Jayne going home, sushi and sweetbreads/quail practical

Today, Jayne went back to Amsterdam. Yes I know, somebody has to make some money; I understand who the breadwinner is at the moment! We went to the Gare du Nord together and I dropped Jayne off at the Thalys. It was a very easy-going trip for her; Paris-Amsterdam in 3.15 hrs. That's just great.

After I left the railway station, I walked around the city centre a bit and then I took the metro to Vaugirard, near the school. It was lunchtime, so I decided to have some sushi. I had a nice lunch with miso soup, a salad and 12 maki (with lots of wasabi) for only 8.80 euro (menu N) - no beer or wine yet...

Then to school, to do the quail and sweetcrap practical.

I cleaned the bird, chopped off its head, legs, toes,wings and tore the liver,lungs and heart out. Then I cut off the breast, and trimmed the meat before I schredded the carcass completely with my cleaver. What a great way to start a cooking session!

The end-result wasn't too bad. I actually took the leftovers (a whole pie) home and just had it for dinner with a glass of white wine. According to chef Clergue, that should have been a full bodied red wine, but who cares.....!?

My dish.

See you all tomorrow! Sj

(And I cut myself twice today; new knife....)

Paris, graduation, drinks and dinner

just a quick message for now;
Arrived in Paris yesterday, with a 40 minute Thalys delay. Took a taxi to the apartment, changed quickly and took a taxi to the graduation ceremony of a few of my old classmates. (nice place, next to Mr.Sarkozy's office).

Met my old classmates, some LCB people (more news about them to follow later), had a few drinks and posh nibbels and went out for dinner with Damien, Levi and their girlfriends.

Today is Saturday. I'll have to do some shopping (mobile phone SIM card, fruit, coffee, beer) and just settle down. I'll have a quick look around in the neighbourhood.
I'll keep you updated with more stories and some pictures of yesterday's ceremony and my apartment.
Until later, it's raining now...
Sjoerd

Thalys train booked. No bookings to stay please !

Bonjour a tous! My 1st class trainticket from Amsterdam to Paris has been booked. I'll be leaving on the high speed Thalys-train on the 19th March.

Jayne will follow a few days later and she will stay with me for a short week. And please don't ask me when YOU can come over to stay (for free....) since I don't have my daily cooking schedule yet. Of course I will have the occasional visitor (no families or couples) for a day or so, but at the moment it's NON. Sorry.

At the moment I'm practicing a few dishes and techniques again. Did quite a bit with fish (sole, brill, dorade, sea bass, cod, skate, oysters, red bass) again, as well as some dishes with duck, steak(s) and lamb.

But no caul fat please!

 
I'm enjoying it a lot! By the way, I'm not doing anything will caul fat, braising meat, hugh amounts of butter and turned vegetables....

And I haven't prepared a rabbit (yet) to make us a nice meal....

In short, I'm really enjoying the cooking at the moment and I'm really looking forward to go back to Paris again. The sooner the better!

Until soon,

sjoerd