Market Tours and Stomach Viruses: Pas Bien Propre

Three weeks into school it was time for my group's market tour.  We met at school at 8:30 to walk over to marche du something in the 15e.  It was freezing!  We saw coquilles st. jacques, chickens with their feet and heads, stomach lining, salt cod, cabbage, radishes, horse meat (ew), breads, cheeses, nuts, and the list goes on.  We went into a cheese shop filled with every variety of smelly cheese you can imagine.  It had that putrid yet fantastic smell that only a room filled with really good stinky cheese can have.  The chef bought a variety of fromage and we were on our way.

Back at school we had a feast.  Amazing breads, cheeses, charcuterie, red wine, and clementines (which for some reason are extra delicious in paris).  Several of the chefs came to join us, including the very handsome and tall chef Patrick who chatted with Ali and me for a bit (ahhh....).

Despite the amazing food, the highlight of our lunch came from one of my Korean peers.  Backstory: We've taken to calling him Kim Jong Il because he's Korean and very angry and yells a lot in the kitchen.  He doesn't speak french or english but refuses to let the other Korean girls in our class translate for him.  He's very angry and quite intimidating. Knowing what you now know about KJ (as I'll call him for short) you can understand my surprise when he bought oysters at the market to share with our class.  Everyone was afraid to go near them for fear of what KJ might do.  In an attempt to get us to dig in he said in very very very broken english, "Eat the oysters.  I eat oysters because I have bad vision and oysters are good for your vision and your sperm."  Excuse me?!  Needless to say I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

Later that day my dad and Steve arrived in Paris to visit for the weekend!  I met them at their hotel in the 1e and we went to visit L'Orangerie, a museum at the end of the Tuilleries.  What an incredible spot! This small, modern museum has two rooms of 360 degree Monet.  I won't even attempt to describe it, you'll have to visit and see for yourself.

After a short cultural detour it was time for food again.  I brought Dad and Steve to Laduree which, to my disbelief, they had never heard of!  We had hot chocolate which is so thick it's essentially warm chocolate sauce, a framboise napoleon, and a hazelnut chocolate tart.  It was the perfect amuse bouche to our later dinner at La Cordonnerie on rue St. Roch.  What a cute restaurant!  It is family owned and is now run by the son of the original owners.  The Kitchen is completely open and the chef comes to your table to make menu and wine suggestions.  We had an amazing mushroom mousse appetizer and swordfish with a citrus sauce.

Saturday it was time to do some shopping on Rue Saint Honoree to enjoy les soldes- the best part of Paris in January!  Good thing I got some purchases in on Saturday before "the exorcism" hit on Sunday... Let's just say I got a baaaaaad stomach virus and was not the best tour guide on Sunday.

Monday Dad came to school with me.  Our lecture was on veal paupiettes and duck terrine.  Neither was appetizing, especially in my delicate stomach state.  To sum up, if you want to make a terrine make sure you have handy duck fat, pork fat, goose fat, "fat back," butter and a meat grinder.  Yum!