Back online

It's my day off again and I'm finally back online after a thunderstorm knocked out the modem at work.  Since my last post Lisa and I went to Toulouse.  We took a 9:35 am train that got to Toulouse at 10:35.  Then we walked around all day.  We ate at a cafe facing the Capitole.  The margarita pizza I had was quite good.  After lunch we walked around and went to what felt like hundreds of shops.  The weather was great and it was nice to have a change of scenery.  We took the 7:45pm train back to Cordes.  We are doing the same thing tomorrow.  We are going to see Angels & Demons tomorrow morning.  It's the only film not dubbed in French.  Later on I am going to see a film in French while Lisa gets a facial.  I haven't decided which film yet.  

This week at work we started making quiche.  I have been lining tart rings with dough for the past few days.  We also made some new petit fours, tart tatin and cherry eclairs.  We still make Croquants and bread every day.  

Cordes has been pretty crowded lately because it's a holiday weekend here too.  Thursday was Ascension day, so there have been people here everyday since.  It's nice to have people around.  The shops here don't open unless there are going to be crowds.  

Lisa's sister mailed her old copy of Rosetta Stone this week, so I have been practicing French.  Hopefully I will be fluent soon.   

The photos attached are of the cherry eclairs and The Capitole.

Partly Cloudy

Today is another partly cloudy day.  It's been a bit rainy with some sun the past week.  Bad weather here means that shops don't open and there are no tourists.  It's kind of a ghost town.  

On Wednesday, the chef, Lisa and I went to visit the Yves Thuries Chocolate Factory in nearby Marsac.  We went into work early so that we could leave for Marsac at 2:45.  The town was about 30 minutes away via a very circuitous route.  Luckily the chef has G.P.S.  When we arrived at the chocolate factory, the employees had already left for the day.  The chef there took us on a tour of the whole facility.  It was very cool.

We got to try Pistachio praline, almond praline, violet, cinnamon, fresh mint and caramel chocolates.  They were very good.  The almond praline was my favorite.  We got to see the entire production from making the fillings to packaging.  I'm really glad we got the opportunity to visit.  While we were there our chef got a  phone call informing him that we were moving out of our hotel room for three nights.  When I asked when we needed to be out by, he said they already moved our things.  That was a bit of a shock.  When we came back they had moved our belongings to a dormlike apartment closer to work.  We stayed there three nights and just got to move back last night.  The move really made me appreciate our hotel room.

Tomorrow, Lisa and I are taking the train to Toulouse.  We are really excited to go to a bigger city.  Hopefully it will be an easy trip and we will be able to go monthly.  It is an hour train ride.  The train station is 5km from Cordes.  Mathilde, a woman who works at the shop, is driving us to the station tomorrow morning.   

Happy Mother's Day

Today is my day off.  This morning I walked down the hill to buy a baguette and then came back up the hill on the other side.  The whole trip took me 30 minutes.  The weather has been really great here for days now.  There are flowers in bloom everywhere.  

Yesterday we made macarons for the first time at the shop and of course more croquants.  We make croquants every day.  They are the specialty of Cordes.  They are really crispy airy almond cookies.  They are very good.  We make them at our shop and they get sent to Yves Thuries shops all over the world.  The shop sells chocolates and cakes and other pastries and confections.  The photo attached on the top of the post is the kitchen where I work.  The other photo is a bag of croquants.  I will take a close up photo soon.  

Saturday afternoons are the busiest tourist times.  The cafes fill up at lunch on the weekends.  There is a little train that will bring you up the hill for 2.5 Euros.  It is pretty funny but very helpful.  The hill is steep.  We are on top of a hill that is located in a valley, so you can't see the town until the last minute.  It's truly beautiful.

Seis De Mayo

In case you were wondering.  Cinco de Mayo is not a holiday celebrated in France.  However, the bar near the hotel serves Corona.  That's about as close as it gets here.  Today at work I made Cannelle batter and baked some citron diamants.  I also made pineapple pate de fruit and cinnamon hazelnut diamants.  Today we listened to my iTunes at work instead of the local radio station.  The radio plays Lady Gaga's Poker Face about once every hour.  Another local favorite is the Enrique Iglesias and Ciara duet.  Needless to say, today was a much better day sonically.  

This morning Lisa and I took some cardboard boxes to the dumpsters a few feet away and were followed into the alleyway by the fois gras lady.  She wanted to make sure we disposed of our trash properly.  At least I think that's what she wanted.  I really have no idea.  We put a box in the wrong dumpster and had to be shown through gestures where it belonged.  The joys of a small town.  Hopefully we can live up to her standards in future refuse deposits.  The dumpsters are called poubelle.  Sounds kind of oxymoronic.  

So to sum up my day, garbage and music were my greatest concerns.  France is truly exciting everyday.

First Days Off

I had yesterday and today off.  Yesterday I walked to the bottom of the hill to encounter life outside the two blocks I have been staying on the past week.  There is a pharmacy, pizzeria, bar, bank, and card shop and a few other shops.  The walk down is incredibly steep.  I don't know how people do it with strollers.  When I got back up the hill I was winded.  I went back to my room and read some of The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.  It is a terrific book.  Later  on I met Lisa and we went to dinner in the garden behind Le Grand Ecuyer.  We eat lunch and dinner there everyday.  It has a terrific view.  After dinner we went to the courtyard outside the pastry shop to go use the internet.  After that we got Magnum ice cream bars.  They are one of Lisa's favorites.  They are available in Australia.  They also have Coronettos here which are the ice cream cones featured in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  I haven't tried one yet.  But I am sure I will soon.  Today we went to Albi to get a sim card and go to a supermarket.  It is a fairly large town about 20 minutes to the southwest of here.  I am doing laundry now and who knows what I will do later. I am back to work tomorrow.  I am trying to plan trips to music festivals throughout Europe on the Sundays that I am off.  If anyone cares to join me let me know.

Good Weather

Today is the first truly beautiful day here.  The sun is out and there are people everywhere.  I don't really know where the visitors are from.  I know they are French but other than that I have no idea.  The doors to shops are wide open here when the shopkeeper is in.  There aren't any screens on any of the windows or doors.  It's just wide open.  Almost every restaurant here serves ice cream.  I haven't gotten any yet.  I didn't bring my camera to work today so I don't have any new photos to share.  I will be off work on Sunday and Monday so I will take more photos then.  I am excited to have some time off.  I really like the kitchen but it will be nice to unwind a bit.  

My roommate Lisa is Canadian so I might come home saying eh at the end of sentences.  It would be funny if I came home with a french accent and did that.  At this point it seems unlikely but you never can tell.  I got my first pay today in Euros.  That was fun.  It's hard to get used to everything under 5 Euros being coins.