Here is a nice little write up from one of the customers. There's even a picture of me looking a little bit chef-y.

some things about today

My favorite thing I heard today:
"Pride's not hard to swallow if you chew it long enough."
Thank you Hank Jr. I normally prefer his father.

I went to the grocery store. Contents of my cart:
Beer
Diet Coke

I think that exemplifies everything that's wrong with health in America. Who knew I was so average?

Thank you.

With you
I am me the most

What's up with everyone wishing me a Happy Mother's Day this weekend? Well, Larisa, you might say. It is Mother's Day after all. True. However, this constant well wishing has never happened before. At the grocery store, at Target, even at the gas station?! "Happy Mothers Day!" they exclaim.

I'm not a mother. There is nothing with me indicating that I might be a mother (like, say, for instance, a child). "Oh no!" I think. "Maybe these empire waist dresses really do make me look pregnant!" "Happy Mother's Day!" they keep saying. I finally responded to one man by saying, "Happy Mother's Day to you too!" I mean, he's just as much of a mom as I am. He looked confused.

As it turns out, I am not alone in this experience. Every woman I talk to (mother or not) has noticed it this year.

But here's the thing. I keep thinking about the women who actually want a baby and don't have one. I enjoy having a life filled with nephews, nieces and other people's children. That's plenty for me. However, there are those, like my mom, whose arms ached to hold a baby of her own. For whom Mother's Day is a day when the emptiness they feel throughout the year is only magnified.

So, people, this year. Concentrate on your own mom. I will do the same.

Honoring life transitions. That's been the theme for April. I'm starting some work with a new company that caters, teaches cooking classes, and is producing a line of gourmet baked goods. My friend Laura had a baby. Terrell got married. And my friend's mom died. That pretty much covers life, doesn't it? It's given me a lot to ponder and I've written some things that I may post later. Meanwhile, here's something that made my heart happy.

M'lissa and I were at El Myr when we ran into one of our regulars at Octane. He's not a regular that I know anything about except that he enjoys large coffees, in house lattes and the occasional sandwich. When we saw him, we waved and went to our table. On his way out, he gave us this...

OK people...we need spoke cards for the Bikes to Rwanda benefit...see Aly's kick ass poster below...there will be lots of things going on. Even if you can't make a spoke card, come to the cookout, Pecha Kucha or cupping. Meanwhile, you will enjoy only coffees from Rwands for the month of April, some exclusive to Octane.

Here are some details. Bikes to Rwanda is a Portland based non profit. BTR's goal is to improve quality of life in Rwandan farming communities through a bike workshop and maintenance program that provides transportation resources for basic needs and enhances production of quality coffee. Cargo bikes help farmers harvest their crops quicker and easier, making it possible for more of the coffee cherries to reach a potential buyer. In the past few years, Rwanda has developed a reputation to producing top-quality specialty coffee for export throughout the world. The result has been tremendous economic and social benefits for the people of Rwanda: coffee now generates more than half of Rwanda's export income—some US $46 million in 2006—and it helps support thousands of families. As Rwandans earn more for their coffee beans, families take a step up the ladder of economic development toward a better life.

This year, BTR will be focusing its efforts on building bike shops for Rwandan co-ops. The shops will be gathering places where people in the co-op can maintain, service, and construct the bicycles that help them succeed. It is our goal at Octane to support this community, our global coffee family, as we work to raise enough funds to construct a bike shop in Rwanda.

Good news! The 2008 Golden Clog Award nominees have been announced. Developed by Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman, they're a delightful spin on the idea of "awards." These include:

The Alton: for being on the Food Network and yet, somehow managing to Not Suck
My fave, the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, is nominated.

The Cat Cora: for most fame based on least actual culinary achievement; Bourdain has even agreed to nominate himself for this one.

The Fergus: for greatest achievement in pork and/or guts.

The list goes on, but I'll let you discover it for yourself. It makes me laugh. How I would love to share a bottle of Jameson with these guys.

This is Dieter.


Here are some of his designs for Braun in the 1960s.




Look familiar?


The future of Apple is here.

Principles of good design according to Dieter Rams.
Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design helps us to understand a product.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is durable.
Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Good design is concerned with the environment.
Good design is as little design as possible.
Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Speaking of design.....

Octane has a new wall!! Well....same wall, new face!

Install


Complete


Enjoy


Mick made a movie.
Watch the installation.
Find out more about Stefan's newest Black Slabbath.

My finger vs. the serrated blade. I think my finger would have lost had the blade been straight. This way, though, it was just a gouge more than a clean cut. Who knew I had taken my left ring finger for granted all these years. It helps me do lots of things. I'm somewhat inspired to write an ode.

Dear 2008,

I’m super excited to meet you. As with any relationship, I’m sure I’m full of expectations that I won’t even know about until you either fulfill them or don’t.
You will teach me new things, and past lessons will make sense. I will learn how much I don’t know, and also realize that I know more about some things than I think I do. Whatever “my work” looks like will start to come together in a tangible way….moving from ideas to action. More blood and sweat than ever. Slow and steady. I will not let fear stop me.
There will cooking, of course. At home. With friends at my table. I will be more intentional about Community. I crave it. I have it.
There will be art. There will be Process. And dreams will come to fruition in ways I would never imagine. My Story will unfold and I will choose to live it because it is mine.
We’ve got 355 more days together. Let’s do this thing.
Lots of love to you,
Larisa

Ok...here is a little bit of what I've been up to. Mainly work, fun, baking, friends, knitting(?!) and random life stuff.

A couple of months ago Danette and I headed to Buford to catch up with our friends from college, Amy and Bal. I made a little dessert of key lime tart with a pecan shortbread crust, fruit and meringue. Here it is presented two different ways.





Also, I was happy to make a little dessert for a goodbye brunch in honor of Joanna Avant, who is fabulous. She and her husband Phillip are moving from Atlanta to Virginia because for his job. This now means that Atlanta has two fewer super fun people living here. For her, I made a lemon brulee with layers of almond biscuit. I'm not sure why fall made me want to make citrus based things, but it did. Go figure. Not seasonal so much.



At Octane, we rotate artists monthly. In December, the artist was Octane employees. Frankly, we kick ass. Paintings, photos, handmade journals, masks, and shrines were just the beginning. I put up some photos from the markets in Europe last summer, but my main piece was a sugar sculpture.


This picture is blurry, but it gives you an idea of its multilevelness (not a word).


Finally, I have very good friends. I sent out a little note to a few people saying they could hire me to make their holiday breads and cakes. Let's see....Bao ordered from Korea-- he lives here, but was in Korea when he e-mailed me. Can I call myself a baker with international clients? Anyway, Amy's mom even ordered some special vegan treats for Amy to bring home to Iowa for Christmas. Gwen brought wine over and we packed and shipped 16 boxes! All of this to say, that I am so grateful to have people in my life who believe in what I do.

My head is swirling with thoughts and hopes for 2008.

I know I've been completely slack. And I even have stuff to put on here. So...stay tuned. Some photos and some catch up will happen.

I was talking to someone the other day who had just seen my blog. He commented,"You like to talk a lot, don't you?" Which totally made me laugh. Not the first time I've been accused of being wordy in my posts. My response? "I talk because I can't draw." I think in pictures, but communicate in words. However, I do have a picture for you below. It is the cover of October's issue of Clinical Neurophysiology. Why this? Because I'm a co-author on one of the articles....specifically, "An Open Study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Treatment Resistant Depression in Parkinson's Disease."



And so my past life comes rushing forth. This is one of the research projects I coordinated at Emory about four years ago. The gears of research, academia and publication are not known for moving with great speed. Wouldn't it be weird if I didn't get any feedback on my cooking for four years?! I was good at my job and found it interesting. But I don't want to go back. Not to be cheesy, but I love the kind of work I do now.....even if I'm still figuring out exactly what it is.

I am practically bursting at the seams, I am so excited about fall. I have so many great expectations for the next few months, and I'm not even sure why. But I have a strong sense of hope. It's nice. And, to be honest, quite a change from this time last year when I was smack in the middle of a major depression. The thing about when you're me and you're in the middle of such a dark place-- well, it's hard to recognize. I'm usually happy. Even when things are hard, I have a generally positive outlook. So, last year, when I found myself in the middle of this crazy abyss, I wasn't sure what to do. I kept thinking I was tired or not used to being back home or whatever. Anyway, all of this to say, the sun is shining much more brightly these days. Life is not easy, but life is good. And for that I am grateful.

Here's a picture of the birthday cake I made for my sister. It was one of those humid 100 degree days....so there were some sugar/fondant issues. However, it think it came out ok. She was happy, and that's what matters. Please note the way the gallon of milk really enhances the design.

"Life is many things, and among the best of them, it is meals."-- James and Kay Salter from "Life is Meals"

The Salters go on to say that the meal is the essential act of life. I think it's not just physical life. I would also say that shared meals are essential for our spiritual and emotional lives.

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I plan vacations and trips around restaurants to visit. I'll plan a day of running errands around the hours of Kool Korner. Having a special meal in a new place is fun for me. It's not just about the food. Good meals enjoyed with friends are important. Over time I have come to realize that I have some specific expectations of other people when I'm dining out. In my mind there are certain "rules" involved when more than two people are dining at a good restaurant.
1. Share.
2. Do not order more than one of the same dish. Although, if the group is big (six or eight people), it's ok to have duplicates. Variety also helps with rule one.
3. Do not spend too much time on the check. This is no time for higher level math. If everyone eats and drinks, just divide equally and trust that it all works out in the end.
4. Laugh a lot and relax-- even if you're somewhere pretentious.
5. Share. That's really important.

A week ago, I found myself at a restaurant I had been wanting to try for quite some time. Repast was opened last year by husband and wife team, Chefs Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai. I was going with 3 other people-- two of whom I had never met. My friend Gene, I know through Octane, but we hadn't hung out very much outside the coffee shop. While I was super excited, I wondered what these new dining friends would be like. After all, I couldn't just go in and have them promise to enjoy the dinner the way I think they should. (I try to be charming and make people like me before I go throwing out my weird rules of dining behavior.)

By the time we all gathered and had a pre-dinner cocktail, I knew that I had nothing to worry about. Almost everything looked good, so we consulted with each other to make sure that the menu was well represented at the table (see rule 2 above). After some direction from our informed and friendly (but not too friendly) server, Adrienne, we chose four appetizers. Just before the first course arrived, Adrienne offered to take our menus, and then return them when we were ready to make a decision about entrees. So smart! First was the three cheese plate (La Tur-- a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk cheese--Sweet Grass Dairy Gouda, and a Truffle Goat Cheese). We enjoyed the Salmon Naan Pizzette with goat cheese, fried capers and shallots. Yum! The season was just right for heirloom tomatoes topped with a melt in your mouth buffalo mozzarella. We each enjoyed a spoon stacked with a Japanese melon that's similar to honeydew, Maytag blue cheese and Hawaiian black salt. Perfect.

On to the entrees....which were promptly cut into four portions so we could each taste. There was Mihoko's Daily Macrobiotic Composition. That evening's selection included sesame green beans, tofu with red peppers, whole grains and roasted lotus root and carrots. The porcini crusted sea scallops were served over corn succotash with truffle butter. Also representing the water was wild Tasmanian salmon with lemon ricotta agnolotti and seasonal vegetables. The lemon was just right-- how do people not like lemon and cheese? Finally, we enjoyed cumin crusted lamb chops with sprouted garlic hummus, eggplant and feta, and a touch a mint oil. Wow. We were also given a selection of three salts to taste, a pink salt and black salt, both from Hawaii, and another salt with pyramid shaped crystals. I can't remember where it was from. It was fun tasting each dish with the different salts. There really are differences-- they weren't just "salty." Oh...and we got a side of root vegetable fries with their housemade ketchup and the kani kani-- jumbo lump crab cake with green bean slaw and yuzu caper remoulade. All washed down with Paul Hobbs Vindelocks Cabernet.

One might think that after all of this, we couldn't even think about dessert. One might underestimate us. So....we chose comforting, refreshing and decadent. We went for banana pecan bread pudding served with banana ice cream, as well as a tasting of mandarin-pineapple and lemon-lime-mint sorbet. My favorite, however, was the dark chocolate terrine with extra virgin olive oil and smoked sea salt. I was speechless. (really!) At Adrienne's suggestion, I chose the Pedro Ximenez Gran Riserva from Spain...I also chose it because it's the same age as me. So good with the chocolate.

Overall, a most lovely meal with fun new people. I forgot that I had only just met two of my three dining companions when we sat down. Shared meals are essential, and bring people together in a new way. Somewhere between bites of scallops and lamb, I took a deep breath and shared my realization-- "I was trying to think of something that could make this moment better-- and I couldn't come up with anything. I love it when that happens." Life is meals.

Poor Buttercup....

All this time I've been feeling like I drive a tank....she, however, is no match for a Penske truck.



The truck was making a very wide right turn....there was Buttercup, parked legally on the street, minding her own business. And he hit her. Then just pushed her out of the way. Not nice. Thankfully, Jay Morel saw everything. He even got a partial tag. You know, in Law and Order they always have the tag run through the system in no time. Not so much the same here. I can't even get anyone to answer the phone at the Atlanta Police Department. In the end, however, I feel happy that I wasn't sitting in the driver's seat when it happened.

Now...another car photo. This dude was at Restaurant Depot for the day. I suppose until he gets to heaven, this "Gee" enjoys a good bargain on bulk restaurants supplies.

Tell Me a Story

"Tell me a story." Did you ask that a lot when you were little? I know I did. I loved to hear my dad tell the same stories over and over. And if no one was around to tell me a story I would make up my own or read my favorites...My life was full of stories about Dorrie the Good Witch, Amelia Bedelia, Petunia-- she was a goose-- and, of course the usual suspects (Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, etc.). One of my favorites was about a group of children on vacation with their parents. They discover a magical fairyland behind a waterfall...sort of like Narnia, but different. To this day, there is a space in me hoping for something else beyond a waterfall. I've been thinking a lot about stories lately.

I think that we like to hear stories as children because the world is so full of possibilities. I wondered if I would find a magical place....if I would be in peril and someone would rescue me...if I could save someone else from danger...if I had a story…..and if I did, how did these stories relate to it. Did they? I wanted to be part of something bigger.

So what happens? When do we stop asking someone to tell us a story? Perhaps more importantly, why do we stop asking? Are we too busy? Have we decided that these tales have no place in our "real" world of adulthood? Are we so concerned with our own story that we have no room for anyone else's? Maybe it's hard for us to hear the stories of others because we can't get away from either comparing our lives to theirs (and wishing they were more similar than different) or judging the way their lives should go. And if I'm spending my energy on that, I'm losing myself.

Frankly, that's what I've been doing lately. Spending time thinking about how other people could act to make my life better or easier. However, the past few days have brought some meaningful conversations that have helped my focus. See...this whole culinary school, cooking experience has been crazy. And, when I'm really stressed, I think "maybe I should go back to a job that uses my graduate degrees, and pays me well, and lets me consume more things...." For some reason, that seems like the responsible thing to do. As I write this, I realize that "consuming more things" is rarely responsible. However, before I've made any rash decisions, I am quieted. For the past few years, I have been pulled along, following a path because my heart told me I had to. It almost felt like I didn't have a choice. I had to go to school, I had to go to Switzerland. There were relationships to start, and a heart to be broken and healed. There were realizations about true family and friends….and how thankful I am to have both. This invisible tether keeps pulling me along a path. It doesn't feel out of control like a ship on rough water....though I don't feel in control either. I feel propelled and pulled in this direction. Paying attention to your heart doesn't always feel good. Opening ourselves up to realizing our deepest need and then going in that direction in a positive way doesn't always feel great or even make sense on paper. But I want to live the story that I'm meant to live. Even though I don't know how it's going to look or what it all means. When I'm old, I want to be able to say that--even though it took me a minute, I said yes to my story. The “yes” is sometimes tired and sometimes bold. But I want to always say “yes.”

We all have a story-- one that belongs to just us. And I think that we deeply want someone to listen to it. Sharing our stories and our lives with each other allows us to realize that we share a larger connection with humanity. The more I become aware of the larger story of humanity, the more I am in touch with my own. So....tell me a story.

Well...it turns out the "hard drive coma" was indeed a hard drive crash. Within three days my laptop died, and I lost my cell phone. So...all my somewhat superior attitude of "I'm so not dependent on technology...e-mailing and texting won't replace real human relationship...." I'm such a liar!! Now I have her back, and I feel very happy about it. So...prepare yourself readers....you're in for a long ride on this post.

ATL Kicks...We raised cash for CoffeeKids and got some kick-ass shoes out of it. Here are some of my faves.

Jason Kelly tattooed these beauties. Scroll down further and you can see some of his latest work on me...


The other side....


Pierre from Radical did these...


Look what Alfredo did with shoes!!!


CoffeeFest was the first weekend in June. People from all over descended on Cobb Galleria...Brian Ludviksen might be my new favorite person at CounterCulture. We're going to have our own radio show. We find ourselves so entertaining, I'm sure others will too. So many fun people....Peter, Brett, Brent, Brian, Tim, Rich, Mark, Phillip Search, Danger Dan, David from Clover and more. We got everyone going on Friday night at Octane with lots of free coffee, free beer and lots of playing on the LaMarzocco. Little did our regular customers know that some of the best baristas from around the country were putting extra love in the lattes. Saturday night, David LaMont and Chris put together a great southern style party at the training center. BBQ, Krispy Kreme, Moon Pies...and, of course, beer. The late night latte art throwdown saw Danger walking away with $157. Go him.
Meanwhile, we're getting lots of yummy coffee in at Octane. We're cupping at CounterCulture's training center at King Plow on Fridays. And M'lissa is putting together Monday night cuppings to be held at the shop. We'll not only cup coffee, but also other things...tasting chocolate, colas, and whatever else we can come up with! She is the best CoffeeBoss ever! Also, we've got two baristas (Danielle and JT) that are 1/3 Octane Barista certifies. This is very exciting....I'm nervous about the test, but I want to do it. I've been practicing dosing consistently. So far, I'm pretty consistent. Consistently under, that is. That half gram in the portafilter is super important!

Lately I've been drinking the Kenya Gitare auction lot....Rwanda Humure....and today, the Sumatra Aceh Gayo. So yummy....sweet, with some very subtle savory undertones. Also, my new best friend Troy from Portland, had his wife bring some Stumptown beans to try. We're trying to make the 6 months he has in Atlanta not too painful.

At Octane, we're re-doing our menu. We'll be improving the food, and I'll make some desserts! I'm super excited about all of it. When we're done with this, the food will be worthy of our coffees. I'll update the blog with the menu when it's finalized. Also, Chris and I have some dessert experimentation to do. I'll let you know how that turns out.

I mentioned some of Jason's work earlier in this post. Check out my culinary tattoos--a cupcake and a chef's knife. It was really fun. But when I realized it had been 14 years since my last tattoo, I got a little nervous. Jason was great, though. If you want work done, you can find him at Timeless Tattoo on Cheshire Bridge.



As you know, this week was America's Birthday. I joined Shannon, Doug, Shelia, the Jimmey and Bao at Cafe Lily in Decatur. Some of my favorite people and one of my favorite restaurants. Anthony consistently puts out fresh, easy to eat fare from his kitchen. I like it there. Happy Birthday, America!

Bao and me....he makes a mean Tiramisu. One day we might take over the world. Desserts and bread. Don't say you weren't warned.


Sheila (a) is not impressed (b) cannot believe that the person at the end of her gaze is for real (c) is over it.


Sexy Shannon...


Ok, kids. That's it for now. Thanks for keeping up! More later.

Yay! I'm connected again. I had an unfortunate crash of the hard drive. Well...it wasn't so much of a crash as a coma. Apparently it just needed to rest, and now it's back again. Sure, I could have blogged from a desktop, but that just seems wrong....or at least stationary. So....look for updates (albeit a little late) on CoffeeFest, ATL Kicks, and other things I like.

Last night was the first all Octane staff meeting of 2007. We don't have them often, but when we do, I remember all over again why I love it there. We had lots of fun stuff to cover including the unveiling of the new Octane manual.....thanks to M'Lissa, we all have the information we need to start our journey into Rock Star Barista-hood. Go us! As we're taking our coffee to the next level, we'll be making some changes in the food menu-- making more things in house (thanks, T & D for the new equipment!) and mixing things up a little bit.
Anyway, because none of us can be serious for too long, we eventually tapped into the Corsendonk keg. What started out as a group photo quickly became random party photo shoot! Thanks double B for bringing the lights and the skills! Here are some pictures.

We're not really tough, we just like to pretend.....


Mug shot.

Earlier in April, I was in a casting competition sponsored by The Chicago School of Mold Making.

It was my first competition, and it was much more fun than I expected. I was as nervous and busy and anxious as I thought I would be....but in the middle of it all....there it was. Fun! I had a great assistant named Delecia who helped make things go smoothly. In the end, I didn't win. However, one of the judges said that my name kept coming up, but they couldn't decide where to put me. And that next year they would have more categories. So....I guess I invented new categories!
We had to create a sugar sculpture and a choclate amenity piece using a set of molds that were given to us. The theme was "Modern Nature." I conceptualized the sugar as destruction and chaos with life and growth coming out of it....and the thing on top that resembles a snail in the picture is actually part of a butterfly, but it's hard to tell in the picture.... With the chocolate, I went more with straight up "nature" with a flower.
Pictures....






A close up of the base....The orange was made using more "traditional" techniques, and not molds. I poured the melted sugar over granulated sugar, and pulled it as it cooled. The orange part rising up on the left was made by pouring the melted sugar over ice, causing it to set quickly. The ice melts off of it and...voila! An orange flame coral looking thing.

Here are some picture from my final in my Advanced Baking and Pastry class in March. We had to provide a sugar piece, a chocolate piece, assorted pastry and other edible sculpture.

This is a white chocolate flower that never made it to the table....it had an unfortunate encounter with a heat vent...

This was my chocolate piece... it is holding chocolate raspberry cakes and rose scented petit fours with pistachio cream.
This is my cherry blossom wedding cake...

This is my sugar piece...both the green and the black part are made from sugar. The pastry is called the "Violet"....it is made up of layers of sweet tart dough, black currant coulis, vanilla pastry cream, strawberry salpicon, violet aroma and white chocolate. And, while the picture is rotated the correct way on my laptop...I can't seem to get it right side up on the blog. Alas.

Ok...it's been a minute. But I'm back. Perhaps not very often-- and-- I'm sure some of you will be happy-- not as long-winded. Here goes.....

I want to meet this man........




He's done this.....
And this......

It's Foodball

Marti Guixe has taken food to a whole new place and I think I love him for it.
You can also see him in the current issue of Dwell magazine.

September 17, 2006

The last few weeks have been a bit of a crazy blur. We went to Munich, which was a good time, overall. We arrived by bus late on a Thursday evening. I’m not a big fan of long bus rides with 30 people, but it was ok. We got in around 12:30 a.m., checked into the hotel and went to sleep. Friday was fully scheduled with a tour of a farm and a brewery. We were greeted that morning by our bus driver…he was wearing lederhosen and had a knife—the handle of which was made of part of the leg of a hooved animal. He seemed nice enough, I guess. However, he almost killed us at least three times. Not the safest driver ever…..I think he must have thought, “Hey, I’m a big bus. People will see me coming and get out of the way when I pass on a curve.” Seriously, he ran at least two cars off the road doing that.

We arrived in one piece at Hermannsdorfer, the “ecological farm complex,” was really interesting. It is made up of a farm, bakery, brewery, butcher and dairy. There are beautiful gardens and greenhouses where they grow plants and vegetables. The flower garden is open to public…anyone can stop, pick flowers, and leave money in a box by the garden. So trusting! Our tour guide was a lovely woman, whose passion for what she does was obvious. They don’t use any chemicals or hormones to grow their products or feed their livestock. It made all of us think more carefully about what happens to the food we eat before it gets to us. Also, they have a small brewery where they make two kinds of beer, weiss bier and dunkel bier--- both were really good.

After leaving the farm, we went to Ayinger, a brewery where they make the Celebrator—also known as the 13th best beer in the world. After a thorough tour of their modern, computer-run facility, we sat down for a tasting. They make quite a few beers, and I think I tasted every one of them. Yummy. It was a nice contrast to the simpler, more rustic style of the farm we had just seen.

The next day was free to explore the market. I have to say that the vendors in France were much nicer than the ones in Munich. While the produce was beautiful, they wouldn’t let you touch it. Hmmm….I’m not so keen on buying a vegetable that I can’t pick up before I purchase it. Oh well….

Who knew that one of the best meals of the trip would be Thai food in Munich at the airport? As we arrived at the airport for dinner, we were all very skeptical—in fact, we discussed it with our chefs. I told them that I had gone on-line and read mixed, though overall good, reviews of the restaurant. The itinerary said we would enjoy “the best of Thai cuisine you can imagine (Maki-Sushi rolls….Japanese Teryaki steak, etc.)” Please note that neither sushi nor teryaki is Thai. In the end, we decided to embrace it for the surreal experience it was sure to be and have a laugh later.

We were pleasantly surprised. Mangostin was opened by a former Executive Chef for Hilton International. Chef Josef Peter is from Germany, and worked all over the world including South America and Europe before spending 13 years cooking in Thailand. This inspired him to join with the largest private restaurant owner in Europe to open Mangostin. This restaurateur was a seemingly nice, very old man who came out and waved at us—his restaurants did 900 million € worth of business last year. Anyway, there is another Mangostin in downtown Munich, and when the airport began to plan for its new wing, they decided it would be the second location for the restaurant. Go figure. There was logic behind it, but I can’t remember it all right now.

They set out a beautiful buffet for us with all kinds of food…..sushi, steak salad with kaffir lime leaves, rice dishes, duck soup, won tons, basil rolls, egg rolls, everything that is fresh and good. One of my favorites was an appetizer….you take the leaf from a wild pepper plant, load it with ginger, onion, red chilis, roasted coconut flakes, peanuts, dried shrimp and a sweet-ish soy-based sauce. Fold it up and stick the whole thing in your mouth. Be sure to have something to drink nearby in case you get a little heavy-handed with the ginger-chili pepper combo. Chef Peter was a charismatic inspiring man who has seen and done so much, and gave us really good advice. Mainly it boiled down to “do what you love.” Simple, but not always so easy. He also invited some of us to comeback and work Octoberfest.

Sunday we went to Salzburg for the day…..hello, von Trapp family! It was a weird day to go because everything is closed on Sundays, but we did have a nice tour with Myra, a British woman who moved to Austria 50 years ago when she got married. She was absolutely fantastic….I think I want to be a tour guide when I’m an old lady. We saw Mozart's house and other places he liked to hang out. Because we were American, Myra assumed that we wanted to know more about the Sound of Music film than we really did. Anyway, she thought better of us when we told her that we were actually interested in the other aspects of the city. And so, we walked around in the rain, listening to her thoughts on the modernization of Salzburg (she’s against it), Mozart (she loves him), and other random things that floated to her mind. It was funny because Kathrin, our trip coordinator for Munich took me aside and whispered, “What is this ‘Sound of Music’ she keeps referring to? Should I know it” I told her about the movie, and how practically every kid in America has seen it or at least knows what it’s about. I sang a little medley of the songs for her….she still had no idea. Apparently, Maria is not a big part of German childhood.

We left Munich on Monday after touring Rischart, a bakery with many locations around Germany and Austria. It was interesting to see a mass production facility, but by that time we were very tired and just wanted to get back to Engelberg and sleep. Which we did.



Some tomatoes and a sunflower at Hermannsdorfer.


Food Porn


....more food porn....


I can't stop....but I will.


Mozart's house (with Andy's head in the foreground)


Gigi and I drink beers that are as big as our heads.


This is what happens when my arm meets the corner of a hot pan.


Bob enjoys the 13th best beer in the world (Celebrator by Ayinger).


Jeffrey, Gigi, Me, Gina and Kong after dinner in Salzburg.

Some of you might be wondering where I've been. I've had papers to write (I know....what am I doing writing papers?! I'm in culinary school.)-- and projects too! So....i have some things to tell you....Look for an update later in the week. I've been to Munich, cows have chased me and other stories. Just two more days of stuff, and I'm done for the quarter! Yea!!

Yesterday we went to the market in Lucerne that they have every Saturday morning. Here are some pictures of the yumminess. I bought two different kinds of cheeses. They're both soft, one with a layer of black pepper in the middle, and the other infused with truffle oil. Overall, pretty perfect. Anyway, I am constantly amazed at the sheer beauty that is contained in the simplest thing like a tomato or an eggplant. Besides, it totally beats the horse kebabs they served us for dinner last week. It's true. Black Beauty. On a stick. On my plate.








Not exactly sure what this is....smells and looks pumpkin-like.

Perhaps you're wondering where I live and what I do at work. Perhaps you're not. Anyway- here is a picture of my "home" for 10 weeks. It's small, but at least I don't have to share it with anyone.

At work last week I made my first marzipan boobies. Then I attached them to a marzipan figure. This is my first marzipan work. The girl on the right is mine. While Andy, the chef who was teaching me, made his girl have bigger boobs, you'll notice mine has better cleavage and contouring.

This picture was taken off of my balcony in July. There's not much snow on the mountains.


This picture was taken off of my balcony this morning. How is it that summer has brought more snow?

This morning I turned on the TV to catch up with some news. I get 4 English speaking stations here, MTV and 3 news channels. Imagine my surprise to find Creflo Dollar on the screen. Of all the possible things to import from America.....

Some random pictures for your enjoyment.


A cappucino with extra foam....and grated chocolate! Good stuff.


Sometimes you just need a taste of a big fake ice cream cone.


A Euro truck stop....so swank.


Sarah, me and the Eiffel Tower.


I had to pretend that I was taking a picture of the cathedral to capture these Euro mullets on camera.


Chef Pam is blowing glass at the factory in Hergiswil, near Lucerne.

August 1, 2006
Planning? Overrated. Patience? I’m working on it.

Happy Swiss National Day! It’s 1:30 p.m….and though it’s raining, the band is playing and firecrackers are well…..cracking. This is a day that’s something like our 4th of July-- but with more cowbells. Later this afternoon there is a parade and other general festivity in the street.

We have just returned from Paris. I love Paris, and I had a great time in spite of the fact that almost everything I planned to do didn’t happen. The group of 29 students and 2 chefs arrived in Paris on Thursday evening. Celine, our guide for the weekend, greeted us at the airport (she was holding a sign for us and everything). We went to the hotel, dropped our bags and were off to dinner. The tour company had made reservations for us at a little restaurant that they must have bribed to take such a big group. Generally, restaurants there tend to frown on large parties. We had made our selections for dinner before we got there, so we basically just had to go in and wait for them to start bringing food. The first course was a nice smoked salmon on some field greens with balsamic vinaigrette. It was good, and we were hopeful for things to come. Most of the people at my table had chosen the fish with spinach and pasta. We start to dig in, when Kong (another student) immediately puts his fork down and asks us to smell the fish. Hmmm….smells like Windex. But no one is doing windows. Fish should really never smell like ammonia, just so you know. We confirmed it with Chef Pam, and waited patiently for dessert. Vanilla ice cream and chocolate mousse—but the mousse was a cross between ice cream, Jell-O pudding, and Duncan Hines frosting in a can. For real. We recognized it because the hotel in Engelberg had served something similar two nights before. We weren’t off to a great start, but it was getting late. The decision was made to head back to the hotel, get some sleep and start over the next day.

On Friday morning, we started with a bus tour of the city. We saw the major landmarks and ended up at the Louvre around lunchtime. During the almost three hour(!) bus ride, Gina and I were already making plans on how to ditch the group. Both of us have done the “Highlights of the Louvre” tour that they had planned, so we thought we could make better use of our time strolling around some markets, eating crepes and trying to be French. After promising them that we would meet the group at the next activity, the chefs gave us permission to go (they actually wanted to leave with us but couldn’t because they were in charge). We had a great time, learning our way on the Metro, strolling through a couple of street markets, and having Croque Monsieur for lunch. Yummy. Later we thought we should have a crepe. We stopped in at a café and ordered what we thought was a chocolate crepe. Imagine our surprise when we served a molten chocolate cake. Crepe….Gateau. Apparently something was lost in translation and our French accents aren’t very authentic. The good news is that the cake was still tasty. As planned, we met the group at Fauchon, a high end food store. It’s pretty huge with a pastry counter, ready to eat counter, fruit, smoked fish and cheese counters and a restaurant. Across the street is the wine and chocolate store. They also carry quite a few old bottles of brandy, cognac, and other liqueurs. There was a bottle from 1840 that was over 7000 Euros. The people there were very informative, and the woman who gave us the tour offered to get one of the chefs to talk to us for a few minutes. Out comes Jean-Pierre (I think—it might have been Paul)—anyway, he was very kind, and as he spoke I realized that he wasn’t just a random chef. He was the man responsible for everything there. He chooses all of the products, comes up with recipes, and is currently planning Christmas. I had a question about one of the pastries, but he didn’t know the answer. Before I realized what was happening, someone handed him a phone, and he called the pastry chef. Did I mention the pastry chef was on holiday?! Anyway, I did get the answer to my question about the topping on one of the pastries. It looked like raspberry powder, and I wondered how they did it.

Before dinner, Gina and I ditched the group again (really—we’re sort of like the unruly 14 year olds who always want to do other stuff—however, we’re more mature and people trust us) and go to Pierre Herme, a famous food shop. Because both locations were closed for a month for renovations, we obviously couldn’t go in. However, we stared sadly in the window and bonded with a couple of older French ladies who seemed as surprised as we were to find them closed.

Friday evening, after dinner, Celine said that the museum of modern art was open until midnight. She was meeting some friends there, and asked if we wanted to come. About 6 of us went with her….it was completely cool. They have an outdoor café with lights strung above, lots of groovy, round, lighted globes, and long tables with benches. There’s also a DJ. It’s all kind of primitive/industrial with big, bright plastic furniture thrown around randomly. After the café, we went back to her apartment that she shares with her domestic partner, Fred. In France they have domestic partnerships, but they’re different from what we think of. It’s all the legality of marriage without the religious part. And you just have to sign a piece of paper to end it. However, you get the tax breaks and other things that go along with being legally married. Anyway, we were there until around 2, which was interesting because we had to be up around 6:30 the next morning.

Saturday morning we went to a couple of street markets. A few of us decided check out neighborhood that we hadn’t been to. This neighborhood is the home of Guy Savoy’s casual bistro so we thought we’d go check it out. Like many restaurants, it wasn’t open for lunch, so we planned to go there for dinner on Sunday night when we got back from Versailles. Meanwhile, we entertained ourselves on the Champs d’Elysses and ate steak frites.

Versailles is the home of Louis XIV’s “chalet” where he entertained friends and threw huge parties. When you see all the opulence, and you realize how poor the people were in the village, it’s really no wonder that there was some revolution. We ran into Chef Oechsner in the courtyard while trying to find the café for some coffee. A couple of us wandered into town with him, and he showed us the apartment that he and his wife had stayed in for a couple of weeks last year. Better than that, we bought strawberries from the market to eat while we looked for the creperie that he wanted to go to. I haven’t ever had strawberries this fresh. I didn’t know they could taste so good. Light and fresh and sweet, but not too sweet. Perfection. We eventually found the creperie where we had a savory crepe…it was buckwheat with egg, cheese and sausage, then dessert crepes. I had an almond and chocolate crepe for dessert. Gina had almond flambé and Chef had apple with calvados flambé. At his insistence (not that we needed that much convincing) we washed it all down with a bottle of hard apple cider. It had been sprinkling a little bit, but the day was hot, and we welcomed the cool down. Until it rained for real. In the 20-minute walk back to the train station, we were all completely soaked. The umbrella I had made no difference whatsoever. My shoes were squishing, I was freezing, and we were all leaving big wet circles wherever we sat down. Back at the hotel, we dried out, and got ready for dinner. Because many restaurants close during August, we were sure to check to see that Guy Savoy’s place was open. 365 days a year. That’s what the website said. The website lied. That’s ok. We got rid of the taxi driver who totally took advantage of us and drove us all over town to jack up the price. It’s so frustrating not to be able to argue in French. Sarah was ready with Spanish, but he didn’t speak Spanish—so oh, well. We sent him on his way, and made plan B. L’Epi Dupin. I had been there a few years ago, and Celine had also mentioned that she liked to go there. Guess what? It’s closed in August too. Please note, that while there are great sales in the shops right now, many places are also closed for vacation. Which I kind of appreciate. They just close. You can come back in a month when they do. Oh well. We found a café, had good food and then, for dessert, the best ice cream ever from Glaces Berthillon. I was told it was the best I would ever try. And that was absolutely true. We had wild strawberry—my tongue was so happy. We also tried the coffee, which tasted just like a cup of good coffee—and, of course, vanilla and chocolate. Basic, but not.

Sunday we visited Poilane, the original location opened in 1932. This bakery has 3 locations in Paris, as well as a manufacturing facility. We were able to go downstairs into the very hot kitchen and see the wood-burning oven that they use to bake their sourdough breads along with a few rustic tarts. It was a tiny little operation that produces between 500 and 700 loaves of bread daily. I made a quick stop by Oliviers & Co. for some oils and balsamic, and then we were off to the airport.

Overall, I learned a lot about patience with large groups and things not going quite as planned on this trip. Restaurants were closed, Pierre Herme was closed, I ran out of time to go to some of the shops I was looking forward to visiting, and sometimes a crepe turned out to be a gateau, etc. However, I also experienced some nice surprises—the creperie and cider with Chef O in Versailles, the market in Versailles (I was supposed to be touring the castle at the time), the lounge at the museum of modern art, Celine’s friends, really good ice cream.

Now, however, it’s back to work. I’m making a duck dish in class tomorrow. The ducks came in today. They still have their heads and feet. In fact, there are still feathers on their necks. Hmm…planning, patience, now I guess it’s about perseverance.

July 22

We’re in Strasbourg. It has been up and down, really. The city is nice, and it’s fun to be in France. We arrived on Thursday evening and were immediately shown to our rooms. Unfortunately, these rooms came with dead friends that were smashed on the wall and left there. Not just one or two, but multiple creatures—in the hallway, the bedrooms, etc. When someone tells you that you’re staying in a Chateau, make sure you find out more information. Gina and I shared the same immediate (some would say over) reaction, which was to head to the Holiday Inn that I saw on the way into the city. However, it was after midnight, and we couldn’t get a taxi where we are without a 15 minute walk to the bus station……I won’t go into detail, let’s just say that we stuck it out on the third floor with no air in the middle of a heat wave. Thankfully, I ended up talking to Lynne and Carlos who helped me gain perspective and make a plan. On Friday morning, things started looking up.

At 10 a.m. we arrived at Domaine Rémy Gresser for our first tasting of Alsatian wines. It was a small operation, and M. Gresser himself led the tour and the tasting. He was obviously very passionate about his wines, and his enthusiasm was contagious. We tasted seven wines, including Gewürztraminers, Rieslings, and two of his Grand Cru wines. None of us left empty handed. Later that day we visited a more corporate operation, Dopf. They get their grapes from several producers to produce their wines. While the woman who led the tour was very kind and knowledgeable, she seemed to lack the passion of Gresser, who knew his wines from the planting of the vines, the harvesting of the grapes, and through production and bottling. And there was a really cute dog that we named Le Woof.

After this morning's visit to learn how things work at Kieffer, a local caterer, we went into Strasbourg. One of the chefs took a few of us to a great little restaurant on the river called Maison des Tanneurs. It was my most recent meal, and if I died right now, I will have died happy. It was perfect. We, of course, ordered the foie gras, and then shared onion tart, salad, choucroute (a local specialty of sauerkraut with multiple types of pork product) and kugelhopf ice cream. Kugelhopf refers to the fact that it is shaped in the form of a cake-like bread that is popular in the region…I’ll post a picture.

Gina and I are now living on the first floor with Sarah and Katie. We moved some furniture around and are turning lemons into lemonade! And the only dead bugs are the ones that we kill.



There is some wine happening here.


I liked this so I took a picture of it.


This is a traditional kugelhopf cake. Our dessert for lunch was ice cream that had some sort of crust on it shaped like this with raspberry and vanilla sauces. In the little well in the middle of the cake, there was some sort of brandy.

Tomorrow we leave for Strasbourg, home of foie gras! What can I say? I’m excited about the goose and duck livers, it’s true. While we’re there, we plan to visit a couple of patisseries (I’m not sure if that’s plural for patisserie or not), tour Strasbourg, and visit at least two vineyards. Should be some good stuff. We’re all a little ready for a break from the hotel and its food. Now that we’ve started classes, we cook lunch for ourselves twice a week, which is giving us some variety. Yesterday, Sarah and I made a lovely tofu chocolate mousse with a pecan crust. Well…that was the idea. Remember when I said that we would have to make do sometimes? It turned into a walnut crust with butter substituted for canola oil and orange brandy for vanilla (there was no vanilla extract anywhere in the kitchen). The theme for the day was “heart healthy.” We were able to keep the tofu. Go us, keeping our hearts healthy. Ok, not really. We took the scraps from our tournee potatoes (we’re not very good-- there was still a lot of potato attached) and made French fries. We were all so happy. They really were just perfect. Today we were supposed to make apple strudel. Again, we had some ingredient issues. There wasn’t enough strudel dough so instead of rolling it up, we sort of made it like baklava. And there wasn’t an ice cream churner, so the dairy base for our apple glace turned into a sort of apple yogurt sauce. We just kept pouring in the Calvados, made a little caramel sauce, dusted the whole thing with powdered sugar, and served it with a smile. It actually didn’t turn out as scary as it may sound.
Monday was my second day at my internship. I worked with a really cool girl named Andrea. She could speak English, but I asked her to speak in German, and then we just translated what I couldn’t understand. I would tell her the words I understood, and then we would work out the rest. In our German class yesterday afternoon we learned some words for the bakery, so I think that will help. I’ll find out tomorrow morning. It looks like I’ll be working there twice a week from 5 a.m. until noon. It seems so unreal when my alarm goes off at 4:30, but it’s kind of nice to feel so accomplished by lunchtime.
At the beginning of the trip, I wondered how long it would take until we started showing our true colors. It’s happened! While there is a fair share of weird group drama (that I’m managing to mostly avoid, thankfully), my favorite thing is that a student in my class walked up to the chef yesterday with a bunch of celery in her hand asking, “is this celery or parsley?” She really didn’t know the difference. This is the same woman who is dying to go to Alain Ducasse in Paris, and is willing to spend 500 Euros to eat there. Hmmmm…..I’m thinking of so many things to write about, but will have to wait. There is some studying that I need to do. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing this. Sorry if I’m a little scattered and sporadic sometimes—so many things going on at once.

July 15
Today we went to Lucerne to try to cram way too much into one day. Well, I don’t think that was the point, but that was what happened. I believe that I mentioned that I was thinking at some point I might go through a sort of rebellious 14 year old "I'm ditching the group" thing. Which is exactly what happened. About a third of the way through our walking tour, around 5:30 p.m., I thought, "I absolutely can't do this anymore." Sara and Katie came with me and we caught an earlier train back to Engelberg. The group left the hotel at 7 a.m. to catch the 7:15 train. We arrived in Lucerne about 8:30, just as the market was starting. It was so beautiful. The vegetables and fruit are like nothing I've seen. So fresh and beautiful. The only frustrating thing is that we don't have consistent access to a kitchen. So there we were, surrounded by all of these great things to eat and nothing to do with them if we got them. So...we settled for some cherries, a pastry and a cappuccino-- which isn't really settling in the grand scheme of things is it? We also visited Confiserie Bachman for a chocolate demonstration and a sampling of chocolates. My favorites were an almond and honey concoction dipped in chocolate, a dark chocolate truffle with a hint of rosewater, and an absolutely gorgeous handmade truffle that was prepared while we watched. Overall, it was a lovely day. I decided to take pictures of me and the people here that I like so you would know who my friends are in Switzerland....There are also pics of the market and the chocolate demo.



Just a fraction of the yumminess....




I had to get this woman in a picture....she's so fabulous. The halter, the Dior shoes, the apron. By far the most fabulous vendor there.


The chocolate guy.


That whole tray is just for us!!!


Gina from DC and me. She is really quite lovely.


Sarah from San Diego. She is 19, but she'd rather hang out with us because we're cooler than the other 19 year olds on the trip. Imagine.


Colin is a straight edge skater kid from Charlotte, NC. He's very funny and keeps us from getting on each other's nerves too much.


Anita from Chicago....she and Gina and I share a brain, I think. We think a lot alike. No wonder we like each other.


Eric from DC...We like him-- in spite of the fact that he's prone to break into Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire or Broadway at any moment.


This is me in Lucerne....that is Old Town in the background.

July 13, 2006

So…. I started my internship today at Bäckeri Jakob this morning at 5 a.m. Thankfully, as I was walking through the lobby to leave, the overnight receptionist said, “you need coffee?” And he unlocked the dining room so I could get some. I proceeded down the very quiet street to the kitchen where I was greeted by Carmen and Maria. They are both very sweet and were very patient. Carmen speaks more English than Maria, which isn’t much. We did manage to communicate for the most part, however. Thank goodness there’s always a bunch of flour or powdered sugar on a table surface…it doubles as a writing surface. She would draw words—German is one thing. Swiss German is another. Everyone was lovely, and at 7:30 we were able to have more coffee for just a few minutes. It is wrong that I have done enough work by 7:30 to deserve a break. But I had! By that time I had dusted 600 cookies with powdered sugar and formed them into little mounds that would later be baked, put on top of kirsch buttercream discs frozen, then dipped in chocolate ganache. It took me a minute to get the hang of it, but somewhere in the second verse of “I don’t want to go on with you like that” by Elton John, I was on a roll. I definitely miss getting to play music off of my co-worker’s i-tunes. I made some other things that I can neither pronounce nor spell, so you will just have to trust me. One thing that is weird is that I will totally miss the social aspect of work. I didn’t really talk about anything except work stuff, and that was difficult enough. I think it will be an adjustment.

This week has been pretty busy for us. Classes started—I’m taking International Cuisine. My teacher, Pam, is a chef from Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. She’s a really great teacher. Not all chefs are….but she actually teaches you how to do stuff instead of acting like you should already know. There will be a lot of times that we will just kind of have to make do with what we’ve got, and move on. She seems to have the ability to do that. We are using the hotel’s kitchen. This means that for half of the class, the hotel chef (a lovely man named Guisseppe—pronounce with a “pay” accent on the end) is in there trying to get lunch ready. The other day he let us help him….I think he was happy to have 10 extra pairs of hands. At the same time, however, we were in class. Anyway, Pam totally went with the flow, didn’t freak out that we weren’t “on schedule” and we went on our merry way. By the way, they are not nearly the freaks about cleanliness that we are in the States. However, no one seems to get sick. Interesting. Guisseppe is a new chef here. He is Italian and, in addition to Italian, speaks German and French. He would speak to Pam in French and she would translate.

When I’m not in class or working or eating (we have most of our meals provided for us—meaning we have to be there—who really eats three multi-course meals a day?! It’s a good thing my room is on the fifth floor—those stairs are helpful)—anyway, when I’m not working, eating, in class or sleeping, I either go to Lucerne or walk/bike around the village here. It is really beautiful….I wonder if I’ll get used to it. I imagine that I will since, as humans, we tend to become sort of numb to what’s familiar. However, I hope it always impacts me. I hope that when I’m walking and am looking ahead at the Alps, that the feeling I get when I look behind me and realize that they’re on that side too still makes my stomach drop.
Below are some random picture….
the signs for “stairs” and “pedestrian crossing”…I love the little man, though I haven’t seen anyone looking nearly that dapper. Also some Swiss cows, an actual Swiss man on a bike, and someone paragliding. Please note that I will do that before the end of the summer. OH....finally, the last picture. A story. There is a covered bridge in Lucerne. You're walking happily along and you happen to look up. "Oh! Look at the nice paintings!" you say to yourself. Upon closer inspection, however, you realize that some of the bodies have no heads..."hey, what's that floating in the water in the picture?" you ask. Heads. Anyway, there is a series of war and decapitation paintings. Fascinating.

July 9th

It's been 4 days now that we've been together. Everyone is, for the most part, still on good behavior. Though you can see tensions building here and there. Our own little “Real World.” I definitely made the right decision to not have a roommate. The rooms are fine, but small, and I can't imagine sharing with another person. It's a little weird to have a hall bath, but it's not gross like I thought it would be. There are only two showers, but that hasn't been a problem. We each have a sink in our room-- most people have TVs. I don't, but I think I'm ok with that. A little break from the telly won't hurt me. I have an armoire, which is bigger than the closet in other rooms. That works out nicely. I also have a bed that's bigger...somewhere between a twin and a full size. There are also French doors leading to my very own balcony. Yesterday we went to the grocery, bought food and had a picnic out there. Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. We really don't eat enough Nutella in America. Basically we hung out around Engelberg on Saturday and had a little hike. In the afternoon we visited the local Benedictine monastery, which has a cheese factory. We watched them make cheese, and had a tasting. It was so yummy.

Classes start tomorrow and most of us aren't sure of our schedule yet. The lab classes that normally meet three days a week in Atlanta are only meeting two days a week to give us more time for days available for our internship....it works out to two days of class/two days of work/ off or traveling on Fridays-- works for me! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will visit my internship site. So far, things have been really laid back. That will soon change, I imagine.

Today we went to the top of Mount Titlis...it's one of the mountains behind the village and is 10000 feet high. You get up there riding a series of cars hanging from wires, one of which rotates and plays techno music. Well…it was a cross between something and techno. A sort of dum-dee-dee-da-da with a techno backbeat. I'm not kidding. For the last 2500 feet we were in a rotating car, suspended from a cable with music blaring.

At the very top, you could hike out onto the glacier…it was about 4 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure of the conversion off the top of my head—somewhere in the high 30s or low 40s Fahrenheit. They also had the ice flyer and tubing. I’ve posted some picture below. Basically, the “ice flyer” was kind of like a ski lift that took you off of the highest part of the mountain. At first it was a little scary—with my feet hanging in the air and the sight of dropped gloves and shoes. Within about 10 seconds, I was over the scary part and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only disappointing thing was that it moved kind of slow. We were thinking that we would have more of a “flying” experience. Oh well. Still fabulous. We discussed that there was really nothing to complain about when one is in the Alps in July playing in some snow. Whether you fly fast or not. Oh—and the music that they played was once you were in the “ice park”—with the tubing, ice flyer and other stuff—was all rap. We were greeted with a little Wu Tang.

After the ice flyer we went down a trail on rubber tubes….You sit in the middle, a woman swings you around with the attached rope and off you go! I went up a bank and did a flip, which would have been even cooler, had I been holding on at the time. Nevertheless, my tube and I stayed together and I continued down the slope. It was so much fun. You’re going from side to side, down a hill while spinning around. We wanted to do it again, but there were other people there, so we had to give them a turn. Instead, we opted for some French fries—ok, they give you one pack of ketchup with the order. After that, it’s .50 CHF each. That’s like 45 cents! I could go broke on ketchup. The good news is, though, that the fries were yummy enough without all the Heinz and we moved on. After getting cold and wet, and walking back in the rain, I went to the sauna that’s here in the hotel. Pretty lovely. I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel, and Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” is playing. They make interesting choices about what American music to bring over.

July 10th
Today is pretty uneventful. I woke up early enough to take the 8:15 a.m. train to Lucerne. I went with one other student—we had a mission-- An alarm clock and laundry detergent. We were doing some price comparison. Because Engelberg is a resort town, everything is super expensive. Well….we lucked up and found ourselves outside the Target/Wal-Mart of Lucerne. It’s a bigger version of the Migros supermarket that we have here in the village. They had everything….food, clothes, electronics, cookware. We found it within the first 15 minutes we were there, and spent another hour or so wandering in and out of other stores. I bought some hair gel for about $2. I’m sort of scared to use it, but we’ll see what happens. We spent the rest of our time going in every supermarket that we saw. The fruits and vegetables were beautiful. The eggplants were such a deep color purple, they were almost black. And completely pristine. No bruises or scrapes or anything. Same with the mushrooms—you know how you pick through a bin of mushrooms at the supermarket, and they have brown marks on them, chunks missing out of them, etc? These were just beautiful. Also, Cool Ranch Doritos are called Cool American Doritos here. And we were the cool Americans, taking pictures of them—heehee.

This afternoon, I was supposed to visit the bakery where I’ll do my internship—it is just up the street. A three minute walk. I’m so lucky. Other people have to catch the train to Lucerne, which can take more than an hour. Anyway, we had to cancel the meeting for today, I’m not sure why. Chef assures me, however, that I still have the job. And that, really, is what matters. Today, tomorrow. We’ll see. Also, it turns out that we may do our shifts in one day. So it would be one ten hour shift for me….that could start as early as 12:30 a.m.! So…it seems I have a free afternoon. I think I’ll take a little walk, and go find some postcards so you guys can get mail.


Some pictures...




Some pictures...


A view from my balcony.


Another view from my balcony.


Jesse, Colin, and Corrina, our travel guide and tour coordinator.


This is a fire hydrant. Around here they're all painted into little people.


A view from Mount Titlis.


Me, Eric from DC, and Anita from Chicago in the cable car going up Mt. Titlis.


More mountains because they're pretty.


Ice tubing on top of Mt. Titlis.


Small and large french fries. Kleine und grosse pommes frittes.


A view in Lucerne today.


Cool Ranch Doritos-- Swiss style, yo.

Here are 3 pictures from the Kunsthaus Zurich....There were so many works, and I know the pictures don't began to do them justice. I have more that I may post later. Here's a little Picasso and Rodin with a touch of Monet for now.


The Kunsthaus Zurich


Rodin sculptures (with Monet in the background)


Picasso

Thursday, July 6

Today I left Zurich and headed to Engelberg where I will meet the rest of the Art Institute students. After traveling alone for only 2 days, I feel more open about (small) group travel. When I’m by myself it takes me forever to get anything done because I’m so easily distracted. Perhaps it’s not a group I need—just Ritalin. A Klosterbrau will have to do while I listen to French pop music (except for an occasional Cat Stevens cover or Bryan Adams song) and think about my day.

Before leaving Zurich I went to the Künsthaus—their museum of contemporary art. It is truly awe inspiring to see works that one has read about or seen in books. Degas, Cezanne, Brancusi, Rodin, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Kandinsky, Matisse--- they were all there. The area near the Künsthaus has a different feel to it than the other side of the river that I was on for most of yesterday. The crowd here is a little younger and more contemporary. People seem to be just cruising around doing their thing. Yesterday people had more of a sense of urgency about them. Here there was time to sit and smoke cigarettes, have a coffee and just be. After the museum I stopped for lunch at Café Zähringer. I couldn’t really read the menu, but managed to recognize cheese, pesto and “hot”….I figured I couldn’t really go wrong with that. By the way, it turns out “schinken” is ham, not chicken--Which I vaguely recalled from 10th grade German. But not until it was on my plate. So I had a lovely sandwich with melted brie, a little bit of thinly sliced ham and basil pesto. It was warm, and the bread was crusty on the outside, but soft on the inside. And just for fun there were some grated carrots on the plate. Yummy. With that I decided it was time to start the trek to Engelberg via Lucerne.

I grabbed my luggage from the hotel, and proceeded to the train station, where the only ticket purchase option seemed to be from machines. I look at the machines, and the maps displayed beside them. Lucerne was nowhere to be found. I saw the “Tourist Information Office” and headed there….thinking, “I’m a tourist, I’m sure they’re helpful.” And they were…..I was able to purchase my ticket and move on. The train was at platform 53, so I was told. The nice man said that it was far away in the new part still under construction just behind the train station. There was good signage and I made my way there….past platforms 1-52. I noticed somewhere around platform 4 that a sign said “Luzern”….but my schedule said 53 and so I kept going. Past roads, and cars, and shops, and trains and other platforms and a bank and the post office. Finally! Platform 53. Oerliken? yes. Bern? yes. Luzern? not so much. So, I thought I should see what that was about. Well, in this new part of the station they have yet to build a ticket booth or information desk. So I went back….past the post office and the bank and the other platforms and trains and shops and cars and roads (and, of course, “Luzern at platform 4). When I returned to the main area, I saw the ticket station with people. So I asked. And ended up at Platform 4. And that is how you arrive an hour before the train leaves, yet almost miss it.

I made it to Engelberg without much trouble. I did exit the train at Wolfscheissen because that’s what they train guy told me to do. Apparently, however, I was just supposed to move to the front of the train. He said get on the next coach. Which means car, not train. Maybe I should know that. Anyway, they shorten the number of cars to go up the final mountain into Engelberg. Thankfully, I realized that I needed to get back on the train and did not find myself stuck in the village of “wolf shooting” unarmed. The scenery was beautiful. There were little alpine cottages, and everyone seemed to have a garden. Even in multi-family units, there were what looked like community gardens. Bright flowers, vegetables and herbs. It was cloudy so parts of the mountains were hidden, but the peaks would rise above the clouds. There is snow on the top of some of them. As we went further along I found myself above the clouds. It was so cool! I arrived in Engelberg about an hour before the rest of the group and was able to settle in a bit. We woke up this morning to rain, but that didn’t stop us from taking the walking tour around the city. It’s very tiny but has everything one needs. There are lots of things to do outdoors here in the summer—hiking, biking, paragliding, swimming, rock climbing, canyoning. I’m excited to try some of them. I’ll take pictures.

Friday July 7, 2006
The people that are a part of this group seem fine. Most of them are around 20 and excited that they get to drink without fear. There are some who are a little older…30s and 40s. I’ve already found a couple of people I like. Gigi, an Italian from DC, Colin, a skater kid from Charlotte, Jesse from Atlanta, a girl whose name I can’t remember but she makes me laugh, and Sara from San Diego who will go to shows with me. And there is Bob from Iowa who I like because he is from Iowa and thought about becoming a Trappist monk just so that he can truly learn to brew beer. There are some other good people too. I just don’t know them yet—it’s only the second day. The other chef instructor, Pam, is from Chicago and seems nice. I think she’ll be my International Cuisine teacher. She has said that if I find a yoga class, she’ll go with me. Therefore, I have attributed a number of positive traits to her automatically.

Today we ended up with a surprise free afternoon, so a big group went to Lucerne and walked around. I had some initial concerns that everyone would try to stay together—which is nearly impossible for a big group. A few people kept trying to make us wait for everyone….so 5 of us left them. That worked out nicely. We sat down and had a lovely cappuccino after walking around the city. I plan to go back to Lucerne to see some other things….We got back to the hotel in time for dinner—around 8 p.m. The food in the hotel is fine—it is “free.” (included in the cost of the trip)….it’s better than I thought because my expectations were low.

Ooh! Good news. I think that my internship will be at the bakery just up the street. What this means is that to be there by 5:45, I will get up at 5:30. I’m not sure when I have to be there yet—it could be earlier. Chef O (who has been my baking and pastry instructor in Atlanta) said that they’re nice people. The other choice was one in the valley that would involve multiple modes of transportation. Chef said that he thought it would be nice to take care of me. I have to agree. Also, my International Cuisine class will meet at 7 a.m. 3 days a week. Who knew being in class at 7 would seem so luxurious?!
Later I will try to post some pictures from the Kunsthaus and Engelberg.

I have just finished dinner and am back in the hotel. I walked down Niederdorfstrasse, one street over from me, which is full of shops, bars and restaurants. I smelled something really yummy (garlicky, peppery, tomatoey) so I stopped in the nearest restaurant. Unfortunately it was not the source of the smell….so I had a glass of wine and continued down the street. Then I found it. A little Italian place—I enjoyed a respectable salad and penne with arrabiatta. “Italian in Switzerland?!” you may ask. Well….did I mention the wind was starting to blow umbrellas inside out, awnings off buildings and flatware off of outside tables? Seriously, I wasn’t kidnapped by the van driver, I’m not going to get gouged in the eye with a butter knife my first day. I ate by myself at a real restaurant without a book. That never happens. I don’t even sit at coffee shops by myself without something to read. But there was nothing to distract me—except some Americans beside me who were telling their Swiss host about Olive Garden and Planet Hollywood. I wish I was kidding. Anyway, I enjoyed the rain, and listened to people speak in German. It was kind of fun. The rain came and went then came back again. I made it back to my hotel during a break, and am planning my day for tomorrow. I think I will go to the Kunsthaus the museum of modern art. Then I will go to Lucerne and on to Engelberg to meet up with the rest of the group.

Hi from Zurich. My flight here was just fine. I was happy to make it on the plane, and even happier to be in business class. That's never happened before. It really is nicer. I slept about 3 hours or so. There was some turbulence, but nothing too rough. I sort of think of turbulence as speed bumps in the air so I don’t get freaked out. This works for me in spite of the knowledge that there is no solid matter under the plane. As we were approaching Zurich, I thought that Switzerland might not be that different from the southern part of the US. There seemed to be a church on every corner. But things look a lot closer together when you’re above them. I wonder if birds have trouble judging distances.

Once I was on the ground, I was happy to discover that my checked bag had also arrived. I tracked down the bus to get me to my hotel and I was off! The bus driver was a man from Tunisia who has been here 8 years. He kept saying “OK! We go now!” Whether we did or not. It turns out that he doesn’t love Zurich, but doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon. We got stuck in morning traffic, and he was running late for his pick-ups. So, once he dropped off the other passengers, he asked if it would be ok if he made two stops to pick people up before he dropped me at my hotel. It was 9 a.m., I knew my room wouldn’t be ready so I said, “why not?!” Sure, it could be an evil plot to kidnap me, but I thought the odds were good that I would be safe. It turned out to be the right decision. I got to see a lot of the city, and he pointed out things I might find interesting—the university, old churches and museums. He received a phone call asking why he was late to pick up his passengers. He yelled into the phone a lot…..the only word I understood was “scheisse.” Anyway, once off the phone he apologized and said that it was “bad talk.” I pointed out that I didn’t really understand it (though I managed to get the gist from his inflection, tone and hand gestures), and we continued on our way. (“OK! We go now!) He told me that he loved Americans….apparently he thinks us a very kind, upstanding, cultured people. Except for Bush. I wondered how long it would take before someone said something about the President. Turns out it was about 15 minutes.

I arrived at the Hotel Basilea, and was pleased to see that many of my needs can be met within the block. For instance, Boutique Erotica and Speical Moments, a store specializing in “love aids” are just across the street. There is also a café two doors down. Oh, and a Starbucks. Of course I didn’t.

A room was ready for me, so I was able to check in and put my bags away. Once I washed the airplane gunk off of me, I headed out. For the first hour, I just walked. I rarely had any idea where I was or where I was going. Finally, I found my way to the Museum for Design. I saw an exhibition of photography by Hans Finsler and some of his contemporaries. The main focus was his architectural photography from the 30s, though there were some landscapes as well as photos of objects and materials. The exhibition also briefly dealt with how photography made its way into graphic design and advertising.

From there I navigated the tram system and went to Bahnhoffstrasse, the main shopping strip. I sat at a café and watched people go by. First I had an Einseidler Dunkel Bier (sleepy) then I had a cappuccino (awake!). I almost got mineral water instead of the beer, thinking I should hydrate. However, the beer really gave me the best value. More beer for the same amount of money! I love that. I did ask for some tap water, which came out in something the size of about one and a half shot glasses.

I had a great time reading and people watching. Some observations….the chic Swiss man wears capris. It’s true. They were everywhere. And if they weren’t capris, then the jeans were rolled up to just below the knee. Women are wearing white….pants, skirts, tops—but especially pants and skirts. More than one was also wearing a black thong underneath. Flip flops or kitten heels seem to be the footwear of choice. People. walk or bike or ride their scooters or take public transportation. I haven’t been on a bus yet, but the trams are nice. They’re well marked and clean. And people use them!

Once I had my beer and coffee, I walked around. I went into a few shops…..including H&M. I don’t even have to look for tH&M—it’s like it finds me. There are huge sale banners everywhere. And lots of people shopping. I’m not sure how I’m coming across to people. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s easy to tell that I’m not from here…what with the pointing and tentative speaking. But I noticed that when I would say something in German (to someone who had spoken to me in German), they would respond in French. Maybe my German has a French accent. Once I said “merci” instead of “Danke” just to see what would happen. I figured that if I actually said something in French, a person might realize that it’s not really my first language. Totally backfired. The woman in the shop started speaking French to me. Then looked confused that I didn’t understand. Ok, it’s only broken German from now on. Anyway, I have had to ask someone if they spoke English only once (at the airport). Otherwise, I have, at a very basic level, gotten by with only German. I have navigated a tram, purchased drinks, asked for prices and checked into a hotel. I’ll have to see how dinner goes…….

I have attached some pictures for your enjoyment….They include, a man in capris (to the right of the guy in the hot pink JAMS), a dude getting some girl’s digits, the Museum for Design and pictures of the city. About the guy and girl….I witnessed the Swiss version of “Yo, what your name is?” And it actually worked for him! If you’ve read this much, wow! Thanks. I totally would have stopped by now. Future posts won’t be this long, I’m guessing.

Here are just a few pictures from my going away party. Tricia and Scott were kind enough to host it at their house. I'm so thankful that I have such very good friends who braved lots of wind and rain to see me off.


Christopher, Douglas, Gerardo, Clanton and Jerry-- he's making a face because he's bitter that I get to leave the country and he doesn't.


Jim and Evan are sensitive to one another's need for personal space.


This is my sister. She's pretty fabulous.


Iowans tend to stick together at parties...and, apparently, laugh at the same things.


Jim, Andrea, Amy and Jen humor me when I stick a camera in their face.


This is Bao. Run right now to Cafe Lily and have the Lemon Sponge Custard thing (not its official name) that he makes. It's completely lovely.


Fatema came from DC just for me.


As long as Michael has a shot, he's not being a smart ass.


What does D see that Marie and I are missing?


As things wind down, Evan and Cyndi take a break.

Here are some picture of where I'll be living in Switzerland. It doesn't seem to suck, really. Then again, what hotel is going to put ugly pictures out for all the world to see?

On Thursday we had our final practical exam for my class (Advanced Baking and Pastry 1). Just a written final and piping skills test on Monday and I get to concentrate on Switzerland! Below are some pictures of the things I made for Thursday. They were 2 types of danish, a strawberry-coconut entremet, rustic bread, a decorated dough piece (the bowl that the danish are in) and a plated dessert-- caramelized apples in phyllo crisp with mascarpone mousse and dried cherry sauce.

Here is Carlos with everything he'll need to get to Portland. That doesn't seem to be very much.

Follow his trip here

Promise Kept

I promised my friend Sam that I would create a blog so that people can keep up with me when I go to Switzerland. Here's the thing, though. I'm generally bad at things that need updating on a regular basis.....blogs, journals, oil changes, etc. So, I'm going to try to be better. Here goes.