Yesterday was the first day I had anything officially scheduled. I signed up to take a cooking class at La Cuisine Paris, which is an English speaking cooking school. We were told to meet at an open air market on Place Maubert, which is situated on the Left Bank where the famous Sorbonne is located. Also home to lots of bookstores and all things academic. Fittingly, my apt is on the right bank which is known for shopping, gays and chocolate. After careful consultation of the miniature Paris train map which required reading glasses and lots of light, I mapped my route. I would need to take 3 trains to get there but no big deal, I could handle it now that I am a train riding pro. I got up early and had my first Skype video call with Jen - so fun. I got to see her cute face and of course little Bert and Percy. I heart Skype. Especially after I learned I was racking up International roaming fees all over the place. AT & T contacted me to make sure I knew what I was doing over here in Paris. Turns out I didn't. I ended up buying some sort of data plan so I wouldn't get charged $20 a second, or something like that. All I could do was relive the conversations I had with Jen before I left about what I was doing with my data plan. I of course told her I had it covered and not to worry. I am due a giant "I told you so"...
OK, on to the fun stuff. The cooking class was fantastic. Our little english speaking group met on time and consisted of a young girl from NY who is living in Paris trying to get some culinary chops before going to the Culinary Institute of America; an older couple from Boston (he was lovely, wife not so much); a young guy from Australia who lives in London and me. Our instructor Diane is from Chicago and has been living in Paris for 8 years with her Belgian husband. She went to culinary art school here in Paris and is now a private chef/instructor. Jane and Oliver own the cooking school - she is from Chicago and he is French. OK, now you know the group.
We met at the oldest open air market still operating in Paris. It's only about a block long in the middle of a very busy street (St. Germain). The stalls were filled with crap along the outside (bad scarves and equally bad bric a brac) but in the middle were serious food vendors. There was a guy selling foie gras and other duck like products. The vendor even gave each of us samples of foie (apparantly unusual) and I gave mine to Diane - I just can't get into these liver products as much as I try. Diane huddled with us to tell us here menu idea based on what was at the market. Endive with roquefort mousse and fresh walnuts; crostini with eggplant pate, sauteed wild mushrooms and grape relish; pumpkin soup with root veg garnish and mousse au chocolat. The pumpkin soup was made with a special pumpkin in season just for a short while called potimarron which is supposed to have a chestnut flavor. They are beautiful ruddy orange small squashes that look familiar - I bet we have something like them back home. We all loved the menu and along we went to purchase our goods. It is mushroom and grape season here and they were plentiful. What's interesting is that the markets also sell goods imported from other countries (mangoes and avacados from Peru; lemons from some other tropical land etc). Boy, that would never fly in our local-is-god farmers markets. At least these vendors are required by law to state where the products come from so nobody is duped into thinking their oranges came from down the road. We learned that the vendors here have been selling for generations. It is very difficult to obtain a new vendor license - apparantly it takes approx. 75 years to get a license. That means you would have to apply at birth and then bequeath it to someone upon your death to actually operate a new stall. So, it never happens. Instead, they are either handed down generation to generation or sold. It is required by law that there is a fresh market available in most neighborhoods in order to provide access to fresh food to all. However, the reality is that most young Parisians are like the rest of us, they want convenience. The supermarket and prepared food business is growing while old folks and foodies are the ones keeping the open air markets alive.
After we scored our goods, we started on our walk to the cooking school to prepare our lunch. I was told it was a quick 10 min walk and that we would be heading the Marais district. Wait a minute...that's where I came from and it took me 3 trains to get here. How could we possibly get back there in 10 min by foot???? Well, here's how. You cross 3 gorgeous bridges, pass the Notre Dame and Ile St. Louis and guess where you end up? On the back end of Hotel de Ville. That's right, the same Hotel de Ville I keep running into that's in my neighborhood. Turns out that the left bank is a mere 10 min. walk for me - sheesh why did I take the train(s)???? I could get there faster by foot.
The cooking school is located on a street along the river - gorgeous. The class was very hands on and we each took part in creating the dishes. All turned out delicious and beautiful. I learned great ideas from Diane and was impressed at her ability to spontaneously come up with a menu that she could teach to a group of folks with varied culinary skill. Lots of pix will follow once I/Jen figure that out. I am scheduled to take another class next week - French Autumn Bistro. I'm looking forward to it and recommend this to future visitors.
The cooking class ended at 2ish and I wandered down to the river to check it out. It was a gorgeous crisp sunny day and noted that one of the river tour boats took off right here. I decided on the fly to take a river cruise to relax and help me remember the layout of the city. It was a great 2 hour ride up and down the Seine.
I've decided that my night time hang out spot is up the street near Centre Pompidou. It's alive and bustling with many cafes and bars which I guess are really one in the same thing here. l went back to the place I was the night before (am I now a regular??) and sat outside with a nice spot of tea. Excellent people watching here - I'll be back again. I wandered all around this area and stumbled upon two landmarks: 1. The Camper Store (bought 1 pair) and 2. Starbucks. I learned that the French do not hate Starbucks but in fact like it b/c they think its a CHEAPER cafe option. It's true, getting a cup of coffee/tea at Sbux is cheaper than sitting at a regular cafe and you can hang out inside as long as you want w/o attitude from a waiter. Interesting.....I also noticed a lot of Frapuccino drinkers here - maybe they were all American tourists though.
There is a movie theater in this neighborhood and I noticed that they were playing "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger", the new Woody Allen flick. Ah - a movie in English! I was there terribly early but got a ticket and went to grab a seat. Then the theater girl scolded me and told me that I have to wait outside until called. Whatevs. I strolled around for a bit and came back to a huge crowd. Needless to say by the time I found my tiny theater (it was a multiplex meaning there were 6 theaters each with about 25 seats) it was packed and I was relegated to one of the only seats in the front row. I enjoyed the movie but wouldn't recommend it to folks back home. Netflix worthy only.
That's it for now - today my plan is to venture (by foot!) to the Left Bank again and explore all those brainy streets we whizzed by yesterday.
Are you taking real pictures, i.e. with a REAL camera? Not just iPhone shots? I hope so. You could make a beautiful photobook when you come home.
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