I have a knife

And I'm not afraid to use it. At least, I'm working on it. Last night I took a Knife Skills course at Helen's Kitchen. I found her website while searching for local cooking classes. She is very conveniently located down the street from my office, so I figured I would give it a try! It was hard getting into a class, she limits each class to 8 people (which is very good, trust me), and they sell out immediately. I got on her mailing list and only was able to get into a class thanks to her email alerts when new classes were added. Helen was a great instructor, very friendly and knowledgeable. I really enjoyed the home feeling of the class, it was taught right in her own kitchen!!

Anyway, she taught us first about proper knife care, sharpening, etc. Um, whoops. Did you know that you should be sharpening just about every time you use a knife? I didn't. Since I've only ever sharpened my knives once or twice, I'll need to take my set to a professional to get them sharpened. After that I can get on top of regular maintenance myself.

From there, onto using those knives! We diced, julienned, chopped, and minced. We took on celery, carrots, peppers, zucchini, garlic, ginger, onions, apples, and oranges. She taught us basic technique and some handy tricks- especially when dealing with onions and garlic. I am going to need a LOT more practice before I can get comfortable, but it was easier than the cutting I've done at home before. The topmost knuckles of your free hand should be making contact with the side of the knife. This is supposed to prevent you from hurting yourself, but I had a hard time with it. Hopefully with more practice I'll get a little better and be able to move more quickly. I think I was the slowest in the class :)




Genius way to chop an onion...

Onions caramelizing in the background

My take-home of chopped celery, onions, and carrots

After we were done wielding our knives, we collected all of the chopped fruits and veggies and watched (and tried to help) as Helen threw everything together into a delicious dinner. Of course, this is where things get tricky for me, but I was fascinated to watch. The main dish for everyone was grilled sandwiches with caramelized onions, apples, walnuts, and cheddar cheese. Wow, they looked good. She also made two salad type dishes. With our chopped celery, julienned apples, and minced cilantro she mixed in some lime juice, mustard seeds, salt and pepper. I forget what was in the other salad, peppers/celery leaves/zucchini/carrots/quinoa/nuts... not quite sure. But everyone seemed to really enjoy it all. I think it would have been okay for me to eat the salads, but I was watching hands touching the bread and then moving onto various other ingredients so I passed.

Garlic and ginger, need to smell to know which is which!

Apple/Celery salad


The other salad
But, Helen knew I was coming, and had set aside a special dinner for me. Wow!! More than I would have asked for. She had some portobello mushrooms which she had me top with caramelized onions and a cheesy sauce and throw under the broiler. I must admit, I was a little worried- I had never eaten a mushroom before. Mushroom sauces, yes. Actual mushrooms, no. I always pushed them to the side of my plate. So the sight of this enormous mushroom made me slightly panicky inside. I didn't want to be rude and not eat it. So, I ate it. And you know what, it wasn't bad. I had a hard time getting over the texture, but the combination of flavors was very good. Thanks, Helen, for expanding my horizons!!

Kickass Cupcakes

...Are kickass indeed. Well, actually... the GF cake wasn't perfect. I think I could do better at home. But the icing, wow. Unbelievable. Especially the vanilla frosting. Makes me want to drive over there right now for another one :)


They have a fun selection of flavors, check out their website. They also deep fry cupcakes, turn cupcakes into parfaits, and make cupcake sundaes. Oh, and they use all natural ingredients. They even have a dairy bar next door that sells local milk and ice cream. Rock on!!

The cupcakes are pretty small, so Dan and I each got two. Dan ordered regular cupcakes, one vanilla and one red velvet. He seemed to like them both equally, although seemed into the cream cheese frosting on the red velvet.

I tried a GF chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing, and a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. The best part was the vanilla icing, maybe next time I'll try vanilla on vanilla, if it's an option.



Cupcake box.... ohhh like a kid at Christmas

At first it may appear that you're getting gyped on frosting

But no, there is plenty :)

Best icing ever!!

The hard part

I had a great weekend, but a much less celiac victorious one than last weekend (surprising, considering I was in nowhere New Hampshire last week, no?)

Friday night, Dan and I met some friends at Tommy Doyle's in Kendall Square. Pub type restaurants don't seem friendly to the gluten-free, so I ate beforehand. Which is good, because when I asked whether they could accommodate a gluten-free meal (just out of curiosity of course, not out of the desire for more food... um... yeah), our waitress said "um, no, I don't think we can". And then she walked off. There was no "let me ask the chef" or "let's take a look". I am always appreciative and pleasantly surprised when I find out that a restaurant either has gluten-free options or is willing to accommodate. So why did I find this so upsetting? It probably didn't help that I'd had a rough week at work and was pretty tired (could you please at least bring me my glass of wine a little faster??). Supposedly 1% of the population has Celiac disease, which between Boston and Cambridge alone means about 7,000 people. I don't expect every restaurant to be safe for us, but I guess with so many affected people I think that a restaurant should be aware of the problem and maybe a little more polite about it. But maybe that is just too much to ask.

On Sunday we went to Cape Cod for the day to celebrate my Grandmother's 95th birthday (wow, I hope I got the age gene from you, Grandma). When we arrived at the house, there was a big old box of meltaways sitting open on the counter. Do you know what a meltaway is? Well, let me show you.



Besides being all chewy, gooey, and melty, they smell darn good too. Now I know I am not supposed to be eating things like this anyway, you know what with the core and all, but for some reason it's just worse knowing that I couldn't cheat if I wanted to. So I sat in the living room with 7 other people happily munching away on these bad boys... and I ate a few pieces of fruit instead. So there.

Later we went for lunch at the Wayside Inn, which was fine. I got the spinach salad with chicken. The waitress checked with the chef to make sure the chicken wasn't marinated in anything bad. She was helpful and friendly. The food? Well, it was a spinach salad with cold chicken. Enough said.

To end the day, the group headed to the Chatham Candy Manor, which makes THE BEST fudge in the world. Bolt statement, I know... but really, this place rocks. It's been a summer staple for as long as I can remember. Summer trip to Chatham always meant a stop (or five) at the Candy Manor.
They have a little statement on gluten that you can read upon request, and while they list a few "these should be safe" items, they also clearly state that all of their chocolate uses shared equipment and they don't guarantee anything. Damn oreo fudge, you ruin it for everyone. I'm sad that this chocolate haven is a no-no for me from now on. At least I had a delicious Clif Twisted Fruit snack to satisfy my sweet craving.

That's all for now, less whining and more real recipes coming soon, I promise :)