I'm starting to really enjoy these Williams Sonoma Free Demo Classes. That's a lil collage of images I took from the morning class.
The Sunday Cocoa-Cocoa girl got taught some very interesting things about Bistro Suppers today. I learned how to make Steak Frites, French cooking of basically Steak & French Fries. I'm not a big steak eater but Omg they used this Steak Pepper sauce called Steak Au Poivi Seasoning Paste that was just delicious.
Now a lil lesson for you. A Bistro is actually the name of a framous french restaurant. Cool. I didn't know that. In making French Fries from scratch you must use Rustic Potatoes. There is actually a process to making them, you can't just cut a potato and fry it. You use a Rustic Potato and are supposed to actually wash the potatoes after you cut them into slices & then place them in a bowl filled with ice water & let them sit in the water for 5 minutes. This makes the inside of the potato slice moist so you don't get hard French Fries in the middle. Woa!! I had no idea!!
Also they recommend getting a professional multi-purpose cutter. Yeah I understand they are trying to sell products but it did make it easier. They have a very good chopper there made by Krups.
(A Krups coffee maker is actually what Doc Brown used to make Mr. Fusion on the delorean in the end of Back to the Future. hehe)Okay, the talented instructor Cathy made the French Fries & then she made the steak with the sauce listed above. You are supposed to marinate the meat in the sauce for about an hour. Oh she used the most delicious thing ever on the french fries. She sprinkled a bit of Truffle & Sea Salt on the French Fries. It was too die for.
Image via the Williams Sonoma site.Truffle & Sea Salt I can't afford to buy some, but Ohhhh it's soo good. Truffles are my weakness. So yummy.
My mom, my cousin Alex, and I went this morning. It was a smaller group so it was a lil cozy. I enjoyed. It was funny I told a friend last night I was going to cooking demos and they were like Oh! Really?? That's pretty cool. They really are. I recommend them. Classes are expensive, so why not take advantage of the free ones!! =)
Okay, it's a new week. I can't wait for Tuesday because I'm going to a Resume Writing Class at my library. Maybe it'll give me a push I need to really start hunting for a new job. I have an art project I'm going to start that I'm excited about it. I'm going to try...well I might try...nah I'm going to try to hang out with the Mess(my Mr. Big). But maybe I won't try. I dunno. Ack.(It's back to weirdness between me and him. I've been doing tidbits about me & him but I will explain it fully here one day) Um...Yeah. I finished the Time Traveler's Wife and this week shoud be a great time to write a review of it due to the book reminding me of him ever so much...
I hope everyone has a good start to the week. If you add a lil liquid Creamer & a bit of Powder Creamer to your morning coffee it tastes just a bit better.
9 comments:
The demo sounds great! Yum!
That's definitely something I should look into. I don't cook. Really, I can't. It's terrible.
Ooh that class sounds like SO much fun! A university in my town gives fun classes like that too and I've always been meaning to try. I think you just inspired me to sign up. :)
Ah this looks so fun!!! I wish I could bake, but sadly I lack the proper touch!
Hey Melanie! Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love yours!
I have a William Sonoma about 45 minutes from me. I keep meaning to take in a demo class. I love that store!
Sounds like a great deal Melanie. I don't cook much, but I can boil toast like nobody you've seen. Ha ha!
Here's some of Barry's randomness for you:
-love your collages, they're very creative
-also like the way you quote a song lyric at the end of your posts sometimes.
-props for the Mr. Fusion pic, I'm a big BTTF fan!
-I've been checking out more Birthday Massacre (yeah, it's all your fault! lol) It's funny that they'd be referred to as "bubblegum gothic pop", lame really because their music can be pretty dark (and at times a little disturbing). Still, it draws you in doesn't it?
To me their stuff is so edgy I couldn't see them going mainstream. Which is good. So I could hardly classify them as pop. It's like commercial punk. If it's commercial, it's really not punk is it, because punk by its very nature bucks the establishment. And this, like punk, is very in-your-face.
-Van Gogh's painting (The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, c.1888) in your sidebar caught me pleasantly by surprise! I love Impressionist paintings. I'm curious, what makes it your favourite, if you don't mind me asking? :)
Barry
Oh great post, some handy tips there. The class sounds fab.
Good luck with the writing class and have a great week.
xoxo
To Barry, Thank you very much for the compliments. I like the Cafe at night because I'd love to go there one day. I know its a made up place, but it looks soo peaceful & the stars are just right. That would be my perfect night maybe a date. Paris, starlight, quiet street, and the beauty of it all. =) Impressionist style is soo gorgeous in its mess. I love it.
Everyone I really recommend the classes because it's free and you really do learn something!! =)
Hi Melanie,
It was actually a real cafe that Van Gogh used as his subject. Here's what he said about the painting in a letter to his sister, shortly after he finished it:
"I was only interrupted by my work on a new painting representing the exterior of a night café. On the terrace there are small figures of people drinking. An immense yellow lantern illuminates the terrace, the facade, the side walk and even casts light on the paving stones of the road which take a pinkish violet tone. The gables of the houses, like a fading road below a blue sky studded with stars, are dark blue or violet with a green tree. Here you have a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colours itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the spot. Normally, one draws and paints the painting during the daytime after the sketch. But I like to paint the thing immediately. It is true that in the darkness I can take a blue for a green, a blue lilac for a pink lilac, since it is hard to distinguish the quality of the tone. But it is the only way to get away from our conventional night with poor pale whitish light, while even a simple candle already provides us with the richest of yellows and oranges. ”
Van Gogh used oil paint on canvas and the painting is 81 × 65.5 cm (32″ × 26″). It was the first time he used a starry background.
I've travelled through many countries in Europe, and of all the cities I've been to Paris is by far the most beautiful, romantic and enchanting. You definitely have to go one day with a special someone!
Oh, and the cafe was renamed Van Gogh Cafe and is still there.
B
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