Archives of FRANCE

Strasbourg, France

What to do and where to eat in Strasbourg – A city guide If you’re thinking of a trip to France, and have already visited Paris, go to Strasbourg. Arjun & I just returned from a little summer holiday in Strasbourg. Like every destination we’ve picked before, this trip was planned for the sole purpose […]
11 years ago

Moules en Papillote

Many months ago, I was a stagiaire at a fantastic little restaurant in Paris. The food was classical,  and the kitchen packed with copper ware. I helped on the line with the appetizers and desserts  for lunch. Before service , I did the mise-en-place  which entailed cleaning squids, battling live scallops and chopping things into perfectly […]
11 years ago

Meeting Pierre Hermé + Chocolate Macarons

I met my culinary hero. Live, in the flesh. I took a photo with him and he signed my book! I do look up to loads of chefs, and even stalk some of them (which may or may not have to do with their good looks), but when it comes to Pierre Hermé, it’s undying […]
11 years ago

Marché des Producteurs de Pays

Paris has a funny knack of exceeding your expectations over and over again. Each time I think I’m content with my local outdoor food market (last week’s highlight was discovering a farm stand that sells pear juice), the city surprises with something even better. And so, I fall head over heels in love with Paris […]
11 years ago

WEEK 7-10: Life As A Culinary Student

The moment of truth - chef tasting the final result. Mine's the one in his left. I wrote a diligent report of my weeks at Le Cordon Bleu until Week 6, and then I stopped. I really wanted to continue, but committing to something or getting into a rhythm doesn’t come very easily to me […]
12 years ago

Week 6: Life As A Culinary Student

The regions we covered at Cordon Bleu this week were Champagne, Auvergne and Côte d’Azur. Or, to be more precise, we just touched upon these regions, because for most of them, we study only a traditional three course menu, which is not doing justice to them. So, it would be ideal is to supplement the […]
12 years ago

Week 5: Life As A Culinary Student

I absolutely hate having a practical class that involves cooking fish on a Monday. Why so? That’s because the market is closed on Monday, so the fish is typically ordered in over the weekend and is sitting in the walk-in refrigerator in its own liquid until Monday morning. A restaurant would scale the fish, clean […]
12 years ago

Week 4: Life As A Culinary Student

Week 4 of Le Cordon Bleu was fun with staggered classes and loads of events city-wide leading up to Bastille Day on Sunday. One of the things I was really excited about cooking was lobster. This was the first time I made lobster the size of a chopping board. As soon as we got to […]
12 years ago