Words : Rita Golden Gelman
Photos : © Travelbird

How About a
        Gastronomic Hang-out
                                            in Nantes?

Hello Again,

This time I’m writing from Nantes, France, where I am just finishing up two weeks with my friends, Lars and Nirin. You met them in the book, remember? I met them in 1997 when I was doing my dive course on an island in Lombok, Indonesia. Our first meal together there (I can’t talk about them without talking about food) was barracuda, two hours out of the ocean, pure and gently flavored with ginger, soy sauce, and lemon. (Lars made barracuda two nights ago when we had a small dinner party. My contribution to the meal was ho mok.) Since my arrival, we have had oysters (several times), braised endive with vinaigrette, a coconut-pumpkin soup, several different fish with wonderful sauces, beef cheeks in a sauce that had red wine, herbs, and chocolate in it. I never heard of beef cheeks either until I ate them that night. They cooked (the beef cheeks did) for three and a half hours!

I also wrote about the time Lars and Nirin visited me in Seattle and managed to create an elegant 60th birthday party in my Goodwill apartment, with escargot, gravlax, chicken curry, and chocolate-mousse-for-fifty (we were about 15). Since our meeting in Lombok, we’ve laughed and eaten and talked a lot….. all over the world.

Lars is a professionally trained chef; Nirin is a doctor who cooks. And hanging out with them is always an unbelievable gastronomic experience…..whether on the road or at their table. They are the classic definition of the word “foodies.”

Yesterday I convinced Lars that he should give cooking lessons for my friends (that’s you if you are reading this) and anyone else who wants to laugh a lot, eat exquisitely, and have a vacation in Nantes for, say, a week…three full days of shopping and cooking and eating with Lars….and four days or however many you choose, of doing whatever you want to do (it would be a waste to fly over and not see the area). The cuisine would be primarily French with maybe a couple of Swedish dishes thrown in…like gravlax or meatballs. The choice of what to cook would be up to the group.

' There’s a reasonably priced (60 Euros for a double), adequate hotel (nothing wonderful, but two-stars-adequate) across the street from their apartment... 'I decided I’d write about this because so many of my letters are from women who say they are afraid to do anything out of the box. Here’s something that would be easy, safe, and very out of the box and fun.

Today, Lars and I put our heads together and came up with some ideas for a three-day food-adventure. There’s a reasonably priced (60 Euros for a double), adequate hotel (nothing wonderful, but two-stars-adequate) across the street from their apartment, and there’s cooking space for four guest-students in Lars’ and Nirin’s kitchen. We decided that the class should be no more than four.

You would be in Lars’ hands for three full days. The first night: a welcome dinner and a meeting to determine what the group would like to cook. The next morning: shopping in the market (I love the markets!) for days one and two. The third morning: another market shop for the meals on day three. The shopping, cooking and eating would be for three whole days straight.

When the three days of cooking are over, you’d be on your own, free to explore the city, take a boat to the Atlantic coast, drive to the castles of the Loire Valley (that takes a few days and Lars and Nirin would recommend their favorite places to stay), do a wine tasting, drive to a fishing village, go biking, take walks, or even go to Paris if you want. I’d advise skipping Paris. Nantes is a wonderful city; check it out on line.

I just asked Lars if he thought the Loire castle trip would be packed with people. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so, because you have to like food and wine and castles and gardens.” !!!

We talked about how much to charge and decided that for dinner, the first lunch, and three days of cooking and eating with Lars, he should charge 450 Euros per person….if there are four guests. If there are only two, it would be more. The hotel and the tours would be booked separately by each person. And the cost of the food that you buy in the markets would be split among the four and not part of the 450 Euros.

This wouldn’t be a budget trip. It’s not quite the same as staying in a hostel in Thailand and eating in the market, but it would be lots of fun.

If you think you might be interested, write to Lars: nirin_lars@hotmail.com. He’s thinking of doing it in September, but he’s open. How many groups, would depend on the response. It would be a fabulous week. And I strongly suspect that you might get Nirin in the package too, at least during the eating part! That would be a special perk.

France is expensive. Nantes is very cultured and sophisticated. And Lars, who is Swedish, is fun, talented, great company and not all that cultured or sophisticated!! I love him….and Nirin too. So will you. And cooking with Lars and watching him in the kitchen will inspire you to experiment with new freedom in your own kitchen.

(Written on February 16, 2009)

© travelbird