5 Reasons to Getta Cookin’ in Paris

Posted by Tracey on Feb 3, 2012 in Food, Style, Travel | 8 comments

I have been going to Paris for quite some time now and I like to think of the City of Light as my home away from home. I’m very comfortable there. In fact, I plan to spend six weeks in Paris (with stops in London and Morocco) later this year and as with all things worth waiting for, October simply cannot get here fast enough. My name is Tracey and I am a Francophile. #noshame

This past November, I took my first cooking class at La Cuisine Paris, an English-speaking French cooking school at l’Hôtel de Ville, one Métro stop away from my typical hangout in Le Marais. I was looking to add an activity for my annual Paris Trip guests during their 10-night stay and a cooking class seemed perfect. And was it ever. (So perfect that after my guests left, I went back and took another class. LOL)

So in the spirit of making your time in Paris hot (because you ARE going to Paris, right?), here are 5 reasons to getta cookin’ in Paris:

1. You’re a foodie. Eating French cuisine is TheBomb.com, there’s no doubt…but if you have fantasies about becoming a chef or simply love experimenting in the kitchen, then you’ll want to get your hands dirty in a French kitchen, take a culinary tour, and/or go to the open air French markets and shop for seasonal veggies, meat, poultry and cheeses with an expert. There’s nothing like it.
2. You want to learn some French cooking techniques. In the cooking class I took with my Paris Trip guests, we prepared cailles farcies (quail), légumes de saison rôtis (roasted seasonal vegetables) with chocolate crêpes (no translation necessary). To be honest, I learned more techniques than I can remember, but I’ll tell you what: I can stuff a quail with my eyes closed and flip a crêpe quite gracefully. *Giggle*
3. Because you’re dying to learn how to make macarons. You’ve definitely seen them. and you might have even tasted them. If you have tasted them and you love them (of course you do!), then you’re definitely going to want to know how to make them. “Them” are macarons, a dessert staple in France that are yumm-ee. There isn’t anywhere you can go in Paris without seeing them peeping at you and taunting you from the window of a boulangerie or pâtisserie (eat meeeee) so for me, learning how to make macarons was a must. There is absolutely nothing like a warm macaron fresh from the oven. Nothing. And to top it off, you will have made them yourself!
4. You can wow(!) your friends and family with your new cooking skills. After a class at La Cuisine Paris, you’re not only going to have learned some new cooking techniques and new vocabulary words, but you’re going to take the recipe away with you so that you can replicate what you’ve learned when you get back to your own kitchen. Imagine preparing and presenting a delightful meal for friends and family for a French-themed evening in your own own home. Oh la la!
5. It’s fun! Truth be told, I’m not big on group activities but there are always exceptions. The classes at La Cuisine are intimate (I like small) and fun. In the macaron class, I met an American woman who lives in Paris half of the year, another woman who travels the world for work, and a travel writer who took my photo with my camera and I took her photo with hers (we understood each other without even saying much). So much fun!

I hope you will consider my suggestion to getta cookin’ the next time you’re in Paris. I think you’ll love it. If you decide to take a class (or two) at La Cuisine Paris, please tell them OneBrownGirl sent you. In the meantime, enjoy the photos and bon appetit!

For photos of the quail prepared during the Dinner on the Seine class, please click here.

Tracey Friley is an award winning travel writer, the principal blogger at OneBrownGirl.com® and gives girls of all ages a world view via OneBrownGirl in Paris, OBG Adventure Camps, and her philanthropic initiative The Passport Party Project.