Cooking up a little something in Paris- Macarons and a walk in the rain.

Weather report for the next 10 days - rain-.  Dang it.  Ive been walking in it and strolling and enjoying myself between rain drops and sun bursts.  Today I took a Macaron making class.  fun! My chef teacher was at La Varenne Ecole de cuisine for years ( a school I attended in 1986) and was even there when I was so it was fun sharing stories about chefs past.  I actually found myself strolling around the old neighborhood in the 7th before class.  Small world.  It is feeing much smaller to me now after traveling.

I have to say I cooked at home tonight just too cold to go back out.  I nailed it!  fennel and leek soup,  simple and great.  wild mushrooms with cream and leeks and reduced to a yummy intensity, I just put it on bread.  oh my! So much for a light dinner.  I did follow it up with a green salad... All ingredients from a few local markets that i've been wondering around.

Macaron class at La Cuisine Paris cooking school. http://lacuisineparis.com/content/english-speaking-cooking-classes-in-paris

Classes in english are available, this one was taught by a former La Varenne chef grad and current chef.  Students fromUS, Paris, New Zealand and Australia and Me.

The egg whites after the sugar syrup went in, beautiful white and fluffy.

A new look....

Today I was experimenting and somehow changed the look of the blog.  let me know what you think , better, worse moreconfusing. I guess all the goodies are on the left pane now... Im not sure I like it...

Thai Cooking school in Bangkok.

Cooking Thai food in Bangkok.  After checking out several schools this one proved to be the most entertaining and actually low key as well as informative.  With a classroom full of internationals from Brazil, Australia, Japan, England, Switzerland and the US, we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and yummy food.  So after freezing my tush off in Italy for the last several months, I am now sweating it off in humid Bangkok.  As this was rather spontaneous I am glad for the few warm weather clothing items I happened to pack.  Mostly yoga clothes. These are quite a few photos beginning with a market visit and through various classes on different Thai dishes. Wow what a switch in food.  And after the crappy food we were fed at the Italian Institute of crappy food and abuse, Im thrilled with the fresh and fantastic food i am experiencing in Thailand.

this is coconut milk processing , this bowl contains the shredded coconut that later we will squeeze to get the coconut mil we use for the amazing dishes we prepare.

Fish and shrimp, Thai style.  I love going to different market.  This one is actually quite small and really clean and no stinky smells.  Other markets have all of the dried fishes, shrimps and other sea things then when dried smell very strong ! this one is bright and cheery perhaps it caters to all of the cooking schools in the area.  It seems to be everywhere that I see little signs for cooking schools, so it is quite a business.

our baskets of goodies

Not good at change

I feel like my parents.  As I sit here attempting to make sense out of a new Blogger format, I barely had an idea of how to handle the last version now we are on to another, I find myself remembering my father and the VCR.  I have become my parents.  I left several unfinished blogs in draft mode awaiting my photos and I can't seem to figure out how to find them now... Perhaps in time I will.