Ode to My Sweet Tooth: Week One: Insanity

One week down and seven to go. I already have this dual feeling of how could one week possibly already be over, but also this strange feeling that I've been here for over a month. Imagine: 33 rowdy, multi-national, very talented pastry chefs, working for 8 hours a day and then stuck in a castle in rural France for the rest of the night and all weekend. Crazy things tend to happen. Lots of wine is drunk and many many cigarettes are smoked. And everyone has this sort of chef-speak lingo that I'm slowly starting to understand. Its sort of like a psych project gone wrong. And its a ridiculous amount of fun. I am by far one of the least experienced students. Everyone but four of us has had at the very least a year of professional pastry school and some of my closest friends here are already executive pastry chefs in Greece and South Africa. So I have the added privlige of learning from top ranked French pastry chefs as well as this amazing and ridiculous group of foreigners.

(Amassedeur Moderne - a genoise cake with bavarian cream and pear slices, covered in macaroons)

Classes are a challenge, I've come to realize how different a pastry has to be if its be sold in a shop than something just whipped up at home. The standards are very very high and its been a bit tricky rising to the challenge. But I'm learning an amazing amount and already after the first week I'm feeling more confident. I stayed two hours after class in the kitchen to practice writing my name and swirly borders in chocolate piping and they're still awful. The school, I have come to learn, is believed to be one of the best in France... so therefore the best in the world.

(My roommate Kristina from Canada and I sporting our kitchen whites and very stylish hats to boot)

Honestly I'm entirely beat from this past week and completely lack any and all motivation to create a witty post right now. So perhaps I'll update this more later, but for now, all is well in France!