Hello folks, heres some fresh news from this week. A lot happened these past few days. We had a welcoming night for the parents of out 1 rst semester students, we started the classes, and we are prepping some more event. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, CESSA San Angel received the parents of our 1rst semester students. It is a tradition that we have to welcome and introduce the teaching staff . At these events, the Chefs from the school are always asked to come up with some canapés for the parents. The first night, I was not tasked but the second I was. I came up with Beef Tartare on a Cassis & Port wine onion jam, and a fried raviole stuffed with white wine marinated salmon, échalottes, grapes and Mascarpone cheese. This last one was served with a demi-glace and balsamic vinegar emulsion. As you can see in the pictures, we had a lot of students helping that day. I was really happy to see so many 1rst year student wanting to be involoved but also to see so many returning students (all the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth, 5th year students.) I have to take a step back and tell you right now that the students from 2nd semesters and up took control of the 1rst semesters and showed them and guided them so well. The evening was a success because of all the students. The event went really smoothly and we did a great job. The parents were happy about the work their kids had done.

We also started the classes and the homeworks!! This semester, I gave each class different assignment. All the groups will talk about gastronomy but some will talk about famous Chefs, French and non-French, some will have France’s culinary area, some will talk about wine.  As I am discovering this blog, I will try to insert the powerPoint the students made, and include the recipes they included in their work. I will add this wednesday the work on Fernand Point and Alain Chapel, the work on the Andouillettes, the work on the Aquitaine.

Have a good start of the week, Leaving for this sunday with this quote from Chef Gordon Ramsay, who really inspires me:

Put that emotion in the food, because it’s so much more rewarding down the line.

This year, I thought I would try and write about my cooking, and show you what my students are doing. I thought about it, after failing last year in my blog (RIP). I have something new, I hope you will find it interesting.

Every week, I will post some of my students homework. They were assigned different topics (8 groups, 8 various topics, all about food and gastronomy). Each week I will highlight their work from the previous week. As I have an average of 24 to 26 students per group, it will give about 12 to 13 weeks of material. I will also add my own topics, wether articles I found interesting, recipes I tried and realised, things like that.

I would be highly remiss if I did not mention my friend Eduardo’s blog: VIDAENZEN  (www.vidaenzen.com) Great blog , great project of his. If you would like to live a better life, just go read him. It is really worth it!!!

I apologize in advance to my spanish readers, since I write worse than I speak it, I would not be doing any justice to this beautiful language. As such, I will stick to english (safer for all of us), but I promise you this: before the end of this semester, I will do a blog totally in spanish, with no help from anyone.

Have a good day, keep eating healthy, keep reading.

Next news: Sunday, August 23rd

Hugues