Several months ago, the vacation I had planned with my fellow salsa chicas (going to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival) fell through. So I had to decide, what else did I have on my bucket list? Years ago, when I first started taking my cooking classes at George Brown College a colleague in the office said to me “George Brown? Why don’t you just go to Cordon Blue in Paris?” I find it so funny that she would mention that because the thought had actually crossed my mind in the past. But then I was reminded of a minor thing called ‘financial obligations’ which made me put the idea on the back burner.

However, when I discovered that I had all this vacation time saved up and nowhere to go, I started thinking…Cordon Bleu might not be a bad idea (but not the for the full program since that would involve me having to quit my job and move away – neither of which I’m prepared to do at the moment). But if Cordon Bleu did short term workshops then that might be something to consider. I figured it would be a nice compromise. Then came the other decision – do I go to the local campus in Ottawa or do I go to the original campus in Paris? After much coercing from my colleague (who literally sits at the desk next to me and was nudging me to sign up online) I took the plunge and signed up for a course at Cordon Bleu in Paris. Now it was just a matter of  getting there.

Soon after that, I booked my flight and reserved an apartment in Paris (in a neighbourhood called the Marais). I am now 4 days away from taking the Paris Market Tour class at Cordon Bleu. This class involves going to one of the Paris food markets and learning how to choose fresh produce and ingredients. Afterwards, the teacher/chef gives a demonstration using the ingredients that were purchased that morning. How nice. It’s kinda like a market tour/cooking demonstration which includes lunch. Except lunch and the tour costs 135 euro.

I also decided to sign up for an actual cooking course just so I could cook in the Cordon Bleu kitchens. I will be taking the “Cooking for Friends” class the following day. So now that I have 2 cooking classes booked, I just have to get on the plane and head out to Paris.  Of course I won’t just be cooking while I’m in Paris, I’ll be checking out the shopping, fashion and culture as well.