Chocolat: Belgium

When a chocoholic goes to Belgium, this is what she eats:

Les Arts Decoratifs

One rainy day, my boss recommended that I go see the museum, Les Arts Decoratifs inside the same huge building as the Louvre. It is open late on Thursdays so I stopped at the Hotel de Ville exhibit before heading over. The clouds looked ominous so I got in line for the exposition at Hotel de Ville, thinking that I would make it inside before the rain- I was SO wrong. Il pleurait comme une vache qui pisser. It rained up, down, and sideways. I was soaked by the time they let us through the queue (which, side note: they only allow a certain, very small, number of people in exhibits, so they literally count one person out, one person in Not exactly efficient). The exhibit was interesting though, squeaky shoes and all. It was a photography exposition of 5 french photographers and their vision of Paris. It was called Izis Paris des rêves, meaning Paris of my dreams. I was so excited because I knew all of the streets, corners, and bridges that the photos were from. They were all in black and white too, so it was quite elegant.
At Les Art Decoratifs, there is a lot of furniture (les meubles), spanning from the Moyen Age/Renaissance to Art Deco/2000s. Some of the pieces were interesting and I liked the little faux rooms from each time period. But the coolest part was the giant Playmobile (yes, the toys) exhibit called Galarie des jouets! Look, the Playmobile house that Pam sat on! Another interesting part was the exhibit on Publicite (Advertisements). They had collected 150 public service advertisements in France, including commercials, and displayed them in an exhibit. This inspired the topic for my Internship report (6-10 page paper, in French, on a cultural difference in France that relates to our internship field- just so you know that I’m earning my credits). The government allows certain time on television and radio for public service advertising. (I’ll explain more when I actually research the paper.) Finally, I am working on a project at work for a furniture company and making a marketing concept book on the forms of the body and influences in furniture (huh?), so sending me to a furniture museum makes a lot more sense, but I’m still unclear about the project—

Oh, culture…

Atelier des Chefs

When we visited the Cordon Bleu, there was a woman that was traveling Europe, writing a blog about cooking classes (http://culinaryhopscotch.blogspot.com/). She recommended that I try Atelier Des Chef (atelierchefs.com) for a 30 minute lunch cooking course in French. On a day off from work, I signed up for Tartare de boeuf au basilic et crumble de parmesan at BHV, a department store near Hotel de Ville.


When I arrived, it was me, the chef, and 4 other native French cuisinieres. We washed our hands, put on aprons (le tablier), and set to work. He corrected my knife skills as we chopped oignons, tomates, and pickles/capers. Then we went to work on the beef, slicing it thinly and then into small cubes. We made a fresh mayonnaise dressing with eggs, oil, salt. Also, we made the parmesan crumble with butter, flour, cheese, almond powder, and pepper and stuck it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. We then mixed (mélange) the ingredients and made a “forme”, mine looked like a smushed grapefruit, and plated it. My plate looked quite stunning by the end! Ensuite, Bon Appétit!

It was quick and I probably only understood 50% of what he was saying, but the chef was so much fun and now I can say that I’ve eaten beef tartar! I have noticed though, that the French really take their time preparing, cooking, and plating food. It’s supposed to be beautiful, as well as delicious.

Mon Stage: La fille qui travaille a Paris

BU sets each student up with internships for the last 7 1/2 weeks of the semester. I interviewed and got a position with Martine Leherpeur Conseil, a marketing consulting firm. The internship position requires me to search through our library of magazines to find images, scan, and photoshop them for powerpoints. First off, we have EVERY major fashion, architect, and style magazine (in most languages) in the basement of the office. It's a very impressive collection. At the start of each week, my boss has been giving me a theme and direction to search for images. As I mark them, she reviews them and gives me more direction from there. This is technically my first 9-5 job (actually 9:30-6:30) and it's taken a while to get into the flow and the french.
Here's some examples of my typical week:
My first day, she sent me out with a list of "hard to find" magazines and list of address in the area so that I could explore. I found myself in a crazy boutique to pick up Surface and Numbero. Then two quaint bookstores (all languages stocked) next to the Tuileries.
Next step- I have to learn the concept and theme of the project. My first project was for Seiko and their lukia brand of watches. It was almost complete, but needed a few more images. She gave me three themes to look for: Parisian sailors, glamour gazebo, and tropical lagoon. It was finished and sent off my the end of my first week.

Week 2- I received an on going project for September which combines the Body and architechure. I'm still in research stage, so I haven't started pulling images. This week I also learned photoshop, in French! However, I will be using the English version on my computer, so I guess that makes me bilingual in Photoshop.
Week 3- I sat in on a conference call with the Variance representative (French lingerie brand). Martine Leherpeur Conseil (MLC) is helping them reposition their brand so they are looking for a modern romantic lifestyle look for their presentation. Finding images for this presentation is more difficult because it's so broad and new, but I really like understanding the project, client, and objective from start to finish.

Since I'm in such a hopping and fashionable quartier for my internship, I have managed to find 4 major chocolate boutiques, amazing clothing boutiques, a cute jewelry stand, some good boulangeries, and an adorable park for lunch. I sit in the sun at the empty chess tables for my lunch hour. Also, I managed to sneak into a Haute Couture expose at the Bourse de Commerce. The exterior of the room had designs from current Fashion students and the interior was a marketplace for couture designs! I also had lunch with another intern at a cafe and helped one of the executives with her presentation in English.

We will see where Weeks 4-7 take me!

Napolean

Napoleon the conqueror and Napoleon the dessert. This entry is about France’s love of both.

First we visited Napoleon’s tomb in the Musee de Armee. He has a giant stone and marble tomb built in his honor with a golden dome ceiling that can be seen from half way across Paris. Inside there are four hallways that lead to the center of the tomb. Each one has stained glass windows and a monument inside. If you head downstairs, there is his actual tomb- which to me seems a little short. I’m just kidding; the French love Napoleon because he was a great conqueror.

Apartments in the Louvre

Since the Louvre is just a few steps away from work, I have vowed to go once a week to the late openings (Friday & Wednesday nights until 10pm). On my first visit, I stopped over to see Napoleon’s apartment on the first floor. Now Napoleon and I have been bumping into each other a lot at all of these chateaux and his permanent
residence, Napoleon’s Tomb (above), but this apartment is really the most magnificent. Napoleon liked to ornately decorate his homes, major stress on the plural. The apartment in the Louvre is no exception, except that he might have used more gold than any of his other homes. Overall, it’s a neat part of the Louvre- but where is Mona Lisa? I heard that she was staying here too…

Goal: To find and try a Napoleon dessert

Chocolat: Jean-Paul Hevin

L’amour. This is my favorite chocolate shop so far. It was love at first site when I saw the chocolate high heel shoe in the window and it’s been a wild affair ever since. Our first night, I bought a bag of assorted chocolat noir bon bons and started walking to the metro. It was too beautiful out to go underground so I decided to continue walking though the Tuileries to the next stop. It was about tusk so I had to sneak in to the Tuileries since it closes early before April. I walked to the reflecting pond at the Concorde. Outside of the park was the crazy circling of cars and headlights, but around the calm reflecting pond was chairs and a few people resting. I climbed up the stairs to overlook Concorde and it was literally the most beautiful view of Paris that I could imagine. All of the buildings were lit up, the sky was dark, and the headlights were creating a flow of lights. I sat and enjoyed my chocolats, which were DELICIOUS and watched Paris. I saw the Champs Elyese, Arc de Triomphe, Grand Palais, Le Seine, Tuiliers, and the Louvre. I finished my chocolats and headed across the Seine to the metro. I even caught a glimpse of Notre Dame at night, Musee d’Orsay, National Assemblee, Invalides, and Le Tour Eiffel. It was such a lovely evening that I think Jean-Paul and I will make it a regular event, alas he has some pastries that looked delicious!

Paris, Je t'aime!

Printemps du Cinema

Parisians really love the Spring and they are very encouraging to get out and celebrate it! For example, from March 21-23 all movies and all theatres are 3.50. So we set out to see a bunch. The first, L’Arnacoeur, was a French romantic comedy starring (two big French actors). It was cute and the storyline was easy to understand, the language was a little more difficult. Falling in love, passion, and cheesy romantic comedy flirting are universal themes. The next movie was, The Single Man, Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. It was much more artsy and I had a fun time reading the subtitles. The translations aren’t always the best though and I feel like some of the Parisians might have left the cinema a little confused. It was also strange because everyone’s emotional reaction to the film was off. There is a difference to when an American laughs, gasps, and chokes up than a Parisian. I can understand now why the French are so protective of their cinematic culture.