January Cook’s Club: Cooking in Paris
The Cooks' Club kicked off the new year at the Friendly House for a stimulating conversation with Evan O’Neill and Mary Bartlett about their experiences, cooking, eating and living in Paris. Evan attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris in 1999 and worked as an intern in a Michelin 3 star restaurant. Mary currently lives in Paris for half the year, cooks regularly for very large groups who attend the Sunday dinner salons at Jim Haynes’ [url=http://www.jim-haynes.com/ atelier]http://www.jim-haynes.com/ atelier[/url] in Paris, a weekly dinner event for over 30 years. As the Cook's Club attempts to tackle a cookbook of our own, Mary also shared her experiences in writing her own cookbook, Throw a Great Party, based on the many meals she has cooked at Jim’s Sunday dinners.
Over seasonal mandarins, Theo chocolate and a sparkling wine from the SW of France, we learned many interesting tidbits from Mary and Evan. To our amazement, kale is not commonly found in a Paris market! In addition, eggs sit out on the counter, the fish monger, butcher or baker are important relationships in a Parisan's daily life and children are taught to love the culture of food from a very early age. We also learned what an interesting group Food Front cooks are, as cookbooks and stories were shared, including an adventure in dining on rabbit (furry ears intact) in rural Yugoslavia.
The Cook's Club is still looking for recipe ideas for the Food Front Community Cookbook. Please submit your recipe or ideas, along with your name and contact to cookbook@foodfront.coop
The Cook's Club will meet again on the 2nd Sunday of April. Until then, happy cooking!