I have always loved the idea of gourmet cooking, but hated (or so I thought) the actual act of cooking. Cooking always seemed to be a chore with little variety. My husband I would eat out or order in the majority of the time. I didn't need to feed the family, our children are grown married with children. Then... in August of 2009, I noticed a cooking class schedule for Olivelle, a little shop that specializes in quality oils, vinegars, salts and fine foods. I had frequented the shop and purchased numerous gifts. Every visit would result in my gazes at the beautiful bottles and jars of exotic cooking products and occasionally purchase a bottle of basic olive oil for me. As I looked over the class schedule, one class on cooking fish, stood out. My husband had recently brought home 50 pounds of fish from an Alaskan fishing trip and I had exhausted my few recipes for fish. I took the class! Now, over 80 classes later and still more on the schedule... I have found a new passion in cooking. I now know what to do with most of those beautiful oils, vinegars, salts, etc.! After about 10 classes, I promised my husband and myself that I would try every class recipe at least once. My goal is to make at least two of the recipes each week! That does not always happen, but I have found a new joy in cooking and have even started to get creative in modifying my old and new favorite recipes. I have kept track of each class, each recipe from the classes and each recipe that I have made. Some have become favorites that I make frequently, some I have modified from the original recipe and still others will never get made again. That's OK... I learn from each one! I will share this journey and hopefully inspire my readers to try some of the recipes and to be creative with cooking. I must let you know, that I am in no way affiliated with Olivelle, just a loyal customer of the store. I will, in each recipe, highlight products that can be purchased through them or their website*. I will also give credit to each chef who taught the class that the recipe is from. I wish to thank my husband, our daughter, daughter-in-law, and Brie of Olivelle for their encouragement in this learning process!
*A link to the Olivelle website can be found under my "Links and Loves" tab.
