Cooking Class: Vegetables Dishes of Rome

Wednesday was another busy day for me. It started meeting my girlfriend Deirdre in the morning for a long walk. We ended up going 4.5 miles which was great. It was great to have time to catch up with Deirdre. Not to mention the fact that Deirdre is 15 years younger than I am and that was good to push me a little. ;-)

After our “girl time” I came home to do a few things around the house and then needed to be available in case my mother needed anything while my father was at the oral surgeon. Once my father was back home from his appointment I took off for cooking class.

Class this evening was “Vegetable Dishes of Rome” so I knew I had to make it. I love Rome and vegetables so this was not to be missed. As always there were the regular dishes and then the vegan option for me. It is nice to be able to attend class again. I really missed seeing the regulars every week.

Dennis got to class a little early and we chatted about food and sailing. We were hoping that he had blue water (ocean) sailing experience but he doesn’t. Darn it! ;-)

The first dish in class was an appetizer of two types of artichokes. One variety was Roman braised in wine, lemon and the other was Jewish style except it was oven fried. There was even an eggless aioli, which wasn’t necessary since I don’t need the oil. However it was nice to show other people that aioli could be made without egg. Though I am sure all of you knew that already from this recipe.

The next dish was a salad of greens and polenta. The omni version had anchovies and mine had capers instead. If you haven’t tried substituting capers from anchovies you should it works well, IMO.

The last dish was zucchini risotto topped with roasted tomatoes. The stock for the risotto was unlike anything I had seen before. Zucchini and fresh herbs were used to make the broth and they were pureed in a blender. That is something you can expect to see me doing in the future. It added a thickness to the stock and a nice flavor.

While I was in class Dan sent me a text that he was on his way home. When it came in I texted back and asked him what he was doing for dinner but of course he wasn’t looking at his phone. When Dan got home he realized I was at cooking class so he opted to have dinner with Ian and the gang.

When I texted Dan to find out what he was having for dinner he wrote back “Summer Vegetable Celebration”. Really? What the heck is that I thought? So I asked and he sent me the picture that is above.  It is a bit of mess because Dan started eating before he took the picture.  *shakes head*

From my phone I was trying to guess what it was. When I asked what was in the black bean dish he writes back, and I quote “black beans, corn avocado and stuff”. No lie he literally wrote stuff. All of us at cooking class were giggling because we all know Dan but that was funny even for him. As Dan likes to say every relationship needs a cook and an eater and I think we all know which one he is. LOL

After class our teacher found out that she needed something taken to Ian so I volunteered to deliver it since it is so close to my house. I knew while I was there I would have time to see how Ian’s hip was doing and I was curious which meant I didn’t mind stopping by the restaurant on my way home.

I am happy to report that Ian is using the foam roller and it seems to be helping. *woo hoo* :-) That made me very happy to hear. I chatted with everyone for a few minutes and finally got home to see my hubby who was in his home office working. You have no idea how much I wish that man would relax a little.

Before we turned in for the evening Dan confessed that he had black tea tonight since I wasn’t there. He had Shorty wait on him since he knew he would give him the black tea. The girls (bless them) always give him green tea since they know that is better for him. Here is best part … he told me that he really didn’t enjoy the black tea like he expected since he has become so accustomed to green tea. *woo hoo* I love to hear the healthy stuff has become his new normal. LOL

It was a later evening than it should have been since we needed to be at the lab at 7am when they opened in order to make it downtown by 9am for the dentist.  I guess night owls don't change their spots.  LOL, I know I twisted that but it made me giggle so I kept it. ;-)

Happy thoughts:

• I had a great time Wednesday morning with Deirdre. It was wonderful to have time to catch up with her before my day really got started.

• Cooking class was a lot of fun. I really love Italian food. :-)

• I was thrilled to hear that Ian’s hip is going better. It was nice to be able to help.

• Dan had a nice dinner out on his own which made me happy. I was glad you took a break from work long enough to eat dinner.

• My blood draw this morning was practically painless which was very nice since I am usually a tough stick.

• I also had a nice appointment downtown with Regan to get my teeth cleaned. Regan and I had a nice chat about the bay, sailing and jazz. I really like going to my dentist and that is very new for me since I have always had a dental phobia.

• We are going to a jazz concert tonight which I am also happy about. Live jazz is the best.

Signing out:

I need to figure out what I am going to wear and get downtown to pick Dan up for the jazz concert. It should be a lot of fun and I will try to get some better pictures tonight with my big camera.

I will talk to you again soon. I hope you are having a great week!