The French Bistro class is full; in fact, it’s got a waiting list.  I’m surprised, but pleased.  Since there seems to be renewed interest in French regional cooking, I’ll be offering a French cooking series beginning in January 2008. 

A bistro is simply a small, casual restaurant that serves wine; sometimes there’s entertainment as well.  The food is simple and uncomplicated — French comfort food.  And who doesn’t like that?  But don’t wait for next year to take a class.  Here’s a typical bistro offering for you to try:  eggs poached in red wine.  They look pretty nasty, but they are delicious.  And if you serve them in semi-darkness, you’ll give a real bistro feel to your meal. (more…)

Rosh Hashanah begins tonight. The fact that I’m not Jewish isn’t an obstacle to acknowledging a holiday – any holiday – that involves great eating (which accounts for almost every holiday out there). For the Jewish New Year, honey is the thing – from a dip for apple slices to dark honey cake. And then there’s the traditional round challah — ginormous loaves instead of the usual braided bread. When I saw them stacked to the ceiling at the market yesterday, I grabbed one and ran.

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The dust is finally settling from all the classes I blithely scheduled for August (everything seems so doable four months out). It was a fun summer for me, but am not sure that my husband can say the same. Poor Charlie! Not only does he draw pearl-diver duty on class nights (for which he is paid in table scraps), he’s had to forage for meals during cooking camps. Cold sandwiches, wilted salads, half-servings of leftover soup; it’s sad, just sad. What’s worse, he never complains. So, out of pity/guilt/wifely duty, he got a gore-may dinner every night for a week. It’s been easy with the local produce in full bloom (Real tomatoes! Ripe peaches! Corn!). (more…)

I’m excited about the Yeast Bread Series starting on September 15 because I love baking bread almost as much as eating it. If you can’t attend, please don’t let that stop you from getting into bread baking. My introduction to yeast breads is usually covered in basics classes, where students learn to prepare pizza or focaccia.  Even easier for first-time breadies are batter breads, or no-knead breads.  If you can make a cake from a box mix, you can make batter bread.

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