Susie finishes chocolate and candies with a bang

Good Friday was a long day for Susie and her chocolate class. (I spent my time in Pere Lachaise). After a longer than usual demo in the afternoon, the students laid out the fruits of their labors for the rest of the school in the Winter Garden. I eventually joined the fun and took a few images for posterity (as did a number of others):

But the class wasn't over: after the presentation of the chocolates and candies it was back into the kitchen and now they had spend the rest of the day and evening preparing a chocolate sculpture (with some general direction for design from the chef). The reality was they wouldn't finish until late that night.

So I said adieu to Susie and headed off to stroll a bit before going home and waiting for the call. About 8:30pm Susie rang and said she was nearly completion so I grabbed my coat and my Navigo metro pass and headed for the No. 9 at Voltaire. I switched to the no. 6 at Nation and then to the no. 12 at Pasteur (his body is actually buried inside the institute nearby) and then got off at Vaugiraud. After walking a couple of blocks to the school I met up with my own personal pastry chef. She had her chocolate sculpture in hand -- which she donated to one of the late night staff at the school to give to his mother for Easter -- and we were soon back out the door and heading for the Metro.

We took the no. 12 to the no. 10 at Sevres-Babylone and then switched to the no. 5 at Austerlitz. We got off two stops later at Bastille and after surfacing amidst the usual energy and din of this side of the Place we walked through the crowds and across the narrow rue de la Roquette to "Sukiyaki," a wonderful Japanese restaurant we had eaten at with our friend Diane in October of 2007.

After a scrumptious meal of tempura and yakitori it was a nice stroll in the cool night air down rue de la Roquette to Place Leon Blum. After wishing Leon a good night, we strolled the last 5 minutes home.

Wish you had been there,

Steve

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