an evening in paris

tonight my good friend alicia and i went to a cooking class at a local grocery store. the title of the class was an evening in paris. how could we refuse such a title? we arrived at 7pm and listened as our chef, kelly hughes, laid out an overview of the evening.


first up was the salad, frisee aux lardons. now, i like salad. but to be honest, i didn't have a great deal of hope given what the promo had said about the salad... but wow, was i wrong. the salad was, perhaps because i had such low expectations, the best part of the meal for me!



next was my very favorite thing to eat when i am actually in paris, steak frites. the chef had some great tips about tying the meat (so oddly shaped pieces look the same as the rest), and pan searing. also, she showed us how to make a tarragon aioli to go with the dish. i had absolutely no idea that making mayonnaise could be so easy! and the piece de resistence of any dish with the word 'frites' in it, the hand cut, glorious french fries. i cannot tell you how good the whole thing was. both alicia and i were full before we were done, but, fortunately, we soldiered on, and none of this delicious food went to waste!


for dessert, my favorite indulgence of all time, creme brulee. there was a problem with the temperature of the oven, and so it wasn't as good as one may have hoped, but seriously, bad creme brulee is better than no creme brulee!

i took pictures of both of our creme brulees, and there were some very distinct markings on the tops of each of ours. we wondered if perhaps the 'brulee' part was a bit like reading tea leaves, and whatever design shows up in your burnt sugar would have some sort of meaning.


alicia's creme brulee clearly looks like the letter 'Z', which i think means that she has sleep in her future. at first i thought that mine looked like a happy face, but upon closer inspection, it looks like mine is a pair of shoes! o happy day!

all in all, it was a very fun evening with a good friend. thanx for the idea and for sharing this with me, alicia! let's go to paris again soon...