Brandee's European Adventure - Part 2 (Yssingeaux, Lyon)

Brandee sent another update!!  Looks like she's already made a whole bunch of friends and a whole bunch of pastry!   Here is her second installment:

I survived the first week in Yssingeaux, Lyon. (pronounce- EE Sang Joe), Lyon

The town Ysssingeaux is very small. I have already been here one week and I know where everything is. They have one post office, 3 grocery stores, a place to get a cell phone, a handful of eating places, a bowling alley and ALOT of patisserie. The landscape here is so beautiful. We have chickens roaming around the chateau and sheep in the backyard . It's a ten minute walk into town and everyone says BonJour. You don't pass anyone without saying hello, and when they greet you they kiss you on the cheek 2 times. The older generation is 3 times.

The chateau that I am staying at is the school Ecole Nationale Superieure Patisserie, run by the famous french chef Alaine Ducasse. All the Patisserie chef here are French and very talented.

Chef Jocelyn Mentieure is my chef.  He has been a teacher here for a year and is the sweetest man you ever met. Chef Damon Baccon is the bread man he teaches the beginner course and knows everything about bread, and then there is Chef Sebastian. He teaches the Perfecting class. He is a master patisserie and has cooked for the president of France at one time and Tony Blair the ex-prime minister of England. He looks quite scary, but they say he is really nice.

Class begins here bright and early at 6 am and is finished at 2 pm. We have a break at 12 noon when they serve us lunch in the dinning hall. Yssingeaux (EE Sang Joe) is known for their lentils. They serve us some kind of lentil dish for lunch everyday. They are also known for there cheeses too, which is so inexpensive to buy in the stores. There is a farmer's market every Thursday in town, and in Le Puy which is the next town over. There is a farmer's market every Saturday, but to get there you have to take a bus which costs 4,80 euro each way.

 At the school there are a total of 30 students here all from 22 different countries. I handful are from Brazil and they speak Portuguese.  My room mate is Katiya. She in from Belarus. Niki is another friend I have met here and she is from Athens, Greece. Karin is a lady my age she just doesnt know it. She is from Mexico. A lot of Canadians in the house and 3 Aussie.  2 of the girls are best friends that live in Australia, but they are Malaysian. And then we have a guy from Malta, a girl form Sweden, two people from India, Noem, he is from Tel A Viv, Israel. Freshta from Iran, and a couple of french, and of course 2 girls from Miami, that are friends, but are from Venezuela, and then little old me from Hawaii. We are a bunch alright.

This week was the first week and all I did was make tarts. I made a lemon tarte with candied meringue, chocolate tarte, Pistachio apricot tarte, an apple tarte with a brulee topping, chocolate decadence tarte, and a glacee with burnt meringue on top. We also did a poached pear tart, brulee with red currant tarts.  We did all this in 4 days, Monday was the orientation and Tuesday was the first day of class.

The days before the beginning of class we went into town to have lunch and it was the "Tour de France".  How great is that to see. Here are some of the pictures of the town, some of the girls I met, bicyle riders and the chateau I am staying at for the next couple of months.