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Provence Cooking Classes
Fitness Classes with Patricia Wells
For two weeks each year Patricia
offers a session entitled 'A Food Lover's
Guide to Fitness'.  These weeks are designed
to inspire and instruct all of us on how
to work daily
exercise into our everyday life. Special
instructors for the week include either Mike
Bee or Julie Selzer, Patricia’s
personal trainers from the renowned Golden
Door spa north of San
Diego. Each day, the trainers lead us
on an early morning stretch, followed by
a varied 5-mile hike. After a break, cooking
class, and lunch, we find ourselves laughing,
stretching, exercising (and singing!) with
a lively 1-hour pool workout. The workouts
are carried out in a pool specially equipped
for vigorous exercising, and each day’s program
varies, with emphasis on stretching and working
muscles in both the upper and lower body.
Students go home with careful diagrams of
all the stretches and workouts they do during
the week.
The hikes are geared to those who have an average to above average
level of fitness, and we do request that students be able to hike
5 miles with some fairly steep hills.
On the food front, most cooks
are looking for ways to reduce fat and calories
from a meal without losing flavor: With a
collection of some 50 recipes to be prepared
and sampled throughout the week, participants
gather a wealth of tips on how to shop and
cook  in the healthiest manner possible. In
Vaison-la-Romaine, we are blessed with the
freshest of season fruits and vegetables,
with brilliant cherries, firm and lovely
artichokes, fresh white coco blanc beans
in the spring, and a wealth of wild mushrooms,
fresh figs, and juicy apricots in the late
summer. The week is also intended to offer
ideas for including more great-tasting vegetables
and grains in the daily diet and how to deal
with portion control. This is NOT meant to
be a week of deprivation, and is not intended
as a week of dieting and weight loss. Nor
is this a vegetarian week: Poultry, fish
and meat will be part of the weekly diet.
Rather, the goal is to introduce a repertoire
of extremely healthy and tasty recipes, as
well as tips that participants can take home
and work into their daily lives. Local wines
from the Rhône Valley and Provence will
be a part of each meal, and wine and food
pairing will be discussed. All the other
activities of regular weeks of At home with Patricia Wells (a market tour, visits to vineyards,
and restaurants) will be included in this
Food Lover's Guide to Fitness. All instruction
is in English. Recipes are geared to the
home cook. Guests are supplied with aprons
as well as detailed recipe booklets that
are theirs to keep.
The class is limited to 10 guests.
The week begins with dinner on Sunday night
and ends after lunch on Friday. The fee is
$4,500 and includes market visits,
all tastings, transportation for local visit,
all lunches, and dinners Monday, Tuesday,
and Thursday. The fee does not include lodging.
(A list of recommended hotels is sent to
enrolled students.)
Click
Here for Sample Class Schedule
Click here for Class Enrollment Details How
to get to Provence
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