Spring Break

SPRING BREAK 09!

Spring Break has commenced! I fly into Dublin and then take a 3hr bus to Galway to visit my friend Emily I went to school with in Colorado my freshmen year. I have heard great things about Galway and hope to relax, sightsee a little, and partake in an Irish pub adventure.

And Prague, Czech where I will be meeting a friend Heather (from Cannes) for a few nights after Galway. I have also heard fantastic things about Prague and can't wait to get my REAL sightseeing on because I will only have 3 full days there!

If anyone has suggestions of what to see while I am in Prague, feel free to let me know via commenting!

Cooking Class #2!

Menu for today
- Quiche with leeks, salmon, and spinach (une quiche avec du poiveau, du saumon et des epinards)
- risotto
- creamed spinach (des epinards du creme)
- Monk fish in white cream sauce. (le Lotte in French)
- Brioche with whipped cream (Pate au Chou)
- chocolate ice cream (la glace chocolate)

delicious?! Yes!! I was on the dessert team today and therefore made the (big!) brioche(s), chocolate ice cream and whipped cream. It was kind of funny because I heard him say what we were making, but didn't understand at first. After I saw them in the oven I recognized them!

Also very funny - brioche(s) are those little things that my dad absolutely adores from St. Honore bakery at home. Now I know how to make them!

At the end of our five week course we will receive a "cookbook" of all the recettes (recipes) we have made. After spring break our class will resume!
bytheway - that's a monkfish!

Tour Eiffel a Nuit

Ile St. Honorat

Saturday was spent hopping a boat to the Ile St. Honorat where there is a monastery. The monks who live there make wine, beer, honey and liquer. The island itself is absolutely beautiful! It reminded me a lot of home with the smell of pine trees in the air.

We wandered through the little island off the coast of Cannes. There are two of them, Ile St. Marguerite is home to the man in the iron mask and Ile St. Honorat is the home to the monastery. We were surrounded by older french tourists bussed in for the day, but we managed to explore the island without seeing a lot of people.

Vineyard!
We climbed up the old part of the monastery.


The picture above is where they would heat canon balls and then fire them at people.
We had watched the film "The Life Aquatic" the night before, so we thought it would be necessary to reference it


There were lizards everywhere!!

The weekend was spent relaxing from our trip to Paris and preparing ourselves for spring break. I spent most of it sunning myself on our balcony and wandering around downtown through the antique market. I have had the pleasure of making friends with an Australian couple. The women was in my french class for the first month and has been inviting me and a few others over for dinner on occasion! It's great to get a homecooked meal as well and both of them are so nice and in their upper 20s. They moved to France for his job and it is interesting hearing about the immigration process to come here.

Otherwise, the sun has finally decided to make itself a permanent thing around here. We used to get a few days of sunshine and then it rained, but now it is almost 70degrees everyday and is only suppoed to get warmer! It has been getting slightly more touristy around here as well. It's kind of funny because I see myself being weirded out by the tourists since I have been living here for awhile now. I am getting more and more excited for the Film Festival because I have signed up for an internship. If I do not end up getting one, I think a friend and I are going to try and work on boats/yachts/mansionsonwater to make a little money and mingle with the rich people. By mingle I mean work for...same difference!

Cooking Class!

We began our cooking class on Wednesday of last week at a culinary school located in Cannes La Bocca, about a 10min. bus ride away. All 24 of us took the trip from the school to start our cooking extravaganza.

We arrived a little early, got our aprons and towels and were split off into two groups
1. for cooking dinner
2. for cooking dessert

I was in the group that cooked dinner. The menu tonight was:
- Potage - potato and leek soup
- Ratatouille
- mashed potatoes
- duck in a curry sauce
+ crepes and ice cream for dessert

We peeled all the vegetables/cut them up and got the duck ready for cooking. Afterwords, we learned how he cooked everything by watching mainly. We are going to do more "cooking" later on, but it was the first day, so we just helped and learned the ways of the kitchen.

After dinner was in the oven, we set off with the head waiter/manager of the place who taught us how to set a table. Through this class we are going to be learning what wines go with what food, cheeses and wines, as well as various other tidbits to know for french cooking.

I absolutely loved spending 5 hours in the kitchen eating and preparing a meal! It beats cafeteria food any day! We are supposedly getting the actual recipes at the end, so I will distribute for all to have if you are interesting.

Last day in Paris

Catacombs.....ewww 6million dead people


A man came in and organized the bodies...
Sacre Coeur. My favorite place in all of Paris.




That is all for my trip to Paris! It was fantastic and I can't wait to come back again

3rd Day in Paris!

Opera Garnier



Versailles




Eiffel Tower at night!


Le Sargent restaurant

2nd Day in Paris Pictures

Pere LaChaise CemeteryMoliere's Grave

Chopin's Grave

Oscar Wilde's Grave - there are kisses all over it!
Edith Piaf's grave
Musee D'Orsay!


Pantheon

Louvre at night!



Venus de Milo
Mona Lisa!





le Lido Cabaret