Cooking Demonstration at W&S (and Sasser House!)

I should just start a blog post label for "Food and Friends".  That pretty much sums up how I like to spend most weeks and weekends.  Seeing friends, eating food, cooking food, cooking the food I am going to eat, etc etc etc.  It's not a bad life, really!

Last week I threw something new into the mix around this topic:  a cooking demonstration.   I always get emails from Williams & Sonoma advertising their cooking demonstrations in the evening, and one of their classes this month, Healthy Springtime Meals, sounded delish.  It wasn't too expensive, especially after I called and asked if we would actually get to EAT the food.  (I wasn't going if we only got a few tastes, you know.) They assured me that you received a full meal and would leave full, so I signed up for two spots.

My original dinner companion, Carl, had a work event come up last minute, but I was super excited that Kellee said she would go with me!  While little 6 week old Reagan hung out at home with her Daddy, Kellee and I watched a chef try to cook this three-course meal on a teeny tiny stove while using all the W&S finest cooking products.  (This is how the cooking demonstration actually turns expensive - during the evening you become convinced you need to buy whatever cool tool he's using at that moment.  I almost came home with a small, non-reactive Le Crueset pot, a strawberry huller, a new whisk, and vanilla bean paste.  Fortunately for the Visa card, I resisted...)

Overall, it was a lot of fun and I feel I learned a few tricks and facts I wasn't aware of.  Like, for instance, did you know the rule for rinsing meat before you cook it?  If it flies or swims, you rinse it. If it walks on the land with four legs, you do not (or you'll wash off the good bacteria). Interesting, right?

The food was good, too, and I enjoyed seeing how everything paired together.  And, I enjoyed getting a full meal (in front of all the customers making last minute purchases.  Well, maybe that was a little weird.)  Mostly, I enjoyed hanging out with this gal!

The next night, Carl and Brian came over to borrow Enda's wooden crate (which she always hated) for their new labradoodle addition.  Since Carl missed out on the W&S demonstration, I decided to re-create the dinner for the four of us.  It was equally as yummy as I remembered, and a big hit with all the men.  I even practiced on my presentation skills, just like the chef taught us:

Our meal (clockwise, from top left): Potato and Leek soup, made with zero cream and only 2T of butter (or 4T if I'm the chef, because 2T is just enough to make you mad...);  Grilled pork (that my honey did for me on the Green Egg) topped with a homemade apple and almond chutney; lemon and parsley orzo with asparagus; and a polenta teacake with strawberries in citrus sugar

YUM.