The sometimes chef

I'm going to share with you some of my food indulgences on my recent trip to the South of France, in the area La Belle Plagne, as well as in Paris. This is the adventure of my boyfriend, Michael and myself. After eating and drinking our way through France, I find myself truly inspired and with more energy than ever!

You wont believe the cheese in the South of France when I tell you its the best cheese I have ever eaten! It made me realize how tasteless and synthetic our cheeses are in South Africa ( I'm talking about our every day cheeses, like cheddar). My favorite cheese that I sliced into my fresh croissants (with a strong french accent) in the morning and ate as a snack with torn off pieces of local baguette and cured meats, was the delicious French cousin of the swiss Gruyere cheese - Comte. This is found in the Franche Comte region of eastern France, where all the milk comes from cows grazing at at least 400 meters altitude. Comte is manufactured collectively village by village with the production method having changed little in hundreds of years.

Another great traditional French meal is the Raclette. This is where the Raclette cheese is melted and eaten with roasted potatoes, small gherkins and pickled onions and cooked over a Raclette grill. We slightly adapted ours and added red peppers, onions and more cured meats. What a treat to indulge in so much cheese without a touch a guilt, really, how often are you in France?!

We were in the area La Belle Plagne, staying with my boyfriend's family, and were there for 10 days to hit the slopes in the April season, where the snow was still great! Everyday we spent lunch on the slopes and sat on the deck absorbing the warm sun. You've got to try a Vin Chaud ( hot wine ), it has a very spicy, citrus and aromatic flavour, and does the job of keeping you warm.

How is this for a carbonara? You can just imagine how it tastes. The fresh pasta just makes the world of difference. Great presentation with the raw egg that you pour over yourself. Thats one way to impress your guests at a dinner party.

Most nights we cooked at home in the apartment which proved great fun when going to the one and only little grocery store in the village for sourcing foreign ingredients. This is me below with a toad in the hole dish we cooked one night. I didn't expect it to rise quite so high, maybe the altitude has an effect?

We skiied over to Italy one day and had lunch at a gorgeous local Italian spot. For starters we had a platter of assorted cured meats, marinated artichokes and brinjal, pickled onions and amazing bread to dip into Italian olive oil. I was in my element. Below is me feasting on a mouthful of tiramisu and its nothing like the tiramusu we're used to at home. Its light, creamy and heavenly decadent. Facial expressions say it all :)

Have you ever eaten a pizza with an egg cracked on top? Its actually great! Try it next time.

After spending our 10 days skiing in La Plagne, we took the train to Paris early in the morning. Paris is the most spectacular city. I felt my eyes couldn't absorb enough of its beauty. How sophisticated the French are, and I love hearing the beautiful language being spoken. Below is Mike at a cafe called St Regis. He ate a perfectly cooked simple pasta dish, while I ate my first french onion soup of the trip and had a caesar salad. The onion soup had a rich onion flavour which I dipped pieces of baguette into :)

Angelina's is a must see when you're next in Paris. Basically the hot chocolate is melted chocolate in a cup. It is incredibly rich, and instead of giving you milk to add, they give you wipped cream!! This is only for extreme sweet tooth lovers.

As part of my birthday present from Mike, we did a course at Le Cordon Bleu in paris! It was the most amazing experience to be in the prestigious kitchens and be taught by the top chefs of the world. The chef could not utter a word of English to my delight as I just loved hearing him speak, so we had a translator. The class was filled with people from all over the world that were as foreign to Paris as we were.

Our workshop was called Appetizers in a glass. And this is what we cooked...

Jumbo shrimp with fresh goats cheese and red pimento gazpacho served in a glass.
Calamari and whelk kaffir lime and coconut, green asparagus puree served in a glass.
Cucumber jelly flavoured with rose, chicken with sate served in a glass.