Mediterranean Cooking Class

I had the pleasure of being asked to do a cooking class with a group of women on July 18. They get together on a regular basis but had never had a cooking class together as a group. The class was held at a beautiful ranch, set on a hill on 70 acres with a lake view. The kitchen was open, with plenty of counter space, a professional style gas range, and had a lovely view of the lake. They selected the Mediterraean menu which included: Hummus with Cucumbers and Carrots Herb-crusted Lamb Chops Mediterranean Couscous with Spinach Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Peaches I demonstrated the dishes while the guests observed and then they sampled what...

Read more »

Hiyashi Chuka Soba

 The Fort Worth Japanese Society July luncheon on July 17th featured the popular cold noodle dish, Hiyashi Chuka Soba. I volunteered to coordinate the preparation of the meal with a few others from the board. The Japanese Society has a kitchen so we had a place to prepare the food. I prepared numerous packages of dried chukka soba and thin omelets ahead of time and at 9:30 AM our hard working group of four started slicing vegetables and ham. With our good team effort we managed to finish all the preparation in an hour and a half. Sam cut carrots, I cut cucumbers, Elisha made sauce, and Sonya cut up ham. Nobuko brought cooked shiitake mushrooms. I...

Read more »

Private Cooking Class for Linda Johnson

   A long time ago I gave Linda a list of some of my favorite recipes. She selected three recipes for this week's class. Her selections were: Korean Cucumber Salad, Chunky Potatoes with Garlic and Peanuts, and Lemongrass Beef with Rice Noodles. I believe she saw the recipe for Lemongrass Beef on an earlier blog post, but she chose the Cucumber Salad and Chunky Potatoes from my list. I was tickled when I realized we were going to make Korean food, Indian food, and Vietnamese food in our class. Considering that Linda rarely ever ate any ethnic food, other than a little Mexican food, I am quite impressed with her willingness to stretch...

Read more »

Special Banana Bread

My friend, Yo, in California sent me some fantastic wines last month and I wanted to send him something special from my kitchen since I really can't compete in the wine department.  I did send a few of my favorite Becker Vineyards wine, though but I doubt they will taste as good as the Marinus or Opus One. I made some of my gourmet banana bread.  I call it gourmet because I use only the best ingredients. Pecans and walnuts, from Central Market, Callebaut dark and milk chocolate, Lindt white coconut chocolate The recipe is fairly standard, although I have modified it every time I've made it, depending on my mood and the...

Read more »