Quirky-ass shit

COLD cold cold...full moon 9/14 walking to and from the pub in Rive Gauche, sunset and the full moon!

LET me talk about some quirky and idiosyncratic oddities I have experienced in Paris...now that I am acclimated and feel comfortable here...but the drawback of that is that I am on a slippery slope to taking myself tooooooo seriously so I should share with the 'outside' world...

If I let myself get tooooo comfortable here, I wont be able to relate to the 'outside' world, so I would like to explain...to relate my experience as to not get 'out of touch'...

After last semester, many people have left paris for various reasons and went back to their own lives in the rest of the world...and my new but GOOD friend (because we depended on each other and laughed together) and old cuisine partner went back to her left brain achievement oriented life once again...to HONG KONG.
ANYWAYS SHE calls me a lot after she left to tell me HOW much she misses PARIS and Culinary SCHOOL....(HI SARAH...everyone misses you too!).....WE had a great time in this particular enviroment because, once again, we survived together in this foreign setting, in our own way, but did well, learned a lot, shared lots of fun memories and MOST of all we were able to laugh so much together about 'quirky-ass shit'...otherwise, LA VIE EST DUR ICI! If we were able to commiserate together and see things from a 3rd point perspective it was frigging wonderful and so fun and strange....BUT THAT BITCH LEFT ME...so I am gonna share here....COZ SARAH (#3 in 'cuisine' class...without even trying...) decided to be a BONNE ELEVE and take the route to making heaps of MONEY instead in good ol' HONG KONG...
SARAH calls me for 'news' and gossip from school, NOTHING interesting on an absolute basis but SUPER fun to talk about if you were lucky/unlucky to go thru the HARDSHIP and JOYS of CUISINE school in PARIS together and come out the other end shiny without damage. I was sharing today about the HORROR and rudeness about how a certain person HIJACKED my fucking station in the KITCHEN and HOW I DROPPED my 'new' cuisine partner's cake on the floor, while taking it out of the freezer...HARD to understand, I KNOW...IT'S JUST FOOD, and dessert at that...you had to be there....I KNOW!...ay ya YAI!!!!! I feel as though I am losing touch already!!!!
THE thing that reallllllly that REALLLLLLLY made me miss SARAH was sacrificial DUCK number#1070959 from a restaurant opened in 1890....La Tour d'argent....ALL commemorated by a serialized postcard which we recieved after a glorious meal together that cost 600 EUROS the day after our last exams! We were able to get the best table in the restaurant during sunset (I think coz we were cuisine students and one of our chefs use to be the head pastry chef at the resto)...you had to be there...I guess it was the best 'self-gift' we could have given ourselves after our first 'french exams', it was such a treat!

AH FOLKS...let me TELL you about one of the MOST famous restaurant in all of PARIS. You go there for these special socialized products serialized numbered ducks. In 'la cusine' you learn that these ducks are happily farm raised, then sufffocated and then beat around by their necks to pop alllll their viens, essencially internally bleeding the animal to get the SOFT juicy consistency...the chefs at school ALLLL claim that the DUCKS are happy and they 'like it'...huh??? If the ducks were not happy, the meat would not taste good....THAT IS WHAT I CALL SOME FRENCH LOGIC!!!!!! ANYWAYS...to justify the 300Euro per person price to have the privilege to eat there...I figure, in memory of that special duck, which would be impossible to get in any fine french establishment ANYWHERE else in the whole world...coz mashocistic ducks would have too many rights they don't need in other places....and the AOC grand cuvee wine we had...would cost 600$ if I ordered it in Las Vegas, but then again, it would also be free...hmmm...at least I have a souvenir...the wonderful control numbered postcard.... THAT IS WHAT I CALL some QUIRKY ASS SHIT!
Anyways...today I went to TAPAS with my mexican friend. I was talking about my latino familia...we are gonna have a 'tamale thanksgiving' here....except spicy spices cost a fortune..so I gotta request from my guests to bring some Mexican spices so Ms. West Coast hot latina and cuisine student #5 (in the class) can cook her tamale thanksgiving for me with her #5 skillz...coz I still don't know how to cook...NOW that's what I call some quirky ass shit...in PARIS....HAHA!!!

au sudain, C'est VACHEMENT froid!

Sarah & Me at 'Tour d'Argent' after our last class as cuisine partners! practically a self explanatory name, coz it costs a 'tour d'argent' to eat there, ha...but it was worth every cent!!! ...I probably can't take my guests there, I think they would die of boredom...but I HAVE LOTSA PLACES in mind you will loooove.
A tourist photo with the mascot guy...YES I really wore this 'crack-head snow white' get-up...AND yes people really dress up still to have dinner in Paris... it's fun to think about what I am gonna wear to a nice dinner...now that I NEVER GO SHOPPING and dry cleaning is not so convienent!
Official Graduation Photo! the Chefs think I should try the regular cuisine course...I told them, in terrible franglais "it's hard to eat things that I cook, it doesn't taste as good somehow, no passion...and anyways I will faint if I have to chop off the neck of the rabbit in basic cuisine with the lungs still properly attached and throw away the head with the eyes looking at me...quel bordel...je suis une catastrophe...toujours!"
They looked at me totally confused, they probably think I am crazy, but funny...but they said they would help me cut off the rabbit head if I tried cuisine...MAYBE I WILL try next semester...pourquoi PAS?


All of a sudden it is soooooo frigging cold...the sun is setting very fast now, and when it is night it is EXTRA extra friggin COLD... it seems it all happened exactly around 'rentree', Sept 1, when 'summer' is finally over, and the damned tourists are gone, and allllll 'the people' are back from vacation looking orange from too much sun! also apparently, it's TAX season here...strange...There is too much to get use to in Paris, I am comfortably uncomfortable...lonely and not lonely...super happily unhappy...comme d'habitude...

school started on Sept 1, and I am so happy to be back and starting intermediate Pastries. IT is MUCH more difficult,multiple complicated cakes in one 2.5 hr practique, hopefully I can do better...Everything is the same, but VERY different! Since it is a proper 'Rentree', the school is packed with new normal semester schedule students. FULL to capacity~yikes. Now I am so happy that I started mid year, less crowded, less students, more eclectic people...I think...but still I think the whole school has around maybe 100 people or so, no more than 120,not too many, thank goodness!

...SEPTEMBER...it is my goal to ESPECIALLY enjoy this moody month of transistions...and RELAX and be super indulgent in being 'une lunatique' for 3-4 weeks...before L.A. fabulous MADNESS comes to pay me a little visit in ALL OF OCTOBER and bring some sunshine and smiles for the whole month!!! I am so lucky...and SO SO HAPPY (and a little bit stressed) to see my fantastic family/friends next month!!!...CRAZY...so many people are visiting for my 'BIG 30' birthday month of October! I think this is the best 'gift' ever...to share...and make good memories...and turn 30 in Paris!!! ...all cultures value youth and beauty so it is hard to turn 30 almost anywhere, but let me say, it is especially hard to turn 30 in LA, and be asian to boot...it's a tough age for a vain girl from societies that value 'youthful beauty'...how wonderful is it to be 30 here?...gotta do some self reflecting in the meantime, BUT I CAN'T WAIT, I am the luckiest woman! see you soon Clara, Catalina, Lani, Cindy, Noah & Le Mec!!!

SOOO Chez Julee has no availability until NEXT YEAR! thank you!