July 14th...

July 14, 2013. 10:45pm.

Well work ended super early today! I got off at like 10! And kitchen staff was just finishing clean-up too!! Lunch today was hectic, but dinner was a little less so, and...well we just finished super soon! Whiiiiiich would have maybe been more exciting for me if I had anything to do. I really wish I were going out or something with the others. Yeah, July 14th is like 4th of July for France. So it's a big deal.. do I have plans? No. I'm really feeling a little regretful about how I left today. Nobody told me anything about going out, or plans tonight after work, so when Tibot was rushing out, he looked at me and said, "are you coming?" I didn't really know how to say, "No, I'm hoping that if I stick around the kitchen staff will be doing something and hopefully invite me too, so I'm just going to wait". But I really wish I had know how to...or just said no it's okay and stuck around. Just in case. Ugh. Because if they're all doing something, and might have invited me...I really, really wish I could have gone

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Oh man. I was about to write about how instead I was going to spend the entire 14th of July night alone in my room. Buuuuut it's 2:15 now, and I only just got back to my room, a little tipsy, to put it mildly, after spending 3 hours of having beer, wine, wasabi peas, jambon, and chocolate with 6 of the other staff members. :)

I went downstairs because I saw Nadia and Ollivier coming back through my window. So I went downstairs, and us three started talking, then Nadia gave us some beers. Soon enough, Allison and Francesco came, shortly followed by Hélène and Quentin. So they also joined us for beers. Then Francesco brought out some wine. And the wasabi peas. Then some more wine. And Nadia brought out wasabi peas and jambon, and I some chocolate. I didn't drink a ton or anything, but I drank a decent amount and I pretty much never drink in general, so my tolerance is...well, basically I am a little more than feeling it. Ha. Don't worry; I really didn't drink too much. I'm just maybe a little tipsy :)

But I'm really glad we all spend the evening together - I was feeling pretty down about not having anything to do or anyone to be with on the 14th. It didn't seem like anyone actually even had plans, so maybe it wouldn't have even been like I was the only person without any, but still, this made me feel much better. Honestly, I would still prefer to hang out with like...Jean-Ba, just of the top of my head.... :P and Youaine (I think actually spelled Euan) actually, I think the two of them would be fun to hang out with. But again, I'm very happy about how the night turned out. I just...I just really really wish my French were better. I don't really know how quickly it's improving actually...it's...really really bad :(

So it's the weekend now. I haven't heard from Mila so I don't know if the stand-up paddling is happening. And shit I never gave Julie my address, but she also still hasn't written back since I replied to her that I would love to hang out tomorrow. I just hope we can be in contact enough to make it happen. Ahh I need a phone.

I start again on Tuesday at 6:00pm, as usual. I'm still with Tibo. He told me today that since he's going back to his home (in the south of France, like a 5 hour drive away - he should be still on his way there right this minute actually) for the weekend he'll be a little late on Tuesday, and I should start the bread. It's not like it's that big of a deal...but it kind of excites me that I'm making the first thing/starting completely without him. :)

I learned to make a new dessert today. The peach soufflé filled spheres. I don't know exactly what to call them, but anyway, it was fun. Oh, actually I learned two new desserts. Also the citron-basilic. Or lemon-basil. I made 14 of the coco-fraise (the menu of the day) desserts at dinner today - there are always tons of those to make beause it's the menu of the day. And they're always my job. Maybe I'll write a post later talking in more detail about all the desserts I do. I do a whole lot of the baking/ingredient preparation too, but when I'm talking about making it now I mean the presentation - putting the sauce/bars/cakes/gel/soufflés/spheres/semi-spheres/fruits, etc etc etc, on the plate, creating the whole presentation. It's really fun, exciting, and satisfying to put together the beautiful dessert plates! Also really...really cool that I get to do all of this for the restaurant!

Well there's actually so much to talk about I realized. I haven't written much recently. But I really don't feel like it now. So maybe tomorrow if I end up doing nothing on my day off, which may be the case (except I'm still hoping to hang out with Julie in the evening/think I will!). I wouldn't be too bummed actually if I don't have any plans during the day - I need to work on my French anyway :)

So much I haven't written about! Wow! Just in terms of my feelings, all the people I work with, the desserts I've been making, ya know. Again, maybe tomorrow...we'll see!

Love,

Monisha