Saturday, September 6, 2014

We made dessert first as it should be!

Did you know in France whole rabbits are sold with their heads still on the carcass, the reason is, during the war when food was scarce the butchers sometimes sold cats as rabbits. The practice is not necessary now but is still done as tradition. We met our chef, Emily at the open market this morning and she took us all through the market educating us about foods, letting us decide what we wanted to cook. We learned melons are ripe when you see some cracking around the stems, dill, parsley and other such herbs should stand erect when you hold them up, to determine if fish is fresh within 24 to 48 hrs. The skin should be slimey but firm and the eyes should be clear. There are only 56 cheeses protected by the government. After gathering all the food we walked a short distance to the cooking school, there we had coffee and tea while Emily set up for our lesson.  When we started each of us were given a duty and sometimes multiple duties. As things began to cook the smells became incredible, it wasn't long before we were sitting down for cheese, bread, wine and salad.  Then the main course of rabbit and roasted vegetables. Our dessert was figs and biscuits. It was a devine meal with wonderful lessons about cooking and food. After our lesson we were each given a "La Cuisine Paris" apron to take home.  
Our lesson concluded about 2 pm, Sue and Renee headed to the Louvre and the rest of us set out to find the catacombs. After many miles and ending up in a homeless camp we decided to give up the search and go to the Luxembourg gardens. We sat on the grass with the rest of the Parisians for awhile then decided
to really act like Parisans get some cheese, wine, and bread and sit by the Siene River for the evening. 
We leave Paris in the morning but we will take with us many wonderful memories of "the most visited city in the world"

1 comment: