September Happenings

September 4th: First Classic Julia Class

We had so much fun last night. 24 students and 3 helpers made for a lot of Boeuf Bourguignon! Things rolled along a a very good pace with this 3 hour class, lasting exactly 3 hours with a 15 minute break in the middle. The homemade bread from Judith Fertig's new 200 Easy Artisan Breads received high praise as did the Artisan Butter (homemade from whipping cream) that I doctored up with salt, garlic, and snipped chives and basil chiffonade.

I read some passages from My Life in France and we all had a laugh over sister Dort's anxiety when she was rear-ended while driving on the Place de la Concorde. Her bad French turned into something like, "Officer, he spat in my rear end!"

My story of bad French was in Joigny, while staying at Chateau du Fey (the former home Anne Willan and  La Varenne Cooking School). Judith and I were doing a dry run to the train station. We kept going in circles in the Centre de Ville. So we rolled down our windows to try and ask for directions from numerous people who were on the sidewalks that day. We'd say, "Ou est la gare? Ou est la gare?" But know one would look at us much less answer us. On our own, we found it. Went back to the chateau and told the story to our friends while trying to figure out what we did wrong. So we repeated, "Ou est la guerre? Ou est la guerre?" YES, we were asking "Where is the war?" No wonder no one would look at us!

Class number one down and 10 more to go!

September 7th: Labor Day

So I am in the kitchen most of the day, baking bread, browning onions, mushrooms, and browning 18 pounds of beef cubes to get ahead. Popping one triple recipe into the oven for the mandatory 2 1/2 hours, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit. Clean-up is no fun. Lots of grease... but a friend suggested putting newspaper on the floor. I did that and also draped some towels carefully around the cooktop to catch the most grease. It worked pretty well, and clean-up was much easier.

Yesterday we were in Waterville, Kansas visiting our friends the Roepke's. Every Sunday of Labor Day weekend they have a champagne brunch. We were included and I brought Gooey Butter Cake (a St. Louis coffeecake). We started at 9:30 with a low ling fog and a temperature around 70. The sun came out and it cleared into a most gorgeous day. Our view of the Northern Flint Hills was spectacular and food and company were the best. My friend LueAnn made homemade maple syrup using Karo syrup and maple extract. I consider myself a true maple syrup connoisseur and this was excellent. LueAnn shared her recipe and I plan to teach it in my "Gifts from the Kitchen" cooking class this November.

We also discussed the newly renovated Weaver Hotel, a historic hotel along the railroad, of which many attending the brunch are board members. I shared the fun my students and I had at last week's Julia class. I think I may come back next year and offer my Classic Julia cooking class as a fundraiser for them!

September 11th

My husband just left for work and asked me to put out our US Flags (little ones that like nice along the edge of our front lawn). Watched some of the 9/11 memorials and cried. Maybe I'm weepy from being a little tired from cooking two classes in a row the last two nights.

On Wednesday (9/9), a reporter from the Lee's Summit Journal came to our class. She was not a cook at all, but seemed to have a great time. Here is her article.

Class on Thursday (9/10) was a hoot. People from all over the city are coming to these classes in little old Lee's Summit (where I attended high school).  I described the continuing series of Julia Classes that we've scheduled for Jan/Feb 2010. When I mentioned the Coq au Vin class, a table of ladies swooned repeating my words in a sweet cry, "Coq au Vin!" Then we all laughed. These classes take a lot of time to prepare the food, but they are so enjoyable and all the students seem to smile and are excited about real cooking. We talked about recreating part of Julia's first meal in Rouen, France... the Rye Bread with homemade butter and sole meuniere.

At the office, we are still waiting for Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The Way to Cook. Both are in reprints, but we should have by the end of next week - finally!

*karen