Nothing, but NOTHING, motivates one to clean the kitchen like having a French pastry chef come to your home for a Cooking Class! Everything shone to a fare-thee-well and when the magic show had ended there was no trace that anyone had entered the kitchen…was it a dream? Well, it was dreamy, all right!
Angels helped to bring this about. You may recall that there were computer issues awhile back. During that time, the August 29th issue of the Lincoln Journal Star carried the story of how Chef totes his pastries to the Farmers Market. His story touched my heart and soul, so I ‘hired’ the heavens to help bring him to the Club House for a Cooking Class. Having a real, live chef has been a dream of mine for awhile.
When the computer was up and running again, I contacted Chef Lawrence through his website. He responded instantly and shared with me that the news item had produced so much interest and new customers for him that he felt the need to give back. He would be delighted to come and share with us. Had we connected a week earlier the answer would have been ‘no’ because he was just too busy. Angels have such great timing.
His philosophy is simple: “Get 9, give 1.” In other words, he ‘pays it forward.’ What’s not to love about that?
Chef Lawrence De Villiers, a French Pastry Chef from Lincoln, NE, relaxed in the Club House before he taught us about crepes!
Prior to his arrival, we made nice for him:
We learned at the outset that all cooking is meant to be simple. Use simple ingredients. Be sparing with herbs and fixings. When making crepes, it’s best to whirl the ingredients in a blender or food processor and let the batter rest for at least one hour before preparing the finished product! This allows the bubbles to dissipate so there are not holes in the crepes.
Chef discusses his work in a homeless shelter in the Bronx, after arriving in the USA from Normandy, France.
After Chef Lawrence had given us an overview of our lesson and had shared some of his story with us, he proceeded to the kitchen. WOW, were we impressed!
These videos were made possible because of Food Stamps Cooking Club supporters:
Judy Coe, Videographer
Dustin and Wendi Buggi, Technical Advisors Extrordinaire
The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post. Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated. Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline. Always do business with those you trust implicitly
PS: We live for comments! Chef Lawrence will appreciate your comments, also! Thanks for your patience as this blog post was being prepared FOR YOU, dear members!
This set of videos is a delight for those of us who couldn’t be present in the flesh. Love your French Chef. He is skilled, compassionate and knowledgeable. Thank you for posting the videos! So happy I got to watch.
Thank you, my good friend! I so wish you could have been in the Club House with us…I’m thinking that Jeff will like Chef’s crepes as well as cakes or cookies. Well, maybe! grin
Wow, that looked awesome. Sorry I had to miss it, but Jerry did thank me for staying home with him.
So glad everyone had a good time and it looks like you learned lots also.
Thanks, Renita. You were sorely missed. Hope Jerry is feeling much better. Maybe I’ll make you a crepe next time you visit.
I hope you guys can partake of some of Chef’s goodies. The Farmers Markets in Lincoln will soon be history for the season but his pastries would be SO worth the trip to Lincoln.
Loved the French Chef Video, Connie! Great job! Am so glad you got to video part of the presentation! Since I could not be there in person. Just got there too early, didn’t I? Sure loved seeing you! I couldn’t make the video of his story, run though. Don’t know why. Love you! And love the works that you are doing!
Oh, my gosh, Chef Lawrence was awesome!! DO go to his website, http://www.restaurantnormandy.com/, and book a time to have him come to YOUR house and cook for YOUR friends…he brings everything but the plates you eat on….and he even cleans up!! What a genuine, kind, talented young man!
Oh, Nancy, you’d have loved the whole thing…Chef was delightful, some of my best peeps came and the weather was perfect! I’m sorry you could not see the vids…they are up on YouTube; you might wanna scope them out.
Heaven and earth had to be moved to get them up. It was a collaborative effort with Dustin Buggi as the Big Gun. Oh, my…
So glad you popped by, Nancy. You are retired so we expect a return engagement!
I don’t get any credit for the videos. That glory goes to Judy and her peeps and to Dustin Buggi, who was the Big Gun responsible for the success of the video making it to the world wide web!
I am also writing you with a cleaning question. My rental home came with a newer stove, but previous tenants appear to have frequently let pots boil over and drip into the drip pans underneath the electric coils. I scrubbed. I washed in the dishwasher. I made a paste of water and baking soda, then sprinkled with white vinegar. No avail-it’s corroaded, black gunk on them, and I would rather not spend $ to replace these pans, as this is a rental. I finally have placed each drip pan in a ziplock bag with some amonia, in hopes that this will do the trick.
I have twice now, had a cleaning crew go thru this home. This was a luxury, budgeted for but now it’s on me. THe kitchen floor had been waxed using dirty water (can’t explain it otherwise). I need to first strip the wax before i can reapply it. I have some wax containing floor cleaner from Dollar Tree a la “Mop and Glo” Mom used in years past. According to the label, if the old wax is dirty, and needs to be removed, use an amonia-water solution, let it sit, wash the floor 10 minutes later. It helped but it’s not as I would like. I tried Comet, and the abraisive did help some. I can now see some clear/clean tiles (these are square, linoleum floor tiles) I still see some dark brown dirty wax areas. Sigh. I am thinking that I need to do the amonia trick again-is there something else you recommend?
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This set of videos is a delight for those of us who couldn’t be present in the flesh. Love your French Chef. He is skilled, compassionate and knowledgeable. Thank you for posting the videos! So happy I got to watch.
Thank you, my good friend! I so wish you could have been in the Club House with us…I’m thinking that Jeff will like Chef’s crepes as well as cakes or cookies. Well, maybe! grin
Hugs
Mother Connie
Wow, that looked awesome. Sorry I had to miss it, but Jerry did thank me for staying home with him.
So glad everyone had a good time and it looks like you learned lots also.
Thanks, Renita. You were sorely missed. Hope Jerry is feeling much better. Maybe I’ll make you a crepe next time you visit.
I hope you guys can partake of some of Chef’s goodies. The Farmers Markets in Lincoln will soon be history for the season but his pastries would be SO worth the trip to Lincoln.
Love
Mother Connie
Loved the French Chef Video, Connie! Great job! Am so glad you got to video part of the presentation! Since I could not be there in person. Just got there too early, didn’t I? Sure loved seeing you! I couldn’t make the video of his story, run though. Don’t know why. Love you! And love the works that you are doing!
Oh, my gosh, Chef Lawrence was awesome!! DO go to his website, http://www.restaurantnormandy.com/, and book a time to have him come to YOUR house and cook for YOUR friends…he brings everything but the plates you eat on….and he even cleans up!! What a genuine, kind, talented young man!
Great video work Judy and Connie!
Oh, Nancy, you’d have loved the whole thing…Chef was delightful, some of my best peeps came and the weather was perfect! I’m sorry you could not see the vids…they are up on YouTube; you might wanna scope them out.
Heaven and earth had to be moved to get them up. It was a collaborative effort with Dustin Buggi as the Big Gun. Oh, my…
So glad you popped by, Nancy. You are retired so we expect a return engagement!
Love
Mother Connie
Seriously, Pastor Kathy–the kitchen showed NO TRACE of his ever being here. BUT he left tracks all over our hearts.
So happy you could participate and thank you for taking time to leave a comment.
Love
Mother Connie
I don’t get any credit for the videos. That glory goes to Judy and her peeps and to Dustin Buggi, who was the Big Gun responsible for the success of the video making it to the world wide web!
Thanks!
Hugs,
Connie
great post… loved it I will be trying these out soon.
That’s wonderful! What a day that must have been for you! (And I love his accent).
Connie,
that looks fantastic!
I am also writing you with a cleaning question. My rental home came with a newer stove, but previous tenants appear to have frequently let pots boil over and drip into the drip pans underneath the electric coils. I scrubbed. I washed in the dishwasher. I made a paste of water and baking soda, then sprinkled with white vinegar. No avail-it’s corroaded, black gunk on them, and I would rather not spend $ to replace these pans, as this is a rental. I finally have placed each drip pan in a ziplock bag with some amonia, in hopes that this will do the trick.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Connie
Another cleaning question:
I have twice now, had a cleaning crew go thru this home. This was a luxury, budgeted for but now it’s on me. THe kitchen floor had been waxed using dirty water (can’t explain it otherwise). I need to first strip the wax before i can reapply it. I have some wax containing floor cleaner from Dollar Tree a la “Mop and Glo” Mom used in years past. According to the label, if the old wax is dirty, and needs to be removed, use an amonia-water solution, let it sit, wash the floor 10 minutes later. It helped but it’s not as I would like. I tried Comet, and the abraisive did help some. I can now see some clear/clean tiles (these are square, linoleum floor tiles) I still see some dark brown dirty wax areas. Sigh. I am thinking that I need to do the amonia trick again-is there something else you recommend?
Forgot to add: the cleaning crew scrubbed the kitchen floor both times, and told me that it wouldn’t appear clean until the old, dirty wax is removed.