I'm sitting at a cafe/bar around the corner from my apartment. I thought I'd give their wifi a shot. And it works. And it's much better than McDonalds. First, it's closer. And second, they have stuff I like, like Guinness. Better than coffee at night.
Today was good, and I'm exhausted. But I suppose that comes with early morning call times. It has felt like bedtime since about 4pm to me.
It's non stop working in the patisserie. As soon as I waked in (just after changing into my vest and massive black pants) I was handed a knife. There was a box of fresh quince in front of me and a huge empty pie tarte. When that was filled, I moved onto strawberries and raspberries. Then I topped slices of gâteaux and put them in their plastic wrap. Then it was on to dejeuner (lunch stuff). I chopped up poached chicken and mixed it with mayo, lettuce, mushrooms. There was also tuna salad and smoked salmon on baguettes and brioche. After les snacks were made, i was given a vat of pâte d'amande (almond paste, aka marzipan). Beside it was a bucket of tiny square piece of nougatine. It was my job to cut out little circles of the marzipan and form a pyramid on top of each piece of nougatine. I think I did this for a continuous two and a half hours.
As I formed pyramid after pyramid, the shop's originator, M Litzler chewed my ear off. He has been working as a pâtissier for 70 years. He comes in every single day and starts work at 5am. He's 85 years old. He had a million questions for me and shared many stories. I think I caught about 1/5 of each. At one point I think he was telling me about some inter-racial marriage. I really don't know what that was all about. Then he told me about another Jacqueline that came there from another country, but ended up staying and marring a French man and becoming French. This story was repeated and I was asked more than once if I was going to stay. Then I got an entire history lesson about the Alsace region and all the different dialects in and around the area. If I understood correctly, he can speak French, German, Swiss German, Swiss French and Alsacian. He was very patient with me as I tried to speak and understand what he was saying. It's really nice to get a glimpse a multi-generational family business.
So we worked from 6-12:30. I won't lie. I was hungry and very thirsty. I must remember to bring some water with me. And maybe sneak a banana too. Lunch is served family style and the whole kitchen eats together upstairs above the bakery. Only problem is, I'm in meat country. So I had some plain noodles and a couple pieces of bread. Looks like I'll be bringing my lunch from now on.
Then after lunch, we went up two more flights of stairs. The top floor is comprised of several different rooms, all with cots and blankets. And there's a tv room too. So you can nap with the rest of your lunch break. It's truly a bizarre scene. The building is old. Like 15th century old. And the cots were circa 1930's maybe? Everyone was practically asleep by the time I walked in (just 2 minutes after them). But I couldn't sleep, it was all too new and strange. My guard was up way too far. Napping was out of the question. So I watched the Simpsons (in French of course) with the time left on our hour long break. I think I"ll bring a book for tomorrow.
So then after lunch we all went back to work. But I only work for an hour in the afternoon. Really, if I could, I'd rather just work through the meat laden lunch and take off an hour early. But I don't think it works that way.
Overall I think I'm in a good place. I saw all kinds of stuff being made in just one day. Tartes, chocolate bars, macarons, ganache, puff pastry, it's all happening at Litzler-Vogel. And I know my French is going to improve. I think I already spoke more French today then I have the whole time I've been here. That's probably why my head hurts so much.
Okay I'm going to finish my beer and pass out now.
Bonne nuit!
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