"cooking classes" news and stories

Meatball plate at Ikea. Photo: roboppy/flickr

Swedish meatballs may be the mainstay at the Ikea cafeteria, but the flat-pack furniture chain is branching out.

Next month, Ikea will hold five free cooking classes with well-known chefs as part of a marketing campaign with Family Circle, Mediaweek reports.

Food University Presented by Family Circle will stop at Ikeas in Seattle (Oct. 20, Caprial Pence), Costa Mesa, Calif. (Oct. 22, Katie Chin), Tempe, Ariz. (Oct. 28, Claudine Pepin), Sunrise, Fla. (Nov. 3, Oliver Saucy) and College Park, Md. (Nov. 5, Mary Ann Esposito) for two-hour seminars that promise an introduction to ingredients, tips on entertaining and spicing up a menu as well as healthy family recipes.

The seminars are free and open to the public.

[Via Mediaweek]

• Cooking classes are all the rage in the Philadelphia area, with sessions available for kids, novices, experts and beyond.
• The cafeteria at Jefferson Hospital is in its second year of a program in which they integrate more fresh, local veggies into their offerings. So far, it's been a resounding success.
• Check out the Market Basket for Pumpkin Pie ice cream, a mixing spoon pot clip and Sun-Ni Grab and Go snacks.
• Wine lessons abound.
• In Table Talk, Michael Klein dishes about Melograno's move to Sansom Street and the new spot, Mémé, that has opened in its old spot.
• The Rush Hour Gourmet is whipping up kabobs of shrimp and fresh veggies.

• It's the Cooking Issue of The Boston Globe Magazine, with articles on turning simple ingredients into an elegant dinner for company, making your own wine, the essentials you need for your kitchen, which market staples can help you with appetizers, and taking cooking classes.
• Four wine experts taste wines under $12 and tell you which are best.
• A quick guide on where to get a healthy breakfast in Boston.
• Step-by-step saute.
• This week's recipes: Spicy chicken stew, Celeriac, Parsnip, and Potato Gratin, Turkey Pot Pie, and Pumpkin Gingerbread.

Sign me up, please! Cooking classes take place in exotic locales around the world, but I'm ready to head to Bali to try the cooking classes offered at the Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay. At the Bali hotel, participants learn how to make dishes like grilled red snapper wrapped in banana leaf, Balinese chicken satay, and Balinese pumpkin treat (if you can't make it to Bali, the Cincinnati Enquirer recently ran the recipe for the pumpkin dessert). Overall, the classes at the Four Seasons seem pretty casual and low-key, perfect for guests who want to pick up some cooking tips while on vacation.

Source

The New York Times Travel section has a list of twenty slightly offbeat, more interesting things to do for Spring Break, when most people pack up a bikini and sunscreen and head off to the beach. One of their suggestions is to learn a new cuisine by enrolling in a weekend cooking course that can go anywhere from spending the weekend in a bed and breakfast to the CIA. Their recommendations (all on the East Coast) are:

• Culinary Institute of America (CIA) offers day-long cooking classes every Saturday this spring in Hyde Park, NY
• New England Culinary Institute takes you to their Inn at Essex, VT, where you spend two hours helping to prepare your own meals
• You can learn to make your own maple syrup at The Manor on Golden Pond in Holderness, NH
• Also in Vermont, Deborah Krasner's Vermont Culinary Vacations offers weekend-long group cooking courses.