Current mood:

full

Cooking with the seniors. It's a good thing.
Since I've been off work I've been trying my best to keep busy and get out to stop myself from going completely insane.

One of my friends introduced me to the world of weekly free "What's for Dinner?" cooking classes at Loblaws grocery stores. It's a one-hour demo of a main dish and dessert where at the end you get to sample the food and get the recipes so you can make it yourself.

The week I went with my friend, I went to the Loblaws near her (she also happens to be 9+ months pregnant, no one wanted her to give birth on the subway so I went to her). The chef made a black bean soup that takes all day to make and a deep fried cheese dessert that I would never eat since I'm lactose intolerant. The class was a bust, but it was still fun to see my friend and it was a good thing to do during the day.

Since that one class, I decided to try the same class at the Loblaws down the street from me. It turns out the entire senior population of my building also attends these classes every week. I personally think they go for the socializing and free lunch. And they all knew each other so I stuck out as being the "new person" (not to mention I was about the only person in attendence without grey/white/no hair), the instructor even pointed me out at the beginning of the class. Fun. But the recipes that were demoed were quite good (a super-easy one-pot Mexican chicken dish and an equally simple saucy chocolate cake). I made them both for dinner that day (and of course we were eating it for many days after).

I went to my third class today where a wild mushroom soup was made. Quite tasty and it looks easy to make, too. The dessert was an apple tart with cranberries and apricot jam topped with goat cheese. The dessert is not sometime I would make, but I plan to make the soup tonight.

It's a great thing for the store, too. They get a bunch of people into the store and hopefully we all shop for our groceries there right after the class (like I did).

So far both main dish recipes can be made Veggie-style and lactose-free, too. Let me know if anyone wants any of the recipes.

I think this is a great thing for me since I get out of the house, get a small lunch (ok, I admit that the main reason I went), and my confidence gets a boost since I can successfully make a good dinner for my hubby every Tuesday.