Today being the last day in Paris, everyone spent it quite leisurely.

I visited Maria and Malika’s room and got a breakfast treat of fried baguettes and cheese. It was absolutely delicious!

Baguettes fried in egg with a cheese platter

Gabe, Myra and John came over to enjoy Malika’s breakfast as well!

The agenda for the day consisted of first and foremost having all the rooms cleaned, bags packed and rooms checked by Professor Hoffman, Professor Zinder and Kim. This meant that the room had to have all the utensils and belongings that was there the first day of our stay.

(From L-R)Professor Hoffman, Professor Zinder and Kim

After the rooms were checked and everyone was given the all clear, we were all free to do as we wished. I visited the post office and posted some post cards and cards that I needed sent and then visited the Bakery. Yes I had to have one more taste of quiche. It’s delicious!

Today is also Fête de la Musique, also known as ‘Make Music Day’ or ‘World Music Day’. This is an annual music celebration taking place in Paris on June 21st and 22nd.

Since my roommate,Zenia, and I were going to dine out at a restaurant for her pre-birthday celebration, we figured we would look for some music before and after dining out.

On our way out we came across Anna coming back from some last minute souvenir shopping! She got some beautiful gifts from Victor Hugo!

Funnily we saw little to gathering of musicians. It was quite disappointing. What was pleasing was a gentleman on the train singing, “Don’t Worry,be Happy!” And most everyone on the train smiling and singing along with him. It was a wonderful feeling and I did just what the song said! I worried not, and I became happy with the thought of finding the sound of music.

Zenia and I arrived at La Coïncidence and met with six of our other group members and we had the night of our lives! I am sorry to summarize it but you had to be there to taste the food, absorb the atmosphere, listen to the music and feel the beets reverberate through your body and leave your feet tapping and your shoulders moving unconsciously to the rhythm of the beat! When I return to Paris, La Coïncidence is on the top of my list of places to eat!

A little after 12 am when we sang Zenia her birthday song and we were about to search for the Sound of Music!

We headed towards the Seine because the restaurant owner suggested that music would most likely be closer to the seine and the Eiffel Tower. So to the Eiffel Tower we headed!

But a las there was no music.

We were feeling really disappointed by now and there was a small riot that necessitated high police presence. But this did not deter us. We met Kim,Professor Warner, Gabe, Maria and Evan across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and surprise of all surprise, Kim brought her Saxophone with her! I will show you what happened next.

IMG_8343

I will try. The file is too big at the moment. I will explain for now. Kim played her Sax to the Happy birthday song for Zenia and everyone sang along! It’s so amazing because we found the music finally! After searching for it for so long! From the birthday songs we sang famous songs by artists like Bob Marley and Whitney Houston,Bruno Mars and many others.

Tonight,today was and is a night to remember! Zenia will definitely not forget her 23rd Birthday in Paris!

Zenia with her Birthday Flowers.

Please let me know if the video didn’t work in the comments below. Thank you.

Wowww, these past 3 weeks have flown by. I never imagined coming to Paris, learning so much about a city that has so much history and seeing it first hand. I have met so many new people that I can now call my friends. All the professors and liasons had helped me in every possible way and I can’t thank them enough for their support. Although the trip has come to an end the memories that I have gained will last a lifetime. Here are some things that we got to see on out last day of class.

We were welcome with croissants and oranget juice at the Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel. This suite was absolutely beautiful and elegant.

This is the view for VIP guests. Were lucky enough to get to see this view.

Yvonne, Michelle and John giving their presentation on the historical Bouillon Racine.

We made it Mami Burger!!!!!!!

Don’t let the rain stop usssss!!!! Waiting to get into Leno treatment.

Enjoying our last family meal with Professor Hoffman. Malika cooked for everyone.

I have to saying thank you for this amazing experience u had learn so much in this 3 weeks thanks

Since today was my day to be correspondent I knew that I had to make today memorable. It began with a group of us venturing to Marché des Enfants Rouges. Anna, Alyssa, and a few others from my group decided that since we were so hungry we’d wait online for some of the most delicious sandwiches that we’d ever had. The wait was over an hour long but completely worth it.  After the food in the market we went overt to a local park to rest and watch as a choir group spoke about Gay Pride and the Orlando tragedy, I felt so sad, this try of hate crime can not be tolerated. It was uplifting to hear  the opinions of older gay men, it was something, I, a young gay man needed to hear. So that I would not lose hope in this world. So that I would not lose hope in my community.

This man works round the clock to provide savory sandwiches to all his patrons

It was one of the most delicious sandwiches that I’ve ever had in my life.

After devouring this sandwiches, we decided to walk over to a local park to sit and rest.

This is the name of the park.

While resting, I saw that a local group was giving a performing a peace rally for Gay Pride and speaking about the tragedy that happened in Orlando. It was such a sad day in history, and such a violent attack on my people. All I could do was watch and hope their words of wisdom could echo through my mind. Such a hate crime should have never happened, but all we can do now is heal .

The choir sang a selection of songs to lift the sadden spirits of all the survivor.

After the rally, are group decided to venture off and look for a local coffee shop. We found Foundation Coffee and sat there for over a half and hour just admiring the area and conversing on sensitive topics that were happening in the USA.

This place by far has the best coffee I’ve tasted in this country.

I was still saddened by the tragedy within Orlando, but thankfully Alyssa was there to keep my mind off of it. I would be doing nothing if she was not here with me. Such an honest and straight up friend does not come along in eery lifetime. I am so grateful that we’ve found each other. I do not know what this trip would be like without her.

A lot of friends do not have the relationship like we do, and I am thankful every day that she is in my life.

After coffee, Alyssa told us of a giant department store that we needed to check out. And as usual we marched are way through the rain to find it.

One of the many buildings surrounding the shopping mall.

However, for us, It is all about the pastry’s that we can get are hands on.

Pastries as far as the eye could see.

Just a few more pictures of the delicious pastries we ate.

Altogether, I have to say that I enjoyed my last weekend in this country. Each day we venture out into this giant country to try new things and experience new flavours and seeing new artwork every day. I am so happy that I got the chance to come along.

Gabriel Harris.

Today has been all about food. It started off with a visit to a marchè near the hotel. A few of us went to take a look and see what there was to offer. I bought pieces of jewelry, and had raw oysters with great company.

Fresh Oysters before they were demolished.

Later on, my roommate and I went to restaurants for our restaurant review assignment. The first stop was an Indian Food Restaurant near Sacre-Coeur. It was very quiet, being that we were the only guests in the restaurant. This made it a peaceful experience, and the food was  really good. I had a Onion Bajia, which reminded me of onion rings in a unique batter. I also had Chicken Masala as my main course and a Mango Lassi as my drink of choice. I skipped a desert because I knew that we would be eating again. Overall, the food was really good and definitely someplace I would try again when there’s more people.

Mint sauce, Sweet Red sauce, and Spicy Sauce

Onion Bajia

We took a break from our FoodVenture day to stop by Les Halles Mall. I was told about this skin beauty place called Rituals. We found it fairly easy and went inside to check it out. A sales woman showed us a body scrubs and demonstrated it on our hands so we could feel the difference. My hands still feel smooth and soft, and this happened hours ago. We ended up buying a set and walked around the mall (mostly looking for a bathroom) to kill time.

Himalayan Scrub and Gel. so good!

To end off our FoodVenture, we went to a French Restaurant call Le Spicy Room. The atmosphere was very calm and rustic, and the wide flat screen tv showing the soccer game made me feel at home. since we weren’t completely hungry, we went straight to our main course. I had a chicken cooked in a lemongrass and ginger sauce with fries instead of rice. The sauce was so delicious, that I felt that the sauce alone with a piece of baguette would have sufficed. For desert, we shared a snickers ice cream sandwiched in a fritter and swimming in warm chocolate. It was topped off with whipped cream and mint as a garnish. Now, I am not the biggest fan of chocolate pools However, this desert made me slightly consider liking chocolate more. the whipped cream wasn’t too sweet, which helped me enjoy the snickers ice cream even more. I ended up finishing the desert because it was so good. To end our visit, we had a nice conversation with the waiters about the difference between Paris and New York. We left to head home and drift into a sweet food coma as a way to end our day of FoodVenture.

Chicken cooked in finer lemongrass sauce a.d finch fries

Snickers Ice cream sandwich with whipped cream and chocolate

Here is our double whammy: our last day at the Ecole St. Pierre & our last day with Professor Lorenzini as our professor. Today we will all sob & cry for sure…

Our last day at the school began as usual: we all trudged our way into campus- some with a spring & pop in our step- others with a pull & drag in theirs- but we all felt the same heaviness: our love affair with Paris & it’s people was beginning to come to a close.

Chef Nico lead the savory team in preparing their entre (that’s French for appetizer) of Roasted Salmon & Head Cheese over a purée of potatoes, mesclun greens, & seasonal veggies (cauliflower, celery root, endive, seaweed, purée of potatoes, asparagus)

and their plat (French for main dish) of Pan Seared & Oven Roasted Poulet (that’s chicken my loves) with cream sauce, sweet pearl onions, & sautéed veggies. Elvyra was the MVP as she was, according to Evan, “…all over the place. She was like a little Polish grandma- searing the chicken, taking care of her cream sauce… she was awesome.” Evan made sure to tell me that he sautéed the vegetables with butter & garlic.

Pastry Chef Sandrine lead her team in creating a pate a choux masterpiece: Croquembouche with Nougatine. Four teams created croquembouche pieces for our buffet-style desserts. After the choux paste were made & piped into little bite sized pieces, they were staggered baked, cooled, & filled with pastry cream. Nougatine, a hard candy, was simply made by stirring chopped nuts (almonds in this case) into caramelized sugar & pouring it onto a nonstick silpac sheet. The nougatine had to be quickly shaped by cutting with a knife or a thin-edged shape cutter. Finally, cream puffs were carefully dipped into hot caramel & placed on top of one another to structure & height- lots of drama & tension because getting burned with hot sugar is scary…

The real MVPs were the beautiful young students of the ecole- we could not have done it without them & it was great fun learning about where they come from, where they have been, & what they wanted to be in life! They were so jovial & knowledgeable- Chef Sandrine & Chef Nico are so lucky to have them… it’s so heartwarming to see such youth in chef whites…

Apertifs of Kir Royal were given as we gathered in the main dining room after cooking. A lovely graduation ceremony ensued & we were given beautifully framed certificates with our professors signatures… I was called close to last & got scared I had to repeat the grade!

After we ate, we “started to catch feelings” and the heat from the cooking & baking earlier started to catch up with us, & oddly enough- our eyes began to steam up & sweat! Here he comes… Professor Lorenzini approaches the middle of our table & tells us he has to leave & say bye now- I guess he doesn’t care about our feelings because we culinarians were halfway deep into our delicious pan seared poulet we were enjoying! I get all teary-eyed & my heart is breaking as the sweet professor who started this program 17 years ago is leaving us… my napkin is my best friend at this point. I am so grateful to be here & never though that I would be doing culinary & pastry at this point in my life- City Tech saved me but the Paris Study Program changed me. Long story short, I am indebted to Professor Lorenzini for his decision to bring 32 HMGT students to France 17 years ago…

As he leaves, some of us realize that we can’t finish our food… we are too melancholy to eat… not too melancholy to eat croquembouche though! The entire meal was beautiful & moving & we put our love into cleaning the kitchen. Merci boucoup Chef Nico & Chef Sandrine! We love you & your wonderful students! May you always find the best culinary & pastry arts students in France!

Mayra, our liaison, shortly tells us to meet her later at the Gare de Lyon train station to send Lorenzini, the cheval, off to his next destination… “Shh, it’s a secret & he doesn’t know.” By 5:45pm, after all is said & done at the ecole, we meet the old horse at the train station outside of a café & we say our last goodbyes. There is a lot of crying, & even a lot of awkward silences but hey, we didn’t really get much of a chance to deeply get to know Professor Lorenzini… we just know that none of us would be here in Paris all together if it weren’t for him- we wanted to pay our respects to the man, the legend, the founding father.

Professor Lorenzini has passed the torch onto Professor Zinder & his former student Professor Warner. An era has ended & a new one awaits for the Thomas Ahrens International Work/Study Program next summer 2017. Many new things will happen but the new keepers of the program will be sure to keep strict about time, glide quickly on their feet around Paris, pat students on their back, & remind folks to keep their hands out of their pockets.

We love you Professor Lorenzini! May you forever be in our hearts & may we bring your love & zest for life back to Brooklyn!

Today was our second day in the kitchen, here in Paris!! The two teams switched postitions today, team a becoming culinary and team b becoming pastry. Today was a long day full of hard work and dedication. City tech style!!!!

Anna and Tiffany, getting their hands dirty

Getting busy with them potato croquettes, so delicious

Smell the goodness!!!

Citytech don’t play around

Family that cooks together, stays together

It was a great day full of great food and great times as a group. We are so lucky to here doing what we love. Great opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. Love this group!!!

Continue reading →

Today was such an exciting day for us because it was the first day of our culinary and baking classes! The classes started at 9 in the morning, and we were informed that it would take us about 1.5 hours to get to the school from our hotel, so we left at 6:30 in the morning. To get to the school, we had to take the Metro to Saint Lazzare, transfer to the RER train, and then once we got off the RER train, we still had to take the bus again!

On our way to the school!

…We finally made it to the school, and over there, they served us some small croissants and pain au chocolat for our breakfast. They were so yummy!

Evan made coffee for everyone.

After everyone ate their breakfast, we were then got split into two different groups: Group A and Group B. Each group had to do different thing; Group B was assigned to do the culinary stuff, and Group A, which was my group, we had to do the baking today. I was very excited when I found out that my team were going to make the macaroons! Macaroons are my favorite and I’ve always wanted to learn how to make them, but I heard they are a little hard to make because they are very delicate. So I was very excited that I get the chance to learn how to make them in France with a French professor. How cool is that? (:

Macaron flavors of the day!

Prof teaching us the proper way to pipe the mixture

Salted Caramel filling for the macaroon!

My teammate, Michelle, doing the piping.

Group B was busy plating their dishes

After both teams were done preparing their dish and dessert, we then served them on the dining table for us and our professors to eat.

Once we were done eating, we had to go back to the kitchen and clean everything up. Everyone did a good job with their dish and also cleaning the kitchen. Dennis from the CLT would be pretty proud if he was there to do the inspection lol

Good job team! #CityTech

Then, at night time, my sister and I decided to cook some dinner instead of eating out. Turns out, John and Evan were also cooking dinner. So we decided to do a little pot luck, we brought the stuffs that we cooked over to John’s room and ate our dinner together over there. We had such a good time. Eating, laughing, dancing, and singing together.

John with his chix parm

Evan with his chix parm!

Today was an art filled, food filled, colorful day. Before visiting the modern art museum, Pompidou, I had the chance to finally taste the Falafel on the streets of Paris along with Gabe, and Alyssa. I can simply say that the falafel was amaaaaaaaaazing. All the flavors of the garlic sauce, spicy red sauce, radishes, and falafel BURSTED in my mouth with every bite. I don’t know what took me so long to try this flavorful dish! Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to the place Professor Hoffman had recommended. Instead, we went to it’s cousin store across the street. Hoffman’s place has been closed for the past few days due to a Jewish holiday. All I know is, is that if Hoffman’s place is better than it’s cousin store, someone just might have to drag me out of the neighborhood because I would stay there all the time. I’m happy I have found my new favorite street dish.

After we stuffed our faces with falafel, we made our way down to the Pompidue art exhibit. It’s been something I wanted to take a stroll though ever since I had learned about it. In this building, you start looking at exhibitions from the top of the building, moving downwards to the first floor. While your at the top. You are exposed to an amazing view of Paris. You can clearly point out Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and especially Sacre-Coeur. It was a beautiful rising sight.

The first exhibit paid homege to an artist named Paul Klee. Most of his art or, “doodles” weren’t my favorite to look at but he became more interesting once he picked up a paint brush in his later years. What sparked my interest was that during the World War as he developed an illness, his work went back to simple doodles with a pen and paper rather than using grand abstract colors, shapes, and patterns. His last works were simple and related to what he saw during the Holocaust.

The next two floors down became a lot more interesting to me. I loved walking through the different walls seeing many variations of more modern art. Everyone having their own style and their own “looking glass” of life. Creativity is shown in many different shapes, patters, and forms. It could be as complex as the Mona Lisa and as simple as letting wet paint drip naturally down a canvas. Art has no boundaries. Art will never cease to exist.

It’s makes life all the more beautiful.

Hi, everyone!

As most of the group ventured to the beautiful Versailles, I stayed near to home.  Our home for these few weeks is a town called Vanves (pronounced Vonnv).  Vanves is just a few miles away from central Paris.

I absolutely love this area. Though Vanves is more suburban, it does tend to get a little busy at times. In our home away from home, we have a post office, salons, many eateries, even more than one supermarket. We’re walking distance from the Metro.

Clock just outside of the Metro station

Beautiful flowers on the outside of the station.

Today, I had a low-key day walking around the area, taking in and appreciating the sights of Vanves which I will soon miss again. Then, I came home to make a little bite to eat.

Global publishing company, Hachette Livre, has a location here in Vanves.

This evening’s bite – sautéed sausages on a bed of mushy peas.

A Bientôt for now,

– Kim

This weekend is off to a great start, the first stop was a restaurant in the 1st arrondissement called, Poulette. The main attraction was the steak frites

Inside of Poulette

Steak frites Med Rare

Next stop was the Aquarium de Paris, in the 16th. If you present your student ID you get a discount 16€. Lots of fun exhibits and even a touch tank filled with koi fish.

Lots of walking in the aquarium called for some High Tea at a local establishment. Carette, tea and pastries.

Tea Time

Mini Treats

After a long afternoon of snacks and touring the streets, it’s time to go back to home base and make a nice home cooked meal.

Lots of veggies and salad.

This year has been filled with beautiful experiences and so far this trip has been amazing.

Cheers!

Mayra