Cooking Classes, On Rue Tatin, Louviers Normandy France

Outside Susan's door on rue Tatin

First course, Normandy mussels

La Londe, my B+B "town"

"Before"

"After"

Delicious fish soup, not cream based

Denise with the Tarte Tatin she made

Susan adding olive oil to the three tomato soup I made. Reds were put in an ice cream maker

Susan's favorite fish mongers at town of Neubourg

Denise filleting a flounder

One of my assignments was cooking Skate Wings

Our last lunch: all things we bought at the outdoor farmer's market in Neubourg and prepared

Monday morning the 4 students reconvened at Susan's home at 10:30 to begin cooking our lunch. Since the focus of this week's classes is Seafood, there was a lot of fish on the menu. Susan figured we all know how to measure so all the work stations where set up with ingredients (mise-en-place) and with the equipment we would need, ready to make the dish plus we didn't do cleanup, so it was pretty ideal situation! We were given aprons to work in (to keep) and away we went. Every meal, we had an appetizer, main course, salad, cheese and dessert, plus wine from her cav. We ate our meals that we prepared together in Susan's dining room which is a very small three story house built in the 1100 and 1200's. It is cozily decorated with windows that look out to the 15th C cathedral across the street. The tiny house, attaches to a larger building that is the main part of the house. There is a slight elevation difference between the two buildings so there are several areas of one or two steps to negotiate where the buildings join.  The ancient, very small house looks to be out of Alice in Wonderland because it is  off kilter, so small and is timbered. To add to the patchwork house, Susan's Cav is located outside her kitchen and down old stone steps and is actually under her neighbor's house. At one point it had been a part of a tunnel systerm under Louviers. The tunnel here has since been blocked off in two places and old old empty wine bottles line the back of the cav. Susan has hosted Halloween parties every year since her daughter (now 12) was small, so you get the idea of the atmosphere of her cav. It's perfect for storing wine as it stays an even 56 degrees year round. So after cooking for a couple of hours, we sat down for lunch. In all, we prepared 4 meals over 3 days. Three standouts for me was a fish soup, three colors of tomatoes in a cold soup and the best tarte tatin ever!! That's first on my list to make when I get home! Tuesday evening, we had no class, so I drove to Rouen with Denise, about a 40 minute drive when one knows how to get there! It was heavily bombed during WWII so it was surprising to see many half timbered buildings. Rouen is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and Monet painted the cathedral. On our last morning in Louviers, we made a trip to a local outdoor market in Neubourg about 25 minutes away by car. There, vendors sell seafood, vegetables, fruits, cheeses and clothing. First we had "coffee" (read hot chocolate for me!) in a cute, cozy cafe to warm up as there is a chill in the air. Susan told us about an "Adonis" selling apples, so we had to get a gander at him. He was alright but the best thing is, he's passionate about the apples he sells. One of my classmates and I went off down the street to check out an antique store Susan had told us about and we both found little somethings to take home as mementos. All too soon our cooking together was done. It was a wonderful experience,  really fun and I learned a lot. It was special to cook with Susan in her own kitchen after having read her book about her life in Louviers  "On Rue Tatin" years ago; one of my all time favorite books!