First Day at the "Office"

Today was my first day at my internship at La Cuisine Paris!  Thankfully I set two alarms so I was nice and early for my first day at the office.  Except instead of spending my day at the office, I got to shadow a Market Class (voila le link to the market class description: http://lacuisineparis.com/content/french-market-classes) !  This gave me a good feeling for the operations of La Cuisine.  A chef showed 10 clients (9 Americans and 1 Canadian) around le Marche Maubert discussing all the different meats, cheeses, vegetables, bread, and pastries.  My job was just to adsorb and talk with the clients to make them feel at home.  Pas mal!!  The chef proceeded to help the clients pick out food to cook once we returned to La Cusine Paris which is only about 10 minutes away from the market.  I believed they settled on duck breast, carrots, cabbage, and a mousse au chocolat.  Uh, YUM.  I'm always impressed by chefs who just look at food, know what's good, and assemble a menu right then and there.  Incroyable!

I had a great time chatting with the clients and sharing my (still small, but ever growing) knowledge of French Cuisine.  I showed them escargot (and encouraged them to try some!), macaron, and explained how my host family eats cheese and prepares meals to give them an insight into French life.  My host dad told me the other day that you could eat a different French cheese every day of the year and still not try them all!!  There are approximately 400 different types of cheeses that are made in France.  The group was quite impressed by the anecdote!   Sadly I didn't get to take pictures of the butchers dressing the meats, birds with their talons still on, or the fishmonger removing scallops from their shells because I was so busy interacting with the clients and listening to what our chef was saying.  The market was similar to the one I found on Rue Raspail, and you can check out that blog post here .  I'll have to get more pictures when I go back!  It's hard to believe I've been in Paris for one month.  I feel like I have done so much and yet I feel like there is so much left to do!

 

Bisous,

Allison