Bye Bye Miss American Pie

Back Among the Living

Unfortunately my blogging went on another hiatus but at least I was able to cross a few things off my bucket list while I was away. This summer was always going to be a busy one, as it may be my last in London, so I booked several things that I'd always wanted to do in Europe.

The summer started with my first time at a cricket match. For those who have heard that cricket matches can last for days, yes they can last as long as five days. However, I went to an ICC World Twenty20 match (a new format to get new audiences) which only lasts about four hours.

My next quintessentially English summer activity was watching tennis at Wimbledon. Last winter I managed to score a couple tickets through the lottery system. I got to see the Andy Murray on centre court and Andy Roddick on court 1. I was never a tennis fan until now. Wimbledon is such an amazing and historic place.

Last but not least, I was finally able to do something I've waited years for. I admit that I'm a bit of a motorhead/adrenaline junkie so I love fast cars. For over five years I've been trying to make my way to a little town in Germany called Nurburg which is home to the world famous Nurburgring race track, also known as The Green Hell. Nurburgring is 17.56 miles long with nearly 100 turns. It used to host the German Grand Prix part of the Formula One race until too many drivers died there and the others decided to boycott it. 

Living the Dream

When I moved to Europe, I had a few things on my to-do list that were just too difficult to achieve before when I was just a tourist visiting each city for a day or two here and there. I have a somewhat complete list below of the things I set out to do below but the one thing that I was really looking forward to happened on Saturday. After over a year of living in Europe I was finally able to attend a hands-on cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Knowing that I would need to be in the Paris office last week, I searched Le Cordon Bleu's website for weeks to try and find a class that would fit the timing. I was finally able to enroll in the Autumn Cakes and Pastry course that would be on the Saturday following my business trip. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the course but I was excited to know that I would be learning from an esteemed French chef. In addition to the course I would also be able to walk the halls that Julia Child, Dione Lucas, and other great chefs/cooks once graced. For all the male cooks out there, Le Cordon Bleu is also where Giada de Laurentiis studied although I couldn't find anything in the curriculum about low-cut tops and big smiles.

The course started promplty at 9am after some coffee and croissants. We were given a few pages with a list of ingredients for the two cakes we would make but no instructions. A few students were looking for the cooking instructions but it was explained to us that at Le Cordon Bleu they teach you to use your 5 senses and that you would learn better by doing and taking your own notes. Everything was pre-measured so after a quick demonstration by the chef, we jumped right in. I worked with Sue from Australia on a few of the steps since certain items were easier to make in double vs. single batches. Like Sue, many of the students were visiting from far away places like Brazil, China, and Chicago and had given up a day of sightseeing or being with friends to take the course. The cakes that we made were much more intricate and delicate than everything I had made before so I was glad I was in an environment where I could mess up and learn from it. Sue and I turned out to be quite natural though and the course just flew by. When the class ended at 3pm, I could scarcely believe we had been there are all day and made two cakes along with some sables (shortbread). I would love to take another course at Le Cordon Bleu as I have so much more to learn and it was such a joy to be in a professional kitchen. There is something very clinical and orderly about a professional kitchen that just gives me the reassurance that things should work out well and you have full control over your destiny.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera (if you can believe it) but hopefully Sue will be able to send me her's when she returns to Australia so that you can see my masterpieces.

Completed	To Do	Unexpected Bonus
Dine at a 3-star Michelin restaurant	Get reservations at El Bulli (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!!!)	Walk in Jesus' footsteps in Jerusalem
Drive "balls out" (excuse my language) on the autobahn	Drive on the Nurburgring	Go on safari in South Africa (and live to tell about it)
Wander around a farmers market in Paris	Run with bulls in Pamplona	Drink South African wine while overlooking the lucious Stellenbosch area
Visit an Eastern European city	Get hit with a tomato at La Tomatina	Many times eat in Paris until I was sick because it was just that good
Take the Eurostar from London to Paris	Visit the newly reopened BMW Museum in Munich	Experience Barack Obama giving a triumphant speech in Berlin
Experience an opera at Teatro alla Scala	Attend an Audi driver's day	Meet and actually speak to Christiane Amanpour
Experience an opera at the Royal Opera House	Lay on the beach in Greece	Experience World Cup fever in Paris
Try the local cuisine every place I visit	Go truffle hunting	Attend a race at Ascot
Watch the sun set over the Seine	Drive a supercar on a Formula 1 race track	Eat the freshest seafood and tomatoes while sunning myself in Provence
Ski/snowboard anywhere in Europe and live to tell about it	Meet a strikingly handsome and caring heir to some megafortune (now that I'm 30 my chances are dwindling)	Meeting some great people who have helped me adjust and make London feel a bit more like home
Go to Oktoberfest and live to tell about	Drive the adoption of Altera's low-cost products throughout Europe (had to throw that in here for the Alterans)
See the remains of the Berlin Wall
Visit the Audi factory and Museum Mobile in Ingolstadt
Drink Guinness straight from the source
Get lost at the Notting Hill Carnival
Go to a concert in a London park
Sit in Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens all day long
Take a class at Le Cordon Bleu