Last fall my husband, Jack, took a short cooking course while we were in Asheville. He enjoyed it so much that when we were planning our next vacation, we thought “Why not go to a cooking school in France or Italy??”

We searched the web for a good program and after considering several options we decided to contact International Kitchen  (click on the name for link to their site) as they seemed to have the best program.  We made a good choice!  I can’t say enough about International Kitchen as dealing with the company was a pleasure from start to finish. The staff was professional, helpful, and accessible.  Everything you would wish for in a support system.  Ok, this is my first “plug” for anything, but I thought I would share this resource.

The program we chose out of the many offered by International Kitchen was Cooking in Brittany at the Kerrouet House Cooking School.

The chef and owner of Kerrouet House could not have been more pleasant, helpful, and accommodating.  The group was small, congenial, and the atmosphere of the school was as though you were visiting a good friend, cooked together, and then settled down to a celebratory dinner.

Cooking can be a lonely activity, after all “too many cooks spoil the pot”, so it was a treat to be with a small group of like-minded people. Below is a sketch of Jack happily engaged in preparing a dish under the watchful eye of the chef in the background and two of the other class members.

The last day of the course we proudly posed for a group picture 

and then went out to the garden to relax with a glass of wineWe had reason to be proud of ourselves.  We had met every morning and every afternoon preparing lunch as well as dinner.  Each meal was composed of three courses – a starter, a main dish, and a dessert.  There were many dishes, many preparations, and many chances to improve our skill in the kitchen with instructions from Chef Paul (wearing the apron).  It is hard to say which dish was my favorite, but if I had to choose one it would be Celeriac Remoulade which served as the basis of a starter served with scallops and garnished with basil oil (a bit like pesto) which I have included in this blog. (click on the name for a link to that page)