Workshops 2017

ws171

Today is the very first day of the summer holidays. The kids finished school on Friday. The last dinner of the last workshop until fall was on Friday night. When I came down to the kitchen the following morning I could still smell the barbecue from the night before, the ashes were still in the fireplace – even some unwashed glasses waiting their turn. I walked into the big dining room, the one we sometimes call the “harvest room”, with copper pots on the walls, a table with lemons and Champagne, a table in the corner filled with cognacs and armagnacs. In the middle of the room is a huge dining table, one that fits up to 18 people (if they like each other – and they always do). There were still some corks on the table, a stack of breads that were slowly going stale. In the middle of the table, as always, there was an abundance of fruits and vegetables, flowers and candles. As I was gathering the last items to bring back with me into the kitchen I couldn’t help but think of all the people who have sat at that table in the last year, a group so miscellanioussly from all over – in terms of geography, profession and age.

This year we’ve had Brazilian, Turkish, Italian, German, Austrian, Chinese,French, Persian, English, Israeli, Polish, Swiss, Croatian and of course Canadian and American people.

There has been dancing on tables, photography contests, singing, dancing, friendships have been forged, tears shed. There has been Champagne and great wine tastings. Most of all there has been good food and good times.

And I have been led to believe that everybody has been either satisfied or very satisfied. We’ve even had quite a few people return.

ws172

Next year

I had planned to announce new dates in the fall like we did last year but lately I’ve been getting so many emails asking me for dates in 2017, people (everybody seems to be more organised than I am) want to plan ahead, which I understand, and so we’re announcing early this year.

In 2017 there will be fewer workshops than this year and while I have really enjoyed this experience and will continue to do so, I think 2017 will be the last year we do so many workshops. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that doing one thing, even a thing you love, often prevents you from doing another. And we have big plans. In the future we want to make more books, we have so many projects waiting for us, which is exciting but it all requires time. One of the things we are planning to start next summer and continue in force in 2018 is to help with the revival of our village, a farmers market once a month in our garage (it used to be a stable for donkeys). It was that or a spa and a farmers market is more us 🙂

I hope to gather the best producers in the region, we’ll have music, food stands, oyster men and winemakers. It will be beautiful.

But let’s get back to the workshops.
We decided to make a few changes for next year although the format of the workshops will be similar.

The workshops will all be 3 days.

Many of them will be more specific, we thought it made sense to gather like-minded people with similar interests so they could focus on what interests them.

We have also realised that people who come here really love wine and therefore every class will have more amazing wines and winetastings. My husband (and our sommelier) has been going overboard with good wines anyway and we need for it all to make sense.

ws173

So here are the dates and themes of 2017:

April

“The Spring workshop”, April 5-7

The first workshop of the year. A classic setup of cooking together all day and having lunch and dinner together. We’ll visit an asparagus farm, focus heavily on spring vegetables such as fava beans, artichokes, chard, asparagus etc. We’ll have wine tastings in the house, perhaps with an emphasis on white wine. This workshop will be very light on meat and suitable for vegetarians.

“The Antiques workshop”, April 26-28

Twice a year Bordeaux goes “brocantes” mad when the biannual antiques fair comes to town. Quinconces (the biggest square in Europe – well so they tell me) fills up with hundreds of tents of all sorts of antiques and various pretty objects. We’ll go there early in the morning one of the days and spend all day together in Bordeaux. We’ll visit some of my favorite Bordeaux addresses (most to do with chocolate, food or wine) and have lunch and dinner in very special places in Bordeaux. The other two days we’ll stay closer to home, cook together like we always do but each of the days we’ll visit local antiques stores for additional inspiration and finds. The food will be highly influenced by the “brocantes” mood.

May

“The early Summer workshop”, May 10-12

As classic at it gets, we’ll do it how we’ve been doing it for the last two years, meet in the mornings, cook lunch, have it together, drink a little too much … then start again for dinner. A proven formula for success.

“The photography workshop”, May 31-June 2

After 2 years of half resisting, of giving little tips and presiding over the very popular “photo survivor”, my husband will finally relent and do a full-on 3 day photography course. Every day will have a special theme, there will be field trips of course and at least a big part of it will revolve around food photography. This is where I would use the words food styling if me husband would let me. He will also give a class on retouching, color corrections etc. We will of course also cook together and have meals every day as we do in the regular workshops.

ws174

June

“The wine enthusiast’s workshop” June 14-16

This is where we will go overboard with wine tastings and pairings, we’ll have winemaker guests, visit Châteaux and have a guest sommelier with us the whole time. Read: FUN! We’ll have a fair amount of Bordeaux but also explore wine from other regions in France and even a little from other countries.
Needless to say there will also be cooking and dining as usual.

“The “sweet” workshop 28 – 30

A woman or man cannot live on sweets alone (or can they?) so we’ll cook some good savory things but this is where we go crazy with desserts. I’ve always wanted to do a class where we rush through the mains and end up having three desserts per meal.

July

“The special summer and Bastille day workshop” 12-14

Another dream has been to do a very “outdoorsy” workshop, al fresco dinners every night, barbecue on the beach and fireworks on Bastille day. During the day we’ll go cycling in the vineyards and have lavish picnics among the vines.

September

“The fall workshop” 27-29

Another “classic” workshop where we stick to the proven format of cooking and eating all day. Seasonality of course comes into it with this being one of the richest seasons of all, we might visit markets and even pop by a wine harvest if the time is right but mostly we stick to our format.

October

“The harvest and foraging workshop” 11-13

This workshop will be a little more physical than most, waking up early to hunt for mushrooms, bringing them home, cooking and cleaning. We’ll visit pumpking farmers and a beautiful chicken farm, we’ll go fishing in the morning and if the stars align we’ll participate in on of the harvests that are happening all around us this time of year.

“The second wine enthusiast’s workshop” 25-27

Like in June we will go overboard with wine tastings and parings, have winemaker guests, visit Châteaux and have a guest sommelier with us the whole time. This time the emphasis is firmly on Bordeaux wine, white but mainly reds and some Sauternes. Big wines – big fun.
Needless to say there will also be cooking and dining as usual.

November

“The second Antiques workshop”, November 29 – December 1

When I announced the workshops last June I could not possibly have imagined the incredible demand we had for the April Antiques workshop. I have sadly had to turn over 50 people away and while I had no plans to host a workshop in November I just couldn’t pass on this opportunity – so we’re adding a second workshop just like the first one. As I said earlier, twice a year Bordeaux goes “brocantes” mad when the biannual antiques fair comes to town. Quinconces (the biggest square in Europe – well so they tell me) fills up with hundreds of tents of all sorts of antiques and various pretty objects. We’ll go there early in the morning one of the days and spend all day together in Bordeaux. We’ll visit some of my favorite Bordeaux addresses (most to do with chocolate, food or wine) and have lunch and dinner in very special places in Bordeaux. The other two days we’ll stay closer to home, cook together like we always do but each of the days we’ll visit local antiques stores for additional inspiration and finds. The food will be highly influenced by the “brocantes” mood.

All workshops are 3 days and the price is 2.000 euros per person. Should someone not drink at all they can be excused from paying the 500 euro wine supplement.

As before we will be very happy to recommend accommodation near my house, we have a good list and good contacts.

I will also be more than happy to answer any question regarding logistics and the best way to get here.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Mimi xx

For all bookings and further information please contact
[email protected]

Additionally if any of you can get together a group of 6 people I can arrange something outside the published dates for you, if the dates and stars align.

ws175

33 thoughts on “Workshops 2017

  1. mimi- this all sounds very exciting and lovely as usual, I’m still processing your last post , sort of a love letter to your new little one and it was just perfection.I really think there’s a children’s book somewhere with you and it includes the ladies in black gathering olives . xo

  2. Aaargh! I’ve almost exploded with excitement. And I just realised that I fired off an email to you without even finishing reading which workshops you were offering!?

    Super fantastic lemon plastic.

    I’ve no idea what that means. Think it just means overexcitedness.
    xx

  3. Hi Mimi! Love your blog. I’m afraid I know the answer to this question already but I was wondering if your workshops can possibly accommodate those of us who can’t eat gluten? Thank you!!

  4. Brilliant MiMi!!!!
    Such a beautiful year you have planned.
    Your guests have no idea how very, very, lucky they are!!!!
    Love to everyone!!
    xo

  5. Your workshops sound so full of fun, idealistic and inspiring! Wish you weren’t so far away so I could attend. Regardless, I can’t wait to read more about what you have in-store for the upcoming year.

  6. How do I sign up for the June wine enthusiast’s workshop? I would love to learn more about wines. Bordeaux are ones of my favorite. Please let me know if you still have some openings for that workshop. Thank you.

  7. I adore this post. It came right on our 4th of July holiday and I read it after having our delicious barbecue. I felt hungry again just looking at your beautiful harvest room, your table filled with everything delicious, and reading the post. Do you have workshops planned for next spring? Thank you for making my day. I always love to receive news from you and Medoc. 😊

  8. Would love to be able to go for your workshops one day! But in the meantime, I’ll just admire from afar.

  9. Bring on the gastrotourism!
    I love your description of the morning after, with the remnants of the previous night’s feast. It’s always worth it, isn’t it? (Though a new mom shouldn’t have to do dishes!!!)

  10. Querida Mimi, me encantaria poder ir a uno de tus talleres, vivir intensamente toda la experiencia…es mi sueño.
    ¿Tenéis pensado abrir de nuevo vuestro pequeño restaurante? .Te admiro muchísimo Mimi ,a ti y a tu familia.😚 Muchos besitos para tu bebé . Feliz verano.Rosa.

  11. Bonjour Mimi,
    Vas-tu ouvrir également ton pop-up restaurant pour l’automne? J’aimerais tellement revenir avec ma famille déguster tes bons petits plats!

  12. Just returned home from last week’s workshop and it was even better than expected (and I had great expectations 😉)! Everyone was so lovely and welcoming, the food and wine were amazing, learned so much, really enjoyed the region of Médoc and feel like I’ll still be humming La vie en rose when I’m going back to work tomorrow! Thank you Mimi, Oddur, Allegra and the whole gang

  13. I do miss France, especially our little corner in the pays basque. Dancing on tables and bubbly obligatory 😉 xxx

  14. I just put on my bucket list to spend the year in your village and attend every workshop…how I wish I could. Your writing is pure pleasure (even when you are simply detailling the workshops) and your husband’s photographs are food for the eyes.

  15. Goodness, a year full of stunning workshops! Hoping one day I can make it out, would love to meet! I would also be interested in assisting, if ever you needed an extra hand!! – Christiann

  16. I think it’s awesome that you want to serve the community where you live in a more meaningful way! The workshops of the future sound absolutely lovely-food and photography- I’d attend them all if I could. Just love reading your posts! Xo

  17. I discovered your blog yesterday when browsing on the Cote Sud magazine website and fell in love with it immediately! The atmosphere, the marvelous pictures of your beautiful home and family together with the fresh and delicious looking food are just pristine. Also very inspiring – I had to give a refresh to my own blog the same evening. What a great idea too to hold workshops, especially the ones on antiques and photography, combined with cooking – what a lovely mélange! We usually spend our holidays in south of France but now I wish we could discover wonderful Medoc and take part in both workshops …

  18. Mimi, the story in Veranda (Sept-Oct) issue along with the beautiful photos was eye-popping. I just pre-ordered your new cookbook which will arrive just as our days grow shorter and colder in New England. Can’t wait. Janet

  19. Mimi, your new book is breathtaking. I gave a copy to my best friend who lives thousands of miles away from me. We stay connected as she cooks her way through your book, and we live vicariously through your beautiful words. Thank you for sharing your life and family with us all.

  20. Do you have space in the May workshop?
    My friend Ewa Zebrowski told me about the workshop. I am hoping there is space?
    I am a photographer . Would love to do this workshop.

    Thank you. Anne

Leave a Reply