Monet's garden

A little detour on my way to Rouen.  For some reason the name Giverny sounded important to me while looking at the map.  As this road trip was particularly spontaneous I followed my instincts and low and behold Monet's garden.  I knew I knew it.  It was 5 pm and I was nearly alone here, a magical experience.  It was raining a bit but it was still a fairytale garden.

the town

the front of Monet's house

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...