"Au pays de la lavande" workshop - last few places left for next Thursday 5th May!

Join us for our last "Food on your Plate" workshop before we take a short break over the summer!

Christine from Made in Provence will be with us to share some culinary delights her region has to offer. This time we will learn just about all there is to know about Lavender.

As always the evening will include French tuition throughout, cookery demonstrations all topped off with a 5 course meal complete with accompanying wines and special Provençal goodie bag. 

It's a fantastic opportunity to brush up your French, learn vocabulary related to the recipes you will discover as well as enjoying a good old fashioned meal with friends of The Way to France, all for just £60!

The menu is as follows:

1. Amuse-gueules served with vin de Muscat
2. Assiette de crudités
3. Ratatouille niçoise
4. Tomates provençales - vegetarian option available upon request
5. Gâteau au citron et à la lavande

Contact us now on 01223 46 14 45 or by email to book your place for next Thursday 5th May from 6pm at at Cook's Barn, near Cambridge.

Au Pays de la lavande

Let’s wrap up this academic year in style by welcoming Christine once more to Cook's Barn in Cambridge! Our friend from Made in Provence will be joining us to present the last “French on your plate” workshop before the summer, Au pays de la lavande, on Thursday May 5^th 2011 from 6pm.
  

Join us for 4 enjoyable hours exploring the South of France and discover little known facts about Provence's most precious commodity: lavender!  As always there will be a cookery demonstration in a relaxed atmosphere so you can practise your language skills before enjoying one of our beautiful dinner parties complete with wine and laughter!

Do not miss this fantastic opportunity to practise your French with us before the holiday season. Very handy if like a lot of Brits you are hopping across the channel this summer. 

Prices are still at the amazing value of £60 per person with a 10% discount for multiple bookings and early birds who book before the Royal Wedding! Contact us for full details and to book your place today.

Les Français et la Fête

It's amazing to realise just how many reasons to celebrate the French can come up with in a single year!  In addition to the usual festivities of Christmas and Easter we've added many others such as the Epiphany and its traditional “Galette des Rois”, Candlemas and Mardi-Gras  both with heaps of pancakes, Carnival, May the first with lily of the valley everywhere in town and many, many others...
  

The French celebrate mothers and fathers, and also grandmothers and grandfathers and even neighbours and girls who reach the ripe old age of 25 who are still single, les Catherinettes! As if that wasn't an old fashion concept in itself, if bachelorettes decide to mark this occasion, they are expected to go to work wearing a fancy hat.

Not to be outdone, the French also adopt other countries’ festivities without blinking.  Any excuse to throw a party!  Halloween that old Gaelic feast, became French (again) recently as well as American, St Patrick’s Day is not to be missed either.  

The French also celebrate their 
Patron Saint’s name, receiving a card & present just as they do on their birthday. Far from being very devout these days, they still wouldn't miss any of the Catholic holidays on the calendar as to make “le pont” (create “a bridge”) between the day of the week they happen & the nearest weekend!      
None of that Bank holiday Monday business we get here in the UK which only allow for a three-day long weekend, not if you can make last to five days!!!And there are so many festivals all around the year and all over France that you’d better check first before you book your holiday if you want to find a hotel room or don’t want to be stuck on the roads with another few millions French drivers.  
The biggies are Bastille Night, August 15^th or November 1st. You’ve been warned!

On the other hand you will never forget La Fête de la musique in Paris (and throughout France) in June, Les Voix de la Méditerranée in Lodève or La nuit des Chimères in Le Mans in July, the Fête de jardins in Paris in September, the Nuit blanche in Paris in October, the “Carnaval” of  Dunkerque or Nice in February ,  Bastille Night anywhere, to name but a very few.

At our latest French on your plate workshop we prepared lovely Easter treats and people left with bags full of “Florentines” and “Biscottis” as well as portions of the scrumptious “brioche de Pâques”. All enjoyed a beautifully delicious “Buffet campagnard au vin des Pays de la Loire” with an “Ecrasé d’aubergines” and a “Salade composée”.

Join us in May when we shall go back to “travelling” up and down a region  and that will be to one of the most appealing parts of France: Provence. This time we will learn (almost) all there is to know about the Lavender country.  Numbers limited as usual so book now.  This will be the last “French on your plate” workshop before the summer.

See you on May 5th at Cook's Barn!

Hurry! Last few places left to join our workshop to make French Easter treats

Hurry, you can still join our food lover's group this coming Thursday 7th of April 2011. As always this is a fantastic opportunity to brush up your French, while at the same time trying your hand at making some sumptuous recipes!

Pascale and Francine will be sharing more of the thousands of ways the French celebrate food, Easter being no exception. At the end of the evening you will delight in the fruits of your labour by sampling all that has been made and taking home, some new ideas to share with friends and family.

Here are a few recipes to wet your appetite:

• "Ecrasé d'aubergine au cumin", a fresh idea for a starter 
• Master the art of making "Florentines" with Pascale's expert guidance
• We love traditional favourites "Croquants à l'anis" & "Pain de Pâques"

The workshop starts at 6pm at Cook's Barn near Cambridge and consists of:


Language tuition tailored to this month's theme of "Friandises de Pâques"

A cookery demonstration where you can try your hand 

A meal shared by all the course participants including wine & baguette, bien sûr!

Still at the amazing price of £60 per person, with a 10% discount when buying 2 places or more. Limited places left, so contact us to book your place now! We're sure we can squeeze you in.