The Marten and Karen Adventure

It has been awhile so apparently I have been busy doing other stuff, and not blogging.  I do miss it but it seems I don’t take the time to actually sit down and write.  Also, if the weather is nice I prefer to be outside and frankly, I just can’t see the laptop screen when the sun is blazing.

But, about a month ago, Marten came up to me at church and said he and Karen would like to go to the cooking class with us.  My first thought was why us?  But I quickly pushed that aside because, why not us??  We are fun and love to cook!  Apparently Marten wanted to go but NOT cook but just reap the benefits.  I told him that was not an option and he would actually have fun doing it.  So, third time I have been at the C’est Bon Cooking class and it was again wonderful

We started our adventure driving to Marten and Karen’s house so we could drive together taking the back way.

Here we are all ready to go, finally!  Karen had to pack some snacks and protein etc. blah, blah!

Her daughter Sophia asked us to do a crazy face picture but I guess the men were just too cool for that!

The drive to Ottawa was great, lot’s of chatting and catching up and laughing, or course.

We arrived at the B&B, McGee’s Inn and obviously, I chose the Blue room!!

After a quick stop at the B&B to drop off our bags, we walked toward the ByWard Market.

Karen was in a bit of a rush here.  Chop, Chop, let’s get going.  Then Marten pulled her back…

Much better and they are just So Happy!!

We spent a bit of time in this store, searching for just the right bottle and also doing some taste testing as well.  Ended up that the wine I brought was much better, Right Marten??

We spent a great afternoon at the market and know we will return the next day.

Back to the B&B to drop off a few purchases and then we head for the class.

Ron is catching up with Andre and Marten is so excited he can’t wait to wash up and get cooking.

Today we are making Quinoa Salad, Flank Stead and Caramel Pot of Cream.  Oh my!

We start with dessert because, well… it’s the best part of the meal…. and it needs to hang out in the fridge a bit before we indulge.

We each had to separate the eggs.  We needed only the yolks.  The whites Andre took and will freeze them to use at a later date.  We all passed the separation test. Yay!

I did not know that caramel is basically white sugar heated until it looks like caramel.  Who knew?  Well, I didn’t.

Not too many calories in that…..

Heavy Cream was put on the stove with Vanilla from the bean and just brought to a boil. It was then added gradually to the egg yolks and sugar and whisked.

This mixture was put in the bowls and placed on the cookie tin.  Hot water was added to 1/2 the height of the bowls then placed in the oven.

You can see Karen being the good student and taking notes!

all ready for the oven

Now we do some chopping for the Quinoa salad.

Green onions and celery.

The grated ginger, olive oil, rice vinegar and curry powder were added and then it was left to sit so the flavors could combine nicely.

Karen roasted the pine nuts on the stove.  These need to be carefully watched.  From experience, I’m just saying, IF you go outside to talk to someone they MAY burn!!!  Not saying that happened to me….just giving you a heads-up.

We then added all the ingredients.  Andre gave us some good tips and also some spots to buy some of the ingredients she used.

The Cranberries were really good and she purchased them at the market.  We were definitely going to get some of those the next day

Doesn’t it look SO good.  Let me tell you, it WAS.

Next was the Flank Steak. More chopping – shallots.

This was marinated for a while, actually, while we were making the salad.

Here is the finished product.  So easy, yet so good.

And of course, the best part.  The DESSERT!  I think the caramel was a huge hit.

Overall, I think the cooking was a hit.  Even Marten enjoyed it.  I think his mouth was full here. LOL

Somebody didn’t do much work though

The next morning we got to eat again, although I know I was pretty full still.

I snapped a few pictures waiting for the lovebirds to come down for breakfast.  Apparently they have no cable at home so they were trying to watch as much TV as possible!  Whatever!

We would like one of these for around our Pear Tree.

I picked some of the Basil and added it to my fruit at breakfast.

Karen and Marten ordered the Crepes for breakfast and Ron and I were much more practical (or boring) and ordered the Eggs Benedict.

Karen is VERY happy to be eating.

After a great breakfast, we walked back to the Market to look around again

Thank you Marten and Karen for a great time.  It was so fun spending the time with you.  I hope you had as much fun as we did.  I do believe we certainly at a lot but we also laughed a lot too which burns calories!!