is cooking, at least as far as my family is concerned, that is. For my birthday last year, my wife, sister, and mother got together gave my a gift certificate to the L'Academie de Cuisine Culinary School in Bethesda, MD. After a hectic fall and winter, I finally found time to take a couple of classes this spring. The first class that I thought I needed to take was a knife skills class. While I would have loved to have been able to take the expanded 3 session class, I was only able to take the Basic Knife Skills class. The instructor, Brian Patterson, was great and I was able to get some much needed help on my technique. We also went through what makes a good knife and how to take care of the good ones when I buy them. As an added bonus, I was able to purchase a new Wustof 6" Boning knife to practice my new skills with. I would highly suggest this class for anyone who doesn't feel all that comfortable with a knife in the kitchen or just wants to work on their technique.

The second class I signed up for was a series of 5 sessions entitled Ingredients: The Function, The Flavor. The classes were broken up as follows:

1. Sugars
2. Fats, Acids & Alcohol
3. Yeast & Chemical Leaveners
4. Proteins
5. Starches

This class was part chemistry lesson and part baking class. The instructor, Kelley Baker, did a very good job of condensing her vast knowledge into nuggets that we could easily take away. To her credit, when she didn't know the answer to one of our questions, she always researched it and came back with the answer the next week. All questions except the one about where to get vanilla beans at a reasonable price. Since I was not able to submit my Feedback form to her at the last session, I have decided to put my answers up on here.

1. Would you recommend this class to a friend? Yes....the class would be very good for anyone who has a strong interest in cooking.
2. Was the class what you expected? Yes, but I thought the Proteins class would be more about animal proteins.
3. Was the class focused and organized? Yes, although we did tend to get off on tangents with our discussions. I think this had more to do with the people in the class than anything else.
4. Were you able to sufficiently understand and practice the techniques presented in the time allowed? Yes, but I did have a tough time the night that I worked without a partner. The class assistants did a good job of getting us everything we needed.
5. Were recipes provided clear and easy to follow? Yes. I have used a number of them outside class and was able to make them work as well as I did in class if not better. In fact, this past weekend I made a quick puff pastry dough, a chocolate pastry cream, and chocolate meringue cookies.
6. Were your questions addressed and answered to your satisfaction? Yes, although some of the answers were the ever vague "it's done when it looks done" type of answers.
7. What would you change about the class? I think that the class is pretty good as it is currently being presented. I would like to have learned about either a gravy or warm sauce and would loved to have had a chocolate mousse recipe.

If you have any interest in cooking, I would highly suggest you take either of these classes or any other cooking class that is available to you.