Chef School...CHECK!

I could hardly wait to write this post to all of you!  The cooking class in Boulder at the Escoffier Culinary School was AMAZING!  Here is a pic of me holding the Pad Thai noodles that I made!  I don't think that smile left my face all evening...

My sister, Cheryl, and I went to the school and met with 7 other students for the evening.  Our teacher was Chef Suzanne Rudolph.  We started in the classroom and the chef went over safety in the kitchen, different ingredients used in Thai cooking, and explained all the recipes.  OK, OK...I admit I was a little excited so I pretty much answered all her questions that she posed to the class, rather than give other people the chance to answer questions.  I can't help it, I was pumped!  Instead of everyone making EVERYTHING on the menu, we broke up into teams and signed up for different parts of the meal.  I, of course, signed up for the noodles.  Cheryl signed up for making red curry paste, which is a complicated recipe in which she had to toast, grind, and mix a multitude of spices.  You go, girl!  Chef Suzanne even complimented her!

The menu for the evening was: Tom Kha Gai (spicy chicken soup with coconut milk), roasted red chile sauce, Panang Nua (Panang meatballs), red curry paste, Pad Thai, cucumber salad, and mango sticky rice.  Everything was delicious, but that sticky rice was fantastic!

Cheryl and I were so nervous at the start of class.  Once we were dismissed from the classroom we took our recipes out into this industrial kitchen and got started.  Chef Suzanne and her two assistants, Helena and Cleora walked around and gave us tons of help.  In the meantime, there are cooking classes going on for the culinary students.  It was fun to see them walking by with their pots and pans and see the food they were making.  In one kitchen they must have been working on baking breads because they had all sorts of amazing  smelling breads they were pulling out of the ovens.  I count the evening a success because we cooked, we ate, and we left with all our fingers intact!!

The evening was a dream come true and it is with great satisfaction that I mark off  #8 Chef school or cooking classes.  I know I will want to take more classes in the future, but this was a good start!  Oh, here's a picture of Cheryl, Chef Suzanne, and I.