Stage en Entreprise – end of 2nd period at La Fontaine Gaillon
At the end of my second period at the Fontaine Gaillon, working with Chef Audiot and his team, I’m feeling more at home there, understanding better the relationships that exist within the team, seeing more calm in the chaos of the midday service. I’ve spent all of this time “au chaud”, as I explained in […]
2008 and back to La Fontaine…up and down with Brittany (asparagus) Spears and Gerard Dépardieu
3 days into my first week back at La Fontaine Gaillon after the New Year break back home in Newcastle, and I’ve already been “ok”, “down and pensive” and “up”. The good news is that I have finished my Wednesday session with a positive day where I managed to find my place in the team […]
Paris restaurants during the festive period……
This week I started my 2nd period of training in La Fontaine Gaillon kitchen – Wednesday to today (Friday) to be more exact. I was a bit apprehensive on Wednesday morning whilst going to work, but in the end, I picked up pretty much where I left off over 6 weeks ago. The team hasn’t […]
need to lose weight ?…..become a chef !…but watch out for the tiredness…..:-(
Yep, I know it seems a pretty improbable combination, but seriously, since starting my chef training (7 weeks ago) I have lost approx. 5 kilos (just under 1 stone) ! I still don’t really know why, because I’m still eating as much as before, if not more. The only differences that I can see are […]
La vie d’un chef apprenti anglais en France – je commence à m’y habituer
Cette semaine nous sommes tous rentrés à l’école pour reprendre le rythme scolaire – beaucoup plus doux, c’est clair, que mes 2 semaines de travail à La Fontaine et au Zephyr. Par contre, je commence à trouver une certaine calme au fourneau à l’école (….parce que soyons clair, je ne suis que très rarement au […]
Slow Food, Bacteria and Blogs…
…..not all at the same time, though, of course ! Slow Food as a concept is something that has interested me (from afar, I hasten to add, since I have never actively participated at any actual event and I am not, as of yet, a paying card member) for quite some time. Why ? Well, […]
“My Just Desserts” – Bilan de fin de première partie de stage de cuisine / review of the first part of my cookery placement
WOW !! La, je voulais terminer sur un point positif, et cela a fini par être le cas. J’ai compris qu’il me faut un rôle là où je travaille – ça ne suffit pas de donner un coup de main à chacun dans la cuisine sans prendre certaines tâches à ma charge. Donc, aujourd’hui au […]
Day in the life of an English trainee chef in a french kitchen…..
So, I’m at the end of my 2 week period at La Fontaine Gaillon and wow, what a rollercoaster of emotion ! I’ve been buzzing with excitement, exhausted, aching hands (my right hand is still tingling, quite literally), slightly demoralised, and now quitely confident and content. In my last post I talked about the need […]
Around the world in 13 days….
This blog has been up and running and accessible for 13 days, and in that time I have had 60 different visitors from 9 different countries (France, Switzerland, Sweden being the top sources, with sporadic interest coming from the USA, Canada, NZ, Portugal, UK, Belgium). I think that a number of you have not spent […]
Day 3 at “La Fontaine”….frustration sets in
So finally the moment arrives where I’m silently cutting vegetables (in this case, it was my 6th case of camus artichokes…that’s the big, bulbous ones rather than the small poivrades) in the kitchen and I’m quietly thinking to myself that I’d much rather be working with the 20 fresh whiting (merlan) that the guy next […]