Day "5" Uniworld : Cooking School at Chateau Ambe Tour Paret

PHOTO: Shrimp at Chateau Ambe Tour Parret (c) Sery Kim

I love French food. Anything and everything, from escargots to foie gras (yum!) to beef bourguignon (personal favorite) to tartines and every variation thereof, I adore French food. A-D-O-R-E!!! I probably would live in Paris if I had the chance because I absolutely love the entire French culture. Alas, the only thing I don't "love" about French food is when I have to cook it myself (haha). It's hard and arduous and very easy to mess up. This is why I always joke that the whole point of having men around is so they can cook food for me, particularly French food. Key to my heart? Cooking me beef bourguignon, with French music playing in the background, with lovely Bordeaux wine. C'est marveilleux!

But, despite my recalcitrant attitude on cooking the food myself, I do love to learn about French cooking. The movie, Julie and Julia, is one of my favorite movies, as is the French movie Haute Cuisine. Essentially, I adore watching OTHER people cook ... ;-)

Still, when I had the opportunity to take a cooking class, I could not pass up the chance. We went to Chateau Ambe Tour Parret where this magnificent winery has a super cheap 6 euro rose and 11 euro red which I would have literally bought two crates of if it didn't cost me 100 euro to ship it back to America. Of course, they neither ship to America nor do they have an online distributor but Uniworld will ship back 6 bottles of wine for 100 euro. It's the same price whether you ship 6 or 12 so something to remember if you go on this cruise!

PHOTO: On the left is a baby, one-year-old vine. Three more years until it is ready. On the right is 25-year-old vines. (c) Sery Kim

PHOTO: Hydrangeas with the fresh dew of morning on its petals (c) Sery Kim

PHOTO: Cooking with wine, what's not to love (c) Sery Kim

PHOTO: What I know of cooking with prawns -- probably my favorite photo ever! -- (c) Sery Kim

Cooking school was a blast. The instructor had us make our own lunch, which meant all the food was very easy to make. Starter of prawn; main entree of pork; and caramelized pineapples. All were super fresh, healthy and absolutely delicious. Simply wonderful but it really was the wine which stood out.