I’m guilty of going on auto pilot when it comes to food. I get it fast and I eat it fast. I don’t pause to enjoy the act of making food, or savour the tastes. Why would I? I really just slapped it in a pan and put some salt and pepper on it. It doesn’t deserve my time.
I’ve said before, we need to think like little old Italian Nonna’s. Gather our family and cook, take pleasure from their enjoyment of the food we have made. In an effort to do just that, I signed up for a cooking class at Matters of Taste.
Christmas dinner has always been a high stress issue in my family. Who is going to cook what? Who has what allergies? What do we do with the leftover dry turkey that Aunt Ruth insists on inflicting upon us?
When I saw that Matters of Taste had a Christmas Menu class, I jumped on it. I honestly didn’t care what we would be cooking, I was just happy that someone was doing all the planning for us! I also took my mum, because there’s no way I was taking on a whole Christmas dinner myself (and because I love her).
What I didn’t expect was to enjoy myself so immensely! The class was a mixture of comedic instruction and food science, with some delicious smells thrown in AND the option to bring your own wine and drink while cooking.
Perfection!
We were put into tables of six, and each pair was given the recipe for a part of the meal (entrée, main and dessert). There was a quick demonstration and then it was all on to get your prep done, with a cook from Matters of Taste standing by to answer any questions.
We came together again for a Master Class on cooking the more involved parts of the meal, then it was time to serve up and… this is the best part… eat!
As a result, my mum and I now have what is usually the stressful Christmas meal handled, with the handy take-away recipe cards to make sure we stay on track.
We even have a Nonna for Christmas, she’ll be making the trifle and ordering us about in the background.
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