Sunday, August 11, 2013

Tspoons

1) Sandy loves watching Top Chef, so last Christmas, I bought her a date night cooking class gift certificate to Tspoons. The cooking class is taught by Chef T and Chef Dominique. On this particular night, there were only 5 couples so it was an intimate affair. We got a lot of personal instruction and got to know the other couples as well.



2) We each got an apron and hand towel. I was hoping for a chef hat but I guess that would have been silly. The menu for tonight was:
- Bacon Jalapeno Cornbread
- Hearty Summer Vegetable Chili
- Spiced Grilled Salmon Kebob
-Wild Mushroom and Chicken Pot Pie
- Nectarine Pavlova with Almond Cream


3)  I invited my brother Richard and his fiance Yen to join us. What better way to spend an evening than preparing delicious food in the company of loved ones.


 4) The great thing about this cooking class was that all the food was already prepped and measured. All we had to do was cook it up. Here we are preparing the ingredients for the Mushroom and Chicken Pot Pie.


5) Each couple got an instruction sheet which was very simple and straight forward. Chef T and Chef Dominique would float around and give tips and pointers.



6) Pot pie fillings are done.



7) Then we cover the pots with pastry dough and brush the top with egg wash to help them brown up in the oven.



8) Yummmm bacon...


9) Richard and Yen saute up the bacon and jalapenos for the corn bread.



10) Are you drooling yet?



11) Chef T whips up the meringue for the Nectarine Pavlova with Almond Cream


12) Chef T demonstrates how to tell when your meringue is at the proper consistency.


13) Yen tries her hand at piping the meringue.


14) It is not as easy as it looks. I think my pavlova turned out looking like a turd.


15) Sandy points out how I am not doing it correctly. Yes Chef!!!


16) Simple Spiced Salmon Kebabs. Just skewer chunks of salmon with alternating lemon slices. Then sprinkle on the spices (oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and red pepper flakes). Lightly brush with oil.



17) Time to plate. Sprinkle on thinly sliced scallions and sesame seeds. So beautiful!


18) Did I mention that we also made Hearty Summer Vegetable Chili too.


19) After the food was cooked, all the couples sat down at the dinner table. Chef T and Chef Dominique then served us our food. It's chow time!

 20) After we finished our dinners, we head back to the kitchen to complete our dessert.


21) We each took turns whipping up the heavy cream. For some reason, no matter how hard we worked at it, we could not get it to thicken up. Turns out that Chef Dominique mistakenly gave us milk instead of cream. No wonder! Hah!

22) I love the design aesthetics of this kitchen studio.



23) We even got to play with fire. Here we are using the torch to brown up the pavlova.


24) The final product. Tadah! Dessert is served!


25) Afterwards we had coffee and tea. Each coffee pot sat on it's own cup.


26) We had so much fun at this cooking class. It definitely inspired us to learn more about cooking, try new recipes and have more date nights!

My life one click at a time...