Cooking class

I thought it would be fun to take a cooking class in France, even though our best cook, Graham, was not with us. We met Charlotte Puckett, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, who has lived in France for years and raised a family. She purchased a house in the 7th arrondisement. Built originally in the 16th century, it was broken into several apartments when she acquired it and she renovated it, finishing the kitchen on the ground level a few years ago.

She has a great gas cookstove and the typical small French refrigerator, but she lives one block from a street with food shops of all kinds and about 4 blocks from one of the fabulous outdoor markets, so who needs to have a large refrigerator when fabulous fresh food is just a short walk away.

I greatly admired her spice drawer.

Look at these amazing veal cutlets. The food IS so much better there!

It is wild mushroom season. Here in West Virginia we do not have all these types, but Charlotte was great offering substitution ideas for the mushroom sauce.

I realized only when I edited the photos that I failed to take pictures of the salad we prepared as well as the cake we had for dessert. How sad!

Charlotte has enjoyed the diverse community Paris has become, relishing in the exotic tastes of foods from Northern Africa and Southeast Asia. She has presented easy recipes in her cookbook, available for sale on http://www.amazon.com/

Her cooking classes are booked through Eye Prefer Paris and can seat up to 6 students.