Just another ordinary day

C’est mon dernier jour en L’institut Paul Bocuse aujourd’hui. There was no “exam” for the class; however chef and I did make notes so we could give them feedback during a debriefing at the end of the day. The students made pain de tradition, pain de campagne and pain bio. The work was good, but the students’ concentration deteriorated as the day went on. All in all chef and I were happy with their work but we just gave them some constructive criticism regarding respect and punctuality as well as discipline and maturity.

This morning I woke up in time but then fell asleep again and woke up at 6:20...I usually leave my place at 6 to get the bus but this time I just got dressed and brushed my teeth and was out the house in less than 5 min.

I literally ran to the metro and got there just as the metro was departing. Luckily for me, all my following metros were departing as I got to the platforms so I got a bus at George de loup at 6:40 and just got to the school at 7, so after getting dressed I was in the bakery only 10 min late. Still... I hate being late.

For lunch today we had an onion tart and main was sole with some sort of herb mousseline which I didn’t really enjoy with steamed veg, brown rice and a sauce whose name I forget but tasted like it had caramelised onions and fish stock as well as cream.

Just chilled for the rest of the day.

Students from Lebanon & Morocco

Today we did pain aux multi cereals, pain au mais and pain de meule. Due to the large number of small rolls we had to make, we just did them in the petit boules shape. The class worked very well. After a few stern words, they really brought their side and worked quickly and efficiently. So much that we were done with all the production including the viennoiserie for the next day and cleaning by 12:30. Being hard, but fair ensures that they learn disciple and the sense of urgency that one needs when working in a kitchen.

Tomorrow, they won’t be having an exam but chef and I will still make notes about their work attitude and quality of their work.

For lunch we had a sweet melon, with some Parma ham, clove infused red berry coulis and crème Chantilly, balsamic reduction and some yellow sauce I couldn’t make out.

Main was beef stew with jus, tagliatelle and a tomato sauce. Perfect brasserie fare.

The group that I’m teaching this week is from Lebanon and Morocco so I’ve learnt some Arabic but its only vulgar things...naturally. I think that what everyone learns first when they learn a language. J

I had the tarte citron today...sweet short crust base, a creamy lemon curd type filling, glazed and garnished with a slice of candied lemon. Shit, who *doesn’t* like lemon curd....

Wave the stick…

Today the class was a bit better and they worked a bit more efficiently. It had partly to do with me because at one stage I was like “f*** this” and told them that I don’t have a problem with people talking, as long as it doesn’t affect the work. If it does, tough shit, no more talking.

We did pain bresan (with the “gaude”, roasted maize flour), pain complet (made with the T150 and butter. I would eat this one with just some salted butter or schweineschmalz) and pain bio (made with bio flour and baguette concentrate which is roasted barley flour). Due to the class still being pretty slow, we have only done the shaping of small breads into boules and the larger ones into baguettes or batards.

For lunch we had a

Nicoise Salad

nicoise salad, but with tinned tuna, anchovies, thin slivers of tomato, slices of boiled potato, capers, olives, hard boiled eggs and  an awesome dressing. Main was some fish with beautifully cooked veg, potatoes, carrots and mange tout and some soft and extremely flavourful onions to garnish.

I ate some of the things that Marlene bought for me at Maison Pozzoli. The Framboisier was delishus!!

Framboisier

A base of sponge cake, with an almond mousse with pieces of raspberry and dried coconut, topped by another layer of sponge and then a thin layer of pink marzipan which was ever so slightly brulee’d.

The “charlotte” was similar except it contained a vanilla mousse and no marzipan on top and also came with a small macaroon on top J

There was another small item that I don’t know the name of but it was in a quenelle like shape and had a base of some sort of cake with chestnuts in it, topped by the chestnut cream and then some icing... very simplistic but all you need really.

As I’m typing this I’m having one of the beers that Marlene bought at the blueberry festival outside of St. Etienne.

Initially it tasted quite strong (its 8%) but after a while I can taste the slight acidity from the blueberries. In fact, since it was neither sweet nor dry, the acidity reminded me of a beer-ish wine if that’s easy to understand. Really pleasant once I was half way through...I think it needs to warm up in your mouth before you can get the full flavour of the blueberries. Def not a quaffing beer.

Back to work…

Today I finally got to go back to the institute so it felt great to be busy and useful again. The group of students we have this week are “stagiaires” or interns from schools in Lebanon and Morocco, but they are not part of the alliance like the previous groups. We did pain campagne, ciabatta and pain de tradition and croissants.

The group is alright but there are a few who don’t seem interested and chat a lot and get distracted. Because of this they work pretty slow which sucks for the few that seem really keen to work and learn. One girl is really slower than a sack of shit... but you can only teach someone as much as they allow you to teach them.

For lunch today we had a starter of a salad of celeriac remoulade, crevettes, pomme et pompelmousse rouse (celeriac remoulade, shrimp, apple and grapefruit). Really tasty...

Main was chicken breast with a brown chicken jus, cous cous and a tomato and red pepper sauce/relish.

My French is improving really nicely as I can form pretty decent sentences and can communicate effectively with people when enquiring about something or when shopping. I am beginning to explain stuff to the students in French and I can understand about 80% or what Chef Berthomier says now.

My corner superette doesn’t have Monster or tonic....wtf. So I’m having Gin and Agrum’ now. Yeah boooooi!

CHEERS !

Maison Pozzoli

Around lunchtime I helped Fatiha put up some curtains, about 3m up, with only a 2m ladder...because of the rod and the fitting as well as the amount of space between the walls, I had to put one ring up, put the rod through and then thread the 2 curtains on and then put the other curtain ring in. The manual was in French so I just had to figure out how to put the bit in as it wasn’t like the one my dad has. Fatiha also had no spirit level so I had to use her judgement to line the rods up. All in all I was pretty chuffed with myself, considering the circumstances I was working under. It looked good and Fatiha was happy so I gave myself a pat on the back. I literally did give myself a pat on the back.

I met up with Marlene around 2pm and we went to Starbucks. It was my first time, and we both had white chocolate mochas which were nice, but very sweet “tres sucre” and we had a doughnut each and Marlene had a cinnamon roll too which tasted good too but was super sweet. She has a big sweet tooth so it was fine for her but I almost had a sugar coma. She also gave me some beer made from myrtilles (blueberries) which she bought for me at la fete myrtilles outside of St Etienne.

We then walked around and I went past Maison Pozzoli.....It’s a baker’s wet dream.

Maison Pozzoli, Lyon, France

The bread looks so SICK!!!! I am super stoked to get in there and start baking. Marlene insisted on buying me an assortment of some of her favourite viennoiserie including a framboisier, tarte citron, charlotte and something else... we then went to do some “leche vitrine” (lit. “lick windows”, it’s French for window shopping, because you are usually so close to what it is you want to buy that you can lick it).

only the good stuff !

So many people were out that I again asked “when the f*** do people work here?” It was probably around 4pm and there were hoards of people walking around and doing shopping.

Marlene had to leave to go to work around 5pm so we said goodbye and I walked back to Croix Rousse and on the way got a haircut. Like most things in France, you have to wait. So I waited for about 1 hour and just read in the salon. The guy did a really good job and it was a really good price compared to others that I saw (16Euros) and I spoke French with him and we told me about living in France and so it was cool to find out what people living in the city think about it.

As soon as I got home I had to leave for the couch surfing meeting so I managed to eat a kebab Jand then I headed down to meet Marion at the opera house in hotel de Ville. She had some friends from Italy and St. Etienne with her (Kristiana, Elisa, Julia, Fabio and Clement), Clement could very easily be the French doppelganger of François Roux [a high school friend]...I almost thought it was him and he even has similar mannerisms and movements. We took the metro to Saxe Gambetta and then met the other couch surfers at cafe de la Madeleine. I almost downed a pint of penache coz that is so delicious (a shandy pretty much, but the use a lemonade, not sprite).

the Italians...

We played some petanque (boules) and I got my ass handed to me hard-core...my team lost 14-2. The Italians had to leave around 10pm as some were leaving for Italy that night and the others had to go back to St. Etienne so I left soon afterwards. They were all from Florence, but studied in Bologna. I gave them some shit for not really being able to cook and I was like “what kind of Italian girl can’t cook?” but I was just joking so we laughed about it and discussed some specialities of Italy and I taught them some Xhosa too.

Woodstower…

Again, for most of the day I slept or relaxed as I only ended up going to sleep around 6am...

I was being a lazy ass as usual, finally getting into the rhythm of not doing anything (finally...just like Seychelles, it takes me about 3 weeks to adapt to a much slower pace of life...one I don’t really enjoy), but then Fatiha invite me to join her and 2 other friends from Saturday night (Jeani [pron. Jean –ee], a guy and Laurance [like Laurence but with a French accent], a lady......it’s France, don’t ask. Lol) to go to the Grand Park Miribel-Jonage.

We drove outside the Lyon city limits to the “periferique” (outskirts as I understand it) to the grand parc which is a HUUUUGE ass ground where people braai [barbeque], go to concerts and just chill...a similar vibe to Newlands [famous Rugby stadium near Cape Town] or Tokai [a forest in the southern suburbs popular in summer for picnics & barbecues], but not so forest-y. And its immense...I can’t even compare it to anything in SA...the grounds are just huge.

After we got there we went to where the festival, Woodstower was being held. It was almost done but there was a small band playing and on another side there was a small cadre of theatre people performing a play amidst their self-made stage. The play was “la tete du Sophocles” (the head of Sophocles). I caught it near the end and could understand anything because they were shouting and using a microphone, but basically this guy Sophocles gets his head chopped off. They were so innovative with the stage, having loads of costumes changes, making their own sound effects and the stage had a sail on one side that could come out to imitate the sail of a boat and they had a homemade launching device that they used to launch one guy maybe 10-12m into the air and land on a crash mat held by two other guys...he was a crow J it was really cool..and loads of people were watching and laughing.

We then went to chill by the river where people were swimming and lying on the grass...around 5pm they had a play or opera on the water. They had 3 floats made, onto which 3 guys climbed and rang bells, and then there was a lady on another barge, the barge being her dress and we later found out there was a guy playing piano underneath. (They set up speakers in front of the water for the sound). There also was a guy on a big contraption that held a horse. It had 2 gerbil like wheels that had 2 guys in them, using them to turn and move the big horse which was mounted on top of the wheels on which sat the guy. I had no clue what it was about and neither did any of Fatihas friends.

play on the water...

We left around 7pm and got pizza.....nom nom nom. Cold pizza for breakfast baby!!

view from Croix Rousse

A night on the town…

I stayed in during the day today but in the evening some of Fatiha's friends came over for a drink. One guy was already pretty much on his way but he was pretty entertaining. He was also very erratic in his thoughts and reminded me of an old customer from the bakery and even looked like a younger version of him.

As an “apero” we had some pasties, which you have with cold water, turning it an opaque white. I don’t know what causes this reaction though. Anyway so off we went, but I didn’t have any formal shoes and we weren’t sure what the dress code was so we had to get some shoes from Stephan’s place. (He was the hammered guy). It’s pretty close to the metro here, so we got a pair for me and him (we’re both EU size 43). At his place he had a cute little kitten that was very playful and he had a huge vine growing from his kitchen into all the adjoining rooms.

Ok, so we drove to Villeurbanne to the club and it was the grand opening of the club so they had some free tapas in the form of, melon pieces, crudités and tzatziki, croutes avec babaganoush (awesome stuff, with loads of caramelised garlic), tapenade (I could taste they used anchovies so they weren’t playing around here either) and aioli. Onion rings and little fish balls (no idea what it is in French).

Initially there were mainly late 30’s to 50’s people there and a few mid 20’s but later more mid 20’s came in. It was shitty weather so not many people pitched. Oh another thing, in Europe, people only start going out from 11pm and usually stay out till about 5/6. They were playing some Latin music which I cannot dance to to save my life but I thought what the hell and just went with it. After a bit they started playing a bit of hip hop and then I was like “ah yeah, that’s my shit right there!!” you know how I do...if there’s bass, I’m dancing to it.

Around 1am we went to Bellecour, along the river Rhone to where all the boats are moored which are actually pubs/clubs. There is Ayers Rock which is the huge restaurant/discotheque but then there are also a string of tug boats which have a really warm cosy vibe, almost like Rafikis, but on a boat and it was crammed with people, nice music and decent drinks.

One thing that really stood out for me was that in the bar they had these huge round jugs suspended from the roof by ropes that contained infused rums. They had a ginger one, lemon and orange, coconut and clove I think...the ambiance was really cool. The playlist was like shack in the sense that the barmen just play classics that everyone knows and/or loves.

We left around 3:30 am as everyone was tired. Fatiha and Stephan wanted to walk home coz they’re both crazy: p but me and formal shoes don’t mix so I decided to ride Franco and Christine. Stephan insisted that I kept the shoes though, saying it was a present and that he could if he wanted to so I couldn’t refuse him as I didn’t want to be rude so I scored a pair of black formals after a pretty decent evening.

Not too shabby eh?

Nothing special…

Today I slept for most of the day as I was recovering from Thursday. I was just generally lazy and didn’t leave the house save to go to a kebab shop. The “kebabs” are not as South Africans understand kebabs. The shops are generally Turkish run, and are called “doner kebab”. It’s like half a round flatbread that gets toasted then gets tomato, lettuce, onions, sauce aux choix (your choice of sauce) and then the meat goes inside. I think its veal as it’s quite light and it’s obviously not pork. It gets cooked like schwarma meat, but it’s cut into fine shavings with a mechanical shaving tool and so you have thin crispy flakes of meat instead of the chunks of meat that you get in a schwarma. And at only 5Euros is flippen cheap and extremely filling.

Seeing as they don’t have anything close to a garage pie [ a cheap meal / a small pie sold at filling station kiosks throughout South Africa ] I reckon that’s going to be me go to binge food. Only thing is I literally barely manage to finish one...and I could normally nail like 3 pies...

Nothing else special happened.

Riesling...

Today Fatiha went to the wedding of her niece so she got all dressed up and left around mid-afternoon. I bumped into an old friend of mine while I was at the shop... Mr Gibson...so I took a bottle of him home with me to have with some blood orange juice coz that’s just how I roll.

Although when I got home I instead decided to open the bottle of Riesling that I bought, it was from the Alsace region as I couldn’t find a Rhone Riesling in the wine shop. It was ok, pretty dry and a high alcohol content, but I don’t think it was wooded as it didn’t have that characteristic smoothness from being wooded... it was pleasant enough but i would probably pair it with a fish dish to allow its flavours to come out better. I still prefer the Jordan Riesling...

An American girl was supposed to arrive around 7pm but she only ended up arriving around 10pm. Her train was full so she had to wait for the next one...that’s a bit of a kak (‘shitty ‘ ) end of the deal. She’s from Houston, Texas and studying sociology and has been doing a trip around Europe and France, going to Turkey, Austria, Germany and travelling to Paris, Marseille, nice and now Lyon. When I found out she was from Texas we started chatting and ended up watching sketches from SNL of Will Farrell ripping off George Bush and the axis of evil J

Marlene’s birthday; or not?

Got up as like normal today and then around 10am I went to a bakery about 5 min walk away called L’atelier de Boulangerie and picked up a croque monsier (here there croques are 2 slices of white bread which I’m assuming are baked in the bakery and not government bread as we know it, with some ham and béchamel inside and then some grated emmental/gruyere on top. They’re made in advance so you can warm them up or just have them like that.) And a tartlette chocolat caramel which had a rustic sable base and this delicious centre that tasted like a Rolo (Soft creamy toffee in milk chocolate cups) kinda if you can imagine caramel and chocolate merged into one. It had the texture of firm caramel but not so far as toffee and with a creaminess from the chocolate and a velvety sweetness from the caramel. Picked those two up for 2.5 euros a piece so not bad...

Chilled in the rest of the day watching movies and then around 6pm I decided to go out for a bit. It was still sunny at this time with a gentle breeze sweeping through the city. Bought two 440ml beers and a bag of chips and went and chilled at basilique (the view point) for about 3 hours just enjoying the sun and my book.

 I then went home and chilled for the rest of the day.

I also forgot that it was Marlene’s birthday...I had even asked her twice the day before and couldn’t remember. I’m just not a person to remember birthdays....I can remember supplier’s numbers and recipes and ratios but birthdays...not happening.

Another Lazy Ass Day…

Did nothing today. Usual stay inside, eat and watch stuff on youtube.

Marlene…

Today was pretty chilled, woke up around 10...then lounged around and then got ready to leave just before 12. I walked down to Hotel Deville to meet Marlene as I wanted to show her the falafel place that Pierre and I went to but we couldn’t find it...I had the right address and even double checked on faecesbook ( I did that on purpose ! ) and Google, but there was nothing where it should have been. We walked around for about 15 min before I got extremely irritated with the situation and wanted to kick the shit out of something.

We decided to just go find somewhere else to eat...on walking back I nearly shat myself as someone had a stuffed real/fake white cobra in a warning pose, ready to strike in a window display... I almost jumped into the road both times I walked past. F!@# that thing scared me...I think the only thing that can really dissipate my aggression is fear J

Anyway, we found a restaurant in the place des terreux called “Opus” (place de terreux is where the Bartholdi statue is, the guy that designed the statue of liberty).

Marlene ordered a bottle of Badoit which is the only eau gazeuze (sparkling water) that is available in 1ltr (btw, here as in most of Europe, they use cl [centilitre] as a liquid measurement, 1 cl = 10ml) which was flippen good.  It has a very vine carbonation which gives it a much smoother mouth feel and doesn’t make you feel as bloated as most sparkling waters do.

Marlene ordered tagliatelle au trios fromages (tagliatelle with 3 cheeses) which tasted to me like cream with some chevre...couldn’t really taste any other cheese although she said she could taste some sort of Roquefort sauce. I had the plat du jour which was a chicken thigh and leg roasted in the oven, with a salad and chips (the special was with fuscilli but I didn’t feel like pasta). The chicken was nicely cooked and came with some julienne peppers which were sweetened by being charred, the smokey sweetness of the peppers gave the chicken an almost barbeque flavour to it.

Afterwards we went to the Häagen-Dazs store and I got caramel beurre sale (salted butter caramel) and Marlene got banoffee....mine was soooo good. That was actually my first time having Häagen-Dazs

We then just walked around until Marlene had to go to work and then I walked back home, passing some stores which were like Biggie Best, trying to find some linen for mom but all I could find were curtains and towels and stuff...flippen expensive. Some of them around 100 euros.

When I got home I showered and then went to chill at the Basillique (Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière )lookout point to read a book and snack on a baguette. It was around 6pm and the sun was still shining brightly. I watched as people came and went, some reading, groups of girls laughing and chatting, even an old couple sitting down to enjoy the sight and some guy with a push scooter just chilling there having a beer. Its amazing how people will walk past and stop to admire the view of the city...I suppose you could compare it to capetonians enjoying the view of Table Mountain on the way home from work. People would literally walk past, stop for a few minutes and then continue. Even at night, people gather there and chill, bathed in the bright light of a few lights behind the plaza.

Sweet Fanny All To Do…

Sorry to disappoint you but today I did sweet f***all...just sat inside and watched some of the StarCraft 2 HotS WCS America finals on YouTube. I literally didn’t get out of my pj's and just stayed on the couch.

On a side note, I’m out of gin...and monster.

Au Revoir Nic...

Today was Nic’s last day in Lyon; we stayed in until after 10am as I had to wait for the two people who were staying from last night to leave. Around 11 am we went out and as both of us hadn’t eaten we had lunch at a brasserie. We both had the menu de marche (menu of the market) but I had the entree and a main and he had a main and a dessert.

Tomato Gazpacho

The entree was a tomato gazpacho which was lovely, with a nice acidic flavour and an underlying sweetness from the tomatoes which was offset by the generous quenelle of what tasted like Philadelphia cream cheese in the middle. The added fat and somewhat sweetness of the cream cheese was amazing with the gazpacho, giving it the extra saltiness that it otherwise lacked.

Nic and I both had a perrache with our meal (the beer with lemonade).

Menu and my Perrache

For main I had the lamb, roasted with thyme and served with green beans and mushrooms and boiled potatoes (probably the best steamed/boiled potatoes I’ve ever had. Perfectly cooked). The lamb was awesome. Bringing back memories of a Sunday roast, the flavour of the fat mixed with the juices from the lamb. It was sooo good.

Nic’s main was the fish which was a small fish, well 3 or 4 fillets with a chorizo and cream sauce and with the same veggie accompaniments. The fish was cooked well and was delicately soft and light which allowed the sauce to really pull the dish through. His dessert was a peach melba which consisted of half a peach (fresh) at the bottom of the bowl, then what looked like a raspberry coulis, vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream with a sprinkling of toasted almonds on top.

We then made our way down to Vieux Lyon so Nic could get a gift for the missus, and I got some passion fruit sorbet from one of the many “glaceries” in Vieus Lyon...terre adelice.

Terre Adelice

Man I love their sorbets that stuff hits the spot on a hot day; then we missioned back and chilled out for about an hour or so, watching videos of Mortal Combat fatalities on YouTube. Then around 4pm we walked down to the metro station in hotel de ville which took less than 15 min, we said bye and then I walked back.

I spent the rest of the day just tidying up my room and cleaning and packing away things.

I’m so bored now though...I can only be on holiday for so long and then I lose my mind. I can’t wait to start working...it’s going to feel good to get home tired again. And then I can maybe lose some fat which I can see I’m slowly starting to get around my tummy. No work is one thing, no work and no Krav Maga is even worse, but no work, no Krav Maga AND no drum and bass...WTF. Even the walks to and from places isn’t enough to use up all my energy. And that’s even without drinking gin and monster.

I think hell is a place where there is nothing to do. At all. There’s got to be dnb in heaven right....

Just chillin’

Today Nic and I were chilling ‘coz I was still sore from walking all the distance yesterday as I was wearing my red pumas which are flat and don’t offer much support for the ball or the heel of the foot.

Feel the pain!

We went out and walked through the market in Croix Rousse which was PUMPING today...so many old people too, being well, old. So that meant standing in the way, talking...with their basket taking up space too. The walkway is maybe about 2m wide between the stalls on both sides but people just bring their prams and baskets and the mother in law too and take up so much space. No one else seemed annoyed by this so I guess it’s just the way it is here.

This time I saw someone selling dried herds in big hessian bags which was something new for me. There were also a few more stalls and the smells were amazing as always and when we got to the end there was someone doing the rotisserie chickens but they were also doing some sort of curry or something and I just saw chickens cooking in a paella pan with peppers and chillies stuck up their asses. Seeing the potatoes cooking in all that lovely chicken fat made my mouth water...soon my preciouses....soon.

We bought some stuff at the store ('coz I’m a lazy ass) and some washing detergent. We came home and I put on some washing and we just chilled and watched movies and stand-up comedy all day and then later I cooked steaks for dinner and we had them with some salads that we bought earlier at the shop. Reminded me of the salads that one can get at Raith Gourmet.

Tonight an Italian guy, Marco is staying here in Fatiha's room.

Museums & other interesting places…

Today Nicolas and I went to the Museum Lumiere which is a museum dedicated to the French brothers who pioneered cinematography.  It’s in an old building in the Mon plasier - Lumiere area of Lyon. It comprises of 4 levels...3 floors and a basement but we were only able to view the ground floor and the basement. The museum consists of an assortment of old cameras and cinematography equipment, from old cameras to viewing glasses, to picture book movies (the ones where you flip the pages and it “animates”), to these things where you spin the carousel and look through the slits and see the picture move. It’s kinda hard to explain without pictures.

Everything was in French and even though we had an English pamphlet we kinda had to just make out what was going on as we went along. They even had some early 3D pictures and a replica of the lumiere’s 360degree panorama which was a big 3m high, 6m round panoramic picture that people could enter and stand inside and see. The guys were really geniuses, even making a balm to treat burns...and they were rich by the time they were 20!

They maintained ownership of their company so they could control how it would grow and evolve and even trained and sent cinematographers to all corners of the planet so they could capture and bring back images of the world and show it to the rest of the world.

For lunch we bought some beignet crevette and spring rolls at a Chinese stall at the market outside the museum. Nic bought a cantelope and we also got some nectarines and white peaches which were so flippen good. Sweet and just at the peak of their flavour.

Then we went up to see the roman amphitheatre and the cathedral St. Jean in Vieux Lyon. We walked around the ruins and in the cathedral, and then we took the tram/lift back down walked back past the market that runs along the river.

I then went out and met with Marlene (I thought her name was Nina but it turn out I was picking up stompies) ( mistaken )  and we went to the park tete d’or and went to the botanical gardens and walked around the zoo where even though I usually am not interested in zoos, this time I got to see some red pandas which I think are just like the Firefox logo, some gibbons and chimps, some giraffes and the coolest part for me, we got to see some live porcupines and some mongoose I think , who were fed dead chicks so I got to watch them chewing on them like a piece of biltong.

We wanted to play some mini golf but it was too late so we settled for having a smoothie and just chatting. Marlene’s mom baked these awesome chocolate fondants that were soooo good. Baked just perfectly so the centre was deliciously gooey while it still held its shape. I devoured them all too quickly...

We then walked around Bellecour and she got me to try some coconut water which tasted like sugar cane water, it was so sweet. By this stage I was so tired from all the walking so I called it a day and we parted and I had my 15min mission home, walking to a soundtrack of some Drum 'n Bass thinking how Lyon wouldn’t be able to handle me with my bass face on.  I would go full retard for sure...

Too tired to do anything else, I crashed as soon as I got home.

Tourists for a day…

Today we had planned to do some walking around and seeing the city. Nic made some bacon and eggs and I had my protein shake and a cereal bar for breakfast. We then headed out just after 9 am. We walked from Croix Rousse to Vieux Lyon, passing through the market that I visited with the American students.

Once in Vieux Lyon we went to the museum of film and miniatures which was really cool, seeing props/costumes that were used in various movies and miniature sets, most of which contained an insane amount of detail, even at 1/12^th  of the scale. Some sets even had individually hand painted mini plates or frescoes or blown glass bottles or serviettes. The museum itself was housed in one of old buildings in Vieux Lyon so it was spread across 3 levels and various rooms. They also had some scenes from the movie “Perfume” and one amazing fact is that for the movie 13000 bottles were blown in total by one small polish bottle making company.

We then ambled around, looking at the different shops, stopping in one to buy some artisan jam (similar sort of award as MOF but for the jams) and some terrines. We stopped in a chocolaterie which had a really cool display of flavoured syrups (not sure if any were alcoholic) on a mirror on the floor to resemble a bowling alley so the whole thing had a really cool effect.

We bought some sorbet, I had orange sanguine (blood orange) which was flippen sick! Just as good as the pink grapefruit one I had before, and  Nic had the white peach which was nice but was quite sweet so left your mouth feeling quite heavy still whereas mine was almost like a sherbet doing a nice job of refreshing my palate.

For lunch we stopped at a bagel place and I had one with just some Philly cream cheese and some NACHOS with cheese sauce. Nic had one with Parma ham, goat’s cheese and honey (jambon cru, chevre et miel) and some coleslaw. The place seemed very American inspired, targeting maybe a younger market and reminded me a lot of the vibe of Clarkes in Brea Street, Cape Town. They also had some Duffy beer there (beer from the Simpsons) but I didn’t try it.

We then made our way back and by this time the streets were now thronging with people...it seems town only gets busy from around 11am or so.

The rest of the day was spent inside. For dinner I made pasta with marguese, bolognaise sauce and brie. And a gin and tonic of course.

Brother from Berlin…

Today was pretty average, I didn’t do much most of the morning and then around 10am I started walking from Croix Rousse to Bellecour which is really quick walk taking maybe about 15 min. Even though Croix Rousse is on a hill, there are some stairs that lead all the way down so it’s very easy to find your way to the city centre.

Just horsin' around...

I met Nicholas at the metro station in hotel de Ville and we walked back to Croix Rousse, stopping close to home to get some things for lunch (pizza) and some stuff for breakfast. Here I haven’t seen any sliced streaky bacon or back bacon anywhere, only stuff like whole pancetta or coppa. The closest thing you find is bacon lardons in the supermarkets which tastes like streaky bacon but obviously just in another shape. Some eggs, milk for my protein shake and some tonic for the gin (lekker papa!!!!) (Just what the doctor ordered!!!!)

A short while after we got home Fatiha gave me a call...she needed help carrying some canvases. She hadn’t thought about how she was going to carry them home from the bus stop so I had to help her...she’s a very cool person and a bit absent minded or “Loskop” as we say but she makes staying here interesting. She has a good sense of humour and a good spirit.

We just chilled for most of the day and watched some stand up comedy and then later we went out to eat at a local brasserie called “brasserie de l’ecole”. Nice little place, very accessible and varied menu. I had a perrache to drink which is like a radler (beer and lemonade) and Nicholas had un carafe d’eau (tap water ha-ha). As with most places you can order a la carte or you can have an entree+ main/salad or main/salad + dessert/cheese for much cheaper than the individual prices; which means it’s cheaper to have at least a 2 course meal.

I had a small Lyonnais salad which is a leaf salad with some tomato, croutons, bacon lardons and a poached egg. I had seen this a few times walking around and it looked pretty good and it tasted good too. I mean, a poached egg and bacon...all that was missing was the hollandaise sauce!! For main, we both had the confit carnard traditional which was a confit duck leg, pomme dauphinoise (slices of potato cooked in cream, cream and more cream), green beans cooked with some garlic and a roast tomato. It looked like less before I started but I just about managed to finish it...man it was so good. Just what I needed. Nic then had a crème brulee for dessert which was delicious, very light and not as heavy as they usually are with a thin crisp crust of caramelise sugar.

Our bill came to 33.5Euros with our food being 15.50 each and my perrache 2.5. We then headed back and walked to a viewing point about 2 min walk form the brasserie where you could see most of Lyon. As we got back it started to rain so we made it just in time. We just did our own thing for the rest of the day.

Cappuccinos & Lattes…

Today was really crappy weather...since last night it had been raining and it persisted through the morning. I got up just after 8 and since Andrea had to leave at 10 to catch her bus I made us both bacon and eggs. Strangely enough I haven’t seen streaky bacon or back bacon here; they only have lardons which they sell in the supermarket. So it was that and some scrambled egg which is very un-French but I still can’t really have bread or pastries for breakfast. It just makes me feel so sluggish.

Had my protein shake, 2 cereal bars and a little chocolate dessert after that and then we just chatted while Andrea did the dishes and then prepared to leave. Even though she left around 10 she still ended up missing her train as had been her bad luck on her trip so far...she told me that she had almost missed every single one of her trains by mere minutes. Ha-ha so at least she got some more time to chill and have a pastry and a croissant.

French people don’t seem to have cappuccinos or lattes from what I’ve seen. It’s usually an espresso or an Americano (allonge a francaise). I don’t know why this is; it’s just how they roll.

Around midday I decided to get off my ass and get out a bit. I had been planning to walk around a bit and look for a place to do some running or some callisthenics before I start to get a bit of a boep [beer belly] from doing sweet fanny all. I have to draw money every day from a specific ATM (to add it up and pay my rent) as I can’t do international transfers via my internet banking even though I have Fatima’s IBAN and BIC because TIA...while the world went there we were like “no its fine, we’ll get you there...just going to take a sho’t left”.  [a detour]And only 1 ATM I found can give me cash even though I can make payments with my card because I have no clue why. So I walked towards the ATM which is maybe 7min walk from my place. On the way I could smell some pork being cooked as I walked past the extraction unit of a bistro and then further down the road I smelled caramelised onions. Man it was soooo good. And the previous day I had smelled some sort of lamb stew or tagine...it’s so like food porn.

Ok so I got the cash and then walked back and picked up some groceries from “Casino”, there version of a woollies/spar. The other brands are Carrefour which is more like Pick and Pay (a national retail store in South Africa); and Monoprix which is more like a spar. Generally I’ve been having some sort of pasta dish for lunch as its cheap and filling and I can feed myself for about 3 days for the price of going out and having a burger... that way when I do go out I don’t break the bank.

Walking back past the market which had had almost finished by 1pm (here in France they don’t say 1pm, but 13:00. They work with a 24hour clock only, not a 12 hour one) I saw that the produce vendors who had some spoiled stock would just leave it in a crate in the square. I have no idea who clears it up if at all.

My brother gets here tomorrow so then we can walk around a bit. If I do it on my own I’m just going to mission and not take time to appreciate everything.

Just a Lazy Ass…

Today nothing remarkable happened, I just stayed in, ate, read and listened to music and was generally just a lazy ass.

Only exception was I met a cool girl from America who came to stay the night at Fatihas place. Her name was Andrea and she’s studying art and design I think. She arrived quite late and was pretty tired as she had been travelling and had spent a few hours on the train that evening travelling from nice to Lyon.

Anyway, after Fatiha had explained some things to her we started chatting and exchanged info and stories about home. Andrea bought a small pizza from down the road and we had that with some gin and monster...naturally: D

We ended up watching some Trevor Noah show via YouTube and drank beer while I explained the terms and relevance of things in the skit.

Going Dutch part 2 / Monster & Manga...

Later today I met up with Spencer, Jennifer and Carolina at the metro at George de loup. They wanted to get something to eat and buy some stuff at Carrefour which is like their Pick n Pay [a national supermarket chain in South Africa].  We went on the D line and then went on the B line from Saxe Gambetta. Once you get off the metro you take some stairs and you’re in the shopping centre. It was like 16:30 and there were so many people... all of us commented how you always see so many people in the street you wonder when and if they work.

We ended up going to a place called Quick which is probably France’s equivalent of a McDonalds even though they do have a McDonalds. Oh my word service was so slow...painfully even. I’m talking 1 cashier working there...there should have at least been 2 but there was also another queue which was for an express line where you place your order via touch screens and pay with card (the majority of all sales in Lyon are done with card, from small superettes to restaurants to buying bus/metro tickets) and then you take your slip to the cashier who gets the order together for you.

I was amazed to see a hot chick working the fryer at a fast food place. Europe is on a next level man... so Spencer and Carolina ordered some bacon Mexican thing and I just ordered a small burger with cheese... delicious for 2 Euros. It wasn’t bad, still tasted like the usual mcD’s cardboard but it had that processed cheese that I love so much and a nice cheesy pepper sauce. No pickles or salad though, even for the bacon ones so it all looked a bit dry.

One significant difference is that when you order a drink they just give you a cup and there is a soda stream station like they usually have behind the counter where you can have unlimited amounts of soda. It’s weird because you get charged differently for the different sized cups but you can have as many refills as you want. I was quite shocked to see this as I knew if they had this sort of thing back home it would get abused and shut down in one day. Unlimited Coke or Fanta or sprite or whatever??? Trust me; us saffas would nail that so quickly. Ha-ha.

We had a little entertainment as amongst the coke machines there is one for ice or water, which wasn’t working but we still saw person after person walk up to it and try at least 20 times to get ice, just keeping on pushing the button or trying different settings...even if there were 2 people, 1 would try like 10-20 times while the other person watched, then after the first person gave up and just got their drink the next person would try for another 20 odd times. It really was bizarre to see people trying over and over again. It’s like the saying “insanity isn’t banging your head against a wall, its expecting a different outcome each time”. The most ironic thing was that as we left, spencer just pushed the button for shits and giggles and ice actually came out. : P

We then walked around, Jen bought a bag and then we went to Carrefour as the girls wanted to buy toiletries before they went to Italy for their vacation (vacances). Most of the stuff I looked at was a bit more expensive when I converted to Rands [South African currency] and Jen told me that it’s the same for her converting into Dollars. Luckily I found some Monster which is actually cheaper than back in SA *que angelic fanfare* so I bought 4 to have with my gin because that is how I roll.

Walking around I noticed that the supermarket doesn’t use baskets like in SA but these trolleys that you roll along the ground (they’re like plastic versions of the baskets you always see old people rolling with. A francaise c’est la chariot...a basket on wheels) and people also weigh off their own produce on scales. This particular supermarket didn’t sell or supply the thin plastic bags but rather had those thicker ones that you pay a bit more for. I saw some reasonably priced salmon and some fresh scallops...let me just repeat that...FRESH SCALLOPS. We only get frozen ones in SA. You could get rabbit or duck breasts in the shop as well. They really are spoilt for choice when it comes to some things (quel que choses) here (ici).

We walked around a bit and found a cool store where there were loads of cool Manga’s, comic books and figurines/t-shirts from Manga and video games and comics. Bleach, One Piece, Kickass, Full Metal Alchemist, and Justice League, Tintin...you get the picture. All in French though...reading manga in French is a bit different: p

We then went into a shop which is similar in content to a Yuppie Chef store. More gimmicky things like slicers and peelers and quirky things for the kitchen. Some knives were decently priced though and saw some cool ice trays which I would’ve bought if they weren’t so expensive.

After this we headed back and said by at gorge de loup and I headed back to CR. Having a gin and monster as I write this...because I can. 

Going Dutch...

Last night I met up with Nina who is a girl from Saint-Etienne, but works in a hotel in Bron which is on the outskirts of Lyon.  We had been chatting for about a month or so before I came to Lyon and she just gave me some info on the place and where to go or not to go so it was nice to finally meet her in person.

We met at Bellecour which is quite a central place, being very close to most of the very popular areas and supplying many bus and metro lines. We both didn’t really know the area so we ended up just walking around until we got to the busy restaurant/touristy area. I wasn’t that hungry or thirsty but I could’ve had a beer or something to chow. Before deciding on a place Nina told me that not only is she a converted Muslim (so no pork or alcohol) but she only eats little chicken and as for fish she only eats salmon. What is it with some girls and being so fussy when it comes to food?? I told her straight away as I do with everyone I meet who is so particular about what they eat “you’re full of shit” and we just laughed about it. Oh and no mussels or shellfish either, no mushrooms....man I could go on.

We finally settled on a Belgian restaurant called Leon de E or something like that... and guess what they served: mussels: p I’ll explain. We just wanted a place to sit down and chat so it was either that or an ice cream place. I had a waffle with chocolate sauce and cream and Nina had some salmon which was served on a hotplate with a wedge of lemon and a bread roll.  You get a complimentary bowl of fries (frites) and you can refill as much as you want free of charge. It was quite funny as Nina had never heard the term “French fries”...I don’t think they use that at all in France. The chips were flippen good...crispy and soft and slightly oily inside.

I saw at other tables that the mussels were served in small le creseaut casserole dishes with the lids being removed at the table. They offered moules provincial, moules a la crème, moules traditional, moules Lyonnais (with bacon baby!!) and that’s all I saw on the TV which was advertising the different dishes. You get a bowl of chips with the mussels so it does look really awesome. I love the smell of the mussels and the chips. Just typing about it my mouth is watering.

After dinner Nina insisted on paying which really surprised me as she said her part of the meal cost more so she would pay...that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me. I even suggested going halves but she wouldn’t hear it. So we made a deal that next time we’d go to that falafel place that Pierre and I went to and I’d pay.

We then left and walked back to the metro as the last metro is around midnight and it was 23:30 already, but still around 29 degrees and the same amount of light that Cape Town would have around 6:30-7pm. The last busses are at around 22:00 and the metro line to Croix Rousse is under renovations until 23^rd august so I had to ask people for the direction to Croix Rousse from Bellecour and it was actually not that far. About 15-20min later, after just asking and confirming my direction a number of times, having to as in French quite a bit “ou est la direction pour Croix Rousse?” I found my way home. It was quite a direct route, much more direct than Saturday when I had to get to Vieux Lyon and took a very long route but getting lost on sat helped me coz as I got to Croix Rousse I recognised the area as I had walked past it while being a dumbass so I found my way relatively easy.

The walk felt good. Tunes on and just missioned...so it’s sort of like exercise. I felt really safe , much safer than I do in Cape Town as I was also thinking if someone tries some shit with me I get to at least do some krav maga on their ass. Damn I miss training so much!!!!!!!

As for today, I’m being a lazy ass. Just ate and been chilling with some gin and tonic. It’s still really quiet and I’ll wait for Nicholas to arrive on Thursday before we mission around.

Fatiha is really cool. She plays some nice chilled dub or hip hop or some other stuff that is really chilled. She often lets the music play while she paints. She has loads of paintings on the go at any given time. But we both just do our own thing so it’s cool.

Bread without salt!?

So today is my 3^rd Sunday in Lyon. With everyone on holiday here the place is very quiet. On Sundays about 90% of the shops are closed save for a few brasseries and pubs, but there are 2 markets that I found in close proximity to where I stay. I bought a loaf of bread but being an impulsive donkey, I didn’t read the sign properly and it was a loaf of bread without salt (pain sauf sel – lit. Bread except salt). Aaargh, anyway so I walked around and the majority of the produce available is fruit and veg. They have a system where all the produce is already weighed/counted out and is in a metal dish with the price/unit or weight then you just take the dish to the vendor and they charge you. There are also quite a few fromageries (cheese suppliers)  selling mainly goats milk products and a few hard cheeses, but you don’t see anything resembling cheddar or gouda like we’re used to in SA, except maybe the small convenience stores.

I also saw a butcher that had pigs tails, the belly skin and even half a pig 'smiley ( pig's head )' for sale (I doubt they call it that, probably tete de porc. )He also had some salads for sale similar to what you see at Raith Gourmet (a well-known German Deli & Butchery located in Cape Town)...tomato tartare, celeriac remoulade, julienne veg remoulade and even some pizza slices. The “pizza” here is not like SA’s stuff. It’s usually sold as rectangular slices and is made with a thin, albeit bready base. When chef made some pizza for us the one day he used the pain viennoise and just rolled it very thin over a tray, put a layer of cheese and then another layer of the pain viennoise dough over that and refrigerated it dans le frigo (in the fridge) before putting the topping on.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera or phone as I didn’t expect to see everything that I did.

On the way back I passed the second market which is closer to my place and bought 2 marguese and 2 saucisse (the marguese is a spicy sausage i think...i hope) and I was like yes!!!! Finally something that looks like 'wors' (Afrikaans word for ‘sausage’) so yeah bought that and a pack of salami which was beautiful....perfect fat content that melts in your mouth.  So for lunch I had some of my salt less bread with camembert and salami and the last of my pampelmoes. With a gin and tonic of course.

It was pretty hot today so after a few drinkies [little drinks] I had a little nap. By that I meant I passed out; woke up dribbling like a vegetable but I had a good rest.

Some things I’ve notice about Lyon/France that I haven’t written about:
*a lot of people smoke....a lot. So it’s quite common to see people asking for a cigarette, even complete strangers walking by in the street of just sitting somewhere, and consequently there are cigarette butts strewn everywhere.
*the markets that are set up on the pavements get their power from power boxes that are on the electricity poles, so it seems that it’s actually a thought out thing and people aren’t just rocking up and pitching their stalls.
* even though there are a lot of cleaning vehicles you see cleaning walkways and such there is still quite a lot of litter, probably similar to what you’d see in the Cape Town CBD, I guess a horrrroooog is a hoooorrrroooog no matter where you are in the world
*there seems to be a big market for frozen foods as well as most little stores stock a variety of convenience foods and I even passed a huge store solely selling frozen foods.
*there are no clubs as we know them in Cape Town or SA so I have no idea what people my age do here, it seems they just meet up and chat over drinks...so that means no Drum 'n Bass for me until maybe September when supposedly some events/parties happen.

Lost in Lyon...day 13

It seems that even when I’m not working and I’m exhausted, I can’t sleep more than 6 hours. I went to sleep at 2am and still woke up at 8... Did a whole lot of journal entries that I hadn’t done in the week as I was too tired. Then around 1pm I left to meet up with some students from Institut Paul Bocuse.

What a freakin’ mission. Fatiha told me to walk as it would be faster but I got sooo..... lost  I walked my ass off...like across the one river, eventually after walking a distance to find a place where I could cross, then once I had done that I had to mission to Vieux Lyon but I headed in the wrong direction and ended up walking up the hill to the cathedral and then I was like ‘nah’, this isn’t right so asked a guy for directions and he said for 2 euros he’d show me where to go...so I was like f*&#!... it  I’ve walked for like 40 min already, just do it. He didn’t speak English so I had to communicate in my broken Neanderthal French.

Eventually we got to the bistro...it was called le terme (can’t remember) jaune which means something yellow. That explained all the yellow serviettes and tablecloths and awnings. We had to order straight away as it was almost 3pm and in France the restaurants in the busy/tourist areas mostly have 2 services which is really weird.

I ordered a salad which was boiled potatoes, dressed salad leaves and some smooth cottage cheese thing. It was ok. For the others, Carolina from brazil had a salad Lyonnais which is leaves, bacon, croutons and a poached egg, Kris from Singapore had a pork terrine (I tasted a small piece and tasted liver and was like no ways), Spencer also from Singapore had a brioche with some sausage in the middle, Jennifer from the States had the same salad as me and Nicholas, another Singaporean had the onion soup but it tasted really shit. The consistency wasn’t good and it wasn’t seasoned nicely or even really tasted like onions and had a powdery texture. Needless to say he didn’t finish it.

For mains I had some steak with a Roquefort sauce and a potato gratin and a beef tomato, stuffed with other veggies and roasted. I ordered MR and it was so chewy it was either a shit cut of meat (I honestly couldn’t identify what cut it was as it was so sinewy and chewy) or the chef didn’t cook it properly as the connective tissue hadn’t broken down enough. First time vie never finished a steak...and even if they gave me a steak knife, which they didn’t I still wouldn’t have been able to eat it. Jen and Carolina had what looked like a slice of cooked ham with chips, Spencer had the tartare which looked so finely minced to me that it was like pulp, Kris had lemon chicken with rice (the 3 Singapore guys were saying something about the rice) and Nicholas had something “Caesar” which was like a tartare, except it was mixed with some Worcestershire sauce and sealed on the outside. It tasted ok.

For desserts, half of us had mousse au chocolat which was pretty good and the saving grace of a pretty bad-mediocre meal and the other half had tarte praline (made with the Lyonnais praline, had a similar taste and texture of fudge) but the pastry base was almost as thick as the filling.

The meal cost me 19.5Euros which is ok as most places offer a set menu for around 18-26 euros and it’s a choice of starters, mains and dessert/cheese.

Afterwards we walked around a bit and I bought some awesome grapefruit sorbet...I love grapefruit ^^