Yesterday I came home and my husband had a surprise for me. It was an envelope full of little tiny cut up words. He said, "Put it together and you will see where you get to go tomorrow night." I love riddles and he knows me so well. I don't ask for much help but after an hour I put together this:
Truffles and Trifles
Welcome to French Country Style Cooking with Julia Childs
Rules:
1. Wear comfortable clothes
2. Bring your own wine as long as you are over 21
3. Be one time
When: Wednesday 30th at 6:00
Where 211 Smith St.
Edgewater, Fl.
Okay so there was a lot more to that but I can't remember. To sum it up, he bought me a cooking class with a Julia Childs theme and our chef actually cooked with Julia on PBS and told us lots of stories. One time she was cooking with Julia C. and Julia didn't like the chicken they gave her to season so she threw it behind her head and kept right on going. It was funny to hear Marci talk about Julia. I played with my pearls I wore as she chatted on about her. I know, pearls are kitchy katchy but I could help but wear them.
So there were about 20 people, groups, couples and singles that got seperated into groups and we each had to cook two recipes. My recipes were Quiche Lorraine and Stuffed Tomatoes. My team was delightful. Three other women of all ages. We messed up on everything once but fixed it all and it came out fabulous. We had a great time and sampled every other dish as it was being made. Our teacher Marci was a trip and an half. She scolding me for stirring pieces of bacon as they fried. She also had a couple of the other girls frightened of being yelled at for not knowing how to crack an egg or something. Anyway, she made me laugh and I enjoyed her scolding. She really had a great sense of humor and answered all your questions. Some girls had never even seen a spatula before and confesed to cooking her bacon and eggs in the microwave. I thought Marci was going to pass out. She said, "The microwave is on the get-the-hell-out-of-my-kitchen list." The girl was jumpy the rest of the night. So anyways we all got to see a little of everything that was made and socialized over the smells and warmth of the spacious kitchen.
Another great part to the night was Chef Keith a jolly fellow who assisted and gave tips to us cookies. He tried to convice Marci to let us make two Quiches but she denied him and when it came time to cut our quiche, Keith said to me, "You better cut it like a gentile would." I was like "What? How do I do that?" Is this some cooking code I don't know about being a gentile? Keith said, "Like Jesus, make it so it is enough for everyone. Like with the fish and bread." I then got what he was trying to say and cracked up. I told him I would pray over the quiche and that it would be enough for everyone. He must of really thought that was funny because later when I was looking in the store part for European Cocoa Powder for a French Dessert I want to make, he snuck to the back and filled up a ziplock for me and literally stuffed it into my purse saying, "I don't see noting, hear noting or say noting." He has kinda of Jamaican Accent and a lopsided smile permentantly on his face. I giggle and open the wrapped deliciousness. The girls around me where like, "What did he put in your bag?" "When you use that you better invite us over!" "How did you get him to give you some?" I just laughed and shared my treasure with my new friend Karen. I felt as if I had drugs or something in my purse and was sneaking them out of customs in Colombia or something. It was entirely hilarious and I hope to go back and learn some more or be scolded some more.
Ah Julia, it was wonderful thinking and cooking with you tonight.
And thanks Hubby for this wonderful gift.
Le criminel Tiffany
So not only do I cook copious amounts but so do most of my friends. Now we have these fun days called cooking days. We decided a theme, then we go shopping, then we prep and eat lunch and then we COOK, like all day. It may be my favorite thing to do yet. I enjoy the people I am cooking with. They never get mad or frustrated when I am in their way. They are very laid back people and are very funny. We cooked at my dearest friend Brittani's house, she has the biggest kitchen and the coolest gadgets. Jenny came from (God only knows where she lives) and drove us all around looking for our asian ingrediants. We must have gone to 4 stores looking for Lemon Grass. I was at the point of plucking some from the yard and squeezing some lemon juice on it. Then we have our male addition, Caleb. He is very helpful and knows many random facts. He is handy to have around to open jars too. We started the day off by brainstorming recipes and our grocery list. Jenny took detailed notes and all of the supplies we already had were set out. Finally, we loaded into the car and started out for the Oriental Market in Orlando. This is like an attration, everyone should go and experience it. It has many intresting smells and is not organized in a way that I can find anything but duck eggs which can be put in any aisle. Their are tiny turtles in the foyer that smell so bad that even Brittani passess them by without even blinking. We wander around searching for oyster sauce, noodles, lemon grass, celery, tuna, salmon, and other necessities. We pass some odd things like chicken feet, pickled intestines, roast ducks, a buffet of fresh fish (all parts included) escargot, live lobsters, crabs and shrimp, and a dozen different kinds of pastries that look sweet but have things like bean curd in them with lemon zest. Oh and don't forget the BoBo tea; tea with big black soft balls of tapioca in it. Very popular. Okay so we get our stuff and head to a couple more stores to get the rest of our list. I was making crab ragoon, shrimp egg rolls, and orange glazed cornish hens. I don't even remember what everyone else was making though I did help with it. But sheeze they can write their own blog, ya know. So we cooked and cooked and Jenny tried to make rice for something but it never cracked and it was super hard but wet all at the same time. We tried everything to save it, including adding sugar and milk to make a rice pudding thing but sadly we ended up chucking the whole thing. That was about the only problem the whole day! My crab rangoon came out crispy and creamy on the inside. My egg rolls where spectacular with the help of Jeff who worked with me on my wrapping skills. And my cornish hens where okay but really just tasted like chicken. Which I guess they are. But they were so tiny and cute, with their little wings and legs. Everything turned out edible and that means...Success! Tiff
