Class at La Provence

Today, I spent a couple of hours learning the secrets of French cooking at one of the best French restaurants in the Sacramento area with two friends. The best word to describe our class was delightful.

The setting was perfect.

La Provence 1
La Provence 2
La Provence 3

In the class, our clearly knowledgeable instructor demonstrated how to make the 5 mother sauces of French cooking: bechamel, aoili, remoulade, hollandaise, and bernaise.  To his credit, the instructor made these sauces look easy to prepare. I somehow suspect it will not be quite so easy in my kitchen. 🙂

La Provence classThe class ended with a lovely meal featuring three sauces made in class.

La Provence meal
Overall, a wonderful experience.

Interesting Article on Creativity in Scientific American

Cindi May wrote an interesting article in Scientific American entitled, The Inspiration Paradox: Your Best Creative Is Not When You Think. To summarize, creativity seems to benefit from lack of focus. Therefore, a person’s most creative times are when they are not at their peak alertness.

I wonder if somehow the moments when we are not at our peak lessens the barrier between our conscious and subconscious minds?