Avignon and Pont du Gard

Our morning was devoted to sightseeing in Avignon. We first saw the Pope’s Palace, which is unbelievably huge and imposing. You get an audioguide with your pass in, and there is enough information of that audioguide to keep you inside the palace for weeks. Many people’s PHD work has resulted in me still not being that interested. But the place was incredibly impressive and fun to explore.

From the top turret on a tower, we had a beautiful view of Avignon, and Matt pretended to shoot arrows through the archer’s holes.

After the palace, we made out way over to the Pont d Avignon, which there is a famous French song about. Little French girls sang the song as we walked along the bridge.

Then we walked up along the ramparts to the garden at the top, which was quite unusual and absolutely beautiful. There were vineyards turning red and gold, hidden misty caves, and lagoons with swans and ducks. We took a nice stroll and warmed up as the sun emerged for the day.

We walked through most of the walled city, window-shopped and ate lunch. Then we headed out to the Pont du Gard, about a 30-minute drive. The Pont du Gard is a huge Roman aqueduct and bridge in remarkable condition. Apparently, it is the second tallest standing roman ruin, after the coliseum in Rome. It is breathtakingly large.

Ancient olive trees line the paths, and beautiful villas overlook the river.

We climbed up, on, and around the bridge.

Many people come to walk or bike and it set in a beautiful location. The Romans sure could build things. We stopped in the very well done museum briefly before having to hop back in the car and return to Lyon. We returned the car, checked in to our very nice hotel by the airport, and tried not to be sad, as Matt has to leave in the morning. However, he met my friends, saw my town, shopped in the markets, saw a few random French sites, and ate many pastries. 

Final Week 5 and off to Avignon

Friday we spent most of class doing our entremets practice. My flavors are still the same, just improved recipes and different thickness. I have an orange Bavarian cream on top of an almond cookie, and the middle layer is a compote of cranberries cooked with cinnamon sticks, anise stars, and allspice. It tastes like delicious fall, but I still have some work to do on figuring out how to make each slice pretty. I like the décor on top, and I made the chocolate curls successfully, although I did sing to the chocolate the entire time out of nervousness.

It was a rough week for most of my class with their entrements and our new chef makes us grade each other, which causes intense amounts of tension and misery. However, I got a grade I was happy with, and everyone really liked my flavors, which is surprising because they are not the most mainstream. So I am mostly happy overall. Alice and Stephanie are not that happy, but they each figured out important steps so it was not a total loss.

Finally, we set up our buffet with our entrements and products we had made that week.

After class, Matt and I rushed out to drive to Avignon, a few hours south. After many hours in traffic and wrecks, we finally made it to the medieval walled city. It is amazing that most of the walls are still intact, huge, and in pretty good shape. However, because it is a medieval city it is also incredibly confusing to walk or drive around. We eventually found our hotel, which is in an old cardinals home. It was centrally located and the staff was incredibly nice. They helped us make a reservation at a nearby restaurant and we quickly headed that way. Called Le Lutrin, it is across the square from the imposing Pope’s palace, which is the reason Avignon was fortified in the first place.

 The restaurant was in a beautiful medieval building with wood beams, stone walls and huge fireplace. It was the perfect place to enjoy a good dinner. Matt ate French onion soup, beef stew, and a chocolate and caramel mousse for dessert. I had confit of eggplants, a rosemary roasted half chicken, and chestnut tiramisu. We had a delicious bottle of cote de provence, and went home exhausted and full. 

Wednesday labs, buffets, and Le Puy en Velay with Matt!

In class today we made financiers, which are generally not my favorite cookie. They are sugary and sweet, but without any flavor. However, we added raspberries into the dough and then I consumed a lot of them. They are also a perfect coffee-dipping cookie, and three days into 6 AM labs, I need a lot of coffee. The sun doesn’t even come up until 8 or so!

We also made three different kinds of macaroons: chocolate, passion fruit and chocolate and then a macaroon craquelle.

There were three buffets this week; a petit gateaux and sugar display, a chocolate buffet by a very famous chocolate MOF, and a delicious and beautiful breads buffet.

I only was able to taste things from the gateaux display and the bread display, and we all went hog wild with the bread. There were amazing flavors and olive oil, and all of this stuff we never get. France has amazing food, however I think I prefer the variety of flavors you can get in America. I think we would all kill for a spring of basil or cilantro…because apparently they don’t exist in France.

I brought Matt back a petit gateaux of chocolate mouse, cherry center, and pistachio crust. He consumed it with happy noises.

After lunch Matt and I headed out to Le Puy en Velay, although I had already been there and he went on Monday by himself for a few hours. It was a beautiful afternoon (the only day this week it was not raining) and we hiked up the Chapel of St. Michael. 

We took the scenic back roads there and stopped in an old church on the way, looked over hills of beautiful trees, and all together enjoyed ourselves.

We stopped at a Michelin starred patisserie in Le Puy, and Matt had a Paris Brest for a snack (sort of like a donut filled will pasty cream).

We returned to Yssingeaux for dinner at Le Flo, because the two other nice restaurants in town are inexplicably closed all week. I had steak and frites, and Matt had an amuse bouche of pate, duck in red fruit sauce (currents, strawberries, raspberries) and then his third dessert of the day. Vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate ganache, not fudge sauce. He is eating more desserts than I ever thought him capable of! Matt loved his meal, and we have a great night before retiring very early so I can wake at 5 AM!

First Day of Morning Labs and Monistrol Adventure

 We switched lab times and chefs today, and now I am I class from 6 AM to 1 PM, with lunch until 2. Getting up this early is quite a shock after my leisurely mornings. My new chef, Sebastian, runs a very different kitchen than Josh, my previous chef. Sebastian explains methods and alternative recipes much more than Josh, however the kitchen itself is a much more stressful place to be. But, hopefully I will still learn a lot. This week is cookie and biscuit week, so we will be making things that are far less showy, but hopefully still delicious.

Today we made Madeline’s and Palets des Dame, and chat langue. I feel like I have commented on this before, but the French never put salt in their recipes. So, all of these cookies are very egg-intense, and they kind of taste like scrambled eggs if you don’t put salt in them. However, if you dip your cookie in very strong French coffee, the egg taste is overpowered and it is delicious. I will continue to put salt in my cookies.

                              

                    

For the afternoon Alice, Rachel, Matt and I decided we should take a trip to the next town over, Monistrol. One of the MOFs who did a demonstration at our school has a shop there so we wanted to see what it looked and tasted like. It was a little difficult to find, but well worth it. 

Chef Bruno Montcoudial was the only person working in his shop and he was all smiles and help, and remembered us from school. 

Matt spent a lot of time deliberating which petit gateau he would consume, and finally we settled on four for all of us to share.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate:

Chestnut flavored Mont Blanc:

Apricot Provencal:

“Red berries” of Haute Loire and Streusel:

Matt thought they were all amazing, but his favorite was the Apricot Provencal gateaux. He has discovered a newfound love of fancy French desserts. Who would have thought?

It was a rainy drive there and back, but it was beautiful. All of the leaves have reached their peak and we drove the scenic route through all of the valleys and cliffs of this incredible area. Taking pictures out a rainy car window while driving simply does not work, but I tried anyways.