Cuisine Karen Cooking School & Travel

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OPEN NOW - Closes at 2:00pm

Chef & Culinary Instructor Karen Gros, owner of Cuisine Karen, provides French-inspired cooking classes in her Provençal-style home in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Classes emphasize seasonal health-conscious menus, including traditional (subtly adapted) French classics, prepared with locally grown and raised ingredients ~ high-integrity homemade recipes from “scratch” with top quality, healthful ingredients. To quote Julia Child, ““You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces ~ just good food from fresh ingredients.” Two types of classes are offered each month: Culinary Demonstrations and Hands-On Culinary Classes. Chef Karen also offers private cooking parties and company team building cooking events, and is available as a personal chef for your private dinner party in your home or hers. Karen is passionate about passing on her knowledge of classic French cuisine and healthy recipes, including cooking with fresh and dried herbs, spices, and the making of stocks and sauces. Karen lives the majority of the year in Arkansas with her French-born husband, Patrice, a certified organic vegetable farmer, gardening consultant, and owner of Foundation Farm, along with Scruffy, their white cat. Patrice and Karen have two children, Manon, 18, and Marcello, 17, who have left the nest to begin their journey in the world. A newly declared French citizen, Karen shares her love of France by taking small groups on “insider” tours to Paris, Provence, and Normandy & Brittany. Karen organizes the tours from A to Z, emphasizing food, of course, but also history and cultural traditions. Experiencing the locals first-hand is a unique feature of the trips. She classifies the tours as 3-star (versus a 5-star luxury tour), in order to maintain authenticity. Unlike in Paris, where many buildings have been retrofitted to accommodate an elevator, traveling to the Provinces is synonymous with climbing stairs. Comfort, however, is never sacrificed; nor is beauty and taste. As an expert travel planner, fluent in French, and knowledgeable in French culture & protocol, Karen guarantees a unique & personal travel experience, a hassle-free trip of a lifetime. Karen’s culinary education was born the day she married Patrice in Marseille. She has spent much time in French kitchens and has had the luxury of being taught first-hand by her French in-laws. She attributes her success in the kitchen to their discriminating tastes, which have aided in developing her refined palate. Karen never would have guessed when taking French back in high school that she would end up marrying a Frenchman and one-day working part-time in France. Karen has attended master classes at the Lenôtre Ecole de Cuisine in Paris, as well as the Francoise Meunier Cours de Cuisine, also in Paris. She has also attended the Eggstravaganza workshop with baker Jen McAllister, winner of American Egg Board Fellowship, in addition to culinary courses at the University of California at Los Angeles and Santa Monica College. Karen holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and has enjoyed serving as a judge at the Eureka Springs Chocolate Festival for two consecutive years. Karen is thankful to her friend Jennifer at Pierre Hermé in Paris, for bestowing upon her a wealth of culinary knowledge and appreciation, as well as the inspiration to teach culinary classes.