There aren’t many things in life that I really, really like doing, I’d love to be one of those people that have always had the same hobby and now they are amazing at it –
There aren’t many things in life that I really, really like doing, I’d love to be one of those people that have always had the same hobby and now they are amazing at it – but I’m just not. I like to try different things and experiment with anything that comes my way – but I have to say that cooking has be to be one of my long term loves and always will be cooking.
I remember helping in the kitchen when I was little, I loved going to my gran’s house as she always had amazing food (she still does, Granny, if you are reading this , cheese and onion pasties and a cake for our next order please ?) … and I remember watching grandad cutting vegetables up at a very fast speed in the kitchen and being AMAZED!
When I married Dan, he couldn’t believe that I could cook, I mean really cook, I was only 24 and apparently people older than me that he knew couldn’t cook, so it was so unexpected for him. I love to cook from scratch and some people will hate this bit but I don’t measure anything unless absolutely necessary, I like to add and taste as I go along.
Then we lost Millie.
She died choking on food.
It led to me having a bit of a crappy relationship with food. For a good 10 days after she died I barely ate anything and I stopped cooking completely, I associated food (any type of food) with the loss of Millie.
When I did start to eat again, it was easy quick microwaveable food that I didn’t have to prepare (so I didn’t have the time to get myself worked up) and I could just about deal with that. I hated the fact I no longer cooked and it took me about 4 years to start cooking properly again and even now there are still some things that I won’t cook or have in my kitchen. Even when Leo was weaning, everything was pre bought baby food because I was already so anxious feeding another baby after what happened to Millie and having to prepare it would send me into full on meltdown – it was just easier this way.
This year though, I’ve decided to try and push myself and try old things that I haven’t done properly for a while and new things that I’ve never tried before – (a few weeks ago, I tried skiing when we were over in Switzerland, let’s just add that to the – been there done that file and let’s not go there again).
But … another one on my list is that I wanted to go to a Cookery class, a proper one where there’s a chef and everything. I’ve always wanted to try one but lost the want with the all the issues I had after Millie and then couldn’t really find one to work around when I was available and then Hey presto, one popped up when it was meant to be.
I took the class with the lovely Sarah Bridge at Wilmslow Cookery School and she has some seriously impressive experience behind her, travelling the world and learning new skills in some amazing places and the best bit is that she runs the school alongside her husband David who has also got fantastic experience too.
I also went to the class on my own. How brave is that? It’s so hard sometimes isn’t it to do something on your own but I thought why not? Can’t be that bad. I can honestly say that it was a really enjoyable day and I met some lovely people and the most exciting bit is that I made this cake and Frangipane and got to take them home!
So Sarah, who makes you feel right at home introduced herself and explained what we were going to do in the session – all sounds very complicated and posh but turns out that if you do exactly as Sarah tells you, you have some extremely tasty food to take home with you.
(Here’s Sarah rolling out some pastry that we had just made)
I loved learning how to make these two particular items in the class but what I loved more was the little tips that Sarah kept popping out with such as that it’s far easier to roll pastry in between two pieces of cling film rather than on flour and my favourite one of the day was how she taught us to crack an egg open with one hand and not get any shell in the jug – amazing!
We were each set up individually with all our ingredients and our own cooking station accessories, so it was great that there was no sharing or hanging around for someone to finish with something before you could start – we all pretty much worked at the same speed and before we knew it, our baked goods were cooking away in the ovens (and smelling delicious).
As the cake and tart were cooking, we got to have a delicious lunch that had been prepared for us and have a chat with Sarah about her experience and how she came to open the cooking school (the course is worth doing for the lovely lunch alone).
The cakes were cooked to perfection, I mean the best I’ve ever made, so soft and with no cracks and inside one was even pink – clearly I was meant to be on this course ? (pink, pink , pink)!
The decorating was a challenge for me as I’m not the most creative of people but I soon got the hang of how to ice a cake properly and I even asked to turn purple as this is Leo’s favourite colour and I knew that he would love it. I pressed all these tiny little flowers and butterflies out and it didn’t turn out too bad, impressed myself actually!
And then came the real test, would my family enjoy them? What do you think? Take a look at the photo below…
On a side note, the venue where the classes take place is absolutely beautiful – a quiet little place that is kitted out with everything that you would need to cook and it’s set up so professionally but still has that warm homely kitchen feel as you’re concentrating on the task in hand.
So there you have it, my first taste of a Cookery School and I absolutely loved it – in fact, I loved it that much that I’ve booked on a Mexican Evening Class with Wilmslow Cookery School again and I’m already debating which one I can book after that.
I’ve taken a look and they also do bread making classes, cooking the perfect steak, Indian Tiffin Street Food and much more, they really do cater for everyone including children as they have some wicked classes were the kiddies can make meringue nests and sticky buns or a class that features chocolate desserts!
If you’re thinking about going on a Cookery class, I’d definitely recommend this place, it’s been a great little find and I was totally comfortable enough attending on my own but you can also grab your friends and book on together for something different to do. ???
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