provence // what's cookin'?
our time in aix was quickly coming to a close and i couldn't help but admire our hotel one last time. as mentioned in my first post, we stayed at the villa gallici and words cannot describe how stunning it was. i made sure to get up before the other guests to shoot a few of my favorite spots!
every morning, the hotel would have the most amazing breakfast available but i would stick with the classic eggs and bacon...i know, i'm so american! during our last day in aix, we wanted to do something out of the ordinary and so we all came to the conclusion of a cooking class! because there is little cooking (okay none) that goes on in my tiny pre-war apartment, i knew this was going to be a struggle. thank the lord for seamless! we attended our class at l'atelier des chefs in the heart of downtown aix. our chef du jour was françois and we immediately got down to business discussing our lunch for the day.
on the menu:
appetizer: something with a tomato and a biscuit
entrée: veal with some garnish
dessert: lemon macarons with strawberries
(can you tell i don't cook?)
the best thing about aix, and really france in general, is that a lot of the food is purchased at the local markets. so when in rome...err aix...you go to the market to purchase all of the ingredients!
because i didn't really know what i was doing, i did my best to follow françois around and pretend like i did. françois was very adamant that we try just about everything in the market. these items included raw bacon, pure garlic, and the best strawberries i have ever tasted. the first two i was not so fond of. after gathering our ingredients, it was game time to cook! i was secretly hoping that i could not do any of the work and take all of the credit (like my group projects in college) but i knew that wasn't going to happen.
first up were the macarons! the real reason i agreed to a cooking class was knowing the dessert was going to be a masterful macaron. we did the macarons first because they take ages to bake. i now understand why ladurée charges an arm and a leg for just one! i'm not going to brag either but i think i found my calling...so ladurée if you're reading, you know how to reach me!
we continued on with the main course and appetizer and i couldn't tell you how mine didn't end up completely ruined.
it's also not like i needed reassurance of my love for seamless, but cooking takes a lot of time and patience, two things i do not have. so i give a lot of credit for those who have both the time and the skills for cooking! below are the finished products and i have to say, i did a pretty darn good job! but i'm still going to stick with my chinese delivery: at least for the near future.
françois was an absolute gem and i couldn't stop laughing the whole class! even though the admitted he uses the same jokes for every class haha but i mean i would too! as we said goodbye to françois and aix, i had one last snapchat with françois (did you catch it?) to say au revoir to aix and bonjour to les baux!
thank you so much to l'atelier des chefs for having us! it was an absolute treat and we enjoyed every minute! they also have schools in bordeaux, lille, lyon, nantes, paris, strasbourg, and toulouse! it was so sad leaving aix, but we had to switch it up and headed to les baux!
you can shop my look on the full outfit post at our next hotel!