My yearlong culture trip continues to be both enjoyable and fascinating. If you’re new here, I’ve committed to engage in and highlight the color and culture of a different country each month. This first venture was Spanish flamenco dancing. I enrolled in classes and chronicled the progress (or lack of :-)) on social media and my blog. Next up, cooking French food. Four weeks of butter, cheese and bread was nothing short of delicious. Here’s how you can learn to be a chef gastronomique. Baking French Croissants France is synonymous with food. Their culture takes the art of dining to a new level. In fact, UNESCO declared French cuisine a “world intangible heritage.” Well deserved. When learning to cook French food, starting with classic dishes proves to be easiest. Cooking schools provide classes on how to prepare national favorites such as coq au vin, French onion soup or freshly baked croissants. Two friends and I signed up at Cozymeal in San Diego to learn the art of making pain au chocolat and croissants; a typical breakfast in France served with butter, jam and coffee. Cozymeal features culinary experiences in 120+ cities nationwide and offers online classes. Here is their website: CozyMeal. Our teacher, Fran, graduated from the Cordon Bleu culinary program in Paris. She was kind and patient. Necessary utensils and ingredients were supplied. The class was small with only 12 students. We each received a printed ingredient list and step-by-step instructions. Not being a baker, I thought turning out the golden, flakey layers would be difficult. While the process was time consuming, under Fran’s tutelage it was easy and fun. Croissant Recipe Dough ingredients: 2 tsp. instant yeast 1/2 cup warm water 3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1 1/4 tsp. table salt 2/3
My yearlong culture trip continues to be both enjoyable and fascinating. If you’re new here, I’ve committed to engage in and highlight the color and culture of a different country each month. This first venture was Spanish flamenco dancing. I enrolled in classes and chronicled the progress (or lack of :-)) on social media and
