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Community Corner

Cooking Rendezvous

Cooking classes with practicality and style

The crops are all ripening in the sun. In the farmer's market, stand after stand is piled high with baskets of leafy greens, magenta stalks and sweet peas in a pod but do you really know what to do with them?

The kitchen is there, the intent is there, the basic necessity is there, but when it comes to skill, not even Julia Child could coax some people's skillets onto that stove. 

Time to throw a dinner party. Yes, really.

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And Arlington resident Marie Stoclet Bardon of Cooking Rendez Vous can help.

Cooking Rendez Vous is run by two women and is a cooking class, take-out destination and an excuse to gather with friends all rolled in one. 

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Just like the recipes you learn to prepare, a little of this and a little of that mix together with ease and produce delicious results. The classes teach some basic techniques that Bardon herself learned both tugging at her "grandmère's" apron strings and in more formal cooking classes from when she lived in France.

Not everyone needs to know how to make a perfect souflée but dicing an onion efficiently sure comes in handy and Marie recognizes that. She is very in tune with the energy of the group she is working with and guides everyone, from complete novices to those comfortable in the kitchen, through the recipes and relevant techniques.

At $135/per person, with a group of six friends, at first glance it seems like an expensive lesson, but broken down to bite size pieces the price is a lot easier to swallow even in today's economy. What you learn in the kitchen you take with you and hopefully grow it exponentially.

Each class is really a small party with friends. Perhaps you'll spend a little on a bottle or two of wine and a few bites to eat, but during the class you'll be making a meal to enjoy right away with your guests. Each class is done either at your home or you can arrange to have it at Mme Stoclet Bardon's Arlington home. The ingredients are provided as are all the utensils and "to go" containers. In addition, Marie has a staff member in charge of clean-up so that you don't have to lift a finger unless it is to raise a glass with friends. 

As for the cooking, you do have to put in some work, but that's the fun part and you'll leave with skills, nutritional information, stories and anecdotes to go with each recipe.  During each three hour class you will cook three dishes. Two dishes go home with you and one you will enjoy with your company or classmates. Each dish generously serves five people.

So let's break it down:  prepared dinner for 5 at $40 (minimum), another dinner for 5 at $40, dinner party or lunch with 5 friends $40 - $200 (if you're hosting) add lessons, techniques and recipes you can modify and use over and over again and in fact it is a real bargain.

As we are learning with "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," the Slow Food movement, and from foodies everywhere, we don't put enough attention or give enough time to food. Marie Stoclet Bardon knows that home cooks need recipes that are relatively easy, versatile and can be made efficiently and that is an underlying theme for all her classes.

Eating is daily ritual that makes us who we are - and it requires more respect. For Arlingtonians, there is a great farmer's market right here as well as some of the best, freshest produce, meat, breads, spices, and grains on the market. So the question becomes: what do we do with it all?

To join a Cooking Rendez Vous class or to schedule your own event, just visit the website and you will be guided through the process.

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