Monday, July 23, 2012

La Cuisine Paris with Mardi


 When you paint someone's cat in Paris you never know where it will lead...

 What good luck to have painted Canadian food blogger, Mardi of Eat-live-travel-write darling cat, Cleo a few years ago...

 Mardi spends many summers in France and was teaching cooking classes at La Cuisine Paris this year.

 Mardi kindly invited me to attend a recipe testing class making classic French tarte tatin and quiche Lorraine.
 Was happy to be surrounded
 By far more experienced bakers.
 I volunteered to peel the pommes/apples for the tarte and grate the Gruyere for the quiche.
 Enhale the carmelizing apple slices (my handiwork!).

 Who knew nutmeg/muscade and cayenne were essential ingredients in a quiche Lorraine?
 Mardi successfully turns out the tarte tatin from it's pan - quite an accomplishment.
 The aromas are to-die-for. 

And the taste of the quiches - absolutement authentique!
 The following weekend K. at Chateau du Petit Thouars made a perfect quiche Lorraine exactly like Mardi's (which I somehow forgot to shoot. Unforgivable!).
 Today L. emailed me a picture of her gorgeous cat, Corky to send to Paris. At least I can paint cats if not bake.
I'm also now an expert at eating tarte tatin thanks to Mardi and La Cuisine Paris!

25 comments:

  1. Lucinda4:58 AM

    I adore tarte tatin and would kill to know how to make it - so impressive!
    Bravo for you

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  2. I passed by this place the other day... and now I know what it is about! Thanks! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Take a class Peter!!

      it couldn't hurt

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  3. You are quite the expert apple peeler and slicer - they look perfect! :-)

    So far, I am only dreaming of eating a real tarte tatin.

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    Replies
    1. Is it possible Vienna does not have this?
      how can this be??

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  4. I shouldn't have read this first thing in the morning. I ry to skip breakfast and now I will be hungry until noon!

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  5. The painting is so pretty! As well as the tarte and the quiches..So much fun!

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  6. Tarte tatin...your pictures and descriptions have almost, almost allowed me to taste that delicious slice! The class looks like great fun, and seems to have a relaxed atmosphere. That seems a great recipe for learning about baked icons.

    I thought of TS Eliot's The Naming of Cats when reading about your Painting of Cats.
    xo

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  7. Thanks Carol for the lovely writeup - it was a pleasure having you in the class! Great pics :)

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    1. So kind of you to let me come Mardi

      The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain...

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  8. Very nice post. I will check out Mardi's blog since she is a fellow Canadian too. Could you please send me a slice of tarte tatin? Merci.

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  9. That tarte looks delicious! Great pics!

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  10. Harry wants to know if Corky wants to go on a date to the Patisserie.

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  11. Ooooooo...love the food but it's the CAT that takes the cake for me. What can I say? I've been a cat person since birth, while it took me until I was 15 to wish I'd been born French.

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  12. Corky's Mom11:29 AM

    Fun to see Corky's pic on your blog!

    My son & I took the macaron class at La Cuisine this past January - great fun!

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  13. Watch out! If you keep up the cooking classes, we may have to award your title, Favorite Baking Flop, to a more deserving cook! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Peeling apples and grating cheese will not get me to 1st base in la French cuisine Jeanette :(

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  14. Wow Carol - this is so cool!
    I love it!
    Jane of La Cuisine Paris

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  15. My mouth is now watering reading her site and your blog!

    I love the Parisian cat watercolor. I thought of a new book I heard of, Susanna Reich's "Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat." Eager to read it.

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  16. As always, I love your painting.purrr... And tarte tatin well...it is the one dessert I can NEVER turn down. Yum!
    Connie*

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  17. J'ai découvert ton blog et j'adore, j'espére venir faire le tour souvent. À bientôt!

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  18. Anonymous6:28 PM

    What fun! And those quiches look divine -- Bet they tasted better than they looked!

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  19. I love the photos, Carol - the facial expressions are great. The shots in the kitchen are all so very sharp with perfect lighting.
    I've never saw the word "carmelized" until about a year ago - now it seems that anything edible has to be carmelized :)

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    Replies
    1. Caramelizing's just a process of cooking sugar to an exact temperature where it turns brown and syrupy
      Very easy to go too far and you have burnt sugar! A real mess!

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  20. Sounds like such a fun way to spend the afternoon.
    I learned a new word today "muscade"
    Merci Carol,
    LL

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