“Simple French Comfort Food” Cooking Class

March 2024 started off with a bang, with a full class for the “Simple French Comfort Food” cooking class. The blustery day started out with a little rain, so a nice warm fire and a comforting menu was perfect. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and made delicious recipes that culminated in a relaxing lunch, à table. All my students were an inspiration for me. Merci!

À Table For A Relaxing Lunch With Recipes Completed

Winter Storms Brought Spectacular Sunsets

Welcome winter rains brought spectacular sunsets. The mature trees have been trimmed. The garden pathways replenished with fresh mulch. The flowerbeds manicured. The vineyard and roses pruned and poised for another growing season. The potager has been planted.

The garden and vineyard are waiting for longer days and warmer temperatures. I am hopeful all this wonderful winter rain will promise a spectacular showing in spring.

Olivenhain Garden Club Visiting March 2024. Thank You For The Photo By Olivenhain Garden Club

In mid-March, The Olivenhain Garden Club came for a garden tour and a glimpse of spring emerging. Just like your favorite perennial, this club, and many other lovely garden clubs have been here before for a visit, and have seen the garden and Domaine de Manion evolve over the years.

The Olivenhain Garden Club comments and compliments were so nice. They didn’t go hungry, I prepared a few different charcuterie boards and platters for them.

One Of The Charcuterie Boards. A Little Something For Everyone

“Meet The Masters” Check-In And Book Signing For Gabriela Salazar

Mid-March was The Village Garden Club of La Jolla’s “Meet the Masters” 2024 event with program speaker, fabulous Gabriela Salazar, an internationally recognized floral artist and grower out of Mexico. She wowed us with her flower philosophy and technique in flower arranging.

It was a huge, fun, successful event. I helped, along with many dutiful ladies checking guests in, and giving them their table seating. It was a pleasure to be on this committee with my fellow members. Hats off to The Village Garden Club of La Jolla!

As March continued to unfold, spring was emerging, slowly but surely. First, narcissus bulbs appeared in the lawn, next Cherokee rose started to bloom, and then wisteria came to life in purple pendulum display. Early spring was here!

Naturalized Narcissus Bulbs Transition Winter Into Spring

Cherokee Rose Beginning To Bloom White

Wisteria Over the Shed Heralds In Spring

March 2024 started off with a bang, and is ending with a bang, Easter! March has had momentum with a nice energy, perhaps it will continue throughout the year. I wish all of you a beautiful spring!

Vintage Hen And Chick Remind Us Easter Is Here

Bon Appétit, Bon Weekend, and Happy Easter…Bonnie

The Cook’s Atelier Storefront

One of my best cooking school experiences has been at The Cook’s Atelier in the storybook town of Beaune in the heart of the Burgundy, France region. An easy weekend getaway by train situated, either about an hour south from Paris or about two hours north above Avignon. My husband and I met dear friends in Beaune for a fun weekend. The gals had pre-booked “A Day in Burgundy French Cooking Class” and shopping on their agenda, and the fellas scheduled superb wine tasting venues.

The Cook’s Atelier is a small family business offering French culinary cooking classes, private events, a culinary boutique, and wineshop all situated in a 17th century lovingly restored stone building, beautifully lit by three floors of floor to ceiling windows overlooking a central atrium with a skylight. The original wooden spiral staircase magnificently connects all the floors. Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini are mother and daughter American expats who dreamed of living in France and showcasing their culinary skills and wine background in one of France’s gastronomic meccas. Kendall fell in love and married Laurent, a Frenchman from Provence, moved to Beaune, started a family, Marjorie joined them, and the entire dream and family business has taken off.

The Cook’s Atelier is a visual masterpiece for your senses, from the start of the day to the finish. Your day begins with meeting at the Beaune market with many of their special artisan food producers and buying seasonal ingredients for the cooking class and extended savory lunch. A quick walk through the historic heart of town, and you are at their storefront, ready for your hands-on cooking class. The teaching kitchen is on the top floor, the dining room on the second, and ground floor is the culinary boutique and wine shop at street level. Students are taught and work on recipes for lunch, learn basic techniques, simple recipes, and culinary tips in general.

Handsome Merchandizing Mixes New and Vintage Pieces

Looking Down Through the Atrium

The Cook’s Atelier Teaching Kitchen Ready for Students

The Table is Set for Our Hard-Earned Lunch

“Rack of Lamb with Herbs” and Spring Vegetables was Star of the Lunch

Marjorie and Kendall, A Dynamic Duo

Lunch was seven courses from appetizers to dessert with accompanied wine pairings chosen by Kendall’s husband, Laurent. The copper, the tea lights, the peonies, the embroidered napkins, the soup tureens, all of the details were so simple yet stunning, and lunch was absolutely delicious! A day of savoring “joie de vivre!”

Marjorie and Kendall wrote and published in 2018 a beautiful cookbook, The Cook’s Atelier, with many of the recipes that were featured in our “A Day in Burgundy French Cooking Class.” This cookbook is beautifully written and is organized by the seasons, and how their year unfolds which I always love. My dream is to return once again to this special region of France, and immerse myself in one of their week-long intensive cooking classes. If you can’t make it to France, like this year, many of their curated products are available online at www.thecooksatelier.com with worldwide shipping available.

Do you know of The Cook’s Atelier? Have you experienced a day that totally takes you to another level of experience and thinking, you are forever changed?

Luscious Cherry Tomatoes From the Garden

It has been a splendid tomato summer! Volunteer cherry tomatoes from last summer's plants joyfully returned without a nudge. I had the sweetest cherry tomatoes from May through July. The best recipes are the simplest. I washed the tomatoes, halved them, tossed them with fresh Basil Temecula Olive Oil, dried basil for further basil flavor layering and extra intense flavor, freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper, and kosher salt. I roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees F. for a half hour. At this point the cherry tomatoes caramelize and are ready to be tossed over my favorite pasta or zucchini-spiraled sauteed pasta. It doesn't get any better than this!

"Dressed to Thrill" Cherry Tomatoes

In July, the beefy big boys started making an appearance, Cherokee Purple, Lemon Boy, and Renee's Garden Crimson Carmello, a top flavor "French tomato variety renowned for exquisite flavor." I used these tomatoes for summer sandwiches and sumptuous salads.

Cherokee Purple and Renee's Garden Dark Green Raven Zucchini

In August, the Italian San Marzano tomatoes and Inca Jewels Container Roma tomatoes (seeds from Renee's Garden) start ripening. I want to use the roma tomatoes for rich, flavorful tomato sauces. I sliced and froze the roma tomatoes for recipes for my fall upcoming "Lunch in Provence" Cooking Classes.

Jeweled Roma Tomatoes and Italian San Marzano Tomatoes

To have tomatoes all summer long, plant different varieties for different uses. Always plant a few new varieties to experiment with. Although I sent away for tomato seed varieties from Renee's Seeds, Home Depot had a good selection of different tomato seedling varieties such as Cherokee Purple, Indie Rose, and Lemon Boy.

"Life is endlessly delicious," treat yourself, a friend, or loved one to a fall "Lunch in Provence" Cooking Class! For more information, please visit, Cooking Classes.