At first, I was reticent to teach cooking classes from my home because, “I didn’t want the kitchen to take over the whole house.” Then one day, I looked around and realized it already had. The planters in front are filled with herbs (and only herbs…I can’t be bothered to care for ornamentals), there are vegetables fermenting next to the washing machine (in the coolest part of the house), and cookbooks have made their way into every room. If you want a tour of what’s where and why it’s special, click here.

When I first arrived in France, I fell in love with a way of life that can only be described as “French.” Much of that “belle vie” is fast disappearing in an increasingly modernized, sanitized, homogenized world. But you can still catch glimpses of it, ant like Proust’s madeleine, those glimpses transcend time.