Culinary Retreat

Welcome to our Culinary Retreat

We just finished our 2nd culinary retreat here in France. We had 6 lovely women from Los Angeles come  to cook with Chef/Instructor Carol Cotner-Thompson, who is also from Los Angeles.  Carol works at The New School of Cooking in Culver City, CA. 

Shopping at the Vide Grenier in Caussaude

Hanging at l'halle during the Sunday market

The day was split between sight-seeing and cooking classes.  Bruce and I were the tour guides, taking them "medieval village" hopping (St. Antonin Noble Val, Cordes sur Ciel, St. Cirq Lapopie, etc...), visiting cheese farms, open markets, vide greniers, museums, etc.  Then we'd come back to the house, have a couple hours to chill and then cooking lessons would start at 5:00 pm,  around 8:00 pm we had our amazing dinner.

Cooking class with Carol

Busy in the kitchen

Beautiful strawberry tart

Our first nights dinner 

Lovely dinners on the terrace

Carol and the ladies in Bruniquel

The day was split between sight-seeing and cooking classes.  Bruce and I were the tour guides, taking them "medieval village" hopping (St. Antonin Noble Val, Cordes sur Ciel, St. Cirq Lapopie, etc...), visiting cheese farms, open markets, vide greniers, museums, etc.  Then we'd come back to the house, have a couple hours to chill and then cooking lessons would start at 5:00 pm and around 8:00 pm we had our amazing dinner.

We had the most incredible meals.  The ladies baked bread, make puff pastry, duck, lamb, flat bread, beautiful desserts, wonderful appetizers and super side dishes.

St. Cirq Lapopie

Lunch at Lou Bourdie in Bach

Visit to a local goat cheese farm

Albi

Peas for the pea soup

The ladies made flat bread on the grill and then a green olive tapinade, served with fresh goat cheese.

Almond cake

Just in time for cherries

Goat cheese from the market

Fresh walnut bread, served with fava bean purée

Stuffed artichokes

Visit to the abbey at Beaulieu-en-Rouergue

Our amazing chef/teacher

Here I am with Megan and Rachel in Cordes sur Ciel

Making puff pastry - then apple turnovers

Carol is a great teacher and the ladies that came loved to cook and loved food.  We all had a great time.  Lived together in a 200 year old farmhouse in the French countryside, like one big happy family.

We'll be having another culinary retreat in September with Pamela Salzman and we can't wait for that.  But, we are hoping to bring Carol back again next May.   You can check our website Raison d'Art for more information on our retreats.

I flunked art journaling

I know what you're thinking, "you can't flunk something you do at home".  It's not a class, you don't get a grade, you do it at home in your own time, but I swear I flunked.  I started with great intentions, to get back to being creative.  But I quickly found out that this type of creativity isn't for me.  I'm not a good artist, not super creative at putting things on paper.  I'm too critical and it just wasn't fun.

The good news is that I found a pottery studio in Montauban, about 35 minutes from us.  It's an open studio and you go once a week for 4 hours.  There is a teacher there to help you if you need it too.  I'm a potter.  I've thrown for 6 years, when we lived in Los Angeles (but haven't in almost 3).  When we moved here I had to sell my wheel, kiln, supplies, etc.  It was just too expensive to ship here.  I was so excited to find this studio and it's so inexpensive!

I've been twice and love it.  The women (5 of them) are all very nice and none speak English, which is great.  So I get to get my hands dirty, throw some pottery and speak french too.  This is my passion, this is what I love, this is what I'm good at.  Art journaling?  Nope.

Art Journal #2

This week I decided to pick a topic from my journal prompts envelope.  I have about 50 journal prompts written down on small pieces of paper.  I blindly drew one on Monday and it said "MY HAPPY PLACE".

When I think of my happy place, the first thing that comes to mind is Amiel.  Amiel is a climbing area 10 minutes from our house. We go there about 3 times a week (when weather permits).  We climb there most of the winter because it's a south facing cliff and if it's not too cold and clear skies it's beautiful.  In the winter months, we leave the village all bundled up and by the time we hike to the top we are usually in shorts and t-shirts.  It overlooks Penne a lovely ancient village with a ruin on the top.  There are sheep below and beautiful views over the countryside.   The only sound we hear are the sheep or the church bells from Penne.  Most of the time it's just Bruce and I (and the dogs).  It's our office!  I love it there.

I wrote a haiku and found a quote by Henri Frederic AMIEL.  It is my happy place.