chefzadi

In the Californian forum someone suggested posting cooking classes. I asked Melkor if it was okay to post some of the recreational classes I teach and he said it was fine. I didn't get around to posting classes in that forum. (I'm just not comfortable with promoting myself on the forums). Anyway, but I am an experienced Chef and teacher. And this thread has proven a strong interest in couscous. I am scheduled to teach "Moroccan Tagines and Perfect Couscous" at Sur La Table on the following dates and locations. Santa Monica Location 6:30 PM, Wednesday, February 23rd. The Grove Location 6:30 PM, Tuesday, April 26 The recipes and techniques to be covered are: Perfect Couscous Setif Tagine with Lamb and Vegetables Braised Chicken with Preserved Lemons Lentil and Vegetable Tagine

Bravo! A standing ovation and a salute to Chef Corelli. The Chef of chefs (chief of chiefs). I would recommend to all my students that they read your posts very carefully again and again untill they have thoroughly digested your pearls of wisdom. I think that a few "celebrity" chefs would benefit as well.

I've been allover egullet reading posts about French food. There seem to be alot of burning questions about what it is and the direction it's taking, "the death of Haute Cuisine", French influence on American cuisine, the Michelin rating system, etc... I'm moved to offer some of my experiences and "behind the scenes" knowledge on these topics. But I'm not sure where I should post this.

Agreed, if the wines aroma was indeed "pungent," and not just "pronounced." There are countless wines I've had where there has been a dominant aroma -- that either remains or eventually subsides a little allowing others to be noticed. As far as the wine being corked, the odor associated with that is almost always musty wet wood, wet cardboard, we newspapers; not olives. ← Yes corked wine would be definate, unavoidably musty in order. The posters discription of the wine though pointed to more than simply bad wine. Fresh olives can have an earthy aroma. So I just took a leap considering the age of the wine. Not all wines benefit from this amount of aging. However I am not familiar with the specific wine mentioned either. So there ya go.

Wines, unlike cheese, should not have a pronounced pungent aroma, not even of olives. If it seems "odd" to you don't drink it. It sounds like the wine was corked.

Andie- My wife remembers going to the Redondo pier during the mid to late 70's with her family. It was a regular ritual. Fresh live crab. There were also several Korean fishmongers there who had grills at the table for eel with kochujang marinade. We went a couple of years ago with our daughter before our son was born. It was dizzying.

Where do you purchase Mustafa's Harissa? Which brings me to my answer: Harissa only with North African food Sriracha only combined with mayonaisse.

I suspected this, but was waiting for a confirmation. And yes she is an Angel or Saint for putting America on a different path. But now I'm wondering how and why it was so bad before she came along. I suspect it has something to do with large Industries churning out packaged foods. I know that Kraft for instance got his first big contracts from the US government to package foods for soldiers during the war. The sin of AMERICAN CHEESE was thus perpetuated. I've heard it called Arkansas brie and spam for vegetarians.

Krys Stanley- Your vivd story reminds me of my own childhood in France. I was born in Lyon but when I was 7 my father moved the family to a nearby village, population about 3000. We were the only Algerian family. In the entire country of France, the Algerians are the largest "ethnic" group, if add in the Tunisians and Moroccans in the country the North Africans are a pretty significant group. But why did my father moves us to a place where we were the North Africans? Who knows. Most of my memories are filled with gold, but I also recall some of the French kids at school calling me a White Nigg**. And now couscous is France's favorite food. A conservative French politician even snidely referred to as "Conquest by couscous." Anyway my wife remembers dearly wishing her Korean mom could pack, polite "wonder bread" school lunches. It was a different world back then. Flash forwad to today, our daughter proudly takes rice and roasted seaweed for lunch and alot of her friends who aren't Asian go nuts for the stuff. I'm learning alot here about how attitudes towards food and people from different countries has evolved.

We ordered the Paella a la Valenciana . It's a warm, friendly place. I can't say enough about the owner/hostess. My wife and I took our kids as well. In LA my favorite place for Paella was Chaya Brasserie in Venice. But I haven't been in years so I don't know what's on the menu anymore.

I work for the LAUSD as a "Chef in the Classroom". It's part of the district's nutrition network. The idea is to encourage kids to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables by teaching them "fun" recipes. The recipe guidelines are strict, but the project is simple enough for me because it involve fresh ingredients and I'm very comfortable working with kids. I also volunteer coach pee wee league soccer. There is also a Shelter at a church that wants some sort of program like this. This is something that I really want to do. But for reasons I've already mentioned I need more support before I start this. I can teach French techniques blind folded with one arm tied behing my back. I know how to manage food costs in a high end restaurant (order the foie gras, cook it right, plate it nice, her's the bill ) But I have absolutely no experience cooking with the types of ingredients that the families at the shelters have access too. I'll just have to practice this a little. I'll be back a little later with some more ideas and suggestions on why we can realistically get started fairly quickly with volunteers efforts and how this can evolve slowly into something hugely significant.

Andie- I know exactly what you are talking about. "Here is this help, now get here!" Yeah that was what I was trying to point out too. Pennies make a difference.

fou de Bassan- The need is the round over. We all know that. Thank you so much for pointing it out. And yes I think that egullet has the greatest potential for spreading the word throughout all the layers of the media (medium) and the world.. Again, my English is $hit.

Yes FG, your sentiments exactly. You are absolutely right and this is what we have been talking about in this thread. Thanks to all those who PM'ed me and emailed me. Certainly we as egulleteers (some native English speakers tell me if this if the correct term) can contritbute as a "whole" to the "whole".

The "surfer food". My wife surfed before she shot out two kids. She still has the body and the strength, but ya know two kids, she can't get enough sleep. On top of that she's all into nursing and child led weaning. A long board, down in trestles (Sp ?) San Diego and Malibu. What exactly is surfer food? I know what my wife tells me. But we can also talk about this too!

Artisan- There you go, you told us more. What's the saying, God is in the details or is it the devil?

Great. There are several shelters in Hollywood, South Central, hey even the Valley that I know are interested. The need is there and the need is so simple to identify. We are touching on another part of the project. We need egulleteers to post WHERE and WHOM (? sorry English not me first tongue, ha ha) our classes are can be taught.

I'm hardly a native either! These are the stories I enjoy reading the most. You take us from Va to CA. One of the "oldest" parts of American to the "newest" part. Strict rules to almost no rules. Tell us more.

Thank you FG- I was beginning to think that I was imagining things around here. I've been thinking about this for so long. Ever since I was 14 when I started my first job in a restaurant. Yeah, I know I grew up with some of the best food in France. But I was one of 7 kids and my maman raised us all alone. Food dissappeared FAST. So there you go, the best foods but not enough. At my first job I was in awe of the excess. I would go into the frigo and just stare at the all the glorious, copious food. I washed dishes and polished copper pans and pots just to eat the staff meal. I can on a visceral level relate to the people I want to help (My English is not so good, maybe I'm phrasing it wrong). Anyway, I want to do all I can to help egullet with this project.

The best, freshest and cheapest shallots in town are at the Vietnamese markets in LA. How things change.

The Fairfax distrct is still alive and kicking. When my wife and first got married we lived near Pico Blvd and Robertson (further south, I know), otherwise affectionately known as the "Kosher Korner" We had a lot of great neighbors too. Total mix, no one was interested in polite multiculturalism. I'll get into this more later. I've had a few of those multi-cultural, Global cuisine holidays meals myself. Not exactly fusion, just alot of seemingly disparate dishe served at the same time. Last Christmas we had a standing rib roast AND Korean kalbi, we had kimchi AND a simple green salad dressed with a dijon mustard vinaigrette, we also had couscous with a chicken and beef tajine. Does this make sense?

Behemoth- Sort of puts it all in perspective, eh? I think that us egulleteers (is that the word) can make this happen pretty fast. We can start on a tutorial for teaching the classes. My wife has a basic outline, she knows basically WHAT needs to be taught in these sort of classes. But she's a KAP (Korean American Princess), she breaks a nail if she has to be a on a budget. So input from someone who has more "real life" experience would be much appreciated. I have contact with some vendors who would more than likely make donate foodstuffs and kitchen wares. These classe DO NOT have to be taught by expert chefs. I really think we could get something going here.

Bleu, I forgot to answer part of your question. Yes it is pretty common to the area. And folks eat at home, prepared the way I mentioned.

Okay, so I'm really trying to make this section of the forum more "vibrant". Two people responded to my questions (thank you). I think that there is at ONE question that all of can answer whether we are experts or the "P" word. It can make for an interesting "oral" history of California as well. Or am I just deluded?

My wife is working on the teaching materials. We did some research and talked some people. We were told that at a certain level many of these low income folks are used to feeding themselves mostly out of boxes and cans. They have virtually no cooking skills, besides re-heating. Aside from teaching them basic skills it's also necessary to teach them about home economics.They are onbviously on very limited budgets. Education about coupons, shopping for specials, even things that may seem obvious like when there is a buy one get one free of equal or lesser weight on deal on a whole chicken they should pick chickens that weigh the same... Budgeting, meal planning, nutrition, etc...