Burger Bun Bonanza

So we had that big order for mini burger buns...20g pieces. What a pain in the ass.

Alexandre and I started at 1am so by the time Benjamin came in at 2 we were almost done with everything. I was on mixing the dough and in between shaping and dividing dough. Day was going pretty good for most of the day but Benjamin is just unreliable...he had to mix some dough’s and didn’t know base temperatures or mixing times etc. and was asking Izam who is an apprentice stagiare. We had another stagiare today, only for 2 weeks, a 15 year old kid named Nicolas.

Interestingly these stages are organised in conjunction with schools and all kids do them. I think it’s a great idea as I never forget my 1 week job shadowing at the Mount Nelson.

Although the kid lacked initiative and interest. And when he asked to take a break and was told he could have 1 hour he said it was too short. I almost flipped when I heard that. Wtf is he doing here? It’s only 7 hours. Maybe I’m too hard but I am a firm believer in hard work and that you don’t get anywhere by sitting in the back seat, but whatever.

A former stagiare visited as well, Indra, a 25 year old Mexican who just recently acquired French nationality. He’s been studying and working in France for about 7 years now. He told me it was always a dream of his to become a chef so he actually studied at institute Paul Bocuse as well and knows chef Berthomier. He’s a really cool guy and he, Alexandre and I went for a beer and burger at Ninkasi just next to the bakery.

We had a good time talking about mentalities in the industry and the f***ed up legal system in France. I found out that if you catch an employee stealing something you can’t just fire them...wtf. All the laws really f*** the small business owner. Like our cleaning lady who has claimed sick and hasn’t been to work for over a month but is still getting paid. And Alexandre can’t fire her either... seems that if you’re stuck with a shit employee there’s nothing you can do.

I prefer coming in an hour earlier...much nicer and it reminds me of coming in 2 hours before all the other staff...just much smoother knocking everything else out. So Alexandre and I are starting at 1 tomorrow so I’m gonna be off....

Everyone’s doin’ the ‘hustle’…Lausanne, here I come!

Today was pretty interesting as Alexandre was off for the weekend so it was Alex, Pierre, Izam and myself working. I was at the oven and everything was fine except for scoring one type of bread like another but it was able to make a change so there was a difference between the 2. We managed to get done pretty early and then cleaned down and were out after 10am. Nice life...

When it got home it didn’t want to leave stuff to do for when it returned so it did washing and cooked some stuff that might not have lasted and then just chilled for a bit before heading out about 1 hour before my train.

When it got to the station it was like a bee hive...crawling with people everywhere. I had to wait to see where my train would be so had to wait and look at the departures board for like 15 min...

While waiting some young girl came up to me asking for a donation for some handicapped organisation and was quite pushy about it...it didn’t have any cash anyway so told her it didn’t and she was still like “just 2 euros”. Whatever. After waiting for a bit longer it saw there were 2 other girls also doing the same. Some guy then came up to them and looked pretty pissed (it just had my earphones in so it just watched everything happen) and asked for their papers then wanted to see what t-shirts they were wearing. They were wearing normal t-shirts...people from an organisation would have official t-shirts or at least t-shirts that were all the same with a logo or something. And after it thought about it, the donation sheet was photo copied too which should have raised alarms.

So this guy, a passenger, pretty much took their sheets and told them to piss off and the 3 girls just sulked off...embarrassed at being called out. Everyone’s trying to hustle hey...

Anyway, it got on my train no problem and it was really nicely fitted, even for second class. And like all the other public transport, you have to validate your ticket yourself before you get on (which it forgot to do since it thought trains have conductors but France is different) and if you get caught with a ticket that’s not validated they can fine you like 128 euros...once you’re on the train you can’t even do it which sucks ass. So it was kinda shitting my pants but luckily there was no one who came to check tickets the whole trip.

It was quite a pleasant trip to Geneva, even though the weather was pretty crappy. Once there it just had to walk to another platform to take my next train to Lausanne which was less than 30 min long. I was picked up by Emma and Anotonie (tony for short) ad we drove back to their place. Lausanne as a city is really cool and almost has a story book feeling with the leaves all changing colours and the tramlines and hills and curves and just a small, but busy town feeling really.

I had time to have a beer with Emma and Tony before Emma had to leave for work and tony went to watch a soccer game with some friends. No worries for me...had a shower and a little nap.

I woke up to the house phone ringing....it was Emma’s friends who had come to pick me up to go to Emma’s restaurant. Cafe Bellini was pumping by the time we got there just before 10pm. We were 6 people...3 Swiss, 1 Brit and 1 Saffa [South African] actually. All were really cool people and conversation flowed nicely in French and English. I had a Grimbergen to start while everyone else had a south African red wine...it think was something like Vriesenhof or something. I’m not sure.

I ordered a small octopus salad. For 14 Swiss francs. That R140. [South African Rands] For a starter. Switzerland is f****** expensive.

It was awesome though...Emma gave me a big boy portion ;) it was chunks of the octopus, baby potatoes, pickled cauliflower a bit too strongly pickled...really over powered all the other subtle flavours, radishes, orange segments, fennel bulb, mixed leaves and basil pesto (I know Emma loves her basil pesto. It was a delightful dish and really filling too. We stayed quite a while and Emma joined us when she was finished and we had another bottle of wine... on our way out of the restaurant to a bar across the road, the barman gave Emma and me a shot of apricot eau de vie. The shot glass overflowed. Literally. Omw that stuff sets your throat on fire...and it’s not the kind of taste you want to think about when having a shot....urgh.

Ok, so across the road we went to a bar called “comptoir”, no idea what it means. Emma had her birthday party there so they still had a huge sign up saying “Gatsby gone wild”...nice small place with a bar and lounge area upstairs and a dance floor/bar downstairs. We moved between the two, having drinks and chatting and then dancing...if had looooads of fun. But the place closed at 3 am so we went ambling along to the next place. Oh one of Emma’s friends is a Xhosa guy who’s a doctor and entrepreneur and has been staying in Switzerland for 20 years so he speaks English, Xhosa and French... J

We briefly popped into a place called “13e” or “tresieme” meaning “thirteenth” in French. I don’t know what the significance of the name was. People were still dressed up in Halloween outfits as if suppose most couldn’t celebrate it during the week. It was a really cool place, built in the old part of Lausanne and had bars and dance floors in these ancient cellars pretty much. It was too crowded so we headed off to Darling which is where Emma’s fiancé works/manages.

That place was packed...kinda like a mix of Stones and Tiger Tiger but not formal...but nice pumping music and a square bar in the centre so they could serve people on 4 sides simultaneous which makes sense....and utter chaos. A double gin and tonic cost 13 francs...R130.that is INSANE! We ended up staying there until about 5 or something and then caught a cab home. I was pretty much off my trolley at this point but was still making sensible conversation. My body just was lagging behind :p Emma and if still stayed up until sometime between 6-7am talking and drinking wine and eating Lindt chocolate .

Thinking out of the box

Was awake from 4 am today and actually heard from Travis. Seems the fanny finally got a Malaysian sim [sim card for mobile phone]. We were talking about breads and croissants as he was having difficulty with the humidity affecting the crust as normally the salt in your pastries or breads will absorb the humidity so you need to either eliminate it completely or use very little. I suggested also using a levain in the pastries and breads as the increased acidity helps with keeping quality and crust.

On a side note if want to experiment with cocktail inspired breads. Like a rum n raisin bread where the raisins are soaked in rum, but then it’s mixed into a pain viennoise. And still playing with the idea of a ‘Klippies’ and Coke sorbet [ Klipdrift – a South African brandy ] J

I think when I start at the school if want to continue my journal, even if only for myself, documenting changes and developments if notice with recipes and production and also to keep track of ideas and progress..

Had a nice chat with Faitha today as well while we ate one of her concoctions of split peas, chilli, pasta and potatoes. Don’t ask... we were talking about relationships and life and how it’s difficult to find someone when you have a really free spirit but how important and real it is to have someone or friends outside a work/party environment that you can do things with and talk to .

Daily Grind

Another grind today.

Was feeling a little exhausted still but nothing a good breakfast and a coffee can’t solve. I was baking again from 5:30-10:30..we had a lot to bake and I had a nice rotation so that the time I was finished with one trolley, the next was already out and starting to come up to temperature so I was owning it. Scoring was good and baking was on par. It’s pretty cool that Alexandre leaves me to bake almost all the bread most of the time. I mean, if someone was on the oven and didn’t really handle it, it would be a huge f***up.

Pretty standard Saturday though...knocked out production and everyone started deep cleaning early while I was still busy so by 11:30 we were all done. I got to try a foret noir (black forest) which was good. 

They add some of the maraschino liquid to the cream when whipping the Chantilly so it has loads of flavour. I’m gonna miss being able to try all these things...but only 2 weeks left at Maison Pozzoli now.

I’m thinking about organising a trip up to Paris in my last week but I need to find someone who would want to go with me as I know if I go alone I won’t really want to walk around and see things.

Got home and passed out...and woke up around 8pm. The weather here is getting really crappy and depressing. Ready to get back to sunny SA although I know the weather has been a bit wonky there but still, home is home.

Gingerbread Man

Want to know what a sack of s#&t looks like? It looks like Benjamin. So he was finally back at work today...that’s like a week and a half. And turns out he wasn’t sick but fell down the stairs or whatever and hurt his knee. Shit, I’ve worked with sprained ankles and after dentist’s appointments and stuff before...I don’t let small things hold me back.

Man he was slooooooow. And he was making mistakes. And pissing Alexandre off which is never a good thing. Like for the poolish he just weighed off the water, yeast and flour together but didn’t mix it. Wtf? And forgot to shape epis at the normal time so they weren’t ready when one usual customer came for them.

Other than that it was a pretty standard day. Oh and baguette with jambon cru and Roquefort ftw. J

I didn’t sleep at all last night. Apart from a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon I didn’t really sleep. I stayed awake talking to Magen. She’s a girl that studied with Nicholas, my brother, and we never really spoke before but since about 2 months ago we started talking every day and now she is just part of my life. I literally stayed up until my alarm went off to get up. And even then I didn’t want to stop talking to her. It’s really amazing when you meet someone that you can have endless conversations with.

I think if it wasn’t for her company, Lyon would’ve made me miserable by now. She makes me more aware of my actions and beliefs and stimulates me intellectually and challenges me constantly. Every day brings us closer and I can’t wait to get to hang out with her in Dec when she is down to visit.

So even though I didn’t sleep, I had a coffee and a croissant with frangipani and just owned today. I was on the oven and was pumping stuff out left and right. Sack of s#&t was slow again, nothing new there. I can see he really pisses Alex off as well...

I made my brioche recipe yesterday and shaped it today so we’ll get to do a taste comparison tomorrow. Now I just want to make ginger beer!!!

Ah and we made gingerbread houses today and started cutting out gingerbread men...the recipe was a nice end product, with Alexandre adding some minced dried orange peel which really lifted the flavour. Although my favourite is still the German lebkuchen.

Nothing beats that...I could eat it until I enter a food coma.

It was really cool to see how the houses got made and I helped put together the chimneys. We used melted isomalt as the glue. It works like sugar but doesn’t crystallise; oh and it burns like sugar too. F*** me I had forgotten what that felt like. So there was a lot of swearing going on...and if you ever watch peoples reaction when there’s sudden pain they always swear in a native language... lately I swear in French but that time I was swearing in English and Afrikaans J even tried teaching Alexandre some words but French people struggle with the hard, guttural sounds..

Anyway, so 60 houses down, now we just need to do 40 more and make the bigger houses. But as for gingerbread men, we cut out about 50...and we need 600. So it’s over 200kg of dough we need to make; that’s a lot of gingerbread men.

Rubbery Couch Potato

Today I was just taking it easy as even though I got home at 2am yesterday, I only ended up going to sleep around 8am. 

Didn’t eat much as I was still processing everything I consumed the day before. I felt like that fat guy in the one Monty Python skit who eats a crap load of food and then wants a wafer thin mint hehehe.

So yeah, pretty boring day...deal with it: D watched DotA2 casts on YouTube and lazed on the couch like a rubbery couch potato.

A Feast Fit for a King

Today was sick! We were done with all shaping before 5. Everyone just got on with work. It was the A Team as usual, myself, Alexandre and Alex...all A’s get it? So yeah knocked that shit out and then just pumped those baguettes out like a machine! It was one of those days when everything just flows nicely, my scoring was good, shaping on form and going things all over the place.

After work we had a glass of wine in the kitchen...which was kinda a bad idea since we’re all usually so tired. It hits hard! Alexandre and I then were discussing some recipes that I sent him that he wants to try out so he just wanted translations and explanations.

Now that I have heating at home, I almost constantly have the gas on a low setting and my small oil heater on high to keep the place warm because these walls retain jack heat and the wooden floors aren’t insulated either so that doesn’t help.

Had a short nap and did chores before heading out just before 8pm with William for dinner. We were joined by Rudolph and Valeria, Rudolph’s Russian gf who works with them at PB Boulangerie in America.

Valeria was pretty cool...she is into dnb [ brum ‘n bass ] and dubstep and knows a lot of the music I have and she is very strong about her opinions and kept getting annoyed when we were talking about Russian stereotypes and not feeling cold or drinking vodka, but we were just playing around.

I thought we were going to Orsi, which is the Michelin star gastronomic restaurant of chef Pierre Orsi, but we instead went to Cazenove which is the sister restaurant to Orsi. It’s not gastronomic but I wouldn’t call it a brasserie either. But when you enter it feels like you’ve entered another time. With a rich carpeted floor, mirror panelled walls and wooden statues of cupids it has an early 1900’s feel to it. This kind of atmosphere you would only find in some old school hotels nowadays.

Right after you enter there is a rack for your jacket and we were escorted to our table. Chef Pierre arrived shortly thereafter as the 2 restaurants are on the corners of 2 opposite blocks, and greeted us and chatted a bit. It’s remarkable to see a man of over 70 with so much vibrancy. He is always alive and animated and inquisitive. We were served a glass of champagne to start. Which was really light with subtle fruity flavours? There were also bread rolls on a side plate, with rounds of butter and a small plate of thinly sliced rosette (French salami) which, at room temperature is so smooth and tasty with the fat melting in your mouth.

Amuse bouche

was a lobster bisque which was amazing. I haven’t tasted bisque with that consistency that has that much flavour. I could have eaten litres of that stuff. It was intense but soft...no strong aftertaste at all and it was smooth too.

For starters William and Rudolph had a slab of foie gras terrine quenelle

of soft pear brunoise with some watercress. I had roasted prawns which were beautifully cooked, still soft, juicy and firm, with julienne black radish and a tomato gazpacho like sauce.

Interesting combination with the prawn and tomato. Valeria had a Carpaccio of scallops (SCALLOPS!!!!! MMMM) since she doesn’t eat meat, with a julienne of granny smith apples and watercress (yeah I think they love watercress in the kitchen). We had this with a red wine, which was unexpectedly good with the prawns. But it was a slightly more semi dry red with soft tannins and lots of plum and berry flavours.

with a sweet wine jelly, green peppercorns and a basil sauce. And a

For mains William had the rack of lamb which was beautifully cooked...super moist and pink (just the way we like it),

with a caramelised banana shallot and some courgette thing which I couldn’t make out. Valeria and I had the sea bass

while Rudolph had the John Dory, and both dishes came with the same garnishes. A curried butternut puree (was surprised to see butternut). A celeriac puree with some brunoise veg and some hazelnut things that were almost like Yorkshire puddings. This was served drizzled with a light lemon oil. Really interesting to have hazelnut with fish but it was really tasty. I normally would’ve taken the lamb but I can braai [barbecue ] a nice chop [ lamb chop ]at home anytime ;)

Phew, then onto cheese. They brought out a cheese trolley and all their cheeses are made by a MOF Frommagier, Didier Lassagne.

Oh I forgot to mention that the bread they serve and use at the restaurant is supplied by Mr Pozzoli. I could choose as many cheeses as I wanted but I was pretty stuffed already so chose some interesting ones. There was one that gets put on chestnut leaves to mature which had a creamy camembert consistency but a slight earthy flavour, a firm blue cheese, a chevre and a cheese that is made with garlic inside and the whole piece is actually shaped like a head of garlic which is really cool. Cheese was with another red wine which was really brought alive by the contrasts of the cheeses.

Afterwards a small plate with petit fours was given to use...with small passion fruit marshmallows (so good), chocolate and mint macaroons and orange peel financiers. What was really interesting is that we were also given a small bowl with mandarins/clementine. It’s an interesting concept and it was really refreshing and helps cleanse your palate, much like a sorbet would.

Oh wait...I’m not done. Then we had dessert (say WHAT???) yeah homey, dessert: chocolate cake base, chocolate mousse with a nougatine centre, chocolate ice cream and a chocolate sauce and tuile. We had this with an Italian muscadel. Afterwards was coffee...with the little pot with sugar chunks. One thing I really liked was how all the crockery had the same motif on it, very old school which just fits with everything else. Nowadays everyone is being contemporary so you won’t see that. We also had beautiful crockery and stemware.

But were still weren’t done... William asked for shots of chartreuse which is a green digestif, served in a cognac sniffer and is apparently made with over 100 different herbs. It smelled flippen strong. Mother Russia downed hers of course. J We sipped ours but after 2 sips I knocked the rest back...that stuff gave me goose bumps.

After all this we finally left, being the last table as well.

The best part? It was all on the house. Chef Orsi was very generous and hospitable. If I still have some money before I leave I’d like to try his gastronomic restaurant...but a minimum spend on food alone is 60 euros...

We then drove to a small “club” (it was 1am on a Tuesday night....in Lyon. So not much choice) they were playing Latino music and had an instructor sort of guiding everyone and then everyone danced and changed partners the whole time. I was so full I didn’t want to dance but just before the end I got on the floor and started moving once they started playing tunes with a bit more BASS! One girl was trying to help me to salsa but I have no rhythm for that...but I still had fun.

Finally got home for some much deserved rest at 2 am. Man I was full.

Home alone

Fatiha left for Venice today...she’ll be gone until Thursday so I’ll be home alone until then. Just spent the morning doing dishes,

tidying up and doing laundry

...will probably spend the rest of the day indoors as its crappy weather outside and have some writing I want to knock out.

Of Harleys, Champagne & Banana Bread Beer…

Was raining this morning as I headed out. So that already puts a damper on your day (see what i did there?). And when I walked into the bakery, Alexandre had already done all the biological breads, boules and miches and charentais...he started at 1am. And he is a beast. Shit, so hopped on the dividing of the blanche... see, I don’t hit the ground running. Usually I have to make sure I have everything sorted out and know what I’m going to do then I go for it. Which is basically what Alexandre does. Back in the day, when I had all my recipes in my head and knew where everything was I didn’t have to think about things. Shit like this frustrates me but also gets me really amped to get back into being in charge of my own baking space and just dominating it.

Ah also, Gazuese peed in one of the containers...J

I had forgotten what cat piss smells like! I think he was just asserting his male dominance or something but the scarey cat (he literally is one) disappeared for the whole day. We only found him at the end of the day when everyone was worried about him...he was in the roof the whole day, probably sleeping. He’s still ridiculously cute though

Today we heated up the wood fired oven again. The flames were so intense I was able to see all the way to the back...it is insanely deep. Basically once you have it heated up, you start loading your bigger breads at the back and start working to the smaller shapes (>boules, miches, baguettes, petit miches etc...) so everything cooks more or less the same. The only restriction is that there is only a small door to load so you can’t load a lot at a time which makes baking the same amount of breads impossible pretty much. Alexandre said you can pretty much only bake the biological in there. And then he asked me “so if we use this oven in December will you stay?” Swak [weak]...he knows I’d want to see and work with that but I can’t.

It was Williams last day with us so he brought a bottle of Louis Perrier champagne Harley Davidson...he showed me a picture of it. I think the model is a Fatboy. And he has the leather jacket and apparently some tattoo sleeves as well. That made me laugh...I can’t really imagine chef on a Harley.

I'll be baaaack!!!

He also showed me some old mixers from the 1800s and some old bakery posters from the 1920’s...really cool to see what they looked like... back in the day the bakers would just work in pants as it used to be so hot in the bakeries.

which we had with some pizza and quiche at the end of the day. And then were just chatting. I found out that Mr Pozzoli has a

After work I went home and chilled. But not before making a boss dish of steak mince, cooked in pork rillettes, because I didn’t have any oil, red wine, and arrabiata sauce. Topped with pasta and a Roquefort and mace béchamel and cheddar. BOOM!! Not bad for student budget and limited work space ;)

Dossed [ hit the sack / slept ] for a bit then woke up just after 7pm and headed down to meet Alex and William at King Arthur pub which is just down the road from the bakery. It was actually pretty small compared to pubs back home. They had a nice selection of beers, quite a few of them home brewed, but we had the banana bread beer J

as it was just so different. Normally I don’t really like banana flavoured things but it was really good. We grabbed a table and watched NZ give it to France hard in some test rugby. They have nothing on Bok [Springbok Rugby Team / South Africa] supporters though: p second round I had a blonde beer. And we ordered some pies!! YAY finally! At like 5euros each papa... we got a chicken and mushroom, a steak and ale and a pork sausage roll. They served them all together on a slate which I thought was a really cool idea. They all tasted really good. Not like the usually Pieman's [local South African pies bought at filling stations] or Mamas pies [cheap supermarket pies] back home. But I’m not hating, the cheeseburger pie is my best friend at 4am

So after the game we decided to head home and I bought some frites and frikkadels

(in this case they were Belgian sausages, flavoured with mace which was really tasty). The frites were beautiful...crisp exterior, soft moist interior and beautifully seasoned.

While walking back to the parking, William bumped into a friend so he and I ended up walking back to where the pub was and went up to a friend’s apartment and chatted there for a while before they all decided to go out but then I headed home as I was already nodding off.