A Little Weekend with La Cuisine Paris

Back in November when Dave's parents came to visit, they kept the kids at home so I could have a weekend alone with Dave.  It was so much fun!  One of the things we did was . . .

Take a cooking class!

I'm not the most patient chef, and we have seen enough of the touristy things in Paris, so I decided a cooking class would be a great thing for us.  We met the teacher and other students at one of the outdoor markets in Paris on a Saturday morning to choose the menu.  Basically we wandered around and chose some things to cook.

Which was FISH!  The choice was duck or fish, and I despise duck with every tastebud that I have in my mouth, so even though I have been frightened for 38 years by fish, I successfully persuaded everyone to keep us seabound for lunch.  Did I mention that on our honeymoon Dave had me try his salmon one night at dinner and I CRIED because I thought it was so disgusting? 

So you can see that I've made a bit of progress in the last 18 years.  I also eat fish on a weekly basis, if you can believe that!  It's never too late to change . . . 

We seriously had so much fun.  From the walking around the market, to chatting with the other people taking the class (all North Americans!  It's in English), to actually making the food.  Well, except when I mandolined my finger into the salad.  Seriously, I think someone ate a bit of my skin that day.  It bled, A LOT.

Besides learning how NOT to use a vegetable grater, I also learned that if you cook most vegetables in olive oil in the oven with some salt and pepper, they taste great.  Pretty basic stuff!

The school, La Cuisine Paris, is situated right on the Seine, and has an easy, functional kitchen to prepare the food.  It's also great because you can chat with other people because you're facing each other around the workspace.

When the food was all prepared, 

We sat down at this lovely table, with a view of the Seine out the window.

We were so hungry and couldn't wait to taste everything!

Especially the dessert! (Strawberry puree, vanilla whipped cream and shortbread).

The best part of the experience was getting to know the strangers that we had spent the morning with.  The couple who lived in the Bay Area, the mother and daughter from the Boston area who were spending the week together at the end of her daughter's study abroad in Paris, and the father and daughter from Canada who were spending her 16th birthday together doing things SHE wanted to do ;)

It was amazing to hear everyone's story and about their families and lives in other places.  Doing that while sharing a great meal, that we all made together, made for a really fun day in Paris.