Day 34 of 60 | Bonjour, Paris! 🇫🇷✨
Today started at 8 am with our Chef Tony casually announcing he’d be making us French Toast, and honestly, that felt like a personal blessing. A warm, buttery omen.
Naturally, right after that high, he chose me to pass out four different fish for everyone to debone. Usually, its just one! The universe really said, “Balance.”
At this point, I’ve become surprisingly proficient at deboning and filleting all kinds of fish. Is it weird that I now judge them on their looks like I’m hosting some kind of aquatic beauty pageant? (“Miss Mullett Fish 2025, you are stunning.”)
But today’s real victory: plating. I asked our chef to show me how to make foam properly, and friends… the FOAM FOAMED. It was glorious. My bubbles were so bubbly and long-lasting that instead of eating my dish like a normal human, I propped it up like a museum exhibit and proceeded to have a full-on photoshoot. I guess this is who I am now: an entrepreneur with a deep, passionate love for plating and writing about it. 😎
Tomorrow is Exam #2, and you could feel the anxiety gathering in the room like steam from a stockpot. And honestly, my heart goes out to my classmates. I have such deep respect and admiration for them. Every single one of them works so hard, shows up with so much heart, and pours themselves into every dish. I can see the stress on their faces, and I genuinely wish I could just scoop it off their shoulders like I’m skimming foam off a sauce. They deserve to feel confident, because they’re all incredibly talented and they’re all going to be just fine.
As for me, I’m not panicking. I didn’t do terribly on the first exam, but I definitely left myself plenty of “opportunities for growth.” The good news is I actually feel more prepared this time around. Still… send luck. And prayers. And maybe a blessing from the patron saint of foam. I’ll take it all. 💛
Photos of Lori and I hamming it up and one of the plating I was very proud of today. The dish called for four different types of fish, potatoes, carrots, and fumet. I threw in some edible flowers & thinly sliced toasted bread for good measure.
