Day One

Today the Art of Cooking J-Term class headed over to our first day at Recipe For Success. When we arrived we started with learning knife skills. Most of us thought we knew how to hold a knife… we were wrong. Chef Paola taught us how to properly hold a knife and some safety rules about the kitchen and our environment. We also came up with some general kitchen agreements. These includes be respectful, use the materials properly, be hygienic, listen carefully, do not taste as you make, and be food adventurous. After we made the agreements and learned knife skills, we started cooking. We made homemade linguine pasta and a bread salad. The pasta took the longest to make but it was also some of the most fun. The chefs had already made the dough for the pasta before we came but they did demonstrate how it was done. It is surprisingly simple but the kneading process is difficult. Once the pasta dough was kneaded we let it sit and then rolled it out using a pasta roller, learning this was interesting and fun. We also made a salad. There were some complications with the dressing but it turned out really well. Overall, today was a good start to our J-term.

After enjoying our delicious homemade pasta and salad, we spoke with Chef Andi and Chef Paola about the history of the food. Since we focused on Italian heritage, we decided to mention the brief history of Italy and where their main ingredients come from, such as Greece and Spain to mention some. This information allowed us to appreciate the heritage more and the delicious meal we had created. Chef Andi also informed us about some of the resources that Recipe For Success can provide such as books, online links and any information about food and its history. Chef Andi and Chef Paola let us know about the future activities that we would experience with them. Overall, the day was extremely productive and fun! We all enjoyed our amazing meal and are looking forward to the rest of the J-Term!

The grand Tommy shows his long noodle accomplishment!

Enjoying Our Finished Meal