Cooking Classes teach us about life’s beauty

COOKING for may is all about quick and easy meals, or it seems for the younger generation, a convenient takeaway.
Then there are the pre-pack-aged meals delivered to your door to help you lose weight or the liquid protein drinks
and vitamin capsules.
What happened to the joy of preparing a meal and sharing the experience?
I was left wondering what to gift to my dearest for his 70th?
He didn’t need any more “stuff”, and I am all for special memories.
I remembered seeing an advertisement for a Japanese cooking class where the chef comes to your home and cook a couple of special recipes and learn a little about his culture.
The extent I knew about Japanese food was sushi, so I saw this as an excellent opportunity to share as a family.
It meant we could enjoy a delicious meal together in the comfort of our holiday apartment and that we could all learn a little more about our diverse multicultural community. The evening was such a success.
Our chef, Tomo, brought everything, and we quickly warmed to his positive attitude and passion for cooking.
We quickly Googled a Japanese greeting and how to say thank you.
We learnt about the use of different knives, a range of condiments and using a blow torch to seer fish, deboning salmon with tweezers and pleating pastry for Japanese dumplings.
Using chopsticks is always challenging but fun and knowing how much wasabi to mix with the soy sauce.
There were heavenly sighs as we sampled our handiwork over glasses of wine with lots of chatter from our delightful tutor.
Cooking classes of any nationality shared with friends is a wonderful way to enhance our cultural appreciation, dine on fresh produce, and
another special memory created.