Monthly archive

October 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

Cooking up a storm

Out of all the tales I had to tell and pictures I had to share on my return from Paris, only one garnered the same stunned reaction, especially from men. It was the image of me, armed with a blowtorch!

Now keep in mind, this was a small kitchen blowtorch, designed for caramelizing the top of a creme brûlée, not some construction monstrosity, but apparently in my hands it stirred an element of concern. Maybe I'm perceived as more dangerous than I ever imagined. I kind of like that!

At any rate, after an endless amount of research on just the right cooking class for us -- one that didn't involve rabbit or escargots -- my friend Charlotte and I landed at Cook 'n with Class in the heart of the Montmarte neighborhood of Paris. One of its selling points was English-speaking instructors, though I'm not sure either of us were prepared for a very funny chef who grew up in Texas! Chef Alex is an amazingly tolerant, determinedly hands-on instructor who insisted that the five of us in the dessert class do a little of everything, from separating an endless number of eggs, weighing flour and sugar to whisking. There was a lot of whisking! And a lot of laughter as new skills were discovered...or determined to be out of reach.

During the three-hour class -- just right for non-serious cooks who wanted just a taste of
the French cooking experience -- we made a fabulous frozen grand marnier mousse, a delicious chocolate mousse, madeleine cookies, an apple tart and, best of all for me, a strawberry creme brûlée. I've never met a creme brûlée I didn't love and would have been perfectly content if we'd stopped right there, though I wouldn't have wanted to miss Frank from Boston flaming the apples for that tart, either. Surprisingly, they didn't let the rest of us near that particular fiery experience. Hmmm.

One of the best parts of these experiences is sampling the end result. Of course, not even on my best days can I eat that many sweets in a row. A taste or two of each was enough, except for -- you guessed it -- the creme brûlée. Oh my!!

This was the perfect introductory cooking class that actually made me feel at least a tiny bit like a pro in the kitchen. And with a Sweet Magnolias cookbook coming out next September, it actually boosted my confidence enough to assure that I'll be attempting all the incredible recipes created by Georgia chef Teddi Wohlford for that book.

If you're heading to Paris anytime in the near future, I highly recommend taking a cooking class as an introduction to the local foods. There's even a class that includes a trip to the market to learn how to select the freshest, best ingredients for the dishes you'll learn to make. It's a way to bring a little bit of France home with you and make it part of your next dinner party. Check out www.cooknwithclass.com to discover all the possibilities. And ask when Chef Alex is teaching. He might let you use the blowtorch!

For pictures and a recipe for that strawberry creme brûlée, go to my Facebook fan page. I'll have those posts up soon.

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

Eye of the beholder

All beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which is one reason artists like Jackson Pollock and Claude Monet can both be considered masters, though not always by the same people. For instance, I will never grasp the wild splashes of Pollock's works, while I've always loved Monet's Impressionistic works.

When I first started planning this recent trip to Paris with my friend Charlotte, whom I've known since college, my only request was that we include a day trip to Giverny, where Monet painted for the second half of his life. It was where his famed water lily series was painted. His home was surrounded by incredible gardens.

Because our trip was schedule for the end of September, I feared the gardens would be less than spectacular. To my delight, I couldn't have been more wrong. They were still filled with color. It's easy to see how Monet created so many masterpieces in such incredible surroundings.

Our guide, a young and very handsome multi-lingual Frenchman worthy of hero status in any of my books, explained that as Monet's eyesight changed in later years his works moved more and more toward the abstract. He also told us that Monet was fascinated by the changing light and that no matter how often he painted the same scene, it was never quite the same. For someone like me, who dreams of painting but has never once recognized anything I put on paper, I was awed to see how that translated from reality to canvas. It was even evident in the photos I took of the waterlilies, where lighting changed in the mere seconds it took to click the shutter from one picture to the next.

The next day we went to L'Orangerie, which houses the stunning water lilies series, to see the paintings in person. It was the perfect way to finish up the Monet experience.

One of these days I'm going to get out the watercolors I received for Christmas two years ago and see if I can paint even one of those garden scenes so it's recognizable. I seriously doubt I'll discover I have any hidden artistic talent at this stage of my life, but recognizable would be a step in the right direction.

Though we visited a lot of amazing places in Paris, Giverny was definitely a highlight. And, for a bonus, we actually rode past Roland Garros, home of the French Open, en route. While I might not have been able to step on those red clay courts, just having a glimpse gave me goosebumps. What a day!!

Stay tuned for more from Paris. Next up the tale of Sherryl, a blowtorch and a strawberry creme brûlée!