French Cooking with guest Mardi Michels

Mardi Michels is originally from Adelaide, Australia. She spent six years living in Paris and now lives in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a full-time elementary level French teacher at a boys’ school. She is also the author of two cookbooks and owns a home in France that operates as a vacation rental. She has kindly accepted my offer for an interview so we can learn more about her.

Mardi Michels

Carole: Bienvenue/Welcome to ‘French Views’ Mardi. When did you first begin to learn the French language and why did you choose to become a French teacher?

Mardi: I started learning French when I was in grade 7. That would be around age 12. Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, foreign languages were not introduced until high school for the most part. I can tell you that when I was in high school I would not have imagined that I would become a French teacher, at the time I couldn’t imagine anything further from what I wanted to be when I grew up! In fact, my path to becoming a French teacher happened because, after I left school, I lived in Brussels for a year as an exchange student. I went to school in Brussels (all classes in French for one year) and returned to Adelaide to take up journalism studies with a side of French language and literature. After one year of journalism, I decided that was not for me and pursued an arts degree, majoring in French and minoring in Spanish. I continued to do an Honours degree in French and then took a teaching certificate because I still wasn’t really sure what to do! Taking the teaching certificate was probably the best decision I ever made. It has opened so many doors for me!

Carole: Do you have any tips for adults trying to learn the French language?

Mardi: I definitely think it’s more difficult to pick up a foreign language as an adult, at least for most people. I truly believe that the best way to learn a foreign language is to be immersed in it. Also, having a reason to learn the language will help! Being in a foreign country on holidays for a couple of weeks, you may learn a few key phrases but if you are living in a foreign country for an extended period of time and, say, renovating a house or dealing with administrative paperwork, you will very quickly learn what you need to know and how to communicate. I know it’s not always possible for people to go and live in a foreign country for an extended period of time but that is what vacation rentals are for, right ?

Mardi’s first book ‘In the French Kitchen with Kids’ includes a recipe for Quick Croissants.

Carole: You have been blogging about food for many years now. How did your real interest in food start?

Mardi: Yes, I’ve been blogging about food for 11 years! In fact, I was interested in going to culinary school when I left high school but, at the time, there was a higher cost associated with that type of trade school in Australia. University was free at the time or at least very cheap compared to now. So I didn’t choose the trade school route at that time. I lived in Paris for a number of years when I was in my late 20s and my interest in, and appreciation for, French food probably started there. After I’d been living in Canada for a few years, I began a masters degree in Second Language Teaching through the University of London in Paris. This course required me to be in Paris for three summers and complete distance work in between and while I was there for those three summers I set up a private blog for family and friends where I wrote about my experience. At the end of it all, I realise that most of what I had written about was the food so when it came to taking a creative break in 2009 before I was due to start my PhD in Second Language Teaching, I chose to do a ‘new media’ course where I was to set up a blog. Of course, I chose to set up a food blog!

Carole: Can you please share the story of how you came to be teaching French cooking?

Mardi: I actually started teaching my own students to cook back in 2010. I saw Jamie Oliver speak in Toronto during his ‘food revolution’ days where he encouraged people to “pass it on“. Meaning, I teach a recipe to three of my friends and they teach a recipe to three of their friends and slowly but surely everybody gets back to more home cooking. I started my cooking club a few months after that, teaching students at my school to cook once or twice a week after school. I quickly realise that kids are pretty capable and moved from fairly simple recipes to more complex ones. The interest in French cooking obviously comes from having lived in France for a number of years and studying the language and culture for years and years. When it came to choosing recipes, I didn’t see why kids couldn’t be learning how to cook French dishes. Or adults either for that matter!

Have fun cooking some French food with your kids!

Carole: You are the author of ‘In the French Kitchen with Kids’ published in 2018. I imagine it was quite time consuming to write a cookbook. What did you find the most surprising thing about the process that you wouldn’t have thought of before you started?

What is your favourite recipe from the book? What age group is it aimed at?

Mardi: The most surprising thing about the process of writing a cookbook was just how long it takes. From the initial conversation with an editor in October 2015, it was another year before I had an agreement and a contract and another three years before the book came out. This is pretty standard in traditional publishing as, when you might start talking with them, they have already planned out their publishing calendar for the next few years. This is one of the reasons why I have chosen to self-publish my next book, releasing it a chapter at a time so people can get cooking faster! My favourite recipe from In the French kitchen with kids? I couldn’t possibly choose one, in fact, I had a hard time narrowing it down to just over 60! It is aimed at ages 9 to 12, if you look at the publisher’s information, but it really is for everybody. It’s why I am targeting my next book at, well, everyone!

Mardi’s first book has lots of wonderful recipes. To purchase, the link at the bottom of the post, will provide more details.

Carole: I believe you offer online cooking classes too. Are these also for children or adults?

Mardi: Some of the cooking classes that I offer online are specifically for children. But because they are online classes, whole families sometimes end up joining in the ‘all ages’ classes! It’s the beauty of Zoom!

Carole: Do you have plans for another cookbook? Can you share any details?

Mardi: I am working on another cookbook as we speak – French Food for Everyone, self-publishing it and releasing it one chapter at a time. The first chapter, Le goûter (after-school snacks) , released at the beginning of September. You can read a little bit more about it here. Next chapter should be coming out around Christmas and will focus on dinner dishes!

Mardi’s is self-publishing her second cookbook, which you can purchase a chapter at a time. What a fantastic idea!

Carole: Do you have a favourite French food that you like to cook or that you would prefer someone else cooks for you?

Mardi: My favourite French food that I like to cook would be something like a crème brûlée or a cream caramel! Simple to make, simple ingredients but so flavourful!

Carole: I believe that you have a property in France ‘Maison de la Fontaine’ in Nérac near Agen in Southwest France. How did you choose this area to purchase your property? Did you have any specific criteria that you used to narrow the search?

Mardi: We chose the region because I had taken a food photography course there in 2012. We had travelled pretty extensively around France in the years leading up to the purchase and this fits all of our criteria. It’s not too big, it’s not too small. I can reach everything I need without a car, I don’t drive, and it’s lively enough even in the winter!

Mardi’s beautiful property in France is available to rent. See link at the bottom of the post for further details.

Carole: Have you been able to visit France recently? How do you manage the property when you can’t visit?

Mardi: We were lucky enough to visit France this past summer in August 2021 – our first time there in 18 months! We have a property manager and a maintenance person who help us deal with the property when we aren’t there and, of course, our very helpful neighbours!

The delightful village of Nérac, in south western France, is where Mardi’s rental property is located. More pictures in the gallery below.

Carole: Can you tell us a bit about the area? What is special about it? What are your favourite things to do when you visit? Is there a food speciality or dish of the region?

Mardi: Well, did you know Gascony, the ‘other’ South of France, is big foodie destination? From Armagnac and wine to foie gras, prunes and hazelnuts, this relatively unknown corner of Southwest France has so much to discover! Great food, friendly people, gorgeous landscapes (those sunflowers!), it’s truly a gem! Favourite things to do would be simply visiting the market or enjoying one of the summer night markets!