Cooking Vacations: 1/1/10

1/22/10

Gerri Sarnataro

Teaching the Pizza in Rome course March 5th night

Comments on Gerri Sarnataro:
(from seriouseats )

Beginners thrive in a classroom with Gerri, as she demonstrates and then individually assists if necessary (she actually took my hands in hers to knead the dough so I could get the feel of it).

ratemyteacher had these comments about GS:

Amazing and inspiring!
She is a wonderful chef! Ultra helpful! I wish she could be my chef for all 4 mods!!! She is just a wonderful person!
gerri is a wonderful chef and teacher. she is extremely intelligent, patient and a enthusiastic. although i enjoyed cooking before taking her classes, she has truly inspired me to go above and beyond.
she is the best, well educated, deals with students very effectively, good person, knows her breads, good teacher

Looks like a great teacher for pizza and whatever. I am looking forward to this, even though it ends at 11pm and we have to clean (mop, wash dishes, etc) after cooking.

1/19/10

International Cooking Education, Recreational Division

I have been searching on the web for critical comments about ICE. Nothing. All but one of the comments were complimentary. So I took a closer look at some of my instructors. For the first 5 days I will be taking Fine Cooking 1 from Chef Richard Ruben. He is also teaching sushi, italian, Carribean, etc. One comment from a past student:

In terms of instructors, you can't go wrong with Melanie Carmichael-Karmazin and Richard Ruben. Both are superb and superior - fun, interesting, great recipes, consummate professionals.

This quote came from Nation's Restaurant News, May 19, 2003 by Dina Berta

Richard Ruben's teaching career began when he started answering customers' questions about the dishes he was making. The semintive of New York started holding classes for customers of his catering and retail business in Sydney, Australia. Twelve years later the International Association of Culinary Professionals honored Ruben as the Cooking Teacher of the Year. The association gave its award of excellence to him during its annual conference in Montreal in April.

Ruben is an instructor at The Institute of Culinary Education, formerly the Peter Krump's Cooking School in New York City. Over the years he has maintained a catering business, working for private and corporate clients. He's also worked in restaurants and held posts as executive chef But the most rewarding career by far, says Ruben, has been teaching.

He wrote "The Farmer's Market Cookbook," Lyons Press, 2000
He has a blog called "UNITED TASTE with RICHARD RUBEN" This was just the other day:

Stuffed Bake Plantains – yields 6 servings
3 yellow plantains
1/4-pound ricotta salata or feta cheese
4-ounces guava paste
3-tablespoons olive oil

Pre-heat the heat to 350-degrees.

Slice the plantain down the middle from stem to end. In the slit divide the cheese and guava paste amongst the three plantains.

Place the plantains on small baking dish, and drizzle a tablespoon of oil over each plantain. Cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

Cut in half and serve.

I love the combo.
On starchefsjobfinder this question gave me confidence:

EK: Do you have any advice for aspiring chef instructors?

RR: If you’re teaching recreational students or professional students, and they can’t make a perfect brunoise right away, don’t beat them up about it. Tell them to pick a cut they are comfortable with and have them start finessing that. After they develop muscle memory they can start working on other cuts. Try to give the students the encouragement they need. Cooking is an art. Anyone sitting in a classroom should be perceived as the next greatest thing, even though most will end up in a more technical position.

Then ratemyteacher gave these two scathing reviews:

This guy is a complete culinary charlatan...very poor cooking skills....sloppy, unprofessional, anti-social and abusive...i want my money back!!!! He won an award for sometrhing..what is it? misanthrope of the year!!! avoid his classes like the plague....
and ...

it is strange that he doesn't teach in the pro sections, he seems to have bipolar relationship with students in the classes--some he gets along with great, others he gives the 'one word answer' or the 'look it up in the book' answer, he won some teaching award, but it seemed bogus..

1/14/10

Be Still My Heart

Yes. There will be a visit to I.C.E. Two weeks in Manhattan. Not til Feb 28, but I have already started packing. First let me tell you which courses are happening. The courses were chosen because that was when I was going to be there ... and Fine Cooking 1 was the course I really wanted. Pastry for 5 days? Who woulda thunk?

10am-3:30pm Fine Cooking 1
6pm-9pm Knife Skills 1 (waitlisted)

10am-3:30pm Fine Cooking 1
Free evening

10am-3:30pm Fine Cooking 1
6-10:30pm 2-day 7 Moles of Oaxaca

10am-3:30pm Fine Cooking 1
6-10:30pm 2-day 7 Moles of Oaxaca

10am-3:30pm Fine Cooking 1
6-11pm Pizza of Rome

10am-3:30 French Country Kitchen
6-10:30pm Asian Surf and Turf

Morning free (gotta go to the Strand)
6-10:30pm Essentials of Sicilian Cooking

9am-3 Techniques of Pastry 1 & 2
6-10:30pm Essentials of Thai Cooking

9am-3pm Techniques of Pastry 1 & 2
6pm-11pm Simple and Savory

9am-3pm Techniques of Pastry 1 & 2
free evening (sorta. Having dinner with nephew and his wife)

9am-3pm Techniques of Pastry 1 & 2
free evening

9am-3pm Techniques of Pastry 1 & 2
6pm-10:30 Easy Sauces for Fish and Shellfish

So far in the bag: digital scale (required by the pastry classes), notebooks, pencils, folders, and empty laptop bag, Tide clothes washing envelopes, loud alarm clock and some cigarette lighters. The excitement is building.
I have scoped out the closest grocery store (no lunch during pastry classes), a dim sum place a block away, and some great sounding Korean places only a few blocks away.
Ah, what a blessing. I have a hotel room only 2 blocks away from the school. A real room, with a refrigerator and coffee machine. Oh, that reminds me to bring ground coffee.

1/3/10

Dreaming of ICE

I simply can't help dreaming of I.C.E. (The Institute of Culinary Education). I am bordering on obsession. The latest fantasy dates of the dream time would be May 1 through May 9th. Fine Cooking Course to be offered 10am-3:00 pm May 3 through 7th. (January and February are all ready filled.) Many other courses are offered at night, from 6pm to 10:30pm. It is the Fine Cooking courses that I am very interested in. Here is what they have to say about the course:

These are the classes on which our recreational program’s reputation was built. Over 15,000 students have taken this series. Once you master essential cooking techniques, you possess the culinary grounding to cook both classical cuisines and the latest cooking styles. These full-participation classes teach fundamental skills, not recipes. .... Lesson 1: Knife Skills, Sauteing, Sauce Vinaigrette; ex: Sauteed Lamb Chops Lesson 2: Stocks, Roasting, Working with poultry; ex: Roasted Tarragon Chicken Lesson 3: Braising, Storing, cleaning and cooking shellfish; ex: Mussels Steamed in White Wine Lesson 4: Egg Cookery, Souffles; Salad Nicoise; ex: Chocolate Mousse Lesson 5: Grilling

The least expensive, decent hotel near the school (within walking distance) is the

Comfort Inn (free breakfast, internet access, and free newspaper) with the rate of ~$1,588.51 for 8 nights. Google says that it is only a 5 minute walk. Ha. It will take me 4 or 5 times that, looking, smelling, hearing Manhattan.

The flight looks smooth, no routing through Chicago, and comfortable transfer times.

Depart – Sat May 1 2010 United Flight 6742 Departs Aspen: 8:30a Arrives Denver: 9:21a Layover in Denver, CO (DEN) for 1h 24m United Flight 310 Departs Denver: 10:45a Arrives LGA: 4:35p Return – Sun May 9 2010 United Flight 745 Departs LGA: 2:45p Arrives Denver: 5:16p Layover in Denver, CO (DEN) for 2h 29m United Flight 6754 Departs Denver: 7:45p Arrives Aspen: 8:34p

The getting to and from the hotel room is interesting. I can take a bus to a subway, a bus to a taxi or a taxi. The taxi would cost ~$30, the bus to taxi would be about ~$21, the bus to subway then walk would be about $14. I would like to taxi this, so count on $60 for transportation to and from airport. so, air cost (425.80) plus transportation ($60) plus Fine Cooking ($595) plus hotel ($1,588.51) plus food ($30*8=$240) plus 3 night courses (~$350) totals out to $3,259.31. Damn. For 8 nights. But it is ICE and Fine Cooking, no?