Malawry

I was wondering when somebody would pick up on this and ask about it! Given my experience from my early 20s as a gender activist (and my undergraduate degree in women's studies), I would be personally ashamed to attach a male pronoun to a baby whose sex was unknown. (People do it all the time, but I'm very careful about these things.) We definitevely found out in December that I am carrying a boy, but I had a hunch beforehand that this was the case. We were referring to him as "Baby Jones" (Jones is my husband's last name, and the name we're giving any children), sort of like "Baby Jesus"--you know, "Baby Jones cries when you buy margarine instead of butter" type of thing. But since we know his sex, we've been referring to him by the name we've chosen. That name? Colin Elijah Jones. I had another ultrasound last week and got a snap of his boy bits from the technician, just to be absolutely sure. Boy, will this be an embarrassment to him when he brings home a date in high school...*cackle*

When I accepted Chef Lang's offer to teach some continuing ed cooking classes, she gave me a list of classes that had been previously taught and asked if any of them looked good. (It was only a list of class titles.) I chose a few and then proposed a few of my own: how to give a dinner party and the tapas party were two of those. She really liked my ideas, so we went with them. For the classes I proposed I had to fill out a "class proposal" form that mostly explained what I wanted to teach and what I thought it would cost from a materials standpoint to cover the subject. Previously taught classes already had accepted proposals, so I just had to say "I'll teach this" and pick a date and the rest was taken care of.

I hadn't noticed the syrup playing off the juice like that. But right now I am very into cran-rasp juice and will drink it with just about anything. Pregnancy does weird things to the taste buds. I suffered a lot of nausea in the early phases of my pregnancy, like many women do. I was able to work past it during Varmint's Pig Pickin over Labor Day weekend, but that was pretty much the only foodie weekend--and the only time I ate a lot of food--during the entire first trimester plus the first month of the second trimester. Things fortunately improved after that and I've had fairly normal weight gain and a decent appetite. I do suffer from heartburn, to the extent that I take another antacid before the last one can wear off usually--it's a constant companion. I don't eat too much at a single sitting if I can help it because the baby is pushing up on my stomach and if I'm full, it's very uncomfortable. I am carrying very high for some reason.

Yes, that's exactly right. I like to shop for and eat seasonal foods when they start coming in, and will be devoting more time to them in warm-weather columns. And the column is very much geared towards people who aren't as confident in the kitchen as your standard eG member.

I think jm chen is right that Bethesda may be the best bet for you to walk to a Trader Joe's from a Metro. The Rockville Trader Joe's is also about a 10-minute walk from a Metro, this time I think it's the Twinbrook station that's closest. Walking along Rockville Pike is even more unpleasant than walking down Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, though. Both of these stations are along the route your husband takes to work daily, so at least they aren't a total schlep. As for Wegman's, sorry, there are 2 in Northern Virginia that are nowhere near Metro, and now there's one in Hunt Valley, MD which I think is on the other side of Baltimore. No Weggies in Montgomery County--Safeway and Giant helped to ensure that with a bill they helped push through the county council a few months ago that prevents super-sized "big box" stores from moving in. (The bill was also aimed at Wal*Mart, FWIW.) Your spouse is fairly close to the Kentlands (Gaithersburg) Whole Foods when he parks his car in Shady Grove, but that doesn't help on the budget end of things. He is also not too far from the Gaithersburg Trader Joe's, which is in a strip center around the back of Gaithersburg's mall (Lake Forest?). Thanks for the sleep support. Boy am I tired these days...

No, there are no exams in any of my cooking classes. Some of the continuing education classes do have exams, especially those that serve as certification for other things (truck driving, medical stuff, etc). There actually are food-safe handler certification courses in the continuing ed catalogue which of course also require a test. The paperwork is not that bad. I applied for the job with FCC back in August of last year; they had a course in the professional program that they put on their job site that I wanted to teach. It turned out that enrollment was such that they didn't offer that class, and besides I think they wanted somebody they knew a little better or who already had experience teaching in a professional program if they'd been able to move ahead with it. Chef Lang, head of the culinary program, did ask me if I wanted to teach food safety, but I just can't get interested in the subject so I declined her offer. Then she asked if I'd be willing to teach some continuing ed/recreational classes, and I leapt at that opportunity. I had to apply online, interview, and then fill out the usual employment paperwork. At each class I teach I have to sign a contract (there's a contract for each class since each class is a one-off), and I have to fill out a form from the lady who teaches in the classroom where I work during the school day that basically says yes, I cleaned up after myself. Students are expected to evaluate teachers at the end of each class, and my work gets evaluated mostly based on their evaluations. I submit receipts, including the house-account slip from Weis, along with all the other stuff at the end of each class. That's all the papers that get pushed normally. Paperwork is very similar for Jefferson County, except they are a lot less formal about these things. I didn't ever apply, though I did fill out employment paperwork and sign a contract. I called and asked if they were hiring late last summer and they practically leapt at me and said, "YES! We'll call you in a few months when we're working on the catalogue." And that was it until December, when they called me and asked me to write a proposed 6-class series schedule--and turn it in the very next day. I started this thread at that time. I did fish around with other institutions and programs for cooking class work, but these were the only two so far that panned out.

Some people in the class didn't want to try it at all! I told them the last two were in the 80s percentage-wise and there were a couple of ladies who declined to sample them as a result. Then there was one person who asked if there was any more she could have, she liked it so much! Heh. At least I didn't spring the 99% Scharffen Berger on them...

That's a neat trick, Chris, and one I hadn't heard of before. However, if I'm gonna do asparagus next month, I don't really want to do artichokes right now. Next time they're on sale, though, I'm gonna give this a try. I buy fresh artichokes once every 6-8 weeks when they look good and aren't expensive and steam them. I can put away 2 or 3 of them myself as dinner (I mean as the whole dinner), with homemade mayo or melted butter or both as options.

Thanks, everybody, for your comments and suggestions. My editor likes the mashers idea, so I'm going with that. They're coming Friday at 11am to snap the story, so I have a few days to think it through and review Chufi's thread as suggested. I am back from my class, which went well...this is the third one I've taught in this particular space to this demographic and I think I finally nailed everything tonight. I took some pictures of things and will post them with more detail in the morning. I did end up going to Costco and having a hot dog for dinner. I'm hungry again now...I barely eat anything when I'm teaching because I spend most of my time yapping my trap instead.

I'm hungry, and I'm thinking it's about time to head out for my class. I'm considering stopping by Costco and eating a hot dog for my early dinner. As I confessed in this Costco snack-bar thread, I am deeply in love with the Hebrew National kosher hot dog and often buy one from the food court when I am in or near a Costco. For $1.58 including tax and beverage, it's got to be one of the cheapest meals going. I'll likely be back tomorrow with plenty of photos and whatnot for your perusal. It may not be until around lunchtime, but that depends on how I sleep tonight. (Usually I'm so exhausted after my Tuesday classes that I have trouble sleeping through the night afterwards, if that makes sense.)

Sterling, VA (near Dulles Airport). My husband has a choir that rehearses near there every Sunday night, so I go with him periodically and shop at Wegman's. It's a wonderful shopping experience...I really love going there. The Trader Joe's I visited was in Centreville, VA, about 12 miles from said Wegman's. I'd forgotten that TJ's in Virginia carry beer and wine...the Maryland stores don't due to the liquor laws...and I stocked up on cheap bottles for cooking. Someday, I will be able to DRINK wine again. Sigh.

Due to Weis's paltry selection of quality chocolates, I hit Trader Joe's and Wegman's on Sunday night to purchase chocolates, which FCC will reimburse me for. In addition to these chocolates, I plan to purchase Hershey's and Baker's chocolates as well as chocolate bark when I hit Weis late this afternoon. Here's what I have on tap for tonight: White chocolate: Lindt, Perugina, and Ghirardelli in the big chunk. Milk chocolate: Lindt, Ghirardelli, Valrhona and Villars. The Scharffen Berger cocoa powder is for rolling ganache truffle centers. Dark sweet chocolates: Scharffen Berger 60%, a Valrhona that I think is in the 50s, and Ghirardelli "semi-sweet" chocolate Dark 70-something chocolates: Scharffen Berger, Valrhona, two different single-source chocolates from Chocovic, Villars and an organic Trader Joe's label. Behind the darks: Cacao Noel 72% pistoles. I usually have Noel 60-something pistoles hanging around, but my supplier was out last time I bought so I ended up with a stronger chocolate. Ultra-dark chocolates: Scharffen Berger 80%, Valrhona 85% (ouch!) I wasn't really intending to focus so much on the 70-somethings, but I felt it would be nice to compare an organic bar and a couple single-source bars to what else is out there on the market...and I couldn't find other strengths of organic or single-source bars. As for the pistoles, here's my chocolate secret: I HATE CHOPPING CHOCOLATE. I will do anything to avoid it! So I am bringing the pistoles to a. show my students what they are and b. use them in whatever recipes we make so I don't have to chop so much. (Though, I may just have students chop up the remaining chocoalates and use those in the recipes. We'll see.) Last night, I chopped up at least half of each of these bars and separated them into individual baggies for people to sample them at the class.

Thanks for all the column ideas, people. Keep them coming. I'm departing in a few hours for tonight's class. Before the class, I need to finish getting supplies, and then it takes me a while to get everything set up. I won't be getting home until rather late, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for post-class photos and explanations. Meanwhile, here's what I have working so far: Frederick Community College has a professional culinary program that’s only a couple of years old. They also offer recreational cooking classes, as do many community colleges. Right now I teach classes via the recreational program as an adjunct faculty member, but it is my goal to start teaching in the professional program (here or somewhere else) at some point in the next year or two. I signed up to teach six classes this session: French Bistro Favorites, Global Foods for Kids, Chocolate for Your Valentine, Tapas Party, How to Give a Dinner Party, and Chemistry of Cooking for Kids. I’ve already taught the first two on the list; tonight is the chocolate class. I am not a pastry chef by any stretch, but I have more understanding of chocolate than your average layperson, and for a 2-hour community college class I figure that’s probably all I need. I get a budget for each of the classes I teach; tonight’s is $100. I am supposed to buy all my ingredients at Weis, a supermarket chain from Pennsylvania that has a location less than a mile from the school where there is a house account. This particular Weis is reasonably nice; I’ve been able to find more unusual ingredients here than at the supermarkets closer to home, and my husband has a special fondness for the Splenda-sweetened “Waist Watchers” sodas they carry. I usually write down a plan of attack and assemble a handout with recipes before my classes take place. Here’s what I have scratched out for tonight: Course objective: To learn about the different types of chocolate available, how they differ and what their content is. To learn about chopping, melting and cooking with chocolate. To learn about ganache and truffles. To learn two basic chocolate recipes, brownies and (if time) mousse. Schedule: Have people assemble tasters of chocolate when they come in Introduction Read objective Discuss chopping, melting, cooking with chocolate (what is tempering, what are pistoles/callets, water is the enemy of chocolate, burn ranges, using a bain marie) Assemble and bake brownies Start tasting chocolates: describe how to taste, guide sequence of tasting, explain differences among chocolates Make ganache Demo rolling ganache truffle centers Make mousse, if time I also have a pack list and a shopping list. If I don’t write out a packing list, I will forget things inevitably. FCC bought me some side towels to use for my classes on the condition that I take responsibility for laundering them, so tonight’s pack list includes all the side towels I’ve accumulated and washed in the last couple of weeks. It also includes all the chocolates that I chopped in advance, my big box of Noel 70-something percent pistoles, a pastry brush, and some index-card numbers I wrote out last night for me to use in blind-labeling the chocolates we’ll taste. The shopping list includes eggs, Hershey’s chocolate, Baker’s chocolate, chocolate bark (if they have it), heavy cream, eggs, and a few other things. I teach most of my FCC classes in the family and consumer sciences (that’s home ec to those of you playing along) classroom of a middle school across the street from the college. It’s resplendent in its burnt orange décor and features retro electrical appliances (I think of electric ranges as old-skool, probably because I grew up cooking on them but have insisted on gas since I graduated from college). FCC provides a big locked closet packed with almost any equipment I could need for my classes. There are a few ingredients like olive oil and flour that I’ve left in there since I use them so often I see no reason to schlep them to and from the facility. There’s also a nice sturdy cart I can use to move things between the closet and the classroom, or my car if needed. I usually pack my ingredients and supplies from home in a rolling cooler for ease of schlepping, so I see little reason to take the cart outside the building. I usually load in myself, and get students to help me pack out at the end of the night.

I'm not sure I can guide people on how to teach others, but I'll at least spend some time going over how I plan a class and what I do during a class. I hope that helps. I think to teach others, you need to be fairly gregarious and you need to know your subject matter. Teaching cooking requires a lot more organization than other types of teaching...there's a lot of mise-en-place, and depending on where you teach you may need to bring a lot of ingredients and equipment in and out of the classroom. More on that shortly. Mashed vegetables: Now, there's a good idea. Even if I don't cover that as the primary subject, I'll be sure to address it in the text of my article.

There's nothing wrong with polenta, except that I'm kinda bored with it. Ditto for couscous, before anybody recommends that.

Mmm, grits! Unfortunately I am a grits purist...I only buy grits from stone mills, preferably the water-powered grist mill at The Old Mill of Guilford in North Carolina. (It's about 20 minutes from where my parents live in Greensboro, NC, so I'm down there several times a year to stock up.) I just don't WANT to make grits with whatever's available at a local supermarket. Grits are not really a part of West Virginia's culinary culture. I do hope to actually get to a ramp festival this spring, even if I have to tote my baby along, and possibly cover it for some local publications.

I try to stick as closely to 750 words as possible. Almost the entire page is taken up with step-by-step photos (my column is always the feature story on the front page of the local Food section). I try to devote at least some text to variation ideas if I don't include "sub-recipes"--for example, with the short ribs column, I suggested other flavorings besides the rosemary-garlic-zinfandel combination I'd used in my recipe..."you can add mustard, or cracked black pepper, or..." type of thing. With the Waffles column, I covered two separate recipes, an old family one and the Bittman version I made today, and I devoted a paragraph to serving ideas beyond the usual maple syrup. My editor basically leaves the column up to me, she seems pretty happy with what I've produced so far and is receptive to my ideas. I see nothing wrong with borrowing ideas from each other for our columns. I get a lot of my ideas from threads on eGullet after all.

Yes, I was thinking I'd do roasted garlic mashers and one or two other variations to pep up the column a little bit. I've pitched the idea to my editor, but she hasn't written me back yet. I'm considering risotto if she axes the mashed potato idea. Mmm, risotto cakes. I always freeze my leftover waffles. I defrost in the microwave for 30 seconds and then toast them--otherwise they might be cold in the center and overbrowned on the outside. Besides syrup, I like smearing them with jam. I ended up killing the last of some Fauchon apricot-lemon preserves I had hanging around from last year's Parisian vacation with half a waffle square. It was a shame to see it go, but I've been milking that one jar of jam for a year now--it was time, and besides I need a new clean fat-discarding jar--right now discarded fat is sitting in a coffee mug by the sink. I had somebody over for brunch once whose FAVORITE food was waffles smeared with peanut butter. I tried it and I didn't "get" it somehow. I mean, it was like a waffle smeared with peanut butter...kinda like how cooked cucumbers taste exactly like cooked cucumbers, and I don't see the point of either exercise.

So, I need everybody's help here. I need to finish my next column for the Journal-News by Monday (though I'd rather finish it Friday if possible). I've suggested mashed potatoes as a subject because one of the midwives in the practice I visit lobbied for them, but I'm open to other ideas. I've only been writing the columns for a few months now. So far I've covered candied almonds, waffles and braised short ribs. I'm planning to do asparagus next month (which may be a little early still, but what the hell, I adore asparagus). I was thinking a starchy side dish would be a good one to hit this time around. I don't want to do anything too complicated...the column is called "Cooking 101" and is supposed to be about basic foods that you can accomplish well in a home kitchen using the supplies available in your usual Food Lion/Wal-Mart type supermarket. Ideas? I need to commit to something by tomorrow afternoon.

Why yes, my classes are very different. Tonight's class is a one-off at Frederick, entitled "Chocolate for your Valentine." It had 9 students last time I checked enrollment...all my other FCC classes have filled at 15 students, but it being Valentine's Day I suppose lots of people have other plans. The students at FCC are mostly adult hobbyists who like to watch Food Network, plus a couple of them drag their kids or their spouse or their best friend along for the ride. Thursday's class is part of a 6-class series. There's one student in that class who is about 21 and works in her mom's restaurant and wants to get more of the science and practical skills behind her work. There are two married couples and then a few women who are just really interested in food and cooking...some are returning to cooking what they feel like after they become single or their kids leave the nest for college, others are just doing it for fun. The students on Thursday tend to be a little more driven, but that makes sense because they've committed to a series of 6 sessions instead of just a night out. There will be more details in this blog about these classes as they happen, of course.

Only something like 5% of women give birth on their due date, and most of the women in my family have given birth 10 days to 2 weeks after they were officially due. I've mentally prepared for a lengthy pregnancy as a result. If I do give birth on your birthday, it'll almost feel like I'm doing so early! Tammylc told me that she thinks of spring as a perfect time to give birth. I think she's right. I have an internal furnace keeping me warm in the cold months, and I don't have to tote around a huge belly in the middle of August.

I have returned to eating old-fashioned breakfast foods since I got pregnant, including things like oatmeal and waffles. Sometimes I have supplies leftover from classes or catering that I need to get rid of; today’s breakfast kills the remaining 1.5 cups of buttermilk hanging on from a class 2 weeks ago. I made Mark Bittman’s “Easy Overnight Waffles,” a favorite recipe that I covered in a recent column I wrote about waffles. They’re easy if you can remember to stir up the mixture the night before you want to eat them, which I managed somehow. The batter fluffs up a great deal overnight from the yeast action. This is with the egg yolks tossed in, before I stirred the batter. After I stirred in the yolks, you can see how significantly the batter deflated. My husband bought me this super-fancy waffle iron as a first anniversary gift back in 2002. It came from Williams-Sonoma and it has a cool art deco look to it...it's made by VillaWare. My favorite feature is that it has something called "Waffle-Tone" which makes a sound like a wounded bird when your waffles are ready. You can see some completed waffles in the background. I am currently eating two squares of waffle with a ramekin of warmed Vermont maple syrup that I picked up on our December vacation to the snowy state. I don't like to pour the syrup over my waffles because they get soggy that way, so I break off bites with my fork (or my fingers ) and dunk them in the syrup en route to my mouth. I'm drinking some cranberry-raspberry juice alongside.

My name is Rochelle. I host the Cooking and DC & DelMarVa forums here on eGullet. Long timers may remember the Diary of a Cooking School Student I kept back when I studied at L’academie de Cuisine for my culinary degree. Fans of the Foodblogs may recall that I completed a turn in the hot seat about a year ago, when I was the chef for a sorority at the University of Maryland (34 Hungry College Girls). My, how things change in a short year. Since I kept that sorority-chef blog, my life has shifted dramatically. My husband, who is almost done with a doctoral degree in music, landed a position at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV (about 85 miles from Washington, DC), which he started in August 2005. So we sold our house in Takoma Park, MD and moved to Harpers Ferry, WV last summer. This meant I had to leave my job at the sorority…which was okay with me, it was getting a little boring although it was a fun and fairly easy job to do and do well. So, what next for me? I had long fantasized about teaching cooking skills, and I decided to try to piece together a career that would include that as one of my primary revenue streams. I also wanted to try my hand at catering, and I wanted to land some sort of regular food writing gig. So I founded my own business, Rochelle Myers Catering and Cooking Classes, and got cracking. Last fall, I catered a few weddings and private parties, and I managed to line up some teaching gigs for this winter. I also teach private classes when I can find the work. And I even managed to hook up a monthly gig writing a “Cooking 101” column for the Martinsburg, WV Journal-News. I’m always looking for more work, but for now I’m pretty busy. This past summer, we discovered that I am pregnant with our first child. The future food nerd/music snob is slated to arrive sometime around 10 April. We feed him only the best…my homemade food via the umbilical cord, and a steady diet of classical music via my mp3 player and a set of earbuds stuck in the waistband of my maternity jeans. I expect that when he turns 14 he’ll be listening to thrash metal or gangsta rap or whatever the equivalent is at that time and eating McDonald’s as a rebellion against his super-focused artistic parents. We couldn’t be more excited about our baby and eagerly await meeting him. Right now, I am teaching a bunch of one-off cooking classes at Frederick Community College in Frederick, MD (about 30min away), and also teaching a six-course “basics of cooking” series for Jefferson County (WV) Public Schools Adult Education program. This week, I’m also putting together my next column for the Journal-News, so there should be a visit from a staff photographer who comes and snaps images of my work-in-progress to publish with my article. My mom is visiting this weekend because there is a baby shower being held in my household on Saturday;she might be bringing a friend, and I expect to cook for them a little bit, plus probably have one or two meals out at some of our limited local restaurants. On Sunday, I’ll be going back to my alma mater, L'academie de Cuisine, to check out their 30th anniversary gala dinner—should be a good time, they’ve invited back a bunch of alums to prepare special dishes for the event. In between, I’ll be eating whatever strikes my pregnant-lady fancy, preparing low-carb meals for my husband who is losing weight, and sleeping about 10 hours per day. Gather ye antacids while ye may…

Where is Sam's Place? I like gelato, is it made in-house?

So, I have a cheesecake. It's about 1" high and it's got bonbons written all over it. Do I freeze it and then cut it, or cut it from the fridge? Should I use the dental floss trick? Are ragged edges a big deal if I'm gonna just cloak them with chocolate? (Should I smooth the edges by hand?) I've also made a banana cake and a bourbon pound cake. Next up is a yellow cake, then probably a sour-cream coffee cake and perhaps another cheesecake to use up the rest of my cream cheese. My freezer is getting well-stocked!