Cutting it Close

Russians at the Opera

Of course, right after I wrote to you all that the weather was just perfect in Paris it began to rain and has not really stopped. The next week looks just as yucky.

Not ideal when you walk everywhere

The bad weather did not slow down the pace at LCB however, and this last week of classes has been long and tiring. In addition to regular classes, we had a field trip to a mill, another meeting, and the written portion of the final exam. I am ready to finish!

It should come as no surprise to you all, now that I am a declared rebel, that I was woefully unprepared for the written exam. I absolutely did not study one minute in advance, and it was only because I was assured by some boulangerie veterans, that as long as I had a heartbeat, I would pass. Hmm. Not so sure about that. On the day of said exam, I decided I had made a grave error not studying, so on the one hour break between the end of class and the test, I hurriedly tried to start cramming all the information from the eight hours of instructional videos into my already overloaded brain. Important things, like what is the temperature at which yeast dies, and how many grams of butter do you need for a kilo of croissant dough. Like I said—IMPORTANT things.

The exam was quite formal in that we had to line up, receive the specific exam with our individual name on it, sign and date it, and take a picture of a QR code proving we entered the exam room. You would have thought I was sitting for an admittance exam at CIA headquarters. Well, as luck (not necessarily good) would have it, I knew—not very much. It was truly a squeaker, with yours truly receiving the barely passing grade of 66%. Yikes. Not really proud of that. Oh well. D is for Diploma as we used to say in law school.

The rest of the week was a lot of review, which in boulangerie translates into croissants and baguettes every day. The only other thing we did, was spend two days making an Eiffel Tower sculpture entirely out of dough. For what reason, you might rightfully ask—and for which I have no rational answer. When will I ever need a sculpture made out of dough? Your child’s birthday party? It truly boggles the mind that dough as art is a component of LCB training. And, oddly, it was not easy. We made the actual tower, some flowers and other decorations out of different types of dough, but the killer was the liquid dough. The liquid dough looks like chocolate sauce and is tough to manipulate. You are not going to believe it from looking at the pictures, but this actually took me 12 hours. Just embarrassing!

My Eiffel Tower started off ok but my markings are like a 5 year old did it!

This is the completed sculpture —made with 100% dough products. Unfortunately, this one is not mine-it was too terrible to even photograph!

Maybe the Eiffel Tower project was my punishment for skipping class the Thursday before and going to the opera. Which was SO fun and SO exciting! Not only is the Palais Garner beautiful but the people watching was extra fab. The opera on deck was Eugene Onegin which was written by Tchaikovsky. So who do you think was there? You guessed it clever readers—lots of Russians! And man, they were dressed to the nines—way fancier than any other attendees. There were lots of furs, long sparkly dresses and champagne flowing. In fact, other than a bottle of water, the only drink you could order was champagne.

Palais Garnier is a stunner!!

The ceiling of Palais Garnier is by Marc Chagall—Truly Fabulous!!!!

The Russians and their sables

Maybe a bit much??

This guy cracked me up!!

I can’t say that opera is my favorite style of musical art, but I enjoyed the show right up to about 10pm when the second intermission began. At that moment, I decided I could read on line how it all turned out for poor Eugene, and I skipped out and into the night, straight to my bed, as I had yet another 5:30am wake up call the next day.

And by the way, in case you were worried— in an abundance of caution, I ultimately decided to take a peek at my daily grades as I began to prepare for the final practical exam—which is comprised of preparing four items completely from memory— in six hours. After my 66% on the written portion, I figured I had better calculate what the lowest score I can make on the final practical and still pass might be. How is that for ambition and pride in my work!! I was pleasantly surprised to find that (other than the Eiffel Tower debacle) my daily grades ranged from 80-90% on average, which accounts for 45% of the overall grade. So with my 66% on the written exam, I think I really only need something in the 70s on the final to pass. Surely I can make a baguette, a croissant and two other “surprise” recipes to earn my degree in boulangerie?? As a precaution I have been practicing braiding brioche dough every night for a week. For some reason I am just positive it will be on the final and I can’t braid to save my life. Wish me luck!

And keep me posted on the Superbowl tonight-I don’t think I will be awake to watch!

Real life Paris photo—aren’t they the cutest in their little blue and white vests in the middle of Paris!