Saturday turned out to be a really nice day! I planned on going to the gym but Michael suggested we go for a walk as a family since it was so sunny and kind of warm out. It turned out to be a really lovely walk.
Not too bad of a calorie burn for a long walk/jog. It was nice to go out as a family, too.
Also over the weekend, it was my cousin Anna’s bridal shower. Her friend Shawna planned a super fun and unique shower for her–a cooking lesson! Her friend Bernadette, who has been a chef in many Portland restaurants and now does some catering on her own, taught a cooking lesson for the shower and it was so much fun!
We were all instructed to bring our favorite recipe for Anna and $10 in one dollar bills…hmmm…what could that be for?? 😉
Turned out there were a few rules for the party. You couldn’t mention the honeymoon, their new house or the fiance by name and if you did you had to put $1 in a jar as a tax. It was a funny idea. The money in the jar was going towards the purchase of a Kitchenaid Mixer for the happy couple. I love that idea!
There were some snacks out while we mingled. Cheese, fruit, crackers, French bread. Lots of wine, sparkling water and lemon water. It was a big group, too, and my mom drove down and stayed with us overnight so she could go. A bunch of my aunts and cousins were there and it was nice to see everyone.
We were all told to bring our favorite recipe, too. So we all decorated our recipe cards and put them in a book for Anna. My Grandma sent down her coffee cake recipe (which is the best you’d ever eat) and I put in Michael’s mac n’ cheese recipe in the book.
The party was at my aunt Sheila’s house and the decorations were adorable.
The cooking instruction started. Dinner was salmon with Asian slaw, zucchini and rice.
The cooking instruction was really fun and interesting and Bernadette answered questions (some just general cooking questions) and was a good teacher. She walked us through her recipe for the slaw and homemade dressing and recruited Anna to do the mixing:
Then she walked us through making the sauce for the salmon. It was tamari, brown sugar, garlic, red pepper flakes and cornstarch with water.
We all got to taste the sauce after it thickened up and it was almost like a tangy, tamari caramel sauce. It was SO good!!!
Here is the finished product:
The food was absolutely delicious! Shawna is going to email everyone the recipe soon and when I get it I will post it. I definitely want to make that sauce because it was so amazing. I also loved that it was a simple, healthy, low-calorie meal that anyone could make.
After dinner we had dessert. Anna’s mom made a chocolate/whipped cream/walnut dessert and a raspberry cheesecake bar dessert. I had a small piece of both.
The cooking lesson was a blast and it inspired me to look into some cooking classes in the future. It’s something I’ve done in the past and had fun but never stuck with.
It was such a fun night. I was so glad we all got together and celebrated the upcoming wedding. It’s going to be a blast!
Question: Have you ever had a cooking lesson? What did you learn to cook?
Biz
Hooray for cooking class! You know I am biased working at one, even if it is just on the weekends now. Awesome idea for a shower!
Lisa Eirene
I thought so too. Very unique!
Lisa
I went to a kid’s cooking class as a child and loved it! I’ve always wanted to go to another. We made pizza dough, sauce and a Pavlova. I still use the dough recipe many years later.
This sounds like a great shower idea and I like the cookbook gift!
Lisa Eirene
That’s awesome you did it as a kid. I wish I had done that.I remember in middle school taking Home Ec and enjoying the cooking class part.
Susan
How fun great bridal shower idea! I don’t think I have ever had a formal cooking lesson unless you include home economics class back in 7th grade. I think we were taught the basics of cooking and made simple things like grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs. The class taught some great life skills I guess like learning the difference between table spoons and tea spoons, measuring dry and wet ingredients. Also some really simple baking if I remember right its been a lonnng time since 7th grade:) LOL I still enjoy baking don’t do much of it any more because of the calories and being gluten free do to food allergies. Thanks for sharing the fun of the shower and cooking class with us!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Lisa Eirene
I also took Home Ec in 7th grade! I wonder if they still do it these days?
I’m with you–I am much more of a baker than a cook. If it’s in the oven or a baked dessert, I can do it…if it’s a recipe that requires a lot of stovetop stuff, I’m less inclined to do it for some reason. Michael is the opposite, he hates baking anything.