Cooking Courses, are they worth it?

If you’re looking to learn to cook, or cook a little better, which we assume you are or you wouldn’t have been on this site, you must have considered, at some point, cooking courses / lessons. We have to ask ourselves, are they really worth it? I mean sure, you can learn a lot from a teacher and maybe have some fun at the same time, but, we must ask, is it really that much more beneficial having someone physically school you than simply picking up some recipes, ingredients and having a crack at it yourself? There are 1000’s of cookery and recipe resources online and 1000’s of recipe books in your local library or bookstore - we assume.

I guess you need to consider if you’re going to benefit that much more from cooking courses in your local school or university when compared to teaching yourself from a book or website. Personally, I think you’ll have more fun learning how to cook yourself as opposed to being schooled, lectured and most of the time spoken down to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against teachers, but we had enough of that in school. We do we need to pay to be spoken down to! But with that said, the choice is yours. I think it is much more rewarding to teach / school yourself than have someone teach you, but that’s just my opinion!

Anyway, let me know what you think, cooking courses, are they worth it?

Dinner Parties

When you are cooking a romantic dinner or setting up your first dinner party, you will find yourself overwhelmed by the amount of work that such an occasion represents; however, instead of making the mistakes that most amateurs make (like starting to cook about two hours in advance and finish up cooking while your guests are waiting for you), take into consideration the following:

Design what it is that you are going to be serving in advance. Avoid experimenting with new meals for this occasion; settle for preparing those dishes that you are familiar and comfortable with.

Prepare as much as you possibly can in advance; if you are making roast or dry pastas, keep as little as possible to be prepared as close to the dinner time as possible, so you will have time to mingle.

Set up the table in advance. If you have to use the dinning table for other purposes, make sure that you have everything piled up and ready to be set as close as possible, so that you will not lose time.

If you have to fry something prior to dinner, do it with the kitchen well ventilated and use a coat or a jacket so it (not you or the clothes you are wearing for your guests) will receive all the grease particles that are what make you smell greasey.