Friday/Saturday

Well, it was a long week of school, but it's so worth it because I have created many tasty things.  On Friday alone, we made a tart with almond creme and the poached pears from Thursday, an almond tart, and a Lindsor tart (tart with almond creme and raspberry preserves).

Here is Chef Averty spreading the almond creme into his sweet-dough shell:

Slicing the poached pears:

Arranging the pears in just the right way:

Here is my pear tart just before baking!

Chef demonstrating how to pipe the raspberry preserves into the pie shell:

Here are some of the pear tarts just after baking (mine's in the front):

 My 3 creations, glazed and finished:

Take home box!

But it was a very long week and we were all just so exhausted, that we decided to go out for a much needed drink after class.

So, Black Swan just came out in France this week and, since I hadn't seen it yet, I went to a movie theater in the Opera area.  The opera building is gorgeous, by the way, but the lighting wasn't great so I didn't get a picture.  The movie theater experience was ridiculous though.  I had bought tickets online beforehand, which was good, but there's only one little machine on the outside of the theater to retrieve the pre-paid tickets, and then you have to get BACK in a separate line and wait until just before the movie starts to get into the theater.  So, since it was Friday night, the line was incredulously long.  It actually spread down an entire block, past a restaurant and across a street.  I am not exaggerating.  Anyway, all that aside, it was a really good movie and it was worth the wait.

While waiting in line for the movie, I spied a McDonald's next door.  Now, typically that would have absolutely no meaning to me whatsoever, but I have to admit I have been a bit homesick for American foods lately.  Particularly beef and melty American-style cheese.  So, when we got out of the movie, a little after midnight, I made sure we stopped at McDonald's so I could get a bacon cheeseburger (called a Bacon Royal here).  I ate it ALL and even wiped the melted cheese off the cardboard box it came in.  SO unlike me!

After the burger devouring, I convinced Ben to walk with me to the Eiffel Tower, because it was so pretty and lit up with the moon in the background!

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I slept in this morning... until 8:20!  It's funny when sleeping in until 8:20 is a nice thing, when it was previously such a punishment.  But, I woke up to homemade omelets and biscuits with butter and jam!!  I think I'm over my egg allergy--I ate the entire omelet (full of panfried ham, onions, and melty velveeta cheese) without getting that usual tickly throat or upset stomach feeling.  Yay!  But with last night's cheeseburger and this morning's delicious cheesy omelet--I think I'm set with my American food fix for a while :)

Marcie and I walked to the Champs Elysees in the late morning.  I had no idea it was such a short walk from their flat.  And a beautiful walk!  At one point on our walk, we spotted superman and spiderman on  the balconies of a gorgeous building.  Funny combination.

Mmmmmm! The Arc de Triumph!

We stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant the Garmons are fond of.  And it's so cool inside!  As you walk in, the floor is transparent and there are a bunch of Koi swimming around under your feet.  Here is a view of the fish from our table:

It was really cool, and the food was delicious and plentiful.