Think On It

How can I make myself attractive?

December 20th, 2007

One of the things one takes on when donating a prize to Menu for Hope is making your prize attractive. My prize is me, and it’s really hard to think how to do that. I am at heart a somewhat earnest person and that can come off as not fun. But people do have lots of fun in my classes. I promise you, they are fun! What I am serious about is food, and not much else. You’d want to learn Italian cookery from someone who takes food seriously, right? Because Italians do take food seriously and they take eating with a great deal of joy. I like to extend the joy to cooking as well.

What I try to do here is present food approached in the manner smiled upon by Italian tradition, but show you how easy it can be. What I do in classes is get you acquainted with the basic philosophy of Italian cookery, which I have repeated here many times, and what that means in planning a meal, shopping for the meal and making the meal. I can help you with basic techniques if you’re just starting out, or elaborations if you are an experienced cook. I’ll help you use all your senses to understand how things should be — how they should feel, smell, what color they should be, because food isn’t all about taste, is it? I’ll show you how to organize the work of producing five courses so that it becomes a seamless effort that you can enjoy and not a chore.

We’ll discuss balancing an Italian meal so that everything isn’t a star and therefore your menu overloaded with quarreling flavors, and so that diners aren’t slogging from one heavy course into another. You might learn the joys of great olive oil. You may become acquainted with splendid cheeses you didn’t know before. You, too, can become dismissive of dessert!

Most of all, I hope, you’ll leave with a confidence in your hands, your eyes, your tools and your critical abilities for deciding what’s really good and what’s not worth it. You should not only be able to make the dishes we’ve made, but plan and make hundreds of other meals that evolve from what you’ve learned. It’s a short step from homemade tagliatelle to homemade ravioli or tortellini.

Serge has very kindly written up my cooking class prize on his blog. Now a concierge is supposed to be a knowledgeable person who directs you to the right choice. Who am I to question a concierge? He alludes that I am a good choice, so it must be true.

Take a chance on me.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized