To cook with ease, to dance with the seasonal offerings year-round whether you have a garden or shop the local markets, to let go of perfection, and find enjoyment both in the creating (which truly can be quite simple) as well as the eating. I am so excited to be able to make available to you a new video course that teaches you how to experience all of this.

I began tinkering in the kitchen with the help of my mother who is a wonderful baker and cook when I made my first lemon meringue pie. Tart au citron or lemon meringue, whichever form it takes, continues to be a trusted favorite for dessert in my book. The exploration continued as I LOVE delicious food, and was determined to learn how to make it for myself as I often had a small budget being a public school teacher, and the kitchen became a place to feed myself well.

Fast forward to studying in France when I was 21 back in 2000, and I discovered why the French are known for delicious everyday fare, as we enjoyed three or four-course meals both for lunch and dinner everyday while at school in Angers. The neophyte foodie purchased and packed French cheese to bring home on the long flight, and needless to say, I was a stinky arrival when I stepped foot back in Portland, Oregon, picked up by my parents. Happy to be home, as it was my first solo-excursion, but carrying with me scrumptious memories of the food!

The years rolled by, and eventually I returned to France in 2012, again enjoying classic, yet everyday dishes that tickled my tastebuds. Gradually, now over the past seven opportunities to visit France, having taken French cooking classes in Provence with Patricia Wells, Susan Hermann Loomis in Louviers, Normandy, as well as in Portland, Oregon, and then just recently enrolling in Le Cordon Bleu Paris’s short courses to learn the fundamentals of sauce creation, the kitchen is a place of great enjoyment for me.

While yes, I do occasionally have dinner parties with friends, it is the everyday cooking and occasional baking that I love. I don’t spent a lot of time during each instance I am in the kitchen, but I regularly enjoy making all three meals during a day for myself. Rarely without a cookbook, and always with the help of my trusted tools, a well-stocked épicerie/pantry and seasonal produce to keep my palette satiated and my body and mind healthy, yet satisfied, my kitchen is a happy place to be, a place of nourishment that elevates the rest of my life as I go about living and doing where my work and interests take me.

In this new video course, I want to show you how you too can do this. It is possible, and especially if you are cooking for yourself, you deserve to care for yourself well. And if you live with multiple family members and/or a partner, finding a rhythm of cooking where everyone can discover both the ease and delight of creating meals and treats they love, this course will provide the skills to explore and find the joy in creation for everyone.

Throughout the 11 Lesson-course, you will progress through the building blocks of knowledge, first, ensuring you have the best tools, but not excessively so (sharing which to invest in and which there is no need). Then stocking your épicerie/pantry for year-round support to make whatever you crave or need to make the seasonal menu you choose. Then we begin with what is at the heart of delicious French fare year-round – vegetables. Yep! The French do not subjugate les legumes to a lesser-than on the plate, and in fact, it is often the only thing on the plate and it is delicious always!

Gradually, as you move through the course, different skills will be repeated as a reminder of how everything dances with each other, and once we have covered proteins and how to add flavor, we step into the sweet side of life as only the French know how to do so deliciously and beautifully well.

Again, all of what is taught is for everyday enjoyment. We leave the fancy, artistry food and dishes to the cookbooks and the true chefs to teach you should you be interested in continuing your cooking and baking journey after learning these essential skills.

Shared below is the overview of the 11 lessons, but as you will note, one is missing! Once you enroll, you will discover what that lesson is, but I assure you it is a daily item to savor that you will never feel guilty about. Tucked throughout the course are ‘easter eggs’ sharing details about the French food culture, and many different photos and videos of my trips to France – the markets, the food, etc.

(1) Kitchen Essentials for Success
(2) Cooking with the Seasons
(3) Vegetable Sides as Decadent as a Sauce
(4) Cooking with Seafood
(5) How to Add Flavor to All Dishes (veg, starches, etc.), including other Proteins
(6) Cooking with Eggs
(7) Cooking with Sauces (How to Keep it Simple)
(8) Vinaigrette (how to make your own salad dressing every time)
(9) Baking Classic Pastries
(10) Classic Simple Desserts
(conclusion) How to “Dance” in the Kitchen and Enjoy Cooking!

At the End of Each Lesson: To conclude each of the 11 lessons, I will be offering a challenge for you to complete before you move on to the next. This is completely optional, and nobody is checking your work. 🙂 But I wanted to make this opportunity available to you as a way of gradually building your confidence because we only grow in the ease we seek through hands-on experience.

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Let’s take a look at the trailer for the course

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Now to the free gift from France for the first 20 who enroll on Sunday August 24th!

I am delighted to share with you that Filt’s classic net shopping bags, the large net design with short handles in the color Scout, will be shipped around the world for free to whomever those lucky 20 enrollees are. Have a look at the bags below as modeled in my kitchen at Le Papillon. They are sturdy bags, and easy to store when not in use as they can be tucked away into a pocket or inside your market tote.

This free gift from France is available to everyone (members or non-members), and is open to all students wherever you may live in our grand world. You simply need to be one of the first 20 people to enroll on Sunday August 24, 2025.

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The Price and a Limited-Time Discount!

We launch this course just as La Rentrée is about to begin. A time of the year when we look ahead into a new work and school schedule, following a few weeks or months of les vacances. Choosing this time of year to launch the course was decided for two reasons – it concludes the 10th Annual French Week (peruse all 21 posts shared during the week here) AND there is time to take and complete the course before September arrives should that be your goal.

With 15 hours of video content, I project it will take students about two or three weeks to complete it with steady progress. Based on the length of the course, the price is $95 (regular), BUT if you are an Active TOP Tier Member, you will find the special promo code in August’s A Cuppa Moments that when you apply it at checkout, will save you 20% off. Just make sure you purchase the course within the first month of its launch. So, the discount is only available for use from August 24th until September 24th.

Because this is a self-paced course, and yours for life, you can start taking the course whenever it best suits your schedule. And any updates or additions to the course, are yours as well for free.

Enrollment begins on Sunday August 24th at 11am Pacific time, and you will visit the Online Courses/Classes page on the blog to enroll.

Be sure to check out the FAQs page for the course here if there are any questions you have.

I look forward to sharing with you the joy I have discovered that most definitely elevates my everydays, and I know it will yours as well. Bon courage !

Explore all of the Posts Shared during TSLL’s 10th French Week