chez pim

If it´s Saturday ít´s El Bulli

about to catch the train from Barcelona, making my way slowly down to El Bulli.

I don´t think I´ll have internet access again until back in Paris on Monday. promise to blog more, and more regularly, then.

SOS

Somewhere in Barcelona....can someone please send help?

How fat was that duck?

quite...

How to cook a pigeon

St.John, the first of three meals. More soon.

In the company of giants

at the Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 party. There is a very funny story about Paul Bocuse that I'm not sure if I want to tell.... ;-)

How to wake up properly in London

at Monmoth cafe, around the corner from Neals Yard at Borough.

Another chore done in Paris

..you know where of coure?

On my way somewhere.

A few days ago.

Sleepless in London

Haven't a moment to breathe since I got here in London. Promise I will blog some more soon. It's been a fantastic trip so far, with three meals in already at St.John, and one in the venerable company of Paul Bocuse! In the word of the grand chef himself, formidable!

This trip really has been great for meeting very interesting names and people. I don't quite know how to mention them all without sounding like a breathless groupie or horrible name dropper! I'll just have to figure it out I guess, I certainly do want to tell those tales. Well, or perhaps I should just accept the fact that I certainly am guilty on both counts and just do it, huh?

A dinner at the Fat Duck last night was most interesting and quite delicious. I'll write more about that too, but for now I am off to walk about a bit before meeting the gang at the Tayyab for dinner tonight.

More later, promise. :-)

A Kiss Goodbye

What a lovely kiss from my good friends last night to send me off on my journey. Six of us were at Kiss Sushi, my ultimate comfort food place, to have Naka-san cooked a wonderfully grounded meal for me before I am off on a crazy If It's Saturday It Must Be El Bulli tour.

If you've never been to Kiss yet, and you live within a reasonable distance -what means reasonable I shall let you figure out- you should definitely try. I simply adore the place. The ingredients are always pristine, and the cooking skillful. It's always mesmerizing to see Naka-san quietly goes about his business behind that impeccable counter, sending piece after piece, and plate after plate, of deceptively simple deliciousness.

Plane, train, and automobiles -- and wifi?

Closing off one chapter in my life and about to begin another, with a harrowing -yet sure to be fun- journey across the Pond, the Channel and the Pyrenées and back again, in the sky, on the tracks, and on the curvy French and Catalan country roads. Oh, and perhaps even across the Aegean, which would turn this into a trip of Odyssean proportion. How fun!

I will get to London first, flying across the pond of course, where The Fat Duck, St.John, and Tayyabs await. Then Eurostar to Paris, pick up a car, off to Brittany where Olivier Rollinger and some unknown local lobster shacks will be our destinations. From there we get back to Paris and grab a ride on the TGV down to Monpellier, then over the country roads to Laguiole, and not just for the knives. Then back in the car over and across to Spain, pardon me, Calalonia: Barcelona and Roses to be precise. Yes, y'all know where I'll be eating. ;-) Getting back from Barcelona back to Paris will be on the overnight train, which really should be fun. There is something so quaint and romantic about overnight trains, no?

What of the Aegean, you asked? Well, that bit of the trip is unknown yet. I've heard recently that someone in my circle is taking a house for six months on an Island off the coast of Greece, so I might just drop by for a week or two of shoeless -if not entirely clothless- existence. Mmm...grilled fish with nothing but a little olive oil, thyme from the side of the road, and a squeeze of lemon....mmm...

But now that I don't work for The Man himself, connecting to the Internets might prove a little more complicated than before. That's why I need your help. I know there must be some wifi places where I can get a wifi connection for my G4, but I've never really looked for them so have no idea where they might be. Any idea? Parisian readers, aidez-moi?

Harbinger of things to come?

Pim: i just ate an entire pomelo
Pim: the whole thing!
Fred: tasty?
Pim: very
Pim: and was hungry
Pim: and got in the groove of peeling each section
Pim: and trying to get each one to be perfect
Pim: and had to eat the evidence
Pim: and before i knew it it was over
Pim: done
Fred: perfection is a road not a destination
Pim: i just ate the entire pomelo
Pim: heh
Pim: not feeling too good to tell the truth
Fred: oh well

A snippet of an IM chat with my friend Fred. Today is the first down time I have since I decided to quit. I perhaps need to learn to deal better with down time.

My tummy hurts.

The heart of the matter

Fergus Henderson, St.John, from The Whole Beast (cookbook):

"Do not be afraid of cooking, as your ingredients will know and misbehave."

Bernard Pacaud, L'Ambroisie, from Haute Cuisine Paris (cookbook):

"To me, the only real adventure is in the ingredient, in its identity; the china plate must not be more attractive than the dish prepared. Everything goes through the senses: you have to touch, listen to an ingredient in order to understand it."

Thomas Keller, The French Laundry, from The Seattle Times:

"My goal is not to have a menu at the French Laundry. You go with complete confidence in the food, the service, and the wine. What the hell do you need 850 selections of wine for? You're eating dinner."

David Kinch, Manresa, from San Jose Metro:

"I do it because I still like to. I don't want to work in hotels. I don't want three restaurants. I don't want to do 500 covers a night. I don't want to be on TV. None of this interests me. Call me anti-success...but I just want to cook in my restaurant with my crew in my beautiful kitchen and make people happy.