Come Home to Cooking

2011 Harvest Season Class Schedule

We’ll continue to work together through every step of the recipes we make in class, but now you’ll also get to confirm and expand your learning experience with playful homework and a follow-up review session. Read more about this new opportunity below.

Cooking Classes with Review Sessions

CLASS 83 • Wed, Sept 7 [1–5pm]: DROP COOKIE CLASSICS
            with Review Session on Wed, Sept 21 [10am–12pm]

CLASS 84 • Wed, Oct 5 [10am–2pm]: STUFFED VEGETABLES
            with Review Session on Wed, Oct 19 [10am–12pm]

CLASS 85 • Wed, Nov 2 [10am–2pm]: HOLIDAY STEW POT
            with Review Session on Wed, Nov 16 [10am–12pm]

CLASS 86 • Sat, Dec 10 [4–8pm]: THE OLIVE HARVEST
            with Review Session on Wed, Jan 4, 2012 [10am–12pm]

Tuition: $95 per class with review session. 

For Sign-Up and general class info, refer to: Class Information.

For more information about the new Review Sessions, these Class Descriptions, and Private Party Group Classes, please read on...

2011 Winter-Spring Season Class Schedule

This season we will learn to Cook with Confidence using Mother Recipes—those essential ones that countless other recipes depend upon for their own creation. Learn more about what this means below.

The Mother Stock & Soup Series

CLASS 78 • Wed, Feb 9 [10am–2pm]: HOMEMADE STOCKS & BROTHS
CLASS 79 • Wed, Feb 23 [10am–2pm]: BROTHY VEGETABLE SOUPS
CLASS 80 • Wed, May 4 [10am–2pm]: PUREED & CREAMED SOUPS

The Mother Sauce Series

CLASS 81 • Sat, May 21 [4–8pm]: ROUX & REDUCTION SAUCES
CLASS 82 • Sat, Jun 4 [4–8pm]: EMULSION & VEGETABLE SAUCES

Tuition: $85 per class.
For Sign-Up and general class info, refer to: Class Information.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are sending in your registration fee to sign up for classes in May or June, Kay is out of the country until late April, at which time she will collect and respond to her mail. As always, the postmarked date establishes your priority for claiming any available places in class, so it still makes sense for you to send in your check as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience while waiting for your class confirmation. (March 2011 update)

For more information about Mother Recipes, these Class Descriptions, and Private Party Group Classes, please read on...

2010 Harvest Season Class Schedule

Cycles of Celebration...

In a recent conversation with both friends and fellow cooks about why the same recipe usually turns out at least a little different every time you make it, I thought about how those magical variations hold true with same subject classes as well. Now that Come Home to Cooking is gliding into its fourth year, we’ve been doing this long enough for certain topics to rise to the top and establish themselves as seasonal favorites. Recipes and menus we can all look forward to coming around again and again. It’s reassuring. Like bread rising with the anticipation and fulfillment of the harvest. Like the press of grapes into wine, wild mushroom forays, crab season, blood oranges, the first asparagus, real spring greens, mustard fields, cherries, peaches and tomatoes. So we begin again here with sweet tomato madness and other ripe companions, moving on to balanced fresh salads, slow savory braises and crisp apple pastry. Then it’s time for our cassoulet, big pots of soup and the holiday bash. Cycles of celebration for all that we do have in this time and place together. Every class is different, even same subject ones. I love to watch them take on lives of their own—shaped and made possible by what’s in the market garden, by whether it rains or shines, by the whim of the day, by whatever life had in mind. By each and every one of you.

Hearty Autumn Salads

CLASS 72: Wed, Sept 29 [10am-2pm]

WHOLE GRAIN SALADS with FRESH GREENS & VEGETABLES

When you need something grounding but you still feel like salad, it’s time for a romp in the transitional garden. Everyone knows how we’re supposed to be eating more whole grains, but that doesn’t have to mean, “Now be a good girl and take your vitamins!” Far from the ponderous, muddied creations of hippy days revisited, this class is about tripping the light fantastic instead. We will toss together combinations of bright fresh greens; chewy grains; blanched, roasted and raw vegetables; fresh and dried fruits, lemon juice, wine vinegars, mustard and toasted nut oils for a lively balancing act of flavors, textures and colors...

Back to School

And the First Day of Class...

CLASS 71: Wed, Sept 15 [10am-2pm] 

 TIANS, RATATOUILLE & CAPONATA with Tomatoes, Squash, Eggplant & Peppers 

 

“Look around!” I instructed myself. “It’s such a no brainer.” 

When markets, gardens and countertops are all overflowing with vibrant displays of tomatoes, squash, eggplant and peppers, it’s clearly time to make ratatouille. To both eat right now and save for later. So that’s exactly what we did in the very first Come Home to Cooking class now three years ago. And lining up to debut along with the Ratatouille film created such additional animation that, in fact, one artful student was inspired to arrive with the playful gift of a stuffed Pixar rat to help guide us through the preparation of its namesake dish. [Thank you, Tina.] Re-reading the feedback from that class reminds me of how many students were thrilled to discover why ratatouille has become such a Provencal classic...

2010 Harvest Season Class Schedule Announcement

From Indian Summer to Winter Solstice...

Here are the dates for our new season of classes. In addition to the normal Wednesday morning time, please note that this schedule offers one Wednesday afternoon class, two Saturday early evening classes, and then a final Friday later evening class. Hopefully something for everybody. I'm off to a writer's conference with my cookbook project, but will post more detailed class descriptions upon my return. 

I hope you've been having the most delicious summer. Our own tomato plants are doing their best, but I was delighted to bring home a generous basket of heirloom beauties from Petaluma Bounty at Saturday's farmers' market. Also tender green and wax beans, and delicate squash blossoms that we dipped in batter to fry up for an appetizer while we were cooking dinner that night. Eat 'em while they're hot.

More rosa bianca eggplant, sweet peaches all day long and wild blackberries on the hill...It just keeps coming. Mark your calendar--I'll see you in September!  Kay...

2010 Summer Sabbatical

Time to Focus

Crammed back in the drawer, stashed deep in my bag, revised again, saved and archived in the cloud. 

Decades worth of splattered file cards, blurred blue ink on yellow notepads, and hieroglyphics slanting across the back of torn envelopes and scraps of paper. Add to that the prolific black and white tree of well-ordered computer folders all lined up and waiting. Notes, outlines, inspirations, theories, discoveries, ideas, and countless tried, true and thoroughly tested recipes that span the evolution of my many years as both a home and professional cook. The Book. All put on hold so I can keep tending what’s on the front burner today. And then tomorrow and the next day. You know how that goes.

All this time I’ve had a number of different cookbook concepts simmering on the back burner, but now my stock has clarified. And what I see is Come Home to Cooking: The Mother Recipes. The synthesized compilation so many of you keep asking for to supplement all the reams of recipes and guidelines you’ve already taken home from class to support both your everyday and special occasion cooking. I know it’s time to finally make the time to seriously set this multi-layered project in motion. To give it my undivided attention. So this summer I am taking a short sabbatical to do just that. 

Then we can all go back to school with a whole New Season of Classes starting on Wed., Sept. 15, 2010. At this point I am planning to celebrate both the harvest and the beginning of Come Home to Cooking’s fourth year with a schedule that will offer...

2010 Winter-Spring Season Class Schedule

2010…

What do you think? Should we say “twenty ten” or “two thousand ten”? And don’t you agree that either way, the year somehow sounds impressively solid and dependable? Like it’s arrived to offer us a certain presence of mind. So that’s what I thought this new season of classes should provide—a wide range of tried and true Mother Recipes for us all to keep counting on. Year after year after year. These versatile classics work to support our lives while helping us master core culinary concepts. What a delicious way to invest in our long-term health and happiness. It’s so good to know we’re in this together. Why not come take your place around my table?

2010 Winter-Spring Season Class Schedule Preview

Here's a Sneak Preview…

Dear Old Friends and New,

In response to many requests for a pastry class, I have decided to have my first next season class [in early Feb.] take its inspiration from the upcoming Valentine’s Day addiction to chocolate, fertility almonds, and the first promise of spring cream & eggs. It’ll be called Hearts & Tarts and we’ll make some of my favorite sweet things: Bittersweet Chocolate Profiteroles filled with an ethereal Grand Marnier pastry cream, Early Strawberry Tart in a shortbread crust [the dough for which could also be rolled out for cut-out cookies], and a simply moist and delicious Almond Cloud Cake that can easily be dressed up or down. I consider all three of these lovelies a must in my repertoire because they offer many, many mix and match, quick or more ambitious possibilities, depending on your time and energy at any given moment. So I hope you’ll come be my Valentine.

And then to continue my practice of providing you with reliable and versatile Mother Recipes that support your life while helping you master core concepts, we'll move on to a class about Essential Sauces [another student request]. I'm also planning a class in conjunction with the wonderful heirloom Seed Bank folks [in downtown Petaluma] to help inform and inspire your early spring garden efforts, and I have many more ideas in the works.  I hope all this helps you realize what a vital role your expressed needs can play in shaping what we do in class. Now's the time to put your thoughts in the hopper. Please just comment below or go to the Student Requests category on my weblog to submit your ideas and then we can both look forward to classes you helped make possible. All will be revealed on my website in January when the first 2010 schedule is posted.

Until then, as always, I wish you joy and a hearty appetite for life--Kay

2009 Harvest Season Class Schedule

Come Back to School with a Whole New Season of Classes…

Apparently the bell now rings in August, but all the adults I know still think September is the month when school actually starts. So here we are, once again, ready to go. And this particular teacher wants to begin by reversing the custom to offer you back that nice shiny apple with tremendous gratitude for all of your eagerness and delight in the process. Thank you to my students for making this such a joy.

As we emerge from the aptly described “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” to the invigorating mental clarity of cool air and autumn light, it’s probably the best time of year to really learn something new before winter hibernation and then spring distractions come around again. After having spent every Wednesday evening this summer home-based at the Petaluma Farmers’ Market with all the Cooks’ Club members and good friends dropping by our Marketplace Chat Table, I feel even more connected and grateful to all the devoted farmers who work so hard to help put real live food on our tables. As a result this new season of classes goes several steps further to reflect those sensibilities.

Coming from a variety of different vantage points, we’ll focus on experiencing more direct contact with both our local and individual inner resources for the best cooking possible. It always comes back to starting with the most flavorful and nutritious ingredients fresh from farm and garden, and then learning how to encourage both our abilities and imagination to make the most of them. In an ongoing effort to respond to your requests and have enough time for the inclusion of every step and student, I’ve also expanded the classes to cover four hours of time together and have included both some Friday night and Saturday options as well. So come sharpen your skills and don’t forget your homework! This kind of assignment always earns you extra credit.