Notting Hill

A trip to London wouldnt be complete without visiting Notting Hill District and naturally the Portobello Road Market. Today saturday we took the Central Line of London's tube and after a short walk we arrived to Portobello Rd.
Its an interesting place where you can find mainly antique random stuff; clocks, cameras, posters, jewerly and lots of unusual (or even pointless things).
If you are hungry you can eat some pizza slices or those goddamn "sandwich grec" that its found in France too... damn arabs are invading all the world!.
Of course I decided to try some pies and tarts. I tried a fig and prune tart for 2.50£ which was fair good.
Anyways i didnt get to try the traditional english cuisine due to a lack of time (and interest from some of my mates).

viva mexico

In a crowded hall, full of mexicans, some french and germans, with mexican music, tequila, food and beer, we celebrated our Independence Day.
We ve been here in Europe for 2 months now, and we already had or first big event cooking and organising the event.
The menu consisted in typical mexican food- No, not chile con carne or burritos thats not even mexican for gods sake.
We prepared Mole with minced chicken breast. Ceviche cockatils (sort of shellfish soup), Pozole, Arroz a la mexicana, etc.
As for me, the pastry chef, I prepared with my partie Arroz con leche (riz au lait), torrejas (sort of pain perdu or french toast).
The afternoon had a great ambience, full of joy and happiness , typical of mexicans, that contagied even the straight-faced boring french people.
A group of musicians played some classical mexican music and all together with the Ambassador claimed "Viva Mexico"

First week in Paris

After some delays and incidents at both Benito Juarez Int'l Airport in Mexico City and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, we finally made it to Paris.
After a 16 hour trip, we were exhausted, fortunately a van was waiting for us and took us to our new residence. For me and my friends it was number 41 on Didot street...
This would become my home for a year and a half.
We spent the rest of the day trying to survive to the jetlag, and setting up our rooms.
Next day we went for a walk.
Here the pics

Final exam

So Im finishing school.. that sounds great.. and then Im going to Paris for a year.. Anyways i have at least one more month of school left..then just a couple weeks before leaving.
I just had my final exam.. I made a Pear tart, but i just did it my way...
I like creating new desserts; trying with different flavours, colours, etc.. so this time I made a Pâte Sablée for the crust... vanilla and chocolate; i tried both to see which one gave the best taste... and i also baked a mixed crust.. it looked really cool.
So after that; I just caramelised the pears in halves and waited until they were soft but not in excess, you know.. "just right"..
Then i softened some cream cheese and added the caramel already seasoned with lemon; cinnamon and clove.
After the crust was ready and not so hot; i just added the cream cheese with a pipin bag so it would look a bit better and then the half of a pear on top... Oh yeah and some strawberry/blackberry coulis Its not the big thing but it tasted really good.. and I actually got a great note on my exam...

So I'm going to Paris...

They finally told me that Im going to Paris...

Im really excited about this, even though my french is still basic.
So first Im going to tell you about my long journey before arriving to Europe:

Once i got my new Passport, the French Student Visa, all the school documents and of course, money, I started packing and getting ready for coming here.
Of course I went to visit my grandma 2 weeks before I left, we had a bbq at her house, and talked with the family (dad's side)..Grandma prepared my favourite mexican food; and I helped her cooking too.
We also went to many restaurants, and I also ate tacos in the street and in the market... NO MEXICAN FOOD FOR A YEAR!!
That will be....pretty hard.