"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." -Harriet Van Horne

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to attend cooking school or at the very least cooking classes. When I was in the seventh grade, my mother started teaching cooking classes out of our Newport Beach kitchen. I fell in love with the whole process. First, when my mother would plan the menus, then her “students” (mostly rich Newport Beach women looking to impress their friends at dinner parties) would sign up, then my mother would buy all of the ingredients and prepare and my favorite part was when my mother actually taught the classes. Her enthusiasm was contagious (and funny because she has dyslexia and says everything backwards). Everyone loved my mother’s cooking classes. She taught her students how to make everything from Beef Wellington to Bûche de Noël (with my mother’s famous meringue mushrooms).

 

My mom (isn't she pretty?) and I at our Newport Beach kitchen. My mom is, of course, using her Quisinart. The Wolf range had a built-in wok which I loved.

 

Ever since then, I have been obsessed with cooking school. However, something always gets in my way of attending. In 1989, my senior year of high school at Marymount in Los Angeles, California, everyone was applying to colleges for the following year. I wanted to attend Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. My parents refused to let go on the grounds that they were worried about “terrorism.” I swear to God that was their excuse. My high school bestie, Giada DeLaurentiis, had more rational parents and she attended Le Cordon Bleu and look at her now! #StillResentMyParents

Flash forward to 1994… I was accepted into the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York. I was over the moon happy until… I found out I was preggers with Gracie. #DreamSquashedAgain #GracieWorthIt

Ever since, I have appeased my culinary love with cookbooks, cooking shows, cooking magazines, cooking websites, restaurants, food blogs and I follow every culinary Instagram star I can find. Now that I am living in Provence, I decided I better educate myself with the indigenous cuisine. I am looking forward to learning how to make all of the local specialties…aioli, pissaladière, ratatouille, bouillabaisse, le boeuf en daube, tapenade… You know, the basics. But, I would like to take it a step further and learn some more intricate and lesser-known specialties of Provence. The real Provence. So, I thought it would be wise to sign up for some cooking classes.

As long as I can remember, I have always wanted to take cooking classes from Patricia Wells. Patricia Wells wrote a cookbook in the 1990s called Patricia Wells At Home in Provence and in 2004 wrote another cookbook called The Provence Cookbook. I have been smitten with her ever sense. Mme Wells has offered cooking classes from her 18^th-century farmhouse in Provence since 1996. (She is the Queen of Provence cooking schools.) In total, Mme Wells has written 14 cookbooks, has cooking classes in Paris as well, has received numerous culinary awards and now has a brilliant app for all things culinary in Paris. For her whole bio click HERE.

 

 

 

So, seeing that I now live in Provence, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill one of my dreams… Attend a Patricia Wells cooking class. Not so fast… All of her classes are sold out through 2017! But I decided, this was my new goal. I’m going to live long enough with my ALS to be able to attend a Patricia Wells weeklong culinary class. #LifeGoal

 

 

 

 

 

And I think all of you should do the same. It never hurt anyone to plan ahead. Wouldn’t it be fun to plan a week in Provence at a cooking school with one of your girlfriends, your mother, your daughter/son or even your husband. My husband would be totally into this, surprisingly. Hold out for one of Patricia Wells classes because they are the best. You can sign up on her website HERE. Even though the cooking classes are sold out through 2017, you can be placed on a waiting list in case there are cancellations. I checked out one of the previous week’s schedules and it gave my heart a flutter. Take a look at a little sampling…

SUNDAY

'WELCOME TO CHANTEDUC' DINNER

Menu:

Champagne
“Inflorescence”
Blanc de Noirs
100% Pinot Noir
Cédric Bouchard
Importer : Polaner Selections

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Chanteduc Black Olives with Rosemary
Dates Stuffed with Almonds and Fleur de Sel
Individual Goat Cheese and Onion Gratins

Yveline’sChilled Cucumber, Avocado, and Cilantro Soup
With Avocado Sorbet

Caponata

Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder
with Lemons, Olives, Cumin and Cilantro
Epeautre Risotto
Homemade Harissa

Chanteduc Salad: Arugula, Sorrel, Tarragon, Parsley, Oregano, Fennel Fronds, and Cilantro
Dressed with Lemon and Olive Oil Dressing

 

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MONDAY 

Food Topics:
Knives; kitchen habits, pot sizes; kitchen organization and design; cutting vegetables;  sweating; mis en place; salt

Techniques and menu:

Chanteduc Olive and Caper Tapenade

Soupe au Pistou: Provençal Vegetable Soup with Fresh White Beans
With Light Basil Puree, Gruyère and Parmesan

Individual Cherry Clafoutis
Sheep’s Milk Yogurt and Honey Sorbet

Prepare:
Raspberry Panna Cotta for Tuesday dinner
Galette dough for Monday dinner

Wines:
Tavel Mordorée La Dame Rousse 2014
Grenache, Syrah, Clairette, Cinsault
Importer: Kysela Père et Fils

Lirac Blanc
La Reine de Bois Blanc 2014
Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Picpoul
Importer: Kysela Père et Fils

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In the meantime while you are waiting for her cooking classes, you can purchase Mme Wells Provence cookbooks HERE. There is also a great glossary of French culinary terms on her website HERE. From A to Z, you can learn the difference between ail (garlic) with aile (a poultry wing), chevreau (young goat) with chevreuil (venison). #IamAGeek

 http://www.patriciawells.com/

A toute!

*Something you don’t know about me? Usually, I wake up naturally at about 8 AM without an alarm clock but that has changed in the last 10 days since I have moved to Provence. I now have a new alarm clock. I receive a wake-up call at 8 AM from my neighbor in the form of a shotgun and 10 dogs barking. Yes, you heard me correctly… A shotgun. Apparently 8 AM is the prime time to shoot birds directly over my house. On Gracie’s first morning here, she ran into my room in a panic, ready to take cover, and said, “What was that noise?!!!” My response: “A shotgun, go back to bed.” Thank God I have read A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, a manual to living in Provence, so my “shotgun alarm clock” came as no surprise. Welcome to Provence.