Technique Classes at Williams-Sonoma

One of my favorite kitchen stores, Williams-Sonoma, offers free technique cooking classes every Sunday morning. I started going to a couple of them to see if I can pick up some new skills, etc..

At the first class we learned to make Coq Au Vin (a French Chicken Dish), Spaetzle (German noodle side dish) and Creme Brulee. The store tries to push their ready made sauce starters (at $16/jar) as well as every kind of gadget you can imagine. Last weekend I prepared the whole meal from scratch except I cut the fat by at least half of what they did in the class, and Mike thought it was the best chicken dish he's ever had! It did taste pretty amazing, but how can it not, when you combine bacon, chicken, mushrooms, caramelized pearl onions and wine!!

Here's a picture of my creme brulee. I think this will be the desert that I make for our Christmas dinner this year, it's so easy to make and it tasted awesome :)


This past Sunday the topic was "Tough to Tender" and it covered how to make cheaper cuts of meat into some nice dishes. It was another good sales pitch for their products, include the Immersion Circulator that sells for $799, Belgian Beer and Onion Braising Base ($16/jar) and Beef Stew Braising Base (also $16/jar).

The sous vide technique demo was interesting. The beef brisket first seasoned and seared, then cooled off and then cooked in a vacuum sealed bag in a water bath at 148F for 48 hours! After that it's seared, sliced and finished in the Williams Sonoma Belgian Beer and Onion Braising Base. The argument for using the Sous Vide technique is that the food cooks in it's own juices so it's more flavorful, and because it's cooked at such low temperature the protein fibers will not break down so it'll never overcook. After the taste test, I'm not convinced, the meat was really tender, but not enough to convince me that I need this $799 Immersion Circulator.

The nice thing is that I got to try something new and was able to reproduce the Beef Stew sauce from scratch yesterday afternoon in my Dutch oven. I can say it was the best beef stew I've ever tasted! The secret was taking the time to brown the meat up front and using dark beer and using fresh locally grown root vegetables to make the sauce. Not to mention fresh herbs form my garden :) I used white, purple and sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots, onions, garlic, celery and red peppers! And the best part, Mike, Ashley and Indira loved it too!

Next Sunday the class covers Breads and Spreads for the Holiday table. Can't wait, although I already have some favs that would be hard to top.

I was in a cooking mood all weekend, so in addition to the stew I also make crepes stuffed with ground beef. Here's a picture:



May be one day I can have my own business doing this for living, but for now it's just a hobby that our whole family benefits from :)

Fright Fest at Great Adventure

This past Friday night we went to Great Adventure for Fright Fest. The kids stayed home with our good friend Theresa. She gave me a babysitting gift certificate for my birthday, so I decided it was a good opportunity for us to use it. (We wanted Indira to come with us, since she hasn't been to GA before)

After getting over the initial shock of the price of the admission we had a really fun time. We started with the smaller roller coaster - The Run Away Train and ended the night with two rides on Nitro. To my surprise there was practically no wait at any of the rides. In the past we've had to wait for almost an hour to go on a ride. Not sure if people were afraid that it may rain or the whole economy thing. The weather was just about perfect for October. It was in the 50s and a little windy, but not bad at all.

All of the roller coasters made us very hungry, so We ended the night at P.F. Changs in Freehold. We haven't been out with friends for a night out like this in a while, so it was really nice to get away :) We didn't get home until 1am!! Good times :)

Looking forward to taking the kids there next summer, just not for Fright Fest :)

We didn't bring the camera with us in the park, because I was afraid to loose it on one of the rides, but here's a picture of the sunset that we saw on the drive there:

Shea Lane Block Party

This past Saturday we had our first Shea Lane Block Party. It was a huge success! Even if I do say so myself :) We had beautiful weather (70F and sunny) and 16 out of 21 households on our street participated. We BBQ'd, had a firetruck and a policy car come visit for entertainment. We had potato sack races and tug-of-war contest for both kids and adults, a scavenger hunt, pinata, and even karaoke and smores by the fire! We started setting up at 10am, the party started at 1, and we didn't go inside until close ot midnight. Ashley and Katelyn both made some friends that day, and Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy their time with a nice drink in hand :) I feel very lucky to have such great neighbors, it really doesn't get better then this!
Everyone is already looking forward to next year's party. But before we get there we also have plans for a Christmas Tree Lighting party on our Cul-de-Sac, another annual tradition that we started last year. Can't wait!

Here are some pictures from the day:

We also had an "official photographer" who took some nice pictures as well:
http://shealane.shutterfly.com

Ashley and I survived her first day of Preschool!

Yesterday (Oct. 4th) was Ashley's first official day of preschool. We tried not to make a big deal about it ahead of time since we didn't want her to get upset. I worked from home in the morning and then Indira, Katelyn, Ashley and I drove to school to drop off Ashley. (Indira needed to see the way, since she'll be driving Ashley there and back).

Last week at the orientation the teacher gave each parent a heart sticker and told us to kiss our kid's hand and put it on when we come to drop them off this week. So that if they get sad they can think of us and feel better. It was a good idea. Ashley was happy to get to preschool and didn't seem nervious until it was time for us to leave, that's when I gave Ashley the sticker and told her I'll be back to get her as soon as school is finished. And if she missed me, she can just look at her sticker and think of me.

When we came to pick her up Ashley was very excited to see me, Indira and Katelyn, so excited that she and I broke into tears. She said that she missed me and looked at the sticker and felt better. It was very sweet :)

The teacher said that Ashley had a little trouble at first but then warmed up to everyone. She already has a favorite student teacher, her name is Ms. Jane. Hopefully she'll get used to the routine quickly and be excited to go there.

Here's a picture of Ashley after surviving her first day of preschool: