I got started my doing some research today. There are actually a couple of cooking schools in the Denver area that do classes for "home cooks." They also do date nights, wine classes and grilling classes. The classes that I am really interested in are the Cooking Essentials I and II at the Cook Street Culinary School. I'd like to start from square one and erase some bad habits or just learn the right way to do things. Here are a few of the sites I looked at or will look at to take a class or two. Maybe I can even get Jeremy to go with me.
8/14/16 I still haven't taken a class, but I tried to do some fancy knife skills tonight, which reminded me how much I need to take a cooking class. I did find some online courses and knife skills was one of them. I may do one of those and decide whether I was to take an in person class. I've been experimenting with recipes from Facebook the last two weeks. The kids ask me what's for dinner and I can't really tell them because I can't remember the name of the dish. Jeremy volunteered to cook tomorrow night. Enough said.
11/28/16 I am going to look into a baking lesson with Abby and maybe take it with her. Again, two birds...one stone. I am nothing if not efficient.
2/1/17 Believe it or not I found a basic knife skills course online that looks like it would be good. I found it on Craftsy, which I've never heard of. I've always had awful knife skills and if I only took one course, that would be the most needed. I think it's only an hour and a half long as well.OK, I've watched about 10 minutes so far and I am going to stop because I am not feeling well enough right now to practice these techniques and I really want a knife in my hand to do this. I have already seen that I am chopping and not slicing and can see I need to take better care of my knives too. Glad I got this video especially since I can watch it multiple times. I think I need to go to bed.
2/5/17 I had Kaleb start the knife skills class with me today because he says he likes to cook and has even said he would like to be a cook. I didn't have any celery or anything good to practice with thought. We cut up some lettuce and got the hang of the Low Cut. I'll have to buy some other veggies to practice on before we finish. I've already learned several things. I was definitely doing it all wrong. I was actually being dangerous, but now I know how to hold the knife, at what angle to position the knife, how to sharpen the knife, how to hold the food being cut, how to move the knife to get accurate cuts and how to keep my cutting board from moving. And this class was free on Craftsy. I should look to see if there is anything else I can learn. It's kind of fun.
2/26/17 This one is a wash. I have gone through so many different lists and have made so many changes that I don't know which way is up anymore. I am not starting over, but I have found a list I think is a more fitting list and I am going with it instead. It is a list of the Top Grossing Movies of all time and it is adjust for inflation so Titanic and Avatar don't overshadow movies like Gone with the Wind because it could never earn as much due to inflation.
9/9/17 OK, this week I am going to start and maybe even finish my cutting class, no that sounds bad...knifing class...even worse...knife skills class...there, that is better.
10/19/17 The best of intentions didn't pan out, but now I am focusing on one goal at a time and this one is next on the list. So super sharp tools here I come.
10/22/17 I finished the knife skills class and cooked quesadillas where I had to cut onion and peppers for the meal. I will need to go back and review because after my first couple of cuts of the onion, I realized I was not following the suggestion of the chef. I was blinding doing what I have always done. And I kept finding myself putting my finger on top of the blade to guide like I had been taught not to do. The cuts were not as pretty and I couldn't remember the handy dandy way of getting the gunk out of the bell peppers. But I was way more aware of how dull my chef knife is and how often I do things that are dangerous with the knife, blade toward my hand kind of stuff. Good thing about taking an online class is I can watch it over and over. I should have taken pictures of my meal, but it was way messy and unpretty. Nevertheless, I am crossing this one off my list and moving on to the next 50B450 adventure.