I had my last class for this year…this year…
I still have to tell myself that it has been a little over a year since I started this blog…a little over a year since I started to cook professionally and here I am…a little over a year later.
But, it wasn’t very long since I started to teach the group of kids at the Thrive house to cook. And it wasn’t very long that I had learned how awesome it is to cook for those who truly appreciate your presence and your food. I love those kids and this past Monday was my last class with them for 2009. Lets go through the past weeks of cooking.
Week 1- Introduction – 4 girls gave them a questionnaire, introduced myself, felt uncomfortable, continuous giggling. One girl stated that she watched Lydia Bastianich on PBS, “Lydia’s Kitchen is my favorite show along with Cooks Kitchen”. This got me so excited for the rest of the classes….
Week 2- Turkey meatballs and a home-made marinara sauce, Green Salad with carrots and red onions and a balsamic vin. Taught the kids the ratio of avinaigrette…an acid…an oil…seasoning (salt pepper). Taught the students to taste as they go, and let them season the all the food. Taught them to salt their pasta water that “it should taste like the sea”, taught them to chiffonade basil leaves. Let them roll the balls, brown the meatballs, they minced and diced and sliced and the meal was a complete success. Cleanup was a bummer for the coordinators.
week 3- Smoked Turkey and kale soup. Found out that There was NO BUDGET for the classes. Went to the SF Foodbank for the first time to pick out ingredients for the class that morning; Cabbage, potatoes, onions, kale, daikon, garlic, carrots, apples. That day boiled some water with the turkey wings 3 hours, added some chicken stock for more richness, roughly chopped the daikon and put it in the broth for extra warmth and body, 5:00 set up whiteboard with list of ingredients. Desert? Yes. Apple Crumble? Yes ! Apple crumble it is. taught the kids to slice, chop, dice, and grate. Took out the turkey wings cooled them and let them strip off the meat to put back into the soup. Sliced some apples, brown sugar and cinnamon flour and butter and a bit o salt 30 minutes for desert & 30-40 minutes of simmering the soup, some cheesy garlic bread and yes, dinner was served. Timing? Still not so good. Out of class at about 8:00.
Weel 4 – Still had the leftover turkey in a tube from the foodbank. Hmm....still had potatoes…hmmm…okay well lets do mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. OH AND BISCUITS! 3 weeks of turkey so far what to do next. Taught the kids to boil potatoes, mash potatoes, season, and how to make them creamy and delicious. Next, saute meat with onions and garlic and some sausage taken out of it’s casing. Carrots, celery, onions, bell peppers, cornstarch (other ingredients…I know I am forgetting a few)…soon changed to a variation of Shepherd’s pie with buttery flakey biscuits on top. NO TIME!! took the biscuit dough off the pie, but luckily had 14 mini biscuits already cooking. Oh no! Oven temp went down…Oh no! pans were too large for the oven! With some last minute improvisation and yes, dinner was finally done. Kids ended up leaving at around 8:30. I don’t remember making a desert for this class.
Week 5: Sloppy Joe’s with an apple and carrot coleslaw! This recipe is in a previous post titled “A MESSAGE TO YOU…) This was also a great hit with the kids, even the ones that thought that they would never eat this type of coleslaw. Desert: Candied pecans (with butter and brown sugar and cinnamon with a little bit of nutmeg), Vanilla ice-cream and warmed peaches. The kids were really loud so no one ended up having desert. This class nearly gave me a heart attack.
week 6: TACO MONDAY- Cumin Citrus and Soy marinated flank steak tacos with fresh guacamole and salsa fresca, fresh shucked corn saute with garlic and butter, and black beans. Dinner was done in exactly 1/2 an hour. Taught them to; sear, chop, cut, julliene, squeeze, toss, mash, how to use a bundt pan cake to shave corn, why tortillas should be warmed and kept in a towel, how by using some of the same basic ingredients such as onions, garlic, salt, pepper, lime juice, and cilantro can become guacamole or salsa, also showed them how easy it is to have fresh corn taste so good with just garlic, butter, salt and pepper. Best class yet. I felt so invigorated after this class.
Week 7- Taleya brought in a shrimp fried rice recipe from her grandmother. With some suggestions from the program coördinator Thuy, the class would consist of Shrimp fried rice, with a Chinese inspired cabbage salad with wonton crisps, and strawberry shortcake for desert with fresh whipped cream. Some peas, carrots, corn, garlic, onion, butter, soy sauce, cilantro, champagne vinegar, green onions, pepper, chinese sausage, cabbage, wonton chips, peanut butter (for the cabbage salad) and yes OHHH yes dinner was right on time!! The kids got home at 7:30. And cleanup was a breeeeeze.
One of my most memorable moments was when a young girl named Tatiana came up to me and told me “I like you…”. “So why do you like me?” I replied “because your nice” “well what didn’t you like about the other teacher” “she was mean”…. Can I mention she also played the kids world music? I doubt you can connect with young kids now a days with drowning sounds of world music from the Putamayo series when they have Lady Gaga or Jay Z on their Ipods. Another memorable moment had to be when Joanna exclaimed at the table “YO, this is HELLA GOOD.” I also get so excited when the kids go for 2nds and thirds.
And Oh yes…feel good song of the day:
State of Flux 