Dabbling in the Culinary Field

If you hadn't figured it out by now, you should know that I am perhaps clinically obsessed with food and the placing of it into my mouth or the mouths of others'. Yes, fellow cooking mongrel Megan Hanson once delicately put it as, "I love feeding people." If, from time to time, I happen to be one of those people, that's all right. Isn't it? Now, mind you, I'm not talking about just any 'ol store bought deli sandwich or a limp hot dog in the fridge. I'm talking about the good food that makes your body smile and transports you to another place. Of course I often have my moments of excruciating hunger -- the kind of hunger that makes you want to eat posterboard, your neighbors' leftover pasta salad that smells suspiciously like tuna (true story), or even the stale bread that your dog sniffed and walked away from. But, when you have the luxury to sit down and enjoy some good food moments, c'est la belle vie.

I came home after class one ordinary day and was met with exciting shouts of my name (sometimes a good sign, sometimes not so much). My apartment-mate Cassie comes running into the kitchen where I am about to scarf down a scrap of something beige in the fridge. She tells me about the 15 euro cooking classes that she's found. I might have spit out the beige thing. I don't remember, but it was certainly a "wtf" moment. I had been browsing French cooking courses at le cordon bleu or wherever else and none have been under 100 Euro, the cheapest being around 45 for an hour long lesson. You can imagine my surprise.

L'atelier des Chefs offers just such courses. With locations in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Dijon, and Nantes, chefs-to-be all over France can profit from affordable lessons from actual "professionals." Their 15 Euro courses allows you to cook a principal dish in small groups in just 30 minutes, and you can eat it too! What of it, Rachael Ray?

I decided to get in on this sweet deal last Friday while Jessie was visiting from Berlin and together we tackled the kitchen. Oh, did I mention this was instructed all in French? ha ha.

On location: L'atelier des chefs Péclet

Our instructor was a typical sassy Frenchman who had a sarcastic flippant remark to every question that was posed and every glance that was misplaced. For example, while I was taking this photograph, he said, "Vous allez me payer pour prendre les photos."
"À toute à l'heure" I snapped back.
"Ah bon, alors, deux-cent Euro par photo." He laughed.

In his spare time he most likely skins superfluous amounts of baby rabbits for the concoction of stew, which would explain his course humour and snarky demeanor. I rather liked him until he pulled the assumptive racist card and then I liked him not so much.

The recipe was very simple and turned out very very delicious, it's definitely now in my mental repertoire that I will pull out very frequently when I want a quick and easy crowd pleaser :)

Fancy plating too.

Filet of salmon breaded with hazelnut crumbs on a bed of ginger and carrot cooked in orange sauce and garnished with coriander and balsamic cream.

We all dined together afterwards and were offered a glass of white wine and a dessert of raspberry chocolate mousse with a streudel crumble. Yum! It was pretty much café-style food at a cheaper price.

We didn't plan on matching that day. It just happened. Of course it didn't help our asian tourist image. Snarky Pierre (that's the name I've deemed our chef.) offered to take this photo because I was snapping away all throughout class. No shame.




Makeshift Thanksgiving Chez Tiffany

Fortunately for the French and their already slim waistlines, Thanksgiving does not exist in this country. However, us Americans always want to make a point of our ex-patriot origins, so we decided to have our own little version. Jessie and I visited the market Sunday morning to get some fresh ingredients and then to the flea market afterwards for some antique finds and Christmas shopping. When the night was over, we were stuffed and content in the warmth of the kitchen and bid farewell to Jessface.

Fresh flower bouquet!

On the table: homemade fondue Normande (Calvados, Camembert, Livarot, and Pont-l'eveque), white wine from the Loire valley, sweet rolls, sweet potatoes with crême fraiche, and dipping veggies (broccoli, artichoke, and cauliflower)

Mmmmm so smooth.

Of course I couldn't go a year without making my pumpkin pie from scratch!! It was a challenge to find all the ingredients (pumpkin, for example), and I had no pie tins. . .or a food processor, oh, and I didn't know how to use the oven. But it all somehow worked out! My pie was a hit :)

Jess & I enjoying some teaaaaaa at night given to us as a free sample after I worked my irresistible charm on the tea boy. Haha. Actually not really on the charm part, but the free sample part is true.

Happy post-thanksgiving coma and turkey sandwich eating.