Smoked Cooking Class

So Tuesday night Angie, Heather and I went to a cooking class that was made available through a community school. We arrived a little early to make sure we found it, so we went to a nearby cafe to have a quick cappucino. After we downed the quick pick-us-up, we headed to class. As we walked through the gates, into the yard we saw it was a home with a cooking school in a building in the back. The hostess/teacher greeted us and walked us all around to the building where the cooking school is located. We walked in and the setup was in a small room, with a make shift kitchen on the wall directly across from the entry door. In between the kitchen and the entry way was two tables with a total of 14 chairs. The kitchen was setup like a tv kitchen, with the refrigerator, sink and cabinetry on the back wall. On the long island facing the class there was a stove and countertop space for cutting, mixing and the like. At each seat was a folder with the menu and itinerary for this and future classes. There was also a name tag (with our names on them) and an apron. Yes, I put the apron on and no, it was not the first time I put an apron on. Informally, I am sure I put on an apron at home some time when I was young, to help mom in the kitchen. Formally, I put my first apron on working for my uncle's restaurant, Martin's Bar-B-Q in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In all, I have worked for several restaurants, sit down and fast food. The restaurants I have worked in are Martins' Bar-B-Q, Briarbrook Country Club, Subway, Applebee's and the Banquet department at Holiday Inn. Almost all of them had aprons involved.

Throughout the course of the evening we watched and took notes while our teacher Lina made a several course dinner, consisting of potato soup, pasta with a sun dried tomato sauce, baked fresh fish over a bed of vidalia onions and a light dessert made of custard glazed orange slices. Good stuff, the class lasted for four hours and fortunately we were able to follow most of it. One of the main differences between a cooking class here and one in America is that every thirty minutes our teacher would light up another cigarette for a smoke break inside, from the front of class. Ahhh, it was almost smoked fish. Now, I guess we will have to try out the recipes at home. We will probably put some, if not all, the recipes in some of our newsletters.