This has nothing to do with me but I thought it was cool so I'm posting it. One of the head pastry chefs from Le Cordon Bleu spent last week in Austin and he did a chocolate sculpture demonstration on Friday, which I attended. At the risk of stereotyping, he was exactly what I picture when I think of a pastry chef - French accent, full of energy, always talking, strong opinions, very demonstrative, very passionate and has a story for every situation. He came to our classes every day and it was a blast having him around. He peppered his sentences with "alors (a-lore)" which has many meanings but if I remember right ,"so" or "then" is the closest translation. After being around him for 5 hours every day, it was easy to walk out of the room speaking in a French accent... "You put this here and that over there...alors, I think it is perfect, yes?"He did the majority of the sculpture on Thursday and did all the finer details during the demonstration. He shaped all the leaves and constructed the flowers during the demo and started adding them to the main body. Just when you think it was done, he'd add a flower or another leaf. It was like he was winging it as he went. "I think I will add a flower here and angle it this way and add this accent piece. Alors, I think it is OK, yes?"
