Winding Down The Week...

Ah, Thursday already. This has been a good week. Busy, but manageable. Kids have been A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Two cooking classes knocked out. Lots of great workouts. (Feeling highly motivated in this area right now.) Just a highly satisfying week.

Tuesday was my "Breads" class. We made 3 different bread doughs...all by hand. Very therapeutic to spend all that time kneading the bread. And a great teacher for this class. We had a guest instructor - Sheila. She was fabulous. I loved all the "tips and tricks" she offered - especially when it came to ways we could modify the recipes to make it work for other things. This was a great class to remind me how much I love making bread...especially since I left my favorite bread cookbook back home:

This is a great cookbook! (Thanks Betsy for introducing it to me!)

Sheila - Our instructor

We started with a wholemeal loaf...well, mine was wholemeal. Everyone else seemed to go straight for the white flour. Christine was there to assist us and she joked that it's "very Asian" to use the white flour. I like a denser bread with a good crust and a softer (but not mushy!) center - so the wholemeal was a better choice for me.

Here's my dough resting.

Sheila working the dough and showing us how to do a braid.

With the wholemeal dough, I made a small braid and 4 small rolls. Normally, I think I would just bake it out as a big loaf...easier for sandwiches and things. But, I did appreciate learning the other techniques.

Next was brioche. I found this to be a pretty simple bread to work with. The texture is very light and it seems to have multiple uses. We made little cheese rounds and brioche rolls with ours - although could easily convert it to cinnamon rolls (which will make my children ecstatic!).

Simple brioche dough recipe

My cheese rolls and brioche buns

Grayson playing with, uh, I mean eating his cheese rolls.

Last, but not least, was focaccia! My fave! Yummy! Love all of the olive oil in focaccia!

My doughs resting

My focaccia - simple with sea salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary

I left class with so much bread and in a total carb overlead. Whoa! But, we had a great day and I met some lovely women...we even did the group photo thing!

Wednesday brought "Italian Table" cooking class. Fabulous! I needed something to go with all the bread I made! This class was full - so we worked in groups of two. I partnered up with Heidi (whom I met at bread class the day before.) She's very easy to work with and I enjoyed talking with her throughout the day.

Chef Christine was back as today's instructor. Balsamic chicken, risotto with peas and mushrooms, and tiramisu was on the menu. When I saw tiramisu on the menu I could not help but think of that scene in "Sleepless in Seattle":

Hanks: What is tiramisu?

Reiner: You'll find out.

Hanks: Well, what is it?

Reiner: You'll see!

Hanks: You better tell me. Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I'm not gonna know what it is.

Today's menu seemed fairly easy to me...risotto was the only item I had no experience with, but I was excited to work with it.

Christine explaining today's dishes

Balsamic chicken - in various stages

The chicken was marinaded and then seared in a pan. And, finally, finished in the oven. Very simple and very tasty.

My partner, Heidi, separating eggs. Candy - working for her lunch. (Candy is Christine's intern - sort of! She's really a mass comm intern, but she's been helping Christine. She's a tiny little thing who LOVES to eat! What a perfect internship!) 

Marscapone - Yummy! And the final tiramisu

Tiramisu was really easy. Great to make for big groups as you can do it in a trifle bowl or simply a casserole dish. Christine had us use gelatin today to add a little consistency to the custard/pudding portion of things, but if I'm making this at home - I'm dropping that step. I just like the feel of the pudding better without.

The risotto was our final dish. Heidi took the lead on this as I was roasting chicken, but while it took about 20-25 minutes to make - it was totally worth it. Delicious!

Risotto in all its stages

Class ended about 2 p.m. and I left with a TON of food - thankfully, Blaine texted to say he was going to be home from Penang in time for dinner! 

Two of the three final dishes

Next week I'm taking "Thai Temptation" - a cuisine I have no experience with! So that should be interesting.

I hit Crossfit three days this week...loved all the workouts. (Did not have to do even one single burpee! Woot! Woot!) Did a cardio session at Fitness First yesterday. And other than the woman who had her personal care products spread over every inch of the locker room bench, it was a decent trip to Fitness First.

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for Saturday - except baseball practice in the afternoon. I may see if the family wants to get up and go to Batu Caves. (It would definitely make for some great blogging if I can get the family to do it - think stairs, monkeys, and temples.) Caleb has a cross country meet on Sunday morning. The bus leaves school at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and his race starts at 7:30 a.m. (Which means he'll be done about 7:35 a.m. as it's a short race at his age.) He's extremely excited - even has an MKIS running shirt to wear that day! I'll be sure to snap pics of my little runner!

Okay...that's all I've got for you today!!!