Food.

Food is so much, to so many people. It is sustenance, feeding the masses. It is art, inspiring the world, and for others, its a coping mechanism. Something to help them through the tough times. It is a strange thing, food. It is inanimate, but comes from animate things. It has emotion, structure, a sense of being. For those of you that don't believe me, taste a fresh peach, and then a frozen one, you'll see what I mean. Food is very human. In all the good ways. You can mold it. Shaping it into something you're proud of, like a small child. It can surprise you. The sharpness of a cheese, the smell of a strawberry, the crisp skin on a pig. All these things are shocking the first time you try them. Food can comfort you, like an old friend. Not eating it, but the calmness of preparation. The quiet time it takes to create a dish. Then, finally, a taste of home, or a taste of a far off place. It can bring you where you've been, or as far away as you want to go. Food can not leave you, it can not break your heart. If it burns, you clean the pan out and start again. If it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you do it differently the next time. You can fall in love with a dish, and that dish can be the same for the rest of your life, it will not change. Humans should take some pointers from food.

Rungis, Je..The Me, Finals Week.

Wow, what a week! This post will be mostly pictures, because description will be hard. We've cooked some interesting things lately. Roast Duck, Shrimp, and a lot of Beef.. Throw some Pork and Veal in here, and we would have been cooking for kings. The smell of stress, fright, and mind rot is in the air due to finals coming up. Written exams have been taken by the Patisserie students, and a universal cry of help was heard from the Demo room on that day, doesn't look to good for us Cuisine students. 100 points of matching and true false, mixed with a fill in the blank recipe portion, should be exciting. In between all of the 50 grams of carrots, and 2 onions memorization's we have to do, some fun was thrown in. Thursday night, well actually, Friday morning at 2 am, I joined a classmate and his boss, on a trip to Rungis market. The largest food purveyor in the world, with buildings the size of full grocery stores, filled to the brim with whole sides and cuts of beef, pork, lamb and veal. A room for poultry, and fish, and vegetables. Fruits and dairy, and cheese all having their own home. We were only going to see the Fish and Triperie (meat house.) But it was quite a sight regardless.

Friday night, I joined my friends Miguel, Micheal, and Bill at a dinner at Je.. The Me. It was featured on Anthony Bourdain's 100th episode of No Reservations. A small, 19th century grocery store, turned restaurant, it was amazing the quality of food that was put out by this place. First courses were roasted wild button mushrooms, paté of foi gras, and fall vegetable risotto with shrimp. They were all good, and warming on the cold late fall night. Main courses were a wild chicken roasted with cabbage "En coccotte" or in a casserole. Scallops with couscous, and my dish, which was crispy veal liver and sauteed duck kidneys in a brown sauce over a rice cake. I had the cheese plate for dessert, and chocolate cake and ice cream was served with pistachio cream and thyme ice cream; baba rum, and rice pudding with beet ice cream were the other desserts. Two very good Bourgogne wines and some digestifs rounded out what was a fantastic meal in a fantastic restaurant. Also, I acquired a internship there for a week during my December break, so I'm very happy. I should get studying. Happy National Bologna Day America!!

Life changes, and the list of missing things.

A year ago, I was in college. Doing what most people my age do. Wake up, go to class, go to sports, go to eat, go to bed, go to class. So on, and so forth. Weekends consisted of waking up in hotel rooms, and chasing a far off dream, that alas, will never come to fruition. The work week consisted of going through the motions. Doing well, but not caring, going to school because I had to. Every single day the thought crossed my mind, "Why am I here?" I never knew the answer. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn't do it. Was it fear? Fear of failure, fear of disappointment? Was it the distance? The ocean is quite a formidable opponent when it comes to communication. Was it the money? No. Whatever it was, it prevented me from doing what I love. And then one day, in the chair I spent a lot of my teenage years in, it hit me. "What the hell am I doing?" It's all history from there. 8 months later, I'm sitting here typing this.

I knew it would be hard moving around the world, leaving everything and everyone. It's been incredibly more hard than I had imagined. This list is the majority of the things I long for on a weekly basis. As most of you know, food is high on my priorities, thus it has a large stake in this list.
Lakes, rivers, trees, dirt, grass, air not smelling of smoke. Birds. The Problem Solver Roll at Koyi Sushi in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My car, driving, country music. Fires at Joe's. Catching minnows, not catching fish. Swimming. Snowmobiling. Watching sports in the basement with my dad. The couch at my Brother's. Picking my sister up from Zorbas at 2 in the morning. ;) The yarn store, The Patty Melt at Northwind Grille in Brainerd, MN. Arbys. Highway 94. Just kidding:) ( I amassed a total of 14,000 miles on that road this summer, I hate it.) Copper, Jack, Melvin. My kitchen at home. 2 am taco bell runs. The entire 112 Eatery menu, Stars, clouds. Dino Bear. My Mom's grilled cheese, beef stroganoff, biscuits and gravy, and meatloaf. Anthony Bourdain, Iron Chef, Top Chef, Andrew Zimmern. NFL Football, college football. Cell Phones, and, yes, Cheeseburgers.

What a day. Rue Mouffetard, 100 Profiterols, and Le Chateaubriand. This is why I came to France. Around 10:30 I met Miguel and Michael at Rue Monge for a day at the market. Rue Mouffetard is one of the oldest streets in Paris, having been around since Roman times. Passing next to a real Roman Gladiator ring was quite an experience, the seats and cages still in place. Reaching Rue Mouffetard, One notices a narrowing of the streets, sort of a changing of time to older days. Markets, restaurants and shops covered the sides of the street, which is cut off to traffic because of it's every day market. 

Rue Mouffetard

A large hare at a boucherie

Roti, the most beautiful thing on the planet

A selection of Fowl

As you can see, a guy like me could live on this road for years, and never be bored, but alas, 2 hours was long enough, and we walked to a sort of China town, and to a Chinese Grocery where I purchased Cuttlefish flavored snacks, (delicious) and admired all the things unavailable in the U.S, such as durian, and tiny skipping shrimp. Then it was off to dinner at Le Chateaubriand, highly touted in the food world as one of the top 15 restaurants. Needless to say we were very excited, but nervous, because we had to wait in line for the second seating. When you walk in, you would never expect it to be such a mecca for high end cuisine. A crowd of onlookers waits while seats fill, waiting for their turn. Americans, French, Germans, and Italians filled the bar area, waiting for their chance. At the bar, our group (Afonso, Miguel, Michael and I) had a glass of red wine while we waited for our Golden Ticket so to speak. we were seated in the back near the kitchen. Let's just get this out of the way, this is not a typical restaurant. It is not dry, starchy or pretentious like most restaurants of this stature, and it is very cheap. Music blaring, chefs screaming, waiters drinking, all added to the experience. Much different then most places in France. When we were seated, a tray of gruyere profiterols were placed in front of us, they were very good, but nothing exceptional.  

Then a tiny shot glass with a piece of a shrimp floating inside, strange presentation, but it was the epitome of a ceviche, fresh, salty acidic and sweet everything that's wanted in a opening dish. 

Next was a tiny piece of lamb with fig, grapes, tomato concasse, and coriander seeds. Delicious, but with a few too many coriander seeds

Then fresh, barely cooked tiny shrimp, served Au Naturale on a plate. Popping the whole thing in my mouth,  it was as fresh as seafood gets. 

A broth made from duck, with mint, chestnuts, and mushrooms. This confused me, it was just broth.. 

Then the appetizer came. A potato puree, with squid slices placed oh-so-softly inside, with the taste of cumin coming from somewhere. Pickled shallots, and potato chips, with a round of Kalamata olive puree on the side. The potatoes were so light, the squid barely touched, raw as could be, and the pickled shallots cutting the richness perfectly, I may steal this dish.

Fish course was a lightly cooked cod, those pickled shallots again, a pili pili (Fancy name for mayonnaise) and some "Green Shit" as my mother would say. Unrecognizable foliage if you will. Keeping with the norm, the fish was barely cooked, only the skin ever so slightly crisped.

The meat course was full of imagination, but tasted of a Sunday dinner your mother would make. Braised beef cheeks, with carrots and turnips, a spicy broth with radishes and salted fish, and a curry foam. A great fall dish. My mother doesn't like curry, so I have no chance of ever receiving this dish.

Then dessert. Normally, I would just get the cheese and be done with it, but the dessert here, was crazy. Walking in we saw a table eating it. Fruit with a nuclear read powder covering it, and a simple ice cream dish, that turned out to be not so simple. So, I went against my morals, and got the dessert.

Raspberries, strawberry meringue kisses, strawberry cake, and purple basil. Fairly simple. But it was dusted with this powder made from Raspberries, which I will tell you, is a very strenuous process. It was so bright, and so light, I barely noticed I had eaten anything. Beautiful early fall dessert.

Second dessert was more simple, served in a plain bowl. Ice cream, white stuff, crumble. But when eaten, it was very complex. Corn ice cream, barely sweetened, buttermilk, and a cornbread crumble of sorts. I would have expected it before the fruit dessert because it was so savory, but it was a beautiful end to a beautiful dinner regardless.

 Le Chateaubriand is very different from any other restaurant I have been to, but the food is some of the best I have eaten.

Next week is busy, with class, class dinner, and my birthday. Should be fun.