Simple Italy Learn-and-Dine
If your culinary comprehension limits you to grabbing takeout, frozen meals or a dull succession of sandwiches, it may be time to enliven your diet by learning to cook in one of the area’s delectable venues offering lessons, demonstrations and generous samples. As Virginia Woolf wrote, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Then again, if you’re already at home amid the steam and sizzle of a coalescing dinner, these classes will feed your foodie fascination with new recipes and techniques.
The Kitchen Garden Cooking School
Since moving from New York City to the bucolic Bucks County area 20 years ago, Sheila McDuffie has grown salad greens on her organic farm for the New York City gourmet market, opened a farmer’s market in her stone barn, and finally moved on to establish The Kitchen Garden Cooking School four years ago, where more than 400 students from miles around have learned the finer points of farm-to-table cuisine in intimate, in-depth classes. McDuffie holds world cuisine demonstration classes in her English cottage-style kitchen, covering the spices, herbs and sauces of luscious locales like Italy, France, Mexico, India, Thailand, Morocco, Greece, Lebanon, Spain and Portugal, all using the season’s harvest.
Larger hands-on classes held in the renovated chicken coop beside the farmhouse feature a Master Recipe from McDuffie’s upcoming cookbook with up to 100 variations. You may become versed in the making of Tuscan no-knead bread with 70 variations, stay to enjoy six varieties of the bread served with a delicious soup and leave with the skills to recreate the experience at home. Classes are relaxed and welcoming, so feel free to take advantage of the BYOB option, and come early or stay late to tour the herb garden, greenhouse and vegetable patch. Check out McDuffie’s seed-starting classes if you dream of starting a garden of your own. In November and December, the lineup includes Pies and Tarts, Holiday Sides and Desserts and Holiday Cookies. You’re guaranteed to master the art of the piecrust!
527 Center Hill Rd., Upper Black Eddy | 610.847.2853 | thekitchengardencookingschool.com
Lehigh Carbon and Northampton County Community Colleges
The Lehigh Valley is rich with institutions of higher learning, including two community colleges with dozens of non-credit cooking classes to get people of all ages acquainted with skills acquired in the kitchen. Both Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) in Schnecksville and Northampton Community College (NCC) in Bethlehem provide hands-on classes on practically any topic you can name, from appetizers to casseroles to international cuisine. NCC is known for its culinary arts program and on-campus gourmet restaurant, Hampton Winds, so it’s no surprise that this is a great place to learn basics like knife skills, baking and kitchen economy in their well-appointed training kitchen, but they also hold delicious demos at the Fowler Family Southside Center and chef-hosted “dine around” events at local eateries. Not to be outdone, LCCC’s long-running Great Chefs series in spring brings you into area restaurants for instruction and samples from accomplished chefs. Past participants have included Two Rivers Brewing Company and Valenca of Easton. Check in with LCCC to find out which restaurants’ mouthwatering menus will be on the 2014 lineup.
Lehigh Carbon Community College | 4525 Education Park Dr., Schnecksville | 610.799.2121 | lccc.edu Northampton Community College | 3835 Green Pond Rd., Bethlehem | 610.861.5300 | northampton.edu
Simple Italy Learn-and-Dine
The tastes and tales of Italy are no farther than Center Valley with the Simple Italy Learn-and-Dine classes of certified culinary professional, food journalist and author Sharon Sanders. Not only will one of her classes verse you in the flavors and techniques of Italian cooking, you’ll learn a bit about the culture, too. Having lived in Tuscany and traveled throughout the country, Sanders has a few stories to tell about life (and love!) in Italy. The foundation of many classic Italian dishes, fresh egg pasta could become part of your repertoire with a pasta-making class complete with three different sauces, and advice on which goes best with dried or fresh pasta. A larger group will enjoy a collaborative cooking adventure with the team-cooking dinner class, in which teams of two each tackle a course, culminating in a full meal enjoyed together, including a primo (first course), secondo (main dish), contorno (side dish), and sumptuous dolce (dessert). Simple Italy’s lessons come with a copy of Sanders’ book, Cooking Up an Italian Life as well as a chef’s apron, and students are welcome to bring a light heart and a bottle of wine. If you feel your inner Italian stirring, check out their website and arrange an afternoon or evening class. You’ll also notice that Sanders and her husband, Walter, are hosting a lavish April trip to Tuscany, the region where the two met and married. Their conversance with the culture, tastes and sights of Italy will lead travelers on an immersive experience amid the art, architecture and cuisine of a region renowned for its beauty.
484.894.6770 | simpleitaly.com
Sweet Girlz Bakery
The whirlwind rush and revelry of the holiday season is almost upon us, but fear not! Sweet Girlz Bakery of Easton will have you ready for any occasion with their comprehensive cookie baking classes. Originating during Boutique Easton, Downtown Easton’s holiday shopping event, Sweet Girlz’ cookie workshops have been a big hit, providing students with all the Christmas cookies they can eat, and none of the cleanup! Accommodating six people per class, Sweet Girlz bakers prepare the dough ahead of time for creative roll-out cookie decoration sessions, or cover the basics of classic chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, molasses or cinnamon crisp cookies. The format is flexible; whether you’re interested in starting from scratch or want to bring wine and cheese and master icing artistry with your girlfriends, contact Sweet Girlz and set it up! Classes are held Tuesday and Saturday nights between Thanksgiving and Christmas and run two to three hours, at the end of which you’ll go home with 10- to 15-dozen cookies and their recipes, enough to satisfy friends, family, coworkers or to freeze and enjoy during the cold months ahead. Sweet Girlz is also one of few bakeries to offer a recipe service, so cookie classes can be tweaked to include old family recipes you’ve had trouble replicating.
40 N. 3rd St., Easton | 610.829.1030 | sweetgirlzpa.com
Wegmans
Looking for an excuse to revisit the Allentown Wegmans endless aisles of grocery-shopping Shangri-la? This supermarket offers affordable cooking classes as well as free demos (and samples!) to entice and encourage customers to eat healthy. Monthly classes with an in-house chef have included Sushi Rolling 101, Heart Healthy Seafood and Thrill Your Grill, and the fall lineup is sure to cover seasonal fare. Local breweries like Weyerbacher, Victory and Stoudts pitch in with perfect pairings to add a little extra to dishes included in the lesson. For those with dietary restrictions, gluten-free classes have been wildly popular, especially when dishes are paired with selections from Wegmans impressive stock of gluten-free beer. If you’ve ever salivated over the pictures in Wegmans quarterly Menu magazine, you’ll be excited to hear that the publication of each issue coincides with a Menu magazine kickoff. Each of the magazine’s recipes are demonstrated at stations around the store, giving you a chance to sample and learn how to eat healthy, deliciously. Wegmans also holds a monthly cooking class for kids in the children’s area for just $5 each.
3900 Tilghman St., Allentown | 610.336.7900 | wegmans.com
Williams-Sonoma
The Williams-Sonoma in the Lehigh Valley Mall’s Outdoor Lifestyle Center is not only a great source for gorgeous kitchenware; you can find free and affordable cooking classes there, too. If you’re looking to keep your collection of favorite recipes fresh, try out the monthly Cookbook Club. Each month a selection of recipes from a new cookbook will be demonstrated by a culinary expert, with liberal samples for students. The price includes a signed copy of the cookbook so you can recreate all the recipes and more at home. On Sundays, Williams-Sonoma holds complimentary technique classes, seasonally themed and complete with tastings. In summer, classes might focus on canning, pickling and making the most of the fruits and vegetables stocking your local farmer’s market, while the holiday season is sure to offer guidance and inspiration for those often intimidating feasts and fêtes to come. Make a cooking experience at Williams-Sonoma part of your mall-crawl or its own outing and you’ll reap the benefits of a 10 percent discount on same-day purchases.
926 Lehigh Valley Mall Outdoor Lifestyle Center, Whitehall | 610.264.0360 | williams-sonoma.com
