This Is What Happens When...

I'm becoming quite the professional chef now. I have been to TWO cooking classes so, yeah, I'm a pro. Teresa suggested we take a Contempory Sauce class at Sur La Table a few months ago. She LOVES cooking. She makes stuff up in her head, tweeks recipes all on her own, has fancy French cookbooks, won a pie contest for crying out loud, owns a fancy shmancy ScanPan (gasp!!), watches Top Chef, and this was her third cooking class at Sur La Table. She is obviously much more chefy than me. That's okay - she rocks it.

We arrived at Sur La Table and you know when you walk into a store with lots of fun gadgets, miniature versions of big gadgets & awesomer versions of gadgets you already own and all you want to do is shop for hours and spend money like you have piles and piles of the never-ending stuff shoved in your underwear drawer and other equally nonsensical places ??? That was me.

Screw the cooking class.

Kidding.

Okay so we walked into an awesome professional kitchen and met our chef, Bobby Christy. Just say the name out loud. Bobby Christy. It has a certain flair doesn't it? Bobby Christy. Now whisper it seductively - Bobby Christyyy. He's a nice man who is very passionate (might I add dramatic) about cooking. The chefs, I learned, are very passionate about what they do and like to use the word 'Beautiful' about everything. Not just 'Beautiful' but 'Beauuuuuutiful'. As in, "The sauce will have a beauuutiful satiny, shiny look to it" and "You are looking for a beauuuuuutiful golden brown carmel." Oh and everything has a gender,too. As in, "He just wants to be left alone right now. He knows how to play well with others so he'll tell us when he's done." Awkwaaaaard.

Moving on. I had a GREAT time!! First off we made a beauuuutiful French sauce which was served over (barely) grilled shrimp. We learned how to devein the shrimp - or as I prefer to call it, taking out it's poo vein. I have a hard time eating shrimp for the very fact that they are scavengers so actually de-poo-ing it yourself was somewhat gross. I lived through it though. My poor shrimp were quite massacred due to paranoia that the alien intestines were still there.
And after that we skewered the little suckers right through the poo hole for cooking:

Insert picture of Teresa de-poo-ing a shrimp here. Have to add it when I get home - thought I did but apparently didn't.

Here is Chef Christy making the beauuuutiful sauces to go over the salmon (gag! but I ate it with dignity and because it came straight from the fish market it wasn't that bad....and I was starving):

The sauces were the best part. Absolutely beauuuuuutiful. We agreed that we could have easily just slurped up the sauce from a bowl and been satisfied. I could hardly taste the French sauce over the grilled shrimp but it was good nonetheless. This second one was really fantastic but the third, which was served over barely seared beef (very scary!!!) with roasted red peppers was my favorite. Also the easiest. My kinda sauce right there. With all the barely cooked meat I was a little grossed out, but I decided to trust in the chef who knows what he's doing and I wasn't disappointed. I still won't ever cook it like that myself, though. No. Way.

We were given a small break in between to go shop the store - YAY!!!! Teresa and I snapped this pic real quick and jetted off to Kitchen Heaven to make use of our 10% off priviledges!!

I set out to get a silicone brush. I needed one of these badly! I got the green one:

I really really really really wanted a mini magnetic set of salt and pepper grinders - soooo cute!! - but I resisted because I what I need is a regular size set and I can get those cheaper elsewhere. So I bought a cool palm peeler and palm brush, instead!

Aaaaaaaaaaand, I owe this all to Teresa who very kindly reminded me that I have yet to purchase my fondue pot so that we can have a Fondue party with my acquired Fondue cooking skills. She researched pots for me a loooooong time ago but I just couldn't figure out what one would work best for me.....until this!!!!:

It's all mine. MINE!!! (greedy little laugh inserted here). I will dazzle and shine with my new pot!! Sigh. Isn't it beauuuutiful??

After we ate our last mini meal and enjoyed Bobby Christy's cocoa-covered truffles, he personally walked Teresa and I out the door. As Bobby Christy held open the door for us, he handed me his very own class packet and said "Here are some of my class notes." It was very smooth. I knew right away what his 'notes' were but I still found myself thumbing through the pages as fast as possible to see if I was correct. Second page, on the bottom it read: Bobby - (telephone number). WHAT?!!!! Crud!!! Didn't he see the wedding band? He had to of. What am I suppose to do with his number?? Oh I felt so bad because he was very courageous and put himself out there. But...But...I dunno. On the positive side, it was very flattering. I am so glad Teresa was there to share the moment.

So...This Is What Happens When....I Go To A Cooking Class At Sur La Table!!

Beauuuuuutiful.

Bobby Christy.