Tibo and Jean-Baptiste

July 11, 2013. 3:25pm.

Correction: Chef Patissier's name is spelling Tibo. Not Tibot, and not Tibo. But Tibo.

This morning I came before Tibo again, so I started in the kitchen. I was peeling fava beans until Jean-Baptiste told me to come and started taking me to do another task. Then I saw Tibo arrive though, so I told Jean-Baptiste that he had come, so I would go with him now. Jean-Ba looked ticked off - I didn't think it was at me, but I still explained that Chef told me I was supposed to be with him all week - and added that if I needed to do something else then he could tell me. He kind of exasperatedly waved me off to go with him. It pleased me very much that he was upset not to have my help :) Yeah, yeah, whatever, it's probably because he just lost his outlet for shit work he doesn't want or have time to deal with - but nonetheless, I'm valuable and wanted...even if just as a personal servant. Score.

Bigger score, though, I didn't have to do the shit work, and instead got to work made desserts! Well, a few desserts. Sooo Tibo ordered a bunch of ingredients yesterday that were supposed to come today before noon. We didn't have much to do before, and were kind of waiting around for them, cutting some coconut biscuit rectangles, making some praline chocolates, etc. But then they still hadn't come by like 12:30. So Tibo called and it turns out they're late and not going to get here until tomorrow. Hm. Well, Tibo was saying there's really nothing to do. So we made some strawberry macaroons filled with chocolate with a sprinkle of spicy...chili powder or something on top. Hehe I love what 'having nothing to do' means in the patisserie - just make some other desserts!

There were only four actual desserts to serve the customers today. He had me do one by myself which he had showed me yesterday, (a thin chocolate/berry marble shell with a thick chocolate berry filling leveled off, and topped with raspberries, blackberries, thin decorative chocolate...things, and finally decorated with raspberry sauce around the plate. Only this time he did two raspberry sauce streaks and told me to do the last - I was kind of nervous and said I'll try on the counter first, and he said, no you can try it right here, and pointed to the plate. Lol. Oh good. But I tried one of the counter first. He said do it a little slower, so I did a second on the counter. It was good! Then I did in on the plate, said "merdre!" or "shit!". But he said, no, no, that's good! It was still good, just not as good as my second counter one. Oh well.

Today when I was eating a bit of the praline filling we were done with and going to throw away, he looked at me and said in English, "are you ALWAYS eating?" He makes comments like that to me about me and about everyone else. I said "eating's my one of my favorite things to do!" I then asked, "don't you like eating?" He said no. Then said he said something about it being gross. He said he eats because it's obligatory. When I clarified that he thinks it's gross that people eat, but it's also gross if people don't eat, like Helene (I was spelling it Helene before - she's the anorexic one). He said he just doesn't like to see people eat. Fine. Weirdo.

For lunch today we had potatoes and delicious steak. Mmmmmmmm - I love steak...but it was also really good steak. I think skirt, which is one of my favorites. At the table, I took a part of a piece first, then went back to get another small piece. I guess I go back for seconds a lot - it's not like no one else every goes back for seconds, it's not like I take that much in each serving, it's not like it's a big deal (there's overlap and staggering with the staff eating dinner, so getting up is not weird at all), and I ate less than most of the boys today at least anyway, but Tibot decided to say to everyone that I eat as much as Husseine (sp?). I asked and found out he is an apprentice (don't know exactly what that entails or how it compares to an intern, regular staff member, etc), that I might meet him tomorrow, if he comes...ever, that it's 'very complicated'..., that he is not really reachable as he doesn't have a phone, facebook, etc. I'm really don't quite understand what the deal is...but sounds kind of weird.

Eric Guérin came today!!! So I met him. That was pretty exciting. He left a few hours later, but I think he told Tibo he's coming back in 15 days to stay for 3 days. Tibo (like many others) worked with him at La Mare aux Oiseaux. (Oh, by the way, Eric Guérin is the owner of Le Jardin des Plumes and his Michelin starred restaurant called La Mare aux Oiseaux in Brière, France.) Turns out he's not as cute as I was expecting. Well...mostly because...he's old!! He really is! I knew he was at least 40, but I'd only seen pictures of when we was younger. Now I guess he's older than 40, and does kinda look it! (It's not like he looks super old and bad at all, he's just...not Joackim. Yeah, Joackim/Chef is actually really quite cute..)

Okay, onto the Jean-Baptiste/Tibo part of this post that I referred to in the title. Well, at some point Jean-Ba asked me if I could help him sous-vide a bunch of chicken pieces (Sous-videing as I will use it is just the vacuuming part - I looked it up and it's actually a two part thing where you first vacuum and seal the food in bags, then cook the food in the bags. But we just use the sous-vide to remove the air to store them.) There ended up being lots of chicken, pig, and fish to sous-vide. Jean-Ba did a bunch of it with me - and it was really good he did it with me at the beginning because I saw how to do it really quickly, and that you could put multiple in at a time. Anyway, though, I did a lot by myself, and as usual, Tibo commented with his words and his facial expressions on him giving me his shit work. At some point, when I had finished one batch and started to get ready to help Tibo, Jean-Ba came in with another batch, and Tibo started talking a little frustratedly to Jean-Ba...about "une stagiare" and asking for certain things to be done, etc...I really understood very little but got that he was referring to me and Jean-Ba giving me these tasks. Especially since Jean-Ba then said okay, go with Tibo. I asked Tibo about it in the car on the way back. I asked him if he was talking about me to Jean-Ba. He explained that he told Jean-Ba it's annoying when he's supposed to have me with him, and then Jean-Ba comes in and asks me to do things for him, and doesn't give Tibo any say in the matter. I tried not to smile too much. Then said, "but you didn't have anything to do today". He responded with, "it's a matter of principle though". It was a pleasant ride home and a nice feeling I got from him telling Jean-Ba off. Not because I was actually that bothere by the work or really wanted Jean-Ba told off (in fact, Jean-Ba was in SUCH an incredibly good mood it was kind of said that Tibo dampened it a little...but just a little). But because I think it's more than just that Tibo doesn't like 'his intern' for the day to be taken away, I think he also doesn't like seeing me used as a dump for all their tedious work. And that means a lot to me. I'm sure it's also on the principle like he said - I think he probably felt undermined by Jean-Ba feeling free to just take me away from Tibo at his whim - but that's also kind of flattering - that I really am a help, not a nuisance. Maybe that's not a lot to expect of myself, and sad to be proud of, but I am proud of that.

Well, when we finished the macaroons Tibo told me I could finish sous-videing the fish that were there (there weren't even many left anymore, I had already done most). So I did, and brought them to Jean-Ba in the kitchen. He told me, yet again, "tu es comme ça", with a double thumbs up and a big smile. Though this time Chef was around to say something like "he wants to give you a kiss for that". At which point I chuckled, and Jean-Ba laughed something along the lines of, "you don't want me to?" Oh boy. I decided this was a good time to not say anything at all. So I responded "I never said that". He kept going and asked, "What are you saying then?" And I tried very hard to avoid anything uncomfortable with and smile, a laugh, and a, "Je ne dis rien..!", or basically "I'm not saying anything!" One of the biggest problems is that I'm rarely confident at all in what I hear. I certainly got the jist of this interaction...but they speak too quickly for me to catch all the words, and I'm sure I could easily mix up things like "do you want a kiss" and "do you not want a kiss", etc etc. Regardless, I thought my best option was to refrain from any comment. Oh boy.

(...I did mention before that French men are short, though, right...? -sigh- )

The ride home with Tibo, like I said, was pleasant. He let me off a little before he could leave because he had to stay to put a cold dessert and ice cream on a plate for a customer, but I waited for him to get a ride. Before asking about the Jean-Ba thing, I asked him how annoying it was that I don't speak French. He said not really. I said, 'but a little, right?". He said yeah a little, but not too much. I was glad I asked. I told him I would get better. I will. We didn't say much else, but it was quite pleasant. I always like his music a lot. We were listening to a French song but it reminded me a lot of The Scientist by Coldplay. I told him that - he doesn't know it, but maybe I'll play it for him sometime. He told me before when I asked him that his favorite song is The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. That was a quite a surprising and very satisfying answer. Today I asked him if he knew Lai la Lai and whether he liked it. He said it's called The Boxer and yes. I like that song a lot too.

All in all, I've had a wonderful day today so far. I love my life here.