Cooking School

I find myself doing whatever I can to get through the tough Upstate NY winters. Sometimes I get a bit stir crazy and need to get out of the house so I signed up to take a cooking class at Susan's Cooking School. Dariusz, Susan's husband, is one of my coworkers at the museum. He and his wife used to own their own restaurant back in the day and I didn't get a chance to go there when they were open but if they were open now, I imagine it would be one of my favorite restaurants.

Joe and I enjoy cooking together, but usually Joe does the standards. You know the simple 5 meals that are easy to prepare and that we tend to have over and over. I'm usually the one to scout out a new recipe, something that takes  a bit more time, something we can cook together and something that we can do on the weekend.

Last night's class was excellent. The menu: Chicken Pojarski (chicken cutlets with paprika sauce), buttery asparagus fillo rolls, homemade noodles, and chocolate dipped, heart shaped cookies. A perfect Valentine's meal. I always end up thinking, "This is the best thing I've ever had" and I get all starry eyed and envision myself making this perfect meal for Joe or even for guests.  But then reality sets in quickly. It's not an easy meal to prepare. Susan made it look so easy - had all the ingredients already chopped and ready. Saving loads of time so in reality this meal would probably take an entire day. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you love to cook. Another obstacle. Having the right tools. So on my to-do list: Save cash for a Kitchen Aid mixer. And pasta attachments.  Get a sifter. Find out if I can obtain Hungarian Paprika locally. Set 2 days aside so that I can chop and pre-prepare many many ingredients. Practice chopping up chicken that has bones in it. I've never done that before. Find out if I can make lbs and lbs of homemade noodles and possibly freeze them because the amount of time it takes *(although much much faster with the kitchen Aide mixer!) is quite extensive.
I took Susan's Pierogi class too. Same thing. Drunk on beautiful and delicious little pierogis, excited to sit down and make a bazillion. In reality, I have yet to do it. It's a two person gig, for sure, and I would have to make enough for an army so I could freeze them because I can't imagine doing a recipe like this more than say, once every six months. Just being honest! who has the time really? there is beading to be done!
A cool thing though, 2 of the girls in the class were close to my age, and when they found out I make jewelry, were excited to check out my site. Bad news is, I didn't have a single business card on me. Doesn't that ALWAYS happen. Geesh. I wrote the address down on slips of paper! Better than nothing I suppose!


When I got home the Jade Scott update was still happening. I tell ya, that Jade Scott is a power house and listed for hours and hours, 140 pendants. If you haven't experienced the Jade Scott update day phenomena, I'd say- you might be interested to see how it pans out. If you're lucky, you'll end up with a pendant or two. I was so excited to be able to snag a couple of beauties yesterday. I think the Sailboat might be my ultimate favorite.

You've gotta be quick on your feet though. This is NO game. It's cut throat. :)

Comments

  1. Definitely get the mixer. I got mine as a wedding present from my sister and use it ALL THE TIME! I haven't used the pasta attachment yet, but I've used the grinder. I ended up getting a second mixing bowl to fit it so when I'm on a cooking whirlwind I don't have to stop and wash out the bowl.

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  2. ABSOLUTELY get the mixer!!!! Best tool in the kitchen! And it's one of the things that looks cool when not in use. And clean-up is a breeze! I do recommend at least the middle size model. LOVE LOVE LOVE the sailboat pendant! Can't wait to see what you make with that:)

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  3. I have been in the same "boat" so to speak - I took a cooking class and the recipes seem like a good idea at the time, but it's true that you go back to your old standbys. Still very fun though! To keep busy right now, I am taking a stained glass class and next week I start a PMC clay class!

    Wow - that Jade put in a lot of hours yesterday! Whew! Love the boat! My family used to sail on Lake Michigan when I was younger, so I really feel drawn to that pendant!

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  4. I need a kitchen Aide too, the clean up would be wonderful with hardly any. I made a really great beef stew the other day mushrooms in it etc etc and whoa that took a long time it seemed. I pressure cooked a chuck roast for an hour, peeled potatoes and carrots, cut the onions, cleaned that mess up then had to "make" the gravy to thicken it up meaning another pan to clean up plus the pressure cooker. Took a long time! The 2nd best thing is a specialty shop that makes delectable homemade dishes to buy for dinner.
    Jade Scotts sale was something else last night! If you werent finger fast you couldnt get what you wanted as I was outbid a few times. Ach well theres always next month! The sail boats are lovely. Cant wait to see what you come up with for that!

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  5. Lorelei,

    It's me Sai from BloggerStop.net
    I checked your template, but couldn't replied to you through mail as you haven't given any mail-id while writing to me through the contact page.
    So, here's my reply:

    Lorelei,

    Your template is more complicated, than what I initially thought.

    Actually it seems, your template has been made in a hurry, repeated code is there and moreover the formatting is also not neat.
    For ex:
    this code:
    <p><data:post.body/></p>
    should be present only once in a template, and it is repeated twice in your template, which is not allowing me to tweak and shift the position of comments and "posted by" message.
    If you want I can make a similar looking template for you without these errors...

    Regards
    Sai

    ReplyDelete
  6. I noticed now you're having a sale - to pay for all the Jade purchases maybe? LOL! Oh, and I WANTED that boat, dude! You are SOOO lucky! I totally like yours better than the one I got.

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  7. Love the new blog look. I have to admit, I was skeptical when my husband plunked down the $$$ for a Kitchen-Aid mixer, but it's really stood the test of time for us. He bought it originally for making bread, but we use it for everything (we have NOT attempted to make pasta with the pasta attachment since our son was born, though - I can't imagine using it in the next couple years, really...).

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