I think it's a week from tomorrow, the wife and I are teaching a West Indian cooking class at the local Vo-Tech. We've been to a few of their classes, some of which were a lot of fun. We get to cook in their commercial-grade kitchen they use for the culinary students and some of the students help out as well. It's been a fun thing to do as a couple, with some pretty neat classes. We also frequently see a number of the same people. It's kind of a small town (~35k). We've been doing them around, oh, a year and a half, or so. I can't remember them all off the top of my head, but we enjoyed Italian night, cheesecake night, Moroccan and just last week we did Cajun/Creole. It was pretty good.
Anyways, we did a class last fall, in October, I think, and it was a huge success. I think they said we got some of the best reviews of all their classes. We decided to try to spice it up a bit and make it more interactive and fun. I brought my computer speakers and laptop (not some dinky little ones, these are nice speakers with a powered subwoofer, etc.) and played real Caribbean music in the kitchen during the class. That livened things up a bit - not Jimmy Buffett and The Beach Boys, I'm talking real Caribbean - local music from the islands, as we had just gotten back from there a couple months before and had brought home some stuff that was fresh and original from their Carnival. Mostly soca, a little dub and calypso. It really livened things up in the kitchen for everyone.
Only downside was that we forgot to list it as a 21+ class in the catalog, so we couldn't have any "adult beverages". That has been remedied for this upcoming class next week!
We're busy testing out new recipes for certain things, especially rum punches.
My wife is the primary instructor and cook, and I am there to help, mainly. But it's a heck of a lot of fun! If you guys have a Vo-Tech or something in your area, see if they do this kind of stuff. I know the word of mouth from the last class went out quick and this class has been completely booked for over a month now. And they just squeezed in a friend of ours who pulled rank because she is another instructor there and wanted in. lol So it's gonna be a full house!
BTW, my wife was born and raised in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, so she's an authentic.
We'll be doing all local traditional dishes including pelau (their local version, it is different everywhere you go!), stew beef with potatoes and gravy with rice & lentils, curry goat, roti (another highly variable dish), some baked Caribbean chicken, jerk pork with a couple of different types of mango chutney - one regular and one amped with chilis)... lots more. It's gonna be a blast!
Maybe if I can remember, I'll take some pics and post them, both of the class, and of the food!
Anyways, we did a class last fall, in October, I think, and it was a huge success. I think they said we got some of the best reviews of all their classes. We decided to try to spice it up a bit and make it more interactive and fun. I brought my computer speakers and laptop (not some dinky little ones, these are nice speakers with a powered subwoofer, etc.) and played real Caribbean music in the kitchen during the class. That livened things up a bit - not Jimmy Buffett and The Beach Boys, I'm talking real Caribbean - local music from the islands, as we had just gotten back from there a couple months before and had brought home some stuff that was fresh and original from their Carnival. Mostly soca, a little dub and calypso. It really livened things up in the kitchen for everyone.
Only downside was that we forgot to list it as a 21+ class in the catalog, so we couldn't have any "adult beverages". That has been remedied for this upcoming class next week!
We're busy testing out new recipes for certain things, especially rum punches. My wife is the primary instructor and cook, and I am there to help, mainly. But it's a heck of a lot of fun! If you guys have a Vo-Tech or something in your area, see if they do this kind of stuff. I know the word of mouth from the last class went out quick and this class has been completely booked for over a month now. And they just squeezed in a friend of ours who pulled rank because she is another instructor there and wanted in. lol So it's gonna be a full house!
BTW, my wife was born and raised in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, so she's an authentic.
We'll be doing all local traditional dishes including pelau (their local version, it is different everywhere you go!), stew beef with potatoes and gravy with rice & lentils, curry goat, roti (another highly variable dish), some baked Caribbean chicken, jerk pork with a couple of different types of mango chutney - one regular and one amped with chilis)... lots more. It's gonna be a blast!Maybe if I can remember, I'll take some pics and post them, both of the class, and of the food!
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