entre-deux-mares

It is Wednesday here in France, as I am sure it is in most other parts of the world by now.
Since my last post, things have been pretty fricking good, I must say. I got a ton of support from people all over the world, so a big "thank you" goes out to Planet Earth.
You know, a lot of times in my life, just when things seem like they are at their worst, suddenly, things get better.
Thats how things have been this week.
On Monday, I went in to work with Benoit on the dinner shift. The hotel was 75% full, so we were expecting a heavy day. I came into that kitchen with my game face on and was ready to take whatever came my way.
What came my way was the chef. He said to me, "Mark, I want you to learn cheeses. I need you on cold prep for breakfast starting tomorrow at 5:30am." He left abruptly after that, presumable so I wouldn't have time to argue with him about what hour I was to arrive.
Pish Posh!
Three good things about breakfast cold-prep: no fire, change of staff, and cheese, glorious cheese.
So, the no fire thing is awesome. Actually, I dont want to give the wrong impression here; I am pretty good with the grill and really good with an easy bake oven. Its just that fire gets so darn hot! Oh well, no matter.
The change of staff is a big plus. Marc is the guy who heads up breakfast team, and he is totally nice and respectful of other cultures. He also is a great teacher, and about my age, so he's A OK in my book.
Finally, I have full and total access to the holiest of holies: The Cheese Locker.
Daily, new cheeses are shipped to us for me to store, cut for cheese plates, taste and adore. We recieved nine different kinds of cheese today. Nine. They ranged from the awesome to the darn tootin' sublime. I tasted them all, twice (just to be sure). I love this job sometimes.
Oh, and one other thing that is so great about breakfast: hundreds of hot, fresh croissants and chocolate croissants just waiting to be pilfered. I am gonna get so damned fat. I cant wait.
I'll just tell people I'm starting to show, even though I'm in the "fun" trimester.
Anyway, I was thinking today at breakfast (whilst munching on some emmental, a regional form of frommage swisse, or better known in the States as Swiss Cheese) about how lucky I am.
I mean, I have grown up travelling. My parents saw to it that my sister and I travelled early and often. It is because of them that I have seen so much of the American south and the west and Disney (two out of three aint bad. I cant fault them for taking us to Disney, even though it is of the devil). I can't imagine what this experience would be like if I had never travelled before.
Growing up, all I knew about France was: 1. that it was far away 2. that it had it's butt saved by our boys in dubya dubya two, and 3. that there was a place there where the naked ladies danced, and there was also a hole in the wall, where the men could see it all (but the men didn't care 'cause they wore no underwear). It was this last bit of cross cultural data that birthed the obsession in my nascent brain, "There is a hole through which I can watch naked ladies dance? I must go to this country."
Now, I have been to said hole, and I have seen said dancers, and I am here to testify (TESTIFY!!) that although it has been nearly 25 years since I first heard about the mystic hole in France, it was well worth the wait.
What I am trying to say is that, now, more than ever, I love it here. I dont think I would have been open to leaving my home country for almost five months (again) if I had not travlled as a kid. Ruta knows what I mean. She is going to Brazil on Wednesday for the fourth time in her life. And her sister lives there! People who travel, man, they're a special breed.
You know, I start to wonder about where "home" is after a life spent travelling. I hadn't told anyone this (other than the wife), but when I got off the plane my first day here, I had a thought. It was not one of those thoughts where you sit and contemplate or really mull something over. It was one of those thoughts that just pop into your head. I got off the plane, had a snoot full of fresh air, and thought, "Geez, it is good to be home."
I have no idea why I thought that. I'm not French. I don't come from France ("We come from France!" pardon the Coneheads reference), but I feel totally at home here sometimes.
I had dinner tonight with some friends from the hotel, and the conversation flowed freely. When I stop to think about things, they get really hard, but when I just let them happen, I have a blast. For example, tonight I didn't worry about the language barrier at all, and my French came much more easily. I connected with people. We had actual discussions instead of my just trying to ask questions.
It was great.
And you know my first clue that I am starting to become a little French? I woke up the other morning before I was ready to. I looked at my alarm, and said, without thinking, "Five AM? Oh, la la!" I dont know what got into me.
Anyway, this weekend I am going to Bordeaux, in the south west of France. It should be warmer there, and the wine will be magnificent.
There is a vineyard there called Entre-Deux-Mares, and that pretty much sums up how I am feeling these days. It means, "Between two seas," and I think that is a perfect expression of where I am at.
My French is moving beyond basic conversational now. I am getting totally challenged at work, but I am up for it. I am living in my beloved France and eating it up. And this all comes at the half way point. I feel like I am in the middle of crossing the ocean to get here, and starting to prepare to cross the ocean to go home. Time goes so much faster now than when I first got here.
I am at the point now, where I thought I would be when I was leaving, so I dont know what the future holds.
Pastry maybe. I am supposed to work with the pastry department in the next month, and I cannot tell you how excited I am about that. Today we had a group of VIP's in from AirFrance.
In the kitchen, the chef has his own little restaurant to recieve his own guests or guests from the hotel. It is really nicely decorated, and the real food get made there. We call it le bistro de chef, and you can figure out what that means for yourself. After a five course meal, the dessert was brought in.
This was so cool. It was a sabayon (cream and egg yolks cooked over high heat, while stirring very quickly so it becomes a kind of mousse almost) flavored like champagne, and served with rasberries. That was served in a little bowl that was suspended over a single votive candle, which kept the sabayon hot. On top of the sabayon was a small scoop of gelato (spiced red fruit flavor) with a long crisp bar of paper thin dark chocolate on top of the gelato. The chocolate had been sprayd with a gold dust, for a dark chocolate/gold effect. Everyone got one of these things.
It was so cool, and definately something that I need to try. It was beautiful and eyes definatley lit up for it.
I was asking all kinds of questions about it. Why the hot and cold combination? Why those flavors? Where does the chocolate come from? That was when the chef turned to me and said with a smile, "Mark, I am very pleased. You are a good man and we can all count on you." It was a little out of context, but I think he likes my curiosity. And it was my first confirmation from this guy that I am doing well there.
It was a breath of fresh air, and it totally reinvigorated me.
I feel like I have been through a war, but I am feeling so much better now that I am fighting it.
I cant imagine what my life would be like if I didnt travel. It makes me sad for people who dont. I mean, my whole life has changed in two months. I know, for sure, that who I would have been had I done my internship in Chicago, is not the person I am now, and I would not have been half the cook I am now either.
Why would you ever stay home when the whole world is waiting outside your door? I dont understand that. Like my friend MB says, getting your ass kicked in France is "f*&!ing nurturing."
I only wish everyone would make the time in their lives for this. I am glad I did. I am having the time of my life right now.