We had a wonderful free class with my photographer, aiming to get some great pictures for my upcoming new website—and we got great ones. The site should be up in a few weeks (seems like I keep saying that…) and I am adding a recipe from that class at the end of the newsletter—we made some scrumptious food.
Adult Ed Class signup is underway. Please go to www.piedmontadultschool.org for more information. I will be teaching Tuesday evenings starting June 21st, and there is still room for more people—I have 15 at this point and would like to get up to 20.
All the summer fruit and vegetables are in at the farmers’ market—a feast for eyes and taste buds. Cherries have been plagued by the late rains, so many of them are coming with little splits at the bottom, and need to be eaten up pretty fast, but the flavor has been great.
Apricots are starting to show up, and the nectarines and peaches are getting to taste more like real fruit—the early ones were pretty bland. And, the green beans, asparagus, lettuces and spring peas (nearly done) have been fabulous. I look forward to using all the great produce in our classes this summer, in many creative ways.
Rosetta Costantino, our wonderful Southern Italian cooking teacher, is in Italy for a month—her classes will resume mid-summer, but most are already sold out. Visit my web site (www.pauldingandco.com) for a calendar of classes. Often, when she gets a lot of extra people, she’ll add another section. She has indicated, however, that she doesn’t want to add any more of the canning and preserving class, as she’s making everybody lunch and has to do immense amouts of prep for the classes.
I am working on a schedule of Basic Knife Skills and other classes with Charlie Vollmer, a popular teacher who sells out his classes all over the bay area. These will probably start in the fall. And, Laurel Miller, who is on retreat finishing a travel and food book, will start teaching at the kitchen late fall as well. I expect to ramp up to having a lot more interesting class selection in the near future—but not until I have the new website done, which will feature a way to register for classes. I will announce the new website to you (I hope) by the beginning of next month—and you will all be able to access the newsletter link from it as well.
Other business, namely catering and culinary team building, are going strong. I have catered two weddings already, and have another four scheduled this summer—and am working, often thanks to referrals from students, with many local companies on team building. Response from participants has been very enthusiastic, with plenty of repeat business.
Do remember, the kitchen and my services are available for cooking parties, too—we’ve done wedding rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, even a baby shower at the kitchen. All, of course, with rave reviews—it’s a great way to interact with friends and family. I am also talking with a singles group about using the kitchen for some of their events, and possibly being chef for them as well.
I just returned from a short vacation, which is why the newsletter is so late this month. My trip to the upper Mississippi (Wisconsin & Minnesota) was great—but it sure made me long for the great selection of foods and produce we have here!
I’d love to have feedback from any of you who care to give it to me—questions I’d love answers to include: What types of classes would you like to see at the kitchen? Would shorter sessions (2-3 weeks) be better than the 6 week class format? Also, where do you look for things to do (I can’t afford to put out a broadcast mailer about private classes, without charging more for classes!).