Jamie

For most of our cooking class, there were 9 students. On our first day though, there were just the two of us and a young man named Jamie.  Jamie was on the intensive program, designed for those who want to learn all the ins and outs of the kitchen.  His room was not as grand as ours,  for he was truly staying in the servant's quarters, with a separate entrance at the back of the building. 

He did not care.  Jamie is passionate about food, and his "vacation" was spent labouring in the kitchen from just after breakfast, until all the diners had been served supper.  If we were deboning sea bass, and Jamie missed a bone in his, the chef would tell him that he would be deboning fish all day. Jamie would grin and say "bring it on".  A discussion about the different flavours in olive oil would make Jamie's eyes glisten.  He would season his beurre blanc little by little until he achieved the perfect balance...and in that process he taught me a great lesson.  At first, the concoction was really tart from the lemon juice, but with Jamie's attention, it was soon this delightfully creamy sauce.  All that he had done was add salt. Oh, and whisk the daylights out of it.  And when the chef pronounced it good,  Jamie beamed as though he had won the lottery. 

When we became a group of nine, it took only one class before everyone would lean on Jamie to help them when the chef was busy.  We had a few friendly technique competitions...I won the "deboning my fish" and "whisking egg whites" and I came close when I minced my shallot.  I completely lost the papeton challenge (but hey, I tried it at least, and most people wouldn't). But Jamie won everything else. 

And that is as it should be.  I like to cook.  Jamie lives for it.  I like to experiment.  Jamie memorizes every step and variation on a theme.   I like to make a meal, and walk away.  Jamie wants to sleep in the kitchen.  His vacation was as perfect as it could be--he leaned new skills, experienced new tastes, and hung out with the kitchen crew.  

When our week was over, Jamie went and did the same thing in Tuscany.  I felt like I was saying goodbye to a nephew, a new young friend. He was such a  delight. 

Jamie just sent us an email that he's been accepted into the Culinary Institute of America in January.  Watch for this handsome face on the culinary scene.   I can't wait to see what's going to happen next! 

So here is the awesome thing.....

In 2001, when my life was not turning out the way it was supposed to, I took a six month, temporary assignment across the country. A few weeks after I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see a very friendly face from home.  Her name was Jo, and at 60, she had both retired and became a widow in the span of a few months.  Since her circumstances had changed too, she had taken a short term assignment as well, and we ended up living in the same hotel.

Jo was a delight.  She helped me gain perspective on my situation, and we explored the city and the surrounding area together.  We laughed, a lot.  Maybe a bit of that was helped by gin and tonic, her drink of choice, and one that I learned to enjoy as well.  Mostly though, it's because she was fearless and willing to try just about anything.  In fact, one of my favourite memories is of her trying to rollerblade in a parkade.     Did I mention she was on the plus side of 60?   Oh my gosh, it was a hilarious day.

Fast forward a few years.  Jo became ill, and eventually, we lost her too, to cancer.  That was a very sad time for me, for she had become so important to me. In my selfishness as I dealt with my own grief, I never got around to sending a card to her family thanking them for how she impacted my life.  I regretted that, especially since her last name was one of those very common names that made it impossible to find an address to send a card to when I did want to get around to it.

So imagine my surprise when we are sitting around our 'welcome' dinner with the rest of the students from our course.  We did the usual round table--who were we, why were we there, where did we work? One of the ladies said "Actually, my sister and I think you worked with our mom".

Truthfully, I didn't exactly register that their mom was Jo.  I mean, how could that be?  I was in a little town in France.  Our group had 9 people.  We were two of them.  And Jo's two daughters were two more.

I cried.  And we laughed.  And we told stories, and laughed some more.

It was one of the most singularly spectacular moments of my life.

I have some catching up to do

Boy, do I wish I took a computer with me on our trip.  I've had a few people ask about it, and I find that already I am forgetting things.  Frankly, it isn't as much fun to play catchup as it is to write my thoughts when they occurred.

Nonetheless, my aunt has asked.  My friend has asked.  My other friend has asked, and my husband has asked.  I promised, and so, I'll do the best I can over the next few days to tell you everything that happened.

When we arrived at the airport, of course we were tired, and a little bit confused.  There were some familiar things with the language, but it wasn't all computing for me.  We made it through customs, had our passports stamped and walked through the door where most people hoped to collect their luggage.  That was the first time we were grateful that we only travelled with carryon.

No sooner had we been ushered through those doors when we were faced with a really big crowd of people, all trying to figure out what was going on.  There were two soldiers with lightweight rifles doing their best to usher everyone to another side of the room.  We took our two bags and moved outside, as it seemed there would at least be a place to run to if we needed.  We didn't know if there had been another terrorist threat (there had) or if there was a problem with the building.  We only knew that there was a whole whack of people all trying to move in more or less the same direction.

Outside, we welcomed the opportunity to breathe a little easier.  But that didn't last long either because there were lots of flashing lights coming our way, and I do not like flashing lights.We needed to find a way to leave the airport.  We had planned on taking the train, but how to get to it was the question.

And Martin found the answer.  He is the one who realized that the other side of the airport seemed to be open still.  So we dodged a bit of traffic, moved around a number of people as confused as we were, and walked over there.  From there, we found our way to the train station, which was located in the airport.  I bought tickets, and away we went.

Did I say how glad we are that we just took carry-on?

Oh yay...an English keyboard!

Oh, I shouldn't get so excited but I can type more than a hundred words in English, and less than 50 in French.  So yeah, I'm a little excited.

I have stories to tell!  And I only have until Martin comes to find me to tell them.  Where to start, where to start?

I could tell you about the beautiful mountain views--and the amazing, and somewhat frightening precipices we saw on our way from Greoux en Bains to Grenoble, where we are today.  Wow, it was stunning.  It was also lovely to pull over and have a little picnic with local cheeses and bread and wine.  We found a table of sorts, watched birds that are unknown to us and spent a nice hour there.  It is brisk and a bit chilly up there, but still our weather is holding at about 15-20 C. 

I could tell you about how my French is starting to fail me.  Yesterday it didn't seem that I could be understood by anyone.  The accent is different here and my ear is not so tuned.  I felt stupid too actually, because I am missing the hard questions like "d'ou venez-vous?"  (where do you come from?),  But I can make a hotel reservation, make small talk with the friendly servers, and some of the harder things.  Oh well.

I could also tell you about how we found a place that let us have a spa for 10 euros each.  We had private use of a whirlpool, a steam room and a sauna, as well as some lovely chairs to relax in and some full body COLD showers.  At home, it costs around $50 for a visit...so this was a treat for us, and very relaxing.

We haven't really done much shopping, but the markets are great fun.  We have found a few small treasures, and there is one thing that I wished I picked up but didn't.  I saw them before I knew what to do with them...small creme brulee dishes in the most gorgeous shade of red.  There was something different about the glaze.  However, we learned how to make creme brulee two days later, and as soon as we did, I wanted the dishes.  Unfortunately, there was not another opportunity to go there, and I've not found anything else as nice.  Ah well.

Oh, I SHOULD tell you about Joel Durand chocolates.  Now, it is true, I am a chocolate lover, but this man has taken it to a whole new level.  He has combined flavours like szechuan pepper and dark chocolate, lavender or thyme or rosemary and chocolate, and they all work brilliantly.  It's complex and interesting...he is my new favorite chocolatier (sorry Bernard!).  I'm going to try and order some more.

Well, that's all the time I have...but I have appreciated the chance to share some things.  I fear that I will forget all about it by the time I get home, and there is so much more to tell.   For example, I think my mom would be quite surprised to learn that I have butchered my own rack of lamb, handled the cleaver and still have all my fingers...but that is for another day.

bye for now...we are on our way to Geneva.  Can you believe it?

Between then and now

We have decided that we should have brought our laptop along.  When we went to Germany a few years ago, we found internet cafes and libraries everywhere.  We are not having the same success here.  However; we have free wifi every hotel we have stayed in and so have been able to do many things on our cell phones.  Not everything though... like blogging.  It has had to wait until we hit special hotels; and this is one of them.

We are in  Greoux-les-Bains, a lovely mountain village that we stumbled upon rather by accident.  While our hotel has more of a "chain" feel, it also has a few lovely extras, most notably a bath that is of a comfortable size.  We are looking forward to exploring the village, which has templar knight connections, tomorrow.

We have had a lovely time exploring the south of France.  Surprisingly, it is a wee bit hot for me...days have been averaging around 24 degrees.  But it is a more intense heat, and I have almost become one of Peter Mayle's English visitors (he said..."What is it that changes from the color of a dead rat to the color of a dead lobster in three hours?)

But now it is time to head north to Alsace, so we will be staying here for another day and then heading towards Grenoble.  There is no internet in the room this time, but there is...a computer that I am grateful for, in spite of its odd keyboard layout that is sure to wreck my typing abilities for all time.  Did they have to move all the letters?

Pictures and more updates will come as they can.