Provence Delices Blog

• Monday November 08, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Fish
Carpaccio of Sea Bream
Pan Roasted Sea Bream
Fish Fumet
Couscous and Swiss Chard

• Monday November 15, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Confort Food #1
Potato Soup
Cassoulet
Tarte Tatin

• Monday November 22, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Confort Food #2
Moules aux Saucisses de Toulouse
Coq au Vin
Croquettes de Pommes de Terre

• Monday November 29, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Confort Food #3
Poached Leeks white Vinaigrette
Boeuf Bourguignon
Pommes Vapeur au persil

• Monday December 06, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Confort Food #4
Rillettes de Canard
Petit Salé (Salted Pork) aux Lentilles
Masterpiece of hated Brussel Sprouts

• Monday December 13, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Festive Food
Example of Several apps for Home
Reception
Quails Flambées with Calvados
Red and Wild Rice

Format

First and foremost the class is designed to be fun and to give participants the love of cooking. It is also intended to demystify the cooking process, hence the ability of the participants to conceive a menu, buy ingredients and cook at home using simple home cooking appliances.
• Sessions will be held for 2 to 7 persons on Mondays starting April 26, 2010 from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.
• Classess will be conducted by Chef Owner Elie Benchitrit
• Participants will be invited to prepare the dishes hands-on with the Chef.

Hello There! She did not seem to be shocked by the idea.

“Rather condescending- bordering-on-anti-social,” This comment from a participant in my cooking classes on a write-up in this Saturday’s Globe “The Dish” brought me back from my long silence to add my own comments.

The thing is titled “…Informal to a fault…” wow! The word is big! The guys at F’Amelia subject to the infamous write-up, are suddenly elevated (although in a negative way) to, say California, Eastern Turkey or part of ancient Persia. They must be trembling.

I happen to know the owners of this place F’Amelia. Two hard working fellows dreaming of running a restaurant and deserving all the encouragement one can get.
These two, Todd and John, have definitely put any and all arrogance back in the coat room. They are naturally nice and it simply reflects on their way of greeting their patrons.

Unfortunately one of them allegedly had the insolence of “reducing” our royalty J.Kates, by abbreviating her alias-name ‘Catherine’ on the phone. He called her Cathy.
Oh boy, in her own words she says “Were I really a Catherine, I can’t picture being pleased to be reduced –by a stranger- to Cathy”.

For this crime of lese majesty, this rookie restaurateur got 2 columns and half out of four of crass patronizing lectures in the write-up of Saturday ”The Dish”, complete with notes on incompetence in service, mockery, etc.

This woman once called me in a write-up “Sour face” apparently because I did not smile at the door when she came for a visit incognito, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Actually if you open a restaurant you’d better have an impressive pedigree. In other words, to earn the queen’s praise, you have to have worked at so, been the manager of so, opened so with Chef so, took over that restaurant and hired so for a breath taking décor. You should know before you jump into the unknown. No space here for first-time restaurateur dreamers.

When you first open your doors, you should also know that everybody knows better and should expect receiving advices on every thing from everybody. Not the least is to never “take the restaurant for your private dining room”. And if you’re too nice naturally, well muzzle yourself, be distant and have the attitude of a long time professional but not too much either.

Eventually one of these pundits with a certain power will even make fun of you in the Globe’s column. Gratuitous act of course (or perhaps not so) as some among them (writers), like pushing you down to get a notch up for themselves.

As I said numerous times in my blog, what we really need is a contest reserved for the intellectually challenged food writers, followed by a distribution of pink slips to the winners.

Unfortunately nobody listens.

her is without translation our last comm with David:

26 novembre – 5eme jour
no problem the genois is fine it’s just that it started to come out of it’s track in the last 10cm nothing serious. We repaired the dris de spi and the line that tightens the sail on the boum. The asemetrical spi is back in it’s sock as well.
As for the northern route it is blocked by force 8/9 and so is the rumb line.
We are heading south 225 to try and catch the east winds but it looks like the north is influencing that to!
We crossed and comunicated with Polina Star today a Contest 62 nice boat they were heading 250 with there motors that made us think there no wind here lets take the motor penalty to go south.
Well here it is, oh ya I caught a dorad corifen also so we have fish on the menu.
Moral is good we just want to catch some tale with Atika is a catameran so the best condition to go fast is with the light or heavy spi.
for the momment all the boats that went north are coming back south so we are still in good position we will see in the next few days how it all pans out.

Racer started today. for those who are interested try this link

http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/newsarticle.aspx?page=S634259545614800136&ArchiveID=1&CategoryID=71&ItemID=18962&src=

The race starts November 21, 2010 from Las Palmas Canaries to St Lucia in the Carrabian. David is racing on a 15 metre Cat named Atika.
He just arrived in Las Palmas and he is probably partying right now.
Let’s whish him great luck and lots of fun.

• Monday May 17, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Starters
Vegetable Soups: General Method French Marinated Herring
Escargots Persillade
Tuna Salad

• Monday May 24, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Charcuterie (Class will take place in the lower kitchen of the restaurant)

Pâté de Campagne
Ballottines of Stuffed Chicken

• Monday May 31, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Charcuterie
Saucisson Sec of Venison
Lamb Merguez Saussages

• Monday June 07, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with apps
Du Puy Lentil Salad, Roasted Walnuts
Roasted Beets Salad
Frisée Salad, Croûtons, Lardons, Poached Egg
Raspberry Vinegar Dressing
Olive Oil and Citrus Dressing

• Monday June 14 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with poultry
App: Chicken Drummettes
Main Course Confit of Duck
Starch Sautéed Potatoes
Veggies Sautéed Mushroom Persillade

Summer Interruption June 15 to July 31, 2010

Courses will resume Monday August 02, 2010
Program for August will be published in June

Details on reverse

Format

• First and foremost the class is designed to be fun and to give participants the love of cooking. It is also intended to demystify the cooking process, hence the ability of the participants to conceive a menu, buy ingredients and cook at home using simple home cooking appliances.
• Sessions will be held for 4 to 8 persons on Mondays starting April 26, 2010 from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.
• Classess will be conducted by Chef Owner Elie Benchitrit
• Classes will take place in the lounge area of Provence Delices Restaurant, which will be exclusively reserved for the class. Sometimes for technical reasons the class will take place in the lower kitchen of the restaurant.
• Participants will be invited to prepare dishes hands-on with the Chef.
• Elie will demonstrate how to prepare all the items of the Menu.
• He will show the participants each ingredient of each dish, how to cook it and how to present it. He will direct the participants in preparing the dish by themselves for dinner to be served at the end of the course.
• Hot dishes will also be cooked hands-on with the participants if technically possible otherwise only one sample will be cooked with the participants and the bulk of the others will be finished in the restaurant kitchen
• Once all is ready the participants and the Chef will share the dinner together.

Cost

• $ 99.00 Plus taxes per person per session. Cost includes the dinner with one glass of wine. Participants can register for one class or more. A 10% discount will be granted to participants who register for 4 classes or more.

Registration

• Call 416-924-9901
• Fax 647-726-5582
• E-mail: info@provencerestaurant.com

Payment

• Full payment requested upon registration

Cancellation

• Classes are non-refundable
• Transfer to another date or to another person is possible with a week’s notice.
• Provence Delices reserves the right to cancel a scheduled class or classes. Full refund of the canceled class will be provided to the participants.

PROVENCE DÉLICES 12 Amelia Street, Toronto Ontario, M4X 1E1
Tel 416 924 9901 Fax 647 726 5582 www.provencedelices.com
E-Mail info@provencerestaurant.com Blog provencedelicesblog.com

Ph.D in Herring

One would be crazy in North America to write about herring, not to mention including it in a cooking class. Well, my next cooking class, this coming Monday May 17th will be partly about herring, marinated herring I say. I will show the happy participants what marinated herring is all about with frozen vodka to the rescue. Herring and vodka are like two buns in the same pair of knickers. I will leave to your imagination the kind of communication they have together. Just remember that they love each other dearly and if you love one you must love the other.
Those adventurers who order herring at Provence Délices end up loving it even without vodka. Waiters usually forget to suggest vodka perhaps by laziness, perhaps because it is not in their culture, fact is, no vodka. I am going to have to put all my weight in the matter.
Something not to do though, is to drink wine with herring, any wine, it ruins the herring and vice-versa. Frozen vodka, aquavit, gin on the other hand are a must and invite you to eat more herring and drink more of the eaux- de- vie and so on until you start singing.
Somehow herring is a European thing. Almost every country in northern Europe has its own marinated herring tradition and every one thinks the neighbour’s marinated herring is disgusting. Some would go to war on herring recipe (la guerre du hareng) . But that is Europe.
In the Americas, herring doesn’t seem to take off. People here are turned off by the idea. Fishy? Fatty? Who knows? But I will tell you: none of those, if you know what you’re doing.
We in France, ha ha! have our own theory. We did steal the vodka from other countries but like vodka, the marinated herring needs onions, carrots, juniper berries, bay leaves and oil (light salad oil of course). And then, once ready, the herring shall sit on a bed of boiled and diced simple potato salad. If you don’t have frozen vodka, try a martini ice cold and let me know.
Don’t miss the Monday May 17th marinated herring among Soups, Escargots and fresh Tuna Salad.
Vive le hareng !

Calendar & Menus

• Monday April 26, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Sea bream
App: Carpaccio of Sea bream
Main Course: Sea bream Filleted and Pan Roasted,
Sauce : Fumet de Poisson, Beurre blanc citronné, ail et câpres émulsionnés
Starch: Couscous
Veggies Swiss Chard
• Monday May 03, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with poultry
App: Sautéed Chicken Liver
Main Course Confit of Duck
Starch Sautéed Potatoes
Veggies Sautéed Mushroom Persillade

• Monday May 10, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Starters
Du Puy Lentil Salad
Roasted Beets Salad
Frisée Salad, Croûtons, Lardons, Poached Egg
Raspberry Vinegar Dressing
Olive Oil and Citrus Dressing
• Monday May 17, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Starters
Vegetable Soups: General Method French Marinated Herring
Escargots Persillade
Tuna Salad
• Monday May 24, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Charcuterie (Class will take place in the lower kitchen of the restaurant)

Pâté de Campagne
Ballottines of Stuffed Chicken

• Monday May 31, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Theme: Working with Charcuterie
Saucisson Sec of Venison

Program for June 2010 will be published in May

Format

• First and foremost the class is designed to be fun and to give participants the love of cooking. It is also intended to demystify the cooking process, hence the ability of the participants to conceive a menu, buy ingredients and cook at home using simple home cooking appliances.
• Sessions will be held for 4 to 8 persons on Mondays starting April 26, 2010 from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.
• Classess will be conducted by Chef Owner Elie Benchitrit
• Classes will take place in the lounge area of Provence Delices Restaurant, which will be exclusively reserved for the class. Sometimes for technical reasons the class will take place in the lower kitchen of the restaurant.
• Participants will be invited to prepare dishes hands-on with the Chef.
• Elie will demonstrate how to prepare all the items of the Menu.
• He will show the participants each ingredient of each dish, how to cook it and how to present it. He will direct the participants in preparing the dish by themselves for dinner to be served at the end of the course.
• Hot dishes will also be cooked hands-on with the participants if technically possible otherwise only one sample will be cooked with the participants and the bulk of the others will be finished in the restaurant kitchen
• Once all is ready the participants and the Chef will share the dinner together.

Cost

• $112.00 Including all taxes per person per session. Cost includes the dinner with one glass of wine. Participants will be able to order extra wine at their leisure.

Registration

• Call 416-924-9901
• Fax 647-726-5582
• E-mail: info@provencerestaurant.com

Payment

• Full payment requested upon registration

Cancellation

• Classes are non-refundable
• Transfer to another date or to another person is possible with a week’s notice.
• Provence Delices reserves the right to cancel a scheduled class or classes. Full refund of the canceled class will be provided to the participants.

All right two weeks without blog on the food critics tribune.
Sorry but what I read in the papers were of no interest in terms of writing about.
However I was intrigued by the “On the Menu” of Saturday Jan. 23rd. This time, the writer was all into Toronto Japanese Bars and I thought it would be worth a little comment.
So first we got lectured on the habits of the Japanese people: Apparently they go for a bar crawl on there way home after a day of work! Wow!
Everybody does the same thing in every country. Bistros, Cafés etc… are all there to help the workers of the world vent some pressure off the boiler before going home, so what’s the fuss?.
Anyway! Our favorite writer went on a serious search to see if TO which is the centre of the culinary art of the world did have its own Japanese Bars and hey, honest to God, she discovered two of them.
It happens that one of the two is successful, the other is not. So beside the usual bla bla Madame the writer adds on and destroys the one that is not successful to highlight the other. Hum
The process of reinforcing one by dumping on the other, besides being cheap and childish, is also very subtle, particularly coming from a world renown food writer.
Otherwise the rest of the write-up is dull: of course all the dishes of the good one are marvelous and those of the other are not.
Thanks!
The people who keep the busy place busy, know that already.
Now the advise for the public at large: Although I’d love to tell you not to go there, I still think you should check the busy place out but I warn you, you can’t get there, cause they don’t take reservations and the wait to get a table is two hours every day, any time.
So after three quarter of a page in the Globe, the summary is:
One TO Japanese Bar is a no no.
The other is a yes yes but you can’t get there.
A = Zero
B = – Zero
A + B = Zero – Zero = Zero
A total waist of reading time. Thanks! I told you folks! Time for her to retire!