Today I took a cooking class, called “Sophisticated Bistro,” at La Cuisine Paris with my new friend, Sarah! We cooked Poulet basquaise (which is a chicken and bell pepper dish from the Basque region), salade mélangée (the traditional vinaigrette made from mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and a splash of truffle oil and crème), and a soufflé au Grand Marnier. Only six out of the ten registered people showed up to the class, so we were able to The titles and ingredients on the menu sounded very complex but it seemed definitely manageable for a dinner party if everything is timed correctly, primarily the soufflés as they fall very rapidly when taken out of the oven!
My plate!
All the souffles fresh out of the oven - more for us because 4 people didn't show up :)
Souffle reads to eat with sugared orange zest
It definitely seems like a dish I’ll be able to impress with! The class was also a great opportunity to converse with fellow travelers. There was a couple from St. Louis, Missouri, a woman on a French cooking binge from Latvia, and another woman from Japan. It was interesting to hear their stories of why they’re here in Paris. The couple made a vow to cook all of their meals using the famous fresh ingredients from the outdoor markets. The fortunate woman from Latvia’s husband sent her up here for a week full of cooking classes. It was her third class out of the day and she already made crossants, baguettes, and chocolate croissants! She also spoke about the intricate macarons it took her six months to perfect making at least four batches a week, although that was on her own. Fortunately, she accomplished the grueling task successfully enough to sell them!! She mentioned how it was the technique that matters, as the ingredients are fairly simple. It was very inspirational to lead the Parisian lifestyle grocery shopping daily at open air markets for the ingredients for that evening’s meal.
I’ve found that these shorter study abroad three week courses are excellent at fostering relationships with professors as we’re around a very worldly, experienced professor for a minimum of three hours a day. I’ve found that I typically end up running into another professor at lunch, a bar, or around the city, which has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact in an intimate setting and to learn from them outside the typically stuffy office at USD. Many of the teachers have travelled abroad, for example, Dr. Del Rio highly recommends travelling to San Sebastian, but also highly recommends living in the moment and taking advantage of all the opportunities thrown our way, which I definitely believe in doing as I’ve found life goes by fast. I’ll be 20 at the end of July, which doesn’t seem like that old, but so much has already been accomplished in my life. I’ve found that I remember the most spontaneous things I’ve done with my friends and the travels I’ve taken, rather than sitting at home. When thinking about how expensive this trip was, as I’ve had to pay for the plane ticket, tuition, board, food, etc. by myself thus far, it definitely makes clearing out my savings account to fund this trip SO worth it. The experiences I’ve already gained and the friends I’ve already made are irreplaceable. I simply would not have had the opportunity to mingle with these professors, nor many of the students, outside my major because I’m far to busy on campus with all the demanding pre-med activities I’m involved with preventing me from adding an artsy minor. I also feel that I’ve been so focused on getting into medical school that I’ve lost sight of all that USD has to offer in other disciplines. Right now my minor is in business administration. Please don’t misunderstand this remark. When I am apart of something, it gets a 150% of my effort, or I throw it completely to the backburner. It’s like when I played lacrosse in high school. My junior and senior year, my team won the women’s state championship in Oregon, which took a lot of dedication. I was an avid swimmer, so I swam the two-hour practices in the winter season and then after that I went on a seven-mile run in the pre-season program with my lacrosse season. That’s at least four hours a day dedicated to one sport in the off season, but even more once I realize how much you constantly have to think about how bad you want something and to envision your team winning the state championship, envisioning yourself getting that record mile time of 6:10 minutes with a smile on your face after absolutely hating to run a mile at the end of Freshman year and putting in hours (often in the lovely Portland rain) after a long day of classes every single day, and envisioning everything falling into place because you know you’ve put in the work necessary to do so. I tend to take on a lot, but have fear that I won’t produce the best possible result, so I try to perfect any club I have a leadership position in, especially as it’s reflective of me, which often consists of picking up the slack of others in the club who are often involved for the resume embellishment.
Also my conversation with Dr. Del Rio today really inspired me to reassess my relationships and how they are formed. I wouldn’t consider myself a very flowery, outgoing person when I’m first introduced to people and slowly let my guard down when getting to know people. Some people, especially girls at USD, make assumptions and judge people based on look alone. I know this as I do it myself. It does make getting to know someone and changing those first assumptions more difficult rather than giving everyone a blank canvas and allowing them to paint a picture of themselves through our own experiences together. Why be shy and allow people to make those assumptions of you as a pompous, too good for you kind of girl? Why not put myself on the line by introducing myself to random people that appeal to me and throw out the comfortable personality I do with my friends? What’s the worst thing that could happen other than rejection?
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