A Year of French Kitchen Adventures in Southwest France

Discover the Four Delicious Seasons of Gascony!

Winter Truffles, Spring Greens, Summer Fruit & Fall Wild Foods beckon you into my French Kitchen all year long in Southwest France. Join me here as I travel over the poetic and lush Gascon countryside searching out the best artisan food producers, the most colorful farmer’s markets, special gastronomic museums and delicious off-the-beaten paths to a hidden winery that only an insider would know where to find!

I invite you to indulge in the tranquil setting of my 18th-century guesthouse- Relais de Camont along the quiet canal towpath, explore the walking and bike trails at hand or help the 'master digger' tend Camont’s fertile organic potager and heritage fruit orchard. Friends join me to help teach you the basics of good simple French cuisine-- local cooks, talented French housewives and professional chefs. Our cooking classes are fun and informal yet feature the best artisan food produced locally by passionate friends and neighbors.

The Butcher, Baker & Armagnac-Maker open their farms and own kitchen doors for you to discover the secrets of good cooking as practiced for centuries in these country kitchens of Gascony. We cook and eat locally-- very locally! A day's outing to an armagnac cellar yields the golden brandy we use to prepare a guinea fowl roasting in it's own juices. A visit to a goat's farm supplies the chevre which we'll bake into little savory 'cheesecakes' served with an onion confiture. This fertile countryside is a four-season Super Market where you meet "the people who turn dirt into food".

• Winter: January and February offers special 'Duck, Duck, Goose' weekends devoted to discovery the art and soul of confit and foie gras making in Southwest France.
  
• Spring: March-May are busy food producing weeks for Artisan Food School programs (7-day to 4 week programs featuring workshops with artisan food producers, markets and cooking classes.)
• Summer: June- mid September European Culinary Adventures with Kate in other regions of France, Italy, Spain and... beyond.
• Fall: Sept- end of Nov. the French Kitchen warms up to Taste Gascony! Weekends with autumn fires, armagnac distillation and cooking weeks devoted to game, mushrooms and other wild things!

Taste Gascony! Weekend Cooking Breaks run year round, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, and includes two cooking classes, one market excursion, two dinners and one lunch and two or three nights’ accommodation at the Relais de Camont. Local transportation not included. For more information on dates & rates click here- Taste Gascony! Weekend Breaks in Southwest France.

Come Join me for a French Kitchen Adventure in Gascony,

Kate Hill

www.timclinchphotography.com