French cooking class - Maison Pourcel

   Last week while out to coffee with my friend Joan, she mentioned that she had signed up for a French cooking class at a restaurant run by a Michelin stared chef. Of course this intrigued me and since the class was only going to cost 1 day's per diem I decided to sign up also. I knew that the class was being held a restaurant Maison Pourcel but wasn't sure what was going to be on the menu for the event. After a little research I found out that we would be cooking Foie Gras. Everyone knows what this is, right?! It is duck or goose liver that has been fattened traditionally by force feeding the animal. If you have never had it before I can describe it as a meaty flavored hunk of butter, which in my book is a tasty thing. I wan't really sure how practical this class would be for future meals that I cook but when else would I ever take a Foie Gras cooking class? Probably never! The class was held at 8:30am on Saturday morning which meant that I had to actually set an alarm...not something that I typically have been doing on Saturday's since arriving in Shanghai (sleep in on Saturday and get up early to run on Sunday). Waking up was easy to do, though, because the sun was shining bright and promised a beautiful day ahead. Once I was ready I rode my bike over the the restaurant. Upon arriving, I found out that Joan was going to be about 30 mins late...i figured that this meant that I would be the only amateur cook at the class for awhile and would feel a little out of place. I found the kitchen (after doing some troubleshooting of different floors off the elevator) and met the others that would be part of the class...everyone was an amateur so I would fit right in. Here's a little picture tour of how the class went down...

We were all given copies of the recipes that we would be cooking
so we could take notes as we went along.

On the menu:
1. Foie Gras Creme Brulee with Apples and Pears
2. Foie Gras pan-fried with Sesame Seeds, Hazelnut Polenta and its Emulsion
3. Cepe Ravioli and Foie Gras with Pumpkin Puree

Sous Chef, Ian Gelinas, was our instructor.

  

Left, learning how to prep raw foie gras. Right, starting to make our Creme Brulee.

Prepping the dishes to go into the oven.

This was my first time in a professional kitchen. They definitely
have gadgets and equipment to make food prep easy that a
home cook would never have room for or be able to afford. 

Learning to slice raw foie gras

Left, learning to pan fry Foie Gras (hot and fast b/c the product is basically

only fat. Any other way and it would just melt in pan). Right, Joan giving it a shot.

I get a chance to try also. My pan was a little too hot so my
piece of Foie Gras was a little dark.

Our final product

It was pretty cool seeing a chef plate a dish.
More time is spent plating then I would have thought.

  

Check out this dish! And we got to eat it!

Then we started the Ravioli dish

Cooking the Cepes (type of Mushroom) for the filling

 Learning to assemble ravioli

Step 1: place wrapper on work surface and stick a small amount
of filling in the center. Step 2: paint a little egg wash along the edges

Step 3: Place another wrapper on top of the filling
place in palm and release the air out of the ravioli

Step 4: Confirm that the edges are sealed and air is removed, then cut out into circles.

Left, we each make 3 pcs. Right, plating out raviolis.

Our finished dish. Joan and I enjoying it!

The class!

Finally our creme brulee came out of the oven and we got to eat this too.

Everyone taking pictures and making final notes.

   All this cooking and eating happened before 11:30am. I don't think I've consumed that much fat in one sitting ever in my life. The dishes were all SO delicious but it was too rich to finish. Sadly, a lot of foie gras was wasted. By the time I left the class the sun had warmed the air to about 70 degrees so I took a long route home, was there only briefly before heading back out on my bike to run errands and just ride around to enjoy the unusually warm weather for late November. I also managed to squeeze in my my long run that evening so I could sleep in on Sunday. I think that all the foie gras earlier in the day made me run fast!!

a simple monday

   I'm having issues staying connected to my VPN so I'm falling behind on posts...

bare with me! Things are going to be a little out of order. 

   Yesterday was my first mediocre lunch out. Oliver and I went to what I would call a cheap Chinese lunch cafeteria.

Left, our cafeteria food. Right, the line got super long after we went through. I don't

understand why this place is so popular b/c it wasn't any cheaper then other places 

that we eat at. This was our fastest lunch yet, in and out in about 25 mins. 

Most other lunches are about an hour long.

   When I got back to my apartment complex I discovered that they, like most places in the US, put up cheesy  Christmas decorations. Here are the lights that they put up outside. I should probably mention that I LOVE the Christmas season...even cheesy decoration! :)

And a Christmas tree!!

'Tis the season!

Skiing in China, team outing

   Yesterday was an early start as we needed to catch a 8:30am train to ShaoXing to go skiing. When I was first told about this outing I was thinking "wow, how cool, i'll get to ski on a mountain in China". It took me a couple of days of pondering where there was a snowy mountain near Shanghai and a conversation with my director to realize that we would be skiing indoors. That's totally different to me so I had to change my mind-set a bit. I have never skied before (yes, even though I grew up in snowy Michigan! Ok, I think I went cross-country skiing once when I was 5 but I just don't think that counts) so I was kind of nervous. Donald took me snowboarding once in California but during my entire lesson I was unable to get myself up to even attempt to move on the board, basically a day of frustration and failure. I did not have a lot of faith that I would be any better at skiing. I felt a little better to know that it would be the first time for almost everyone in the group.

Left to right: Cliff, Tina, Diana, Me, Ewgenia, Celine, Oliver and Martin.
Check out all our Columbia gear that we are "testing" :)  We were,
by far, the easiest group to spot at the train station!

  After boarding the train I partook in the most popular sport in China, photographing yourself with all your friends. Photography is seriously the biggest activity here. The Chinese want pictures with everyone, everywhere! Oh yeah, an we all crammed into one sleeper car for the 2 hour ride to ShaoXing. I just went looking for a WikiTravel page on ShaoXing but there is not one that exists...so I pulled out the good ol' Rough Guide to China. The most interesting thing that I found about this city is that it is famous for it's Yellow Rice Wine b/c it is located near an abnormally clear body of water which is used to make the wine.

   There were too many of us to fit into one taxi so everywhere we went we had to find 2 empty taxis to haul us around. Our first stop in town was Fushan Park, home of Peng Lai Pavilion and some other unknown towers and Pavilions. We went there to do a little hiking but first we had to take more group photos :)

Left: Us piling out of the taxis. Right: Park entrance

Getting in place to pose for a group photo

Hiking to Peng Lai Pavilion

   We had lunch reservations in town so we were limited to an hour in the park. It wasn't really enough time to see walk through much of the area. Upon leaving, it seemed that our lunch destination wasn't that far so we would walk there.

Left: Celine and Cliff asking for directions, one of the 

many times that we had to do this to find our way.

Along the way.

Left: wandering the streets looking for the restaurant

Right: just an example of how old-school much of China still is.

Check out her fruit carrying devise. Wouldn't see that in the states.

We finally found the Shaoxing Fashion Chinese Restaurant!

The boss pouring over the 40 page menu!

   I got to eat a few new things at this meal. The one below is boiled stinky tofu (fermented tofu). Yes, STINKY...as in smells bad. I have opted to not try this until now b/c the smell is very offensive, maybe as bad as my brother-in-law's old basketball shoes. I've passed vendors selling it on the streets and had my breath taken away by the smell which is why I had passed on trying it until now. But, what the heck, I'm willing to try almost everything once. Turns out that the taste is really delicious, you just have to plug your nose when you take a bite. Stinky tofu is traditionally eaten fried and some is fermented SO long that it is black (no joke!).

Wikipedia has this to say:  It is listed at number 41 on World's 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011.

Stinky Tofu

   The next new food that I tried, which I've been wanting to cross off my to-do list, is drunken shrimp. Watch the video below and you will know why I have been hesitant.

   Again, this turned out to be delicious. I would totally eat it again! "How does one eat it?", you ask...well, you put the body of the shrimp in your most and bite off the head, that falls to the plate in front of you, then you bite off the tail and spit that out. Now carefully remove the body shell from the meat inside (spitting out the shell and eating the meat).

Our feast!

     Now that we were fueled it was time to go learn to ski. Everyone was very excited.

Left, the facility. Right, renting our warm gear (we all needed snow pants).

The gear is rented and the team ready to go!

   Seems that I could get used to skiing more often. Even though I couldn't understand a lick of the instructions that were given (everything was in Chinese of course) I just went for it and learned by trial and error. I knew it had  something to do with pizza and french fries, so I made up my own theory on how to ski! I stayed on the bunny hill most of the time which was tiring b/c you had to climb up to the top after every run. This was much easier then snowboarding...not to brag but I didn't even fall once (I won't mention again that it was on fake snow, indoors and on bunny hills!). Now D3 and I will be able to enjoy a day at the Mt Hood slopes. I think that I will need to learn how to use poles, something that wasn't provided to us at all. Also, real snow would be nice.

Diana and Tina grabbing a warm drink before heading back for more skiing.

   Left; the super slow conveyor belt to top of the lower run. Right; me trying to not psych myself out before my first run down the lower run. The runs were super icy so falling could really hurt (and even break a bone). I saw some pretty gnarly crashes during the 4 hrs we were there.

At the end of our time here everyone was in good spirits. 

It seems that we are all natural skiiers :)

The ski facility. You can see the long run on the far side of the building.

Random fires burning just outside the ski building. Seems that
China has no problems burning small piles of trash everywhere.
You never know what is burning so it's best to avoid inhaling the smoke.

Also, just down the road from the ski building these shacks set up on the waterfront.

Makes me feel lucky to have such a great home to go to every night!

On our way to catch taxis back into town we passed

some sugarcane for sale. Oliver said that I should try

this so we bought one.

Oliver wanted a really fresh one so he grabbed a huge knife from the vendor

and ran into the field to pick the biggest and best one available. I had no idea

what would happen after we bought the cane. How do you eat sugarcane?

Well, here's how it's prepped (this is our cane):

Now we had sugarcane to enjoy. I still
had no idea how to eat it!

  Then it was off to dinner. Skiing totally works up an appetite! We picked a place right across the street from the train station so we could have as much time to eat as possible.

We brought the sugarcane into the restaurant to snack on while we waited for our hot pot to start.
You bite the cane and chew all the juices out and spit the woody pulp into a bag. It was so good. I'm happy
to know how to buy and eat this now. And I'll be sure to have Trisha and Shawn try this when they visit!

Hot pot is broth that is kept simmering at the table, slowly different
foods get added, thinly sliced meat (beef and mutton), noodles, vegetables
(like mushrooms, cabbage and other greens), fish, tofu and anything else
you can think of. You also get sauces to dip the hot items in. It's a perfect
meal for cold weather and I'll be sure to set this up at home for Donald sometime.

More of our feast!

   Then it was off to the train station to catch our ride home. It turned out to be a very sleepy ride for everyone, exhausted from skiing and belly's full. Once back in town I had an hour and fifteen minute Metro ride to my apartment so I didn't get home until 10:45pm...what a long day!