I have been Parisienne for a month now and I still can't say how I feel about it. It's been a rush of classes and metro rides and ballet and baking, mostly.
One of the best things so far is that I found the site Ticketac, which lets me search through all theatre events, comedy shows, ballets, concerts, etc. in Paris. Obviously I went totally wild with the discounted tickets. After all, this is my first time living in a cultural capital of the world, and with all of the theatres and available sights, I bought myself tickets to twelve shows this semester.
The first show I went to see was La Scala Theatre's production of Giselle. It was at Palais de Congres on the edge of Paris, and when I arrived, the section I had paid for was roped off and I was led to a much nicer area, due to underselling. The ballet was incredible, and after two viewings, I am about ready to declare Giselle to be my favorite ballet. It has a village scene, which means you get energetic dancing, and intense emotion, and then the most visually striking image of the corps in white veils. How could I not love that?
The second production was the Imperial Ice Stars in Swan Lake on Ice, which was just about as visually striking, technically stunning, and unbearably cheesy as you probably imagine. There was wirework, circles of flames, and swordfighting, but it was dizzying even to just watch the performers spin, sometimes with three people spinning on one blade. How do they even do that?
My third venture to a theatre was with St. Petersburg's Eifman Ballet. I didn't know much about the company aside from its location and the fact that it has just recently built a new academy building, but their performance of the night was a modern piece based on the Fitzgerald novel Tender is the Night and I decided to go for it. It was a striking performance--the first modern ballet piece I've seen that incorporated a storyline, and it did it so well.
In terms of baking, I have ventured tentatively away from apple pies and chocolate cakes and quiches with a sudden, vibrant burst of enthusiasm for Russian cuisine. After sitting for two hours in an 8am Russian history bonus class, I felt the need to attempt to make pierogis, which eventually resulted in me boiling and mashing potatoes with ricotta, mixing it with beef, and then making so many pierogis that they didn't all fit in the available tupperware in this apartment. I froze two containers and am already making plans for the next batch.
The Russian honey cake, my first four layer cake, came the day after the pierogi experiment. It promised to be light and not too sweet, which I found intriguing, since I have recently discovered that chocolate cake is too rich for me now. I mixed up the dough and separated it into four bowls, since the recipe was for a four layer cake. I arranged my layers and while they baked, I made the buttercream--thickened with flour. I don't have any sort of electronic mixers, so my buttercream was made with whisks and wooden spoons and an increased risk for carpal tunnel. After assembly, I stuck the cake in the fridge, only to cut into it the next morning for breakfast, where I found that my very first layer cake ever was a total success and didn't taste too bad either. This weekend I plan on trying it again and making it a little bit more traditional (read: upwards of 8 layers).
A couple days after that, I tried my hand at fried cheese pancakes, Syrniki. Despite adding more flour than was called for when the dough turned out to be too sticky and burning myself on the melted butter I was using for frying, they ended up a tasty, puffed success. After setting them on a clean plate, I made a batch of (unfortunately flattened but still delicious) Russian tea cakes with chopped nuts. Now I have all of this Russian food and I don't think Kathy is going to help me eat any of it.
I've also made chicken pot pie from scratch but it was ugly.
When I don't go to see the ballet, I go to ballet classes, which have basically turned what I thought was going to be a boring semester full of largely theoretical coursework into something fully enjoyable. I've found my second home at Elephant Paname, an arts center with five studios, just a block from the Opera Palais Garnier. There are classes Sundays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and if I am not at a production, I go. The studios are beautiful--the main one has a full windowed ceiling and they are all mylar-floored. The teachers are supportive and the students are welcoming. For Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I will have to check out other studios, but so far I am very happy with Elephant Paname.
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