Two weeks residing in an eighteenth-century Provencal farmhouse owned by a world-renown cookbook author and former restaurant critic who enthusiastically teaches you to how to cook, enjoy fine wine, and find satisfaction in the kitchen (and in life). While it may sound like the plot summary of a delicious novel, it’s not. For nearly twenty years, Patricia Wells, America’s preeminent French culinary expert, has shared her home and kitchen with scores of “total novices” who, thanks to her efforts, have been “transformed into confident cooks.”
Wells isn’t just any cook. She is the former global restaurant critic of the International Herald Tribune, the only foreigner and female to serve as a restaurant critic for the French publication, “L’Express,” the author of twelve cookbooks, and the four-time winner of the James Beard award, the culinary equivalent of an Oscar.
The French Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Lessons from Paris and Provence, her latest cookbook, is a reflection upon her years as a cooking instructor, her relationships with students (many of whom have become her dearest friends), and her appreciation of shared meals. Her goal is to show the home cook the “joys of combining good food, good wine, and friends altogether around the table — an experience we can enjoy day in and day out, any time.”
