someones in the kitchen with dinah

such a great experience at the cordon bleu...11 of us...retired couple from dallas and their grown daughters...young couple from mexico-she's french, he's entering cordon bleu in mexico city for pastry chef program, young atty from australia...and 3 ladies from johnson city, tn...one, lisa, reminded me so much of friend annette anderson in raleigh...immediately bonded with her and her pals, teri (we sat beside each other and used the S word a lot) and DJ--twin of carolyn coleman beale....this was twin day as the chef had the same stance and mannerisms of former colleague roger earnhardt

lisa is starting a food blog and has written a cookbook. she inspired me to get cracking on the one i said i was going to do...adding it to the list...they were great fun...told them how much i missed country music...these ladies from tennessee--what's the deal?---are not country music gals...DJ said that she had recently been to nashville though and said she saw a t shirt: shit happens and we sing about it...must get jeff edwards' dad to send me one!---sometime when in asheville, they are going to meet me at razzas for dinner

2 hours at the market...fascinating...wish marget ballard could have been with me

lots of food when we returned including shrimp salad in avacados...reminded me of margaret britts shrimp mold...a must for christmas night....good at easter, ground hawg day and bastille day too...but always tastes like christmas night....margaret, lets have duck with orange sauce this year!

cooking demo...mushroom flan, herb encrusted lamb, incredible fig and strawberry tart

not sure if i've blogged about this or not, but after class, rushed to notre dame to meet louise...saint chappelle was built to house the crown of thorns which a french king had bought from another impoverished monarch....when saint chapelle suffered a fire, the relic was moved to the treasury at notre dame...it is shown 13 times a year...on good friday...and the first friday of each month at 3.

i missed much of the service, but did get to see and kneel before it...encased in glass...looks more like a grapevine wreath than what i imagined the crown to look like...but who knows...impressive service