Summer vacation over - lots of food news to share!

Hello everyone, my camping trip is over and I am sorry to say that the most gourmet food I cooked was corn wrapped up in tinfoil with butter and herbs and peanut butter rice krispie treats.  Not that they weren't delicious but I just wasn't feeling gourmet last week.  Perhaps it was the 35 degree weather!  Yes, in August in Big Bear Lake it was 35 degrees at night... luckily temps rose 40 degrees during the day making for beautiful sunny, warm days spent fishing, hiking and enjoying the fresh air.  We made the usual fare: hot dogs, pork ribs, beef stew and lots of toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate to stay warm at night.  It was a fun week, but I am excited to be back in LA to start class again!

Peanut butter Rice Krispie treats!

Last night was my first night of International Cooking at GCC.  It is being taught by Chef Greenwood (my favorite teacher from last semester) and is proving to be a fun class again.  Two students from my class last semester are taking the class, making us the "advanced" team... so instead of watching the introduction to chopping vegetables video last night, we got to make bruschetta, we caught up on each other's summers, and sampled lemon poppy seed bread that Chef's high school class made earlier that day.  Yes, it sounds like a fun way to spend a Tuesday night, but I hope to learn more this semester.  I think once we get past the introduction to cooking and kitchen safety (which some new people in the class will DEFINITELY need), we will have more fun stuff to do.  I think she will have our team help guide the other students and cook some more advanced recipes.  Works for me!

Next Tuesday we don't have class but we do have an extra credit opportunity to attend a great event at the Skirball titled: "Are Celebrity Chefs Good For Food?" - should be an interesting lecture with some great LA chefs and food fans (including Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly,  Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Ludovic Lefebvre of LudoBites and “Top Chef Masters” star Susan Feniger of Street).  I will be there!

How was your Labor Day?  Did you do anything fun?  Try any new foods?  Please feel free to share here!