An Asian Fusion Cooking Class

To celebrate Carol’s birthday, she contacted me to see if I could host a cooking party for her and her friends. We met at Starbucks and got down to business. Very quickly we decided the theme would be “Asian-Fusion.” Why am I not surprised?

The group of 7 were all people who honestly enjoy cooking. The class was more interactive because they asked a lot of questions, which I love because it means they’re actually paying attention.

Carol and Andrew seemed so happy to be cooking together…I mean, c’mon, just look at them! I had a chance to mention this to her and she commented with, “yeah.. this is how we really are all the time at home when we cook together.” Sigh… wonder how that feels like.

The group was so supportive of one another. I think this clapping moment occurred when Tuck flipped a perfectly browned crepe without breaking it. Tuck is actually cut off in this pic, but if you look 2 pictures down, he’s the cheese that stands alone, wearing the only non-matching apron.

I usually work with an assistant, but this time around, all my go-to assistants were busy. But that just meant I relied on everyone else to do more work to pull dinner together.

You can tell that this group gladly jumped in and got their hands dirty. Every single person was hard at work during the entire party.

Carol opted to select the plan where we made 3 different recipes together. I chose to serve the first course mid-way through the class so that everyone could stay focused and wouldn’t be starving by the time we were done.

First course of Asian chicken & leek stuffed crepe with salad and vinaigrette…

Salmon in rice paper bundles, hot out of the oven…

Billy and Lisa worked together to plate our steak dinner. Billy is also the only student who has ever offered to wash the dishes, but I assured him that they would be washed by the photographer.

Good note-taking class!

Rice paper wrapped salmon with hoisin & lime sauce.

Marinated flank steak with Thai chili vinegar reduction.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor.

I served a simple & refreshing dessert of brownie & fresh mango puree with raspberries to finish off their night. The secret in the sauce was cinnamon.

This class made me particularly happy because I instantly received feedback that Carol & Andrew, Billy & Kelly and Nancy & Tuck had already recreated some of the recipes at home and their guests were impressed. Makes my heart warm & fuzzy!