Ten of eleven students were in class. The skill level and experience ranged from almost none (wife’s dishwasher) to some (10 good recipes) to more (here because I love cooking). I would say that half the class has good, solid cooking experience, though some would not give themselves credit for it. That said, several people in the class had not cooked before. This was looking to be a fun class!

As I said, we each cut up a carrot to show Chief Jessie our skill level. All in all, the class did well. Chief Jessie did remind people to keep their fingers curved inward to protect them. We also went through knife sharpening, which I will post more details on at a later date. After the basics were taken care of, we paired off in teams. One team made Gruyere Her Puffs, two teams made Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms, and two teams, including mine, made Chicken Wing Appetizers.

I would like to take a moment to thank Chief Jessie for her awareness of food allergies. She asked early on in the class if there were any food allergies, and was sure to give the two people with food concerns recipes they could eat. That is a nice touch, if you ask me!

My partner for the night, Tomoki, comes from Japan. Having never really cooked, he has decided to learn cooking. Tomoki had questions about different types of food, and did his best to not only follow what we did, but also what everyone else did as well. He learned how to cut through a chicken joint, and best of all, he was more than happy to help clean up. I felt our chicken wings turned out very well. The recipe was credited to the The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. Below is the recipe as we made it.

Tomoki,

Thank you for an enjoyable night cooking and learning.  Yes, I know the recipe does not exactly match what was written down, but we did adapt it some, so this captures how we adapted it.

Claire 

Chicken Wing Appetizer

1)     Cut the green onions into 3-inch pieces.

2)     Chop the garlic.

3)      Cut wing tips off at the joint, reserve for soup. Cut each wing in half at the joint.

4)      In a 5 quart pan, cook oil, wings, and two thirds green onion pieces over high heat, stirring constantly, for about 7 minutes.

5)      Reduce heat to medium. Add all remaining ingredients except for reserved onions and stir well.

6)      Cover and cook about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7)      Uncover and cook until sauce thickens and chicken is tender.

8)      Plate chicken wings, and pour remaining sauce over top, removing as much fat as possible.

9)      Serve hot, garnish with reserved green onions.

Notes:

• The original recipe did not include the garlic. You can leave this out if you would like.
• Using fresh ginger instead of dried would be wonderful in this dish!
• You may let the wings cool, and serve them a bed of green lettuce.

* Metric measurements are based off of All Recipe’s Site. I want to get a scale, at which time I will be able to better capture and assure good metric ingredients. Until then, let me know if I get any of them wrong.

I find that soy milk products always have a certain aftertaste to them. The coconut yogurt has none. In fact, the coconut flavoring on the flavored yogurts is very small, and does not overwhelm you. I have tried the Blueberry, Passionate Mango, Plain, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Strawberry Banana. The only one I did not like was the Strawberry Banana. This was because the banana flavor, well, was true banana. So, if you like banana in your yogurt, you will probably like it as well. The fruit flavors are great for having straight and adding to oatmeal or similar. The plan is good as well, and can be used in cooking (my banana bread recipe calls for yogurt). That said, it has a very strong coconut flavor. I find that it can become overwhelming on oatmeal.

All in all, I am very pleased with this product, and buy it whenever I want yogurt. I recommend it to anyone who likes good tasting food.

Visit Turtle Mountain’s site for more information, coupons, a store locator, and recipes.

The first thing we covered was how sticky the rice it. In order to have it not stick to our hands, we first put on rubber gloves, and then use a very small amount of oil to keep the rice sticking to our gloves. This pretty much allowed us to work with the rice without it sticking. The other trick I learned was to not squish the rice. As it is very sticky, what you want to do is shape it, and it will hold together. Now, on to the types of sushi!

Temaki

The first type of sushi we learned to make was Temaki, or had roll. This type of sushi was easy to make, and resulted in a larger proportion. It has a cone shape as it final shape. We used a half sheet of nori to roll the cones with.

Makizushi

The next kind of sushi we made was Makizushi. This is the rolled sushi cut into 6 to 8 pieces. We learned to make it both with the nori on the outside, and the rice on the outside. To my surprise, we learned the version with the rice on the outside first, and it was easier to make. When you slice the roll, do not saw at it, rather, just gently pull the knife towards you.

Nigirizushi

Nigirizushi, or hand formed sushi is a log of rice, with an ingredient on top. If needed, wasabi may be used to keep the topping in place, or a thin strip of nori may be wrapped around.

Gunkanmaki

The next one, Gunkanmaki, has the nori wrapped around the rice, with the rice forming the base of an oblong bowl. This sushi will hold ingredients that would fall off of another type of sushi. While many people did spicy tuna for this one, I did not, as the sauce had eggs in it. I may try to adapt the spicy tuna recipe at some point though.

 Inarizushi

In its most common form, Inarizushi is a fried tofu pouch filled with sushi rice. If you make it at home, however, you can add very small chopped items to the rice. I would like to try this with some chopped mango and cilantro in it.

Oshizushi

Oshizushi, or pressed sushi, is layers of rice and other ingredients in a rice press. It is important to remember not to press down on the sushi, rather, you want to use the top to keep it in place as you pull the press, leaving the sushi below. My green onion and fish roe version was surprisingly good.

Chirashizushi

The last type of sushi I made was Chirashizushi. It is simply stuff on sushi rice. Now, presentation is important in all cooking, even this last type, so I tried to make sure it was presentable.

Now that you have seen my sushi pictures, here is the recipe for the rice. Try it, and play with your options. It will taste good no matter what it looks like, and with practice, it will look nicer each time you make it. As far as I can tell, the ingredients are allergy safe, but it is always a good idea to double check. Remember, you do not have to have fish in your sushi.

Sushi Rice

1)      Rinse rice until water until water almost runs clear.

2)      Add cooking water, and cook as directed by the package (generally 1 part to 1 part).

3)      Mix rice vinegar and mirin together, season rice.

4)      Let rice cool to room temperature before making sushi.

Notes:

• Short-grain or medium-grain Chinese or California rice should be used, not long grain. Traditionally, short-grain rice was used.
• When stirring in the seasoning, be careful not to smash the rice together. You want to lightly season each grain of rice with your figure tips. Each grain should be whole, and seasoned. Unseasoned rice grains will become hard. 

* Metric rice measurements are based off of this online Rice and Rice Flour Conversion Calculator. I want to get a scale, at which time I will be able to better capture and assure good metric ingredients. Until then, let me know if I get any of them wrong.

The first thing we learned was the difference between stiff and wet frosting, where a stiff frosting will hold its shape (but you don’t want it too stiff), and a wet frosting for this will hold for 4 to 10 counts before it melts. We used the stiff frosting to create the edges of the frosting, and then the wet frosting in the middle. You can see the white stiff edging on the cookie below.

The goal with the wet frosting is to make it as thin as possible. I was not very good with that. Then, you add designs to the cooking by dropping lines, shapes, or dots, and then running a toothpick through them. A straight line through a dot creates a heart, for example. The wet frosting will melt into it, and create a smooth surface. You can also use the stiff frosting to give yourself edges. Below are a few pictures of the cookies the club decorated.

Cream Cheese Shortbread Cookies

5 cups Wondra flour

1 ½ tsp. salt

½ cup sugar

1 lb. sweet butter

½ lb. cream cheese

4 egg yolks

2 tsp. vanilla

1)      Cream butter and cream cheese…

2)      Add egg yolks, add sugar and flour slowly

3)      Mix all … add vanilla

4)      Bake 350 for 10 minutes or until golden

Notes:

• Jill uses regular King Arthur Flour

For probably a month, every day I got home, I read this book. Every section had something new to show. The idea of making maple snow cones from the season’s last snow and the season’s first maple sounds absolutely wonderful! Coca-Cola with ammonia sounds less so. The difference between a clam bake in The North-East and in the South is amazing.
The book is raw, unfinished feeling. Many of the recipes do not give enough details to make as they were made. However, it shows a time that is otherwise lost in the past. It tells stories; it shows you more than just what the food was, but why and how the people were connected with the food.

If you are looking for a glimpse into the foods of the past, as they were changing into the foods of today, pick up this book.

Buy The Food of a Younger Land

Several things have happened to lead up to this.

I am allergic to dairy and eggs, and in general, is likely to turn allergic to other protein if I overeat it or if I have dairy and eggs with it. Protein in moderation is key for me. This year, something surprising happened to me. I successfully eliminated all traces of dairy and egg from my diet. I adjusted. It got almost easy for me, to avoid food with dairy and eggs. This past holiday season, I broke my diet two time. That’s it, just two times. Additionally, each was a minor break, with a very small amount of egg or dairy. While I felt the effect of the foods, it passed pretty quickly, and I was back to feeling pretty good.

Based on this, I would probably go on a rotation diet for a month or two and reset my body. Getting to this point has been a goal of mine for years. But this was not the only thing that influenced me this year.

My doctor tested my Vitamin D level. I was low. I mean, I was really low. So she put me on 10,000 MUs of Vitamin D3 a day. I felt better than I had in years. Then the test showed my level high. I was down to 1,000 MUs of Vitamin D a day, and was dead tired. One more test, and this one shows me low again. At this point, my doctor ran some tests to see if I had any chemicals or heavy metals in me. The results: I had high level of mercury in my system.

At this point, several things all happened at once: I went on a mercury treatment. My mother called me, and told me about this book that “described” me: The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late.

Newly armed with these two seemingly unrelated data points, I went to the internet to learn more.

The book on the Einstein Syndrome describe me pretty well, both my strengths and my weaknesses. The research on the Einstein Syndrome, which Albert Einstein had according to the book, indicates that at best, it closely resembles autism. Further, many people believe that what he had is Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder in the autism spectrum. There is disagreement on this. It is an interesting book, though it left me with more questions than I started with.

The research into mercury poisoning showed a high number of references to autism as well. There is a theory out there currently that autism is partly caused by high levels of mercury. While this has not been proved, it also has not been disproved. Additionally, there are some trends that make this theory seem viable. But again, nothing is for certain, and there is disagreement.

With these two unrelated data points pointing in somewhat the same direction, tentatively towards a disorder that has not held me back if I have it, nor that I can do anything about, I figured that was that. I should just do the mercury treatment, and go on with my life.

Decision made, now I can read my Living Without magazine. I open it up, and what do you know, there is an article about treating autism with a gluten-free/casein-free diet. Further, it goes into how these kids often have other food allergies. Again, there seems to be disagreement on how effective this it. When I talked to my doctor, she agreed that it might be helpful, and would be worth a test. I am already half way there, as I eat no dairy products.

Additionally, my original plan to do a rotation diet is further complicated by the fact that I am not done with the mercury treatment, and will be avoiding fish for the next three months. I want as many sources of protein on my diet as possible before doing a rotation diet.

This leads me to removing gluten from my diet, as a test, over the next three months. I will see how it makes me feel. If you have any tips, I am very interested, as I know far less about gluten free cooking or hidden sources of gluten than I do about managing my allergies in general.

First, I made myself some chocolates I could eat. I started with a high quality dark chocolate.  This was melted, and poured into come candy molds. I added small crisp rice to half of these chocolates. The final product was over a pound of chocolates for me to enjoy.

The gifts I made are not allergy friendly, as the people they were going to don’t have allergies.

I made bell shaped chocolate boxes for my sister, plus Mike’s sister and brother. I had fun creating patterns with white and milk chocolate. These are filled with little chocolates I made later, and topped with some colored white chocolate holly I made freehand.

This is the first year I have a nephew to think about. Seeing how he is about 6 months old, I didn’t want to make him anything to large. I had a range of colored white chocolate to work with. I did a freehand design for my nephew, a milk chocolate teddy bear and a white chocolate drum. For this one, I chose to display the shinny side, the side that was against plastic wrap. As a final touch, I made a little red and white collar for the bear, and glued it on using chocolate.

For Mike’s parents, I created a white chocolate Christmas tree with a milk chocolate trunk. The tree was created in two layers plus some green leafs and red berries added for depth. This was packaged with some of the same little chocolates used in the bells, around the trunk as presents.

For my parents, I made an angle. This was made in five parts – two pieces for the wings, one piece for the dress, one piece for the face, and a small piece of holly the angle is holding. After these had set, I assembled them into an angle, and glued them together using more chocolate. Once they were together, I added arms, and a white halo. She was packaged with little chocolates around her.

The little chocolates I packaged with each of the gift is a simple swirl chocolate consisting of milk chocolate with a bit of white chocolate swirled in.

All in all, I had a very productive class. I took the class from Dawns Candy and Cake in Kirkland, Washington.

The concept of the book is simple: cook one day a month, and have food for the rest of the month. It extends the idea of cook and freeze by cooking multiple dishes at once. All in all, this book has some good concepts, and can help people having trouble getting a good meal on the table. In addition to the chapters explaining the system, tips, and how to adapt it to your favorite recipe, the book includes four chapters (five chapters in the new version) of recipe plans. Two are month long, and the rest are for a two week period.

That said, two distinct things stand out to me in reading this book: The once a month cooking is two to three days long (one day shopping, one day prep, and one day cooking). This can be a challenge if you work. The second is many of the recipes use shortcut ingredients to save time. This includes frozen bread dough, cream of soup, and seasoning packages. This is needed to keep the time down, and not using the shortcuts will add to the time needed.

For many, the recipes will seem like a nice range of recipes, using easy to get ingredients. Additionally, the concept is one of interest even if the recipes are not quite what you are looking for. I love the idea of preparing a month’s worth of food, and putting it in the freezer, as a gift to a new mother, for example. There are times this could really help out.

Buy Once-A-Month Cooking

Note: The version of the book I reviewed is the previous version, and the link takes you to the current version.