Oh well......

I've been searching the internet for over a month trying to find a cooking class in Paris that I can take. While most plan their trips to the City of Lights to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa...the visions that pop into my head are trips to the market....visiting a quaint cafe' for coffee and croissants....flea markets and walks down the streets of Paris....I'm not as much interested in going inside all of these places as I am just walking down their streets.

I want to see the people....learn their culture....and then live is as closely as possible for the few days I'm there.

Well....not so good news! It looks like there isn't a cooking class available during the week between Christmas and the New Year! Not that they are full....they just take that week off! I guess I should have expected that....just didn't cross my mind!

So, now for Plan B!!! I'm going to make a trip to Barnes and Noble today to see what kind of great French Cookbooks I can find......and I'm going to pay a little bit more attention to the Barefoot Contessa......and I'm going to see if I can find some old Julia Child cookbooks.....and I'm going to teach myself!!!

More than anything, I want to prepare an authentic French dinner for everyone on New Year's eve, then take a stroll down the Champs Elysees and have champagne (the REAL stuff) to bring in the New Year right there! So, between now and then, stay tuned as I learn new French cooking techniques and try them out on fabulous dishes, all the while compiling my menu for New Year's eve. Should we have Coquilles St Jacques? Bouillabaise? Boeuf Bourguignon? Hmmm....we shall see!

Sooooo......what to do with the funds I'd set aside in my mind for the cooking class??? Easy.....by the time we arrive in Paris, the menu will be set. The only thing to decide will be what wines to pair with the dishes. Sooo.....we'll go to a wine tasting and walk out with the wines for our dinner, of course!

Now I'm excited!

By the way, if you're going to be visiting Paris and it's not between Christmas and New Year's, this is the cooking class I was looking at: CLICK HERE!