This is as Close to a Food Blog as You'll Get

photography by Sheena Bates
If you're just joining Lars, I've been doing a three month collaboration with Haagen Dazs. As in, Haagen Dazs ice cream. As in, they send me boxes of ice cream every month. As in, my dream come true. Not only that, they've been sending me a box of goodies every month including some experiences that I get to do. This month they sent Paul and me on a cooking class to Communal, the best restaurant in the area. If you know me, you know that cooking FRIGHTENS me. Like, I get nervous and anxious and can't breathe too well. However, I LOVE to eat. It's a life-long predicament. 
SO, you can imagine that I was STOKED to go to Communal, but NOT stoked at the thought that I might have to do something like *GASP* chop, and dice, and marinate, and all those other cooking terms that I have to google every time I attempt to do something in the kitchen. My fear was further confirmed when this was at the table upon arrival: Yes. We had to shuck our own peas. *gasp* again! I did learn the proper way to shuck a pea, in case you are interested:

1. Take the end of the shell (not the part that was attached to the vine), and then pop it open between your fingers. 
2. Run your thumb down the center.
3. Run your thumb down the inside to gather the peas.
4. Donzo. You have a perfectly shucked pea pod. 

Sounds simple enough, but there are hooligans like me running around who do NOT know how to properly shuck a pea. After I mastered that, I was pretty much ready to master the whole meal. (As my mom would still say, "NOT!) I was TOTALLY relieved when all we had to do was sit there lookin pretty and watch as the chef (forget his name. doh!) and the sous-chef (his brother, also forget his name. Doh again!), worked their Communal magic on some sweet corn puree, gremolata, cherry tart, and bouqet garni on farro. 
Look at us sittin pretty: Man, posture Brittany!
BUT, just like the dream we call Costco taster stations, we got to pass around the sweet corn puree and sample, which was, of course, delightful. But anything with cream is delightful, am I right? (Danes, you know that's your nectar.) Again, just watchin--though feverishly taking notes for my one day meal for my family--as the chef eggs his tarts.
The chef was all about the mise-en-place, but if I hadn't have taken French in high school I would have Google "meez on plass." It means "putting in place" and the chef was all about mise-ing-en-place-ing.
AND FINALLY! We got to eat! Thankfully, they had prepared our meal beforehand so we could chomp like all domesticated humans do on leafy greens with gremolata (local greens from La Nay Ferme)...
...bouqet garni on farro... ...and cherry tart with tons of cream. And since it's been SO hot this past week, I felt like this cream looked.  Guys, as you can imagine, we had a ball. I'm all about companies taking me out to meals (and money, all about that too). Companies, bring it on!
This post was sponsored by Haagen Dazs who promotes having and sharing your everyday experiences through their HD moment campaign. Tag your experiences with #hdmoment on Instagram or Facebook. This post was NOT sponsored by Communal or La Nay Ferme, but I'm all about them. Thank you to my sponsors who make this blog happen. It's great sponsors who allow me to work full time on this blog. Though Lars is still a huge labor of love, I'm thrilled each time I get to work with a company and create a project for them with my own voice. It allows me to focus on quantity AND quality. I hope to continue doing more of the same thing. But more and better! If you are interested in sponsoring this blog through special projects (or ad space too), email me at thehousethatlarsbuilt@gmail.com.