Recap: Romantic French Dinner and Double Digit-land!

As promised, the first part of this post is a recap of the cooking class Eric and I went to last night.

Eric I ventured into Sur la Table about 15 minutes before our class! We wandered around the store making fun of strange kitchen utensils. Like a mini countertop crumb vacuum! Who knew? Anyway, around 6:30 the class started.

We were welcomed with a plate of brie, strawberries, bread and syrah. I was already very impressed and happy 🙂

We then put on our aprons and our cooking faces!

Here was our menu for the night:

Flamiche (Leek and Cheese Tart)
Chicken Provençal
Noisettes de Porc aux Pruneaux (Braised Pork with Plums)
Pommes Dauphinoise (Baked Scalloped Potatoes)
Mousse au Chocolate

After aproning it up and meeting a few of the other participants we were able to volunteer for whatever dish we wanted to make. I immediately decided to volunteer Eric and I to make the chicken provençal, as it was the lightest dish on the menu.

This is what we had to prep with: Roma tomatoes, olives, an onion, garlic, herbs de Provence, olive oil and parsley.

This was our instructor, Chay, showing us the ropes of the dishes before we started!

So while Eric prepped the chicken by tearing it apart and rubbed it with a mixture of minced garlic, herbs de Provence and olive oil, I chopped the onion into giant wedges and sliced about 4 cloves of garlic.

We also pitted the olives and ended up tossing all of the vegetables in a bowl with olive oil until they were fully coated. We also cut each roma tomato into fours and coated them in olive oil and salt and pepper and then popped them into the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until they were roasted and getting dark around the edges.

Now I don’t have pictures of the next part because my hands were too busy and messy! Next, we took the chicken and browned the pieces skin side down in a dutch oven covered in canola oil. I removed the chicken and then we added the mixed vegetables. We waited for the onions to brown and then poured about 1 cup of vermouth into the pot with the vegetables.

And of course we had to taste it to make sure it was good!!

And it was fabulous indeed. Such an amazing mix of roasted vegetables that had time to marinate and get to know one another. Next, we added the half-cooked chicken pieces skin side up into the vegetable vermouth mixture.

We let this come to a boil and then added some chicken broth the mixture until it just barely covered the chicken. We then put a lid on it and stuck it in the oven for about 20 minutes or so, or until we were ready to eat!

We sliced some rustic sourdough bread to go along with our chicken provençal.

Of course I was so proud of our dish!!!! It was definitely the prettiest of them all.

Gruyére scalloped potatoes

pork medallions in champagne prune sauce

This was my portion. A little bit of everything. The leek tart is hanging out at the bottom of the plate.

I hated it, obviously.

Last but not least, the dessert. Chocolate mousse. This chocolate mousse was seriously some of the best I have ever had. There was hints of coffee all throughout and it was the most perfect consistency. I pretty much at all of it even though I was already so stuffed!

All in all, this was an amazing dinner. Very rich, but such a fun opportunity to learn new techniques and eat amazing food with new people. I highly recommend a cooking class, particularly at Sur la Table!!!

We left happy and stuffed!

Alright, onto this morning! And my NEWEST PDR!!!!!!! And DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! This morning I ran 10 miles!!! It was a perfect morning to run, as the weather was gloomy and cold. I ran along this particularly road that hugs the side of a mountain (or hill I suppose). It was a gorgeous fall morning and I couldn’t have been happier to spend some time with the pavement. It was tough at times as the road was quite hilly, but for every hill there was a recovery period, so my legs were thankful 🙂

I came back and had this giant bowl of greek yogurt with peanut butter puffins, weetabix, cheerios, peanuts and raisins. I inhaled it in about 5 seconds flat.

I also have been fueling on this all day after my run.

I love these Propel electrolyte packets. I was pooped after my run and this definitely perked me up.

Like I said last night, Eric and I are spending the weekend babysitting his little 3 year old sister, Ashley. His dad and stepmom took a romantic weekend trip to Napa. So jealous. So we get to hang back and play with Ashley!!! Eric went to the gym and it was just Ash and me. We did some puzzles…

And by “we” I mean me. I did this puzzle while Ashley was taking a nap. Yes, I am a 5 year old. I was able to brush up on not only my geography, but also my state capitals. Boo-yaaa. Capital of Maine? Augusta. Yeah, that’s right.

After doing some laundry and cleaning all of Ashley’s toys, I made myself some lunch. This is a turkey and mozzarella sandwich with spicy brown mustard and a side of apples and cinnamon. I broiled the bread topped with turkey and mozzarella in the oven for a few minutes so the cheese melted and got all ooey gooey.

We then attempted to run errands, including the mall and Whole Foods. We were at each place for about 10-15 minutes before Ashley got restless. So not ready for kids of my own. I am too selfish. Sorry, I said it. But I absolutely ADORE this little girl!!! She was so cute and we got her a little mini cupcake with a duck on top which she devoured!!!