Taste!
If doing two full time jobs since January weren't enough, for the past 2 weeks I have had the pleasure of doing THREE full time jobs. My Playback team is a grand total of 2: me plus one (we'll call him 'Hannibal' in true A-Team fashon). So Hannibal goes on holiday for 2 weeks, and instead of working ahead (knowing he'd be away for 2 weeks), or even leaving me instructions of things that need doing while he's away, he told me everything was in order...and on Day One I quickly realize it wasn't... LUCKY ME!!! So I've spent my days, nights and weekends trying to get through all of this work, with very little support. I was so stressed one day last week I caught myself in a meeting on the verge of tears. I really might crack up. There's 2 things I know for sure: 1) someone's in for an arse-kicking when they come back from holiday and 2) it's my turn for a holiday!So in the process of losing sleep, grinding my teeth to a pulp, fretting over Arsenal's poor season, forgetting friends birthdays and generally being quite miserable, I finally decided to do something for myself. Well, I actually decided to do it before Christmas, but it couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks to good ol' Daily Candy, who now has a London daily (hurrah!), I learned of a fun-sounding cookery course, and signed up. It's called TASTE, and the whole idea behind it is to help those of use with 'busy modern lives' learn how to cook without recipes--not fancy stuff, just learning to use what you have in the cupboard to make quick, healthy meals when you get home from work instead of microwaving something or getting a 'take-away.' The kind of thing we all aim to do, but get stuck in a rut with our routines.
The course is held in the kitchen of the tutor's home, in a really nice area of London called Maida Vale, in northwest London. There are 5 other students, all women interestingly enough. Two girls from Goldman Sachs, 1 product designer (who designs things like the inside of the new Airbus plane, and BT phones-how cool!) and two energy traders (one of whom went to Rice and also worked at Enron, tho in London, not Houston). Random! We're not allowed to use salt & pepper (so we can taste what the dishes taste like on their own), or to write anything down, or take any notes until the end when she gives us handouts that review what we've done that evening. The first week I kept trying to sneak over to the table ("my feet hurt and I need to sit down," I lied) and write down what I was doing, and kept getting reprimanded. By the second week I waited until I was safely on the tube home to scribble down all of my notes...
It's week three (of five) now, and I am really enjoying it! The first week we made about 97 different tomato sauces--basically from 2 different bases. We added various different ingredients that ever so slightly changed the flavors (eg, butter & balsamic vinegar--gorgeous!). Who knew that simply adding orange zest to a simple tomato sauce would be a perfect accompaniment to fish?? Or butter beans and caramilized onions to make a complete meal?? But my favourite new discovery of all is Rose Harissa paste, a spicy paste that combines rose petals and 40 different spices that you can add to virtually anything (great with the butter beans chili!). Last week we did marinades and roasted fruits. This week we did soups and ice cream sauces. She makes us do everything ourselves, including the decisions over what ingredients we're using. Thankfully the wine is served throughout!
In addition to my cookery 'homework', this weekend I am convinced that I will go out and finally buy a bike so that that I can cycle along the Thames path. I just have to make it through the rest of the week first... Wish me luck!
posted by Eleanor @ 7:47 pm
2 Comments:
TASTE sounds amazing! Is there somewhere we can hire bikes to ride along the Thames with you when we visit? Only 2 weeks -- hurrah!
I could probably use this sort of cooking instruction myself, as well as some rose paste, which sounds lovely. Keep cooking (and blogging).
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