Come Home to Cooking

Small Hands-On Classes

For beginners and experienced cooks

• Inspire your cooking.
• Master essential culinary concepts.
• Conserve your time, energy and resources.
• Share the joy of living and eating well.

Start Fresh!  – Kay

Refresh Your Self and Your Leftovers

We all know that aftermath turkey sandwiches are one of the best parts of Thanksgiving. Both simple and delicious. But clearing out the refrigerator gridlock of side dishes is more of a challenge. Especially when our minds and bodies are just as overloaded. So here are three casual soup recipes to easily combine and revive all the odd bits before either you or they get lost in the muddle. One for right now, and two to save for when the cupboard is bare. 

Raining Tomatoes

It's been weeks since we ran outside for that last blaze of sun. On a day more summery than any in July. When it feels like all of nature is awash in autumn candlelight. We sat mesmerized in canvas lounge chairs under the liquid amber trees, trying to hang on to what we knew was a fleeting moment. Balancing BLT lunch plates up under our chins to catch the inevitable dripping ooze of dead ripe tomato juice, fresh basil mayonnaise, and smoky bacon fat. That the toast could only pretend to contain.

Conserve Your Energy

This can mean so many things. Before the advent of instant-on switches and more labor-saving kitchen devices than we know what to do with, both good and bad cooks were forced to consider the power of natural consequences just to make it through their day. To be resourceful and self-reliant. To conserve and preserve. To haul in water and wood. Keep the fire burning and the kettle on. But even though most of us now face a different set of daily challenges, we're all still trying to survive. And learning how to cultivate the essence of these think-ahead, ripple-effect practices can certainly help ease the way. Particularly as we rev up for the holidays.

Cooking from Scratch...

...doesn't have to mean starting from scratch. At least not every day. And that's our saving grace. Because no matter how much we might love to cook, sometimes (perhaps even often), there's just not enough time or energy available to do what it takes. Particularly if you find yourself having to begin at square one. So here's a routine we've come to depend on that keeps us all going even when we're running on empty.

A Fruitful Jam Session

It was our first. Review Session, that is. Just two weeks after the Drop Cookie Classics class. And although neither canning equipment nor musical instruments were involved, we did gather again to keep playing. To harmonize and improvise together. To share our individual riffs on the Mother Recipe. To figure out what still needed practicing. To continue creating and storing up ideas for the months and years to come.

Amuse Your Mouth

Amuse-bouche. I love that French term for a tasty little bite. You even have to pucker your lips to say it. Typically off menu and more whimsical than an actual appetizer course, palate teasers afford the chef complete freedom in their creation. And for both professional and home cooks alike, it always makes sense to at least start with what we already have on hand. I'm happy to say that right now that's baskets full of sun-ripened tomatoes.