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Hi Fred. Institut Paul Bocuse is a cooking school. I don't know anyone who has been through the school who can tell me about it, unfortunately. It costs a fortune. They have a pretty high international student population. There was one person, a Chinese student in one of my language classes a couple of years back who was going to do one of the degrees there. But I don't know what his experience was. Maybe one day I'll have a chance to go through a course there. Apparently the restaurant attached to the school and run by the students is very good. I have peeked in the windows of the dining room and it's pretty. The Entree Libre sign means that anyone can go in the shop. I think it differentiates a retail operation from wholesale. Thanks for coming and looking. -Lucy edited to add more about the school. If anyone has been through that program and has any feedback on it, I'd love to hear.

We could not walk today due to rain and lack of enough umbrellas. However I will get off two stops early this evening and walk the rest of the way home. edited to say that I am still thinking about this Indian foods shop. On the way home yesterday I went by there and they are closed Mondays.

The one and only rant on costs and price analysis: Cost analysis of the tartiflette served last night. Co-op Cheese: 2€. Wine: .75 Potatoes: .20 Bacon: .60 Ham: about 100 grams - €1.50 Butter & foie gras fat: .40 Garlic: .10 Parsley: .10 Creme: .30 Total: €5.95, served 2 with leftovers for Loic's lunch today. Not expensive by American standards. But consider that our salaries are roughly half of what we made for the same work in L.A., (yes, I am making less than I did at the age of 25.) Plus, we fork over roughly 1/2 of our paycheck to various social cotisations, and that is BEFORE taxes. After the payment on the house, we struggle, and we have to sacrafice to put anything into savings. We have to make very careful choices just to get by. But this is the choice we have made.

Lunch: School Cafeteria. Potato salad (of which I ate the fish garniture and the lettuce) - I did this because I made a bad choice in the line and realized - I've had enough of potatoes! I wanted to put it back and take a plain salad but then realized that it's probably not good hygeine to do that, I'd already breathed on it. Paella which had squid, sausage, chicken, fish of some kind. They gave me much more than I was capable of eating. Cheese was a chevre and bleu de Gex. Water. I also picked up a kiwi fruit, which I took with me. I sat down with some colleagues, and had to explain what I was doing. But to make it simple I said I was taking photos of everything I eat for a week to become more aware of what I'm eating. One colleague instantly, without missing a beat, took one look at my tray and said - you've got too much starch on the plate. Thanks, I responded. A discussion at the table ensued. Regimes, etc. The women are magnifique. And they complain that they can't keep the weight on. Ah, madame. Excuse me while I gag myself with the dessert spoon. Thank you. The talk turned to Paella. One said she always loves to take a Paella whenever it's offered because it's an opportunity to eat a certain kind of fish. What? Of course we were unable to get to any clear point between us about what type of fish that was, because they could not translate to English, and I did not recognize the name in French. Raie. I think they said. Now I see that translates to Skate. I thought the paella was tasty. They had cooked several of the ingredients seperately and then put it together when they served the plate on the line, finishing with a reduced fish stock. Another colleague arrived to the table and began to tuck into his Paella. How is it? they asked. Hmmph. Not outstanding. he responded. I carefully slid the potatos off my plate and finished my salad while my co-workers then talked about "la siesta", and then finished with a story by an absolutely magnifique woman who had shoveled an enormous amount of food into her mouth throughout the course of the meal, extra bread, cheese, etc. She went to the nutritionist, and among other things, he said. Close your eyes. Voila. Now open them. She did so. And the nutritionist said, alright in doing that you have already burned off half the calories that a normal person does in a day. Remains.

This is a good bunch of questions. Tartiflette is a dish from the Savoie. That should be the first guidance. The Savoie is a mountainous region, including the area around Mont Blanc, in the Alps. Local products there include Reblochon cheese, and Ham, cured and smoked. We went to ski there and to pick up the local products last weekend. Just because I went to the Savoie to get my reblochon and my ham does not mean that you have to. You might try Fromages.com. Just knowing the qualities of the ingredients, substitutions can give an equally satisfying result. Country cured ham from Virginia, for instance. Tasso - it would depend on the heat. This is not a spicy dish, there is only one clove of garlic which comes though prominently. Tasso might possibly overshadow the garlic. Then again, it really depends on the product that you have. First about the cheese. You must not allow absence of this cheese in your local market to stop you from preparing something similar. You can choose other cheeses and make the same dish, and then call it something else. Reblochon fermier is an uncooked cheese made with lait cru, a semi soft cheese. When you want to cook something like this, think of soft cheeses. In France, people use other cheeses too, and give the same dish other names. My husband has had it prepared with Munster, while he was hiking in the mountain range where it is local there. You could also use a Camembert. Hmm. Epoissiflette. About the rind: You leave the rind of the cheese on. When the dish cooks, the rind becomes a crispy treat to be eaten with the dish. Everyone should get a piece of the rind. Depending on the age and type of the cheese, some people feel more comfortable scraping the rind of the cheese before using it, with the blade of a knife to remove the excess fungus. I did not do that last night, but sometimes I do. It's a judgement call. The ham: Jambon de Savoie, cured or smoked, is on sale in Alpine towns. We picked up this hunk of meat last weekend, and we have given it it’s own drawer of the fridge, where it is kept loosely wrapped in a dish towel to let it breathe. Many perfectly good recipes for tartiflette call simply for “lardons”, which is bacon cut into cubes. But early on in my tartiflette making, I began to think about the products local to that region, and what would have naturally be included in the dish at it’s origin. In my mind, this is a more true representation of what the tartiflette evolved from. Therefore I combine smoke cured ham and bacon (poitrine fume) when I make it. That’s not to say that you have to. Tartiflette is perfectly good with thick sliced bacon. In fact, when we went to the co-op to get this cheese, they had a recipe for tartiflette. Their recipe did not contain ham at all. The potatoes I used were the kind that make good potato salad. They do not disintegrate when handled. I like to use an old potato. There is stirring involved, and they should hold up to that. That’s the only real requirement. There are hundreds of different recipes out there. So instead of a recipe, you can make this dish with guidelines. I will weigh and measure and put a recipe in the gullet when the blog is done. Salt and pepper should be judged according to 1) the saltiness of your bacon, 2) what your creme fraiche tastes like and 3) how salty you like it. Edited to say that you're right, this dish is enough to throw anyone into carb shock, so you include, in your meal planning, a nice brisk walk the next day. I work near the institute Paul Bocuse and have made a plan to walk there and take a stroll around the campus after lunch. (I can't afford to eat in the student restaurant right now...)

Runnning late this morning. Breakfast was had at the bus stop. Eating on the street makes me feel uncomfortable. But what can a person do. One must eat. Although the pear looks bruised from the outside, the flesh was resilient, fresh, clean, ivory. I sometimes remove the skin from fruit. There is a certain pleasure to be had from peeling fruit with a knife, pulling the blade toward me, in a dangerous direction. This morning I had no choice but to eat it. Raindrops had just begun to pelt down, and I was given a quizzical look by a woman who was walking by as I tried to discreetly photograph my breakfast. The batteries of my camera are running low and the display screen is not operating.

Thank you. I slept well. Good morning.

My life is composed of lists. I value them highly. My husband comes to watch me (and to get his own to carry) when it is list-making time. In fact, I cut very small cards from fine cardstock just to write the lists upon, sometimes oblong, sometimes exactly the size of my palm, always of the finest stock. I use the best pen I can find. If you were to sneak into my front hall closet, and rifle through my old coat pockets, you would find lots and lots of remnants of lists past, intimate objects. It's very late. I am off to bed but on the bus tomorrow I will give you the full rundown on lists. Such a great question, btw. Edit to answer your question: Yes, I always make lists. But the list is for that day. And as for menu planning, it's kind of like a trees and forest kind of thing. What's inspiring you and what you've been doing is the forest, and what you have to get to help you move tot he next dish is the trees. (and that's where lists come in).

There is not par-boiling involved. BUT, you must follow the times and steps in the recipe. You want to cook the potatoes with onions and lard (pork raw) for 5-6 minutes, no browning. Then you want to add the wine, cover and simmer over low heat 10 minutes. Don't forget to grease and rub your pan with crushed garlic. After mixing in the creme fraiche, (you could also use heavy cream with no major adverse effects) put in the pan, put the cheese on top, and place in the oven (time this carefully): 10 minutes on 250C/500F 10 minutes on 200C/400F 10 minutes turning off the oven without opening it. Then serve. It's really exact. Believe me.

It's hard, Owen, and I'm not sure if I have time during this blog to take your simple yet very complex question into consideration, although I would love to discuss it with you. Because you and I both know it's a question of economics, not Mc D index. We'll have to discuss this later.

I am sorry to be posting dinner so late tonight. We started talking at the table. (edit to say it's Mayhaw Man's fault.) There's tartiflette.

Best flight fares to travel to France are March to May, and October to November. As low as 199 sometimes. Spring is the best season...

Thank you Jinmyo.

I certainly don't yet. But as soon as I have found the right one I will share it with you.

I am patiently awaiting the third week of June in order to get my green walnuts. The vin de noix we are drinking is something we picked up 10 days ago during our weekend in the Alpes. Speaking of, tonight is tartiflette!

I went to Gourmet de Seze just last week. It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but I certainly enjoyed it. When will you be in Lyon?

Why, whatever for? Because I'm in the wrong time zone and I waited oh-so-patiently for the next day's installment of her blog but, by 9:00 pm, I could wait no longer. I was having blog-withdrawal pains and the only solution I could see in that fugue state was to phone her, wake her up, and send her on with her day!

My commute's not bad. I was driving, and it was a hectic rush hour traffic jam drive that took 30 minutes on average. Then I discovered I can ride the bus, and read. Busses have special lanes to keep them moving. So it's a 20 minute point to point ride from my bus stop by the house. This means I have 40 solid minutes of reading time daily. I read a book a week, normally. I am reading a great collection of essays on home by Mr. Willie Morris right now. When Brooks did his blog, I was reading a book in French about the food of Louisiana. We are limited to a blasted 35 hour work week so I am always forced to leave the office at exactly 5h30.

It's a Confetteria Raffaello, made by the Ferrero, the famous makers of Pocket Coffee.