Because, that would be awesome.
My boss had to unexpectedly fly to Switzerland today, so guess who got her two reserved spots in “Totally Hands On: La Cucina Italiana” cooking class at the Chopping Block?! That’s right, I am the lucky winner.
I invited Amber to come along because she looks cute in an apron and has a solid appreciation for good cheese. She also makes me look tall.
We had a small class in a large, well equipped classroom. If it wasn’t a danger to my loins, I would have stuffed a chef’s knife in my pants and headed home with a fine new piece of cutlery. Alas, I have morals and need my loins, so I return home sans world’s greatest knife. I am adding it to my Christmas list right now. (Mom, check the google doc.)
So we made heirloom tomato caprese salad, a frito misto of calamari and scallops, homemade linguine with eggplant, peppers cherry tomatoes and fresh basil pesto, and last but not least, poached pears with marscarpone cheese and pistachios.
The most fun thing to make was the pasta. The most valuable thing learned was some fancy knife skills. The most delicious thing to eat was the caprese salad. And the best part of all was that you don’t have to clean up a thing.
Since I didn’t want to drop or mess up the nice camera, I used the iPhone for a lot of these shots and videos.
I thought this was going to be our classroom, but it ended up being for a chicken class.
Knife skills!
Pesto ingredients
Basil goodness
Poached Pears
Amber mixing it up
Brought out the nice camera for the final spread
The class was lots of fun, and the opposite of intimidating. The instructor and her assistant were welcoming and helpful. And although we opted not to, you can bring a bottle of wine or have some beers during the class if you choose, or even purchase a glass or wine while you are dining on your self-prepared meal. And like I said, you don’t have to clean up a thing. 
Nice! Looks like a good (and delicious) time.