Seven Deadly Sins

I realize I just posted something just last night, but I had to share this! This package just arrived in my mail and I actually giggled out loud when I opened it up. :) Check these out: spice grinders with The Seven Deadly Sins as their theme! So, most of you know that I'm obsessed with both food and world religions (it was a Catholic Pope - Gregory the Great - who named seven offensives and wicked passions, way back in the 6th century), so this was like a no-brainer for me to own! Plus, the spice combinations that are in these individual grinders are just divine! And, of course, after smelling them all, "Gluttony" would be my favorite mix: Butterscotch and Vanilla! Again, it smells heavenly. Making it quite ironic that it's a deadly sin... ;)
Oh, the fun I am going to have using these...

Cooking with Williams & Sonoma

Many of you know how much I l.o.v.e. LOVE Williams and Sonoma. I'm like a kid in a candy store whenever I'm in that place. I will literally spend well over an hour going through the store, figuring out what I could possibly create with all of the delightful appliances and goodies they have in there. Hell, we even registered for our wedding there and I probably own about a million of the little pineapple molds that they attach to gift packages - I LOVE it! :)
Williams and Sonoma just started this series of Cookbook Classes, where you spend a couple of hours at one of their stores, and learn a few different cooking techniques, all while the chef creates a few dishes from the new cookbook you just received that evening. Somehow, the email announcing these new classes got lost in my inbox, but luckily my friend Tiffany was keen enough to find it and send it my way. :) We have both been meaning to take their Sunday technique classes, but just haven't had the time to attend one. Now we really wanted to attend this cookbook class! And, they were offering a really awesome cookbook: Coooking with Food from Farmer's Markets.
That night the chef was making an aruluga salad with chopped nuts, goat cheese, and homemade dressing. For the main dish there was pork tenderloin with a rhubarb chutney, and roasted potatoes with rosemary, garlic, and bay leaf. For dessert he made a strawberry ice cream with creme fraiche. Everything was absolutely delicious! I didn't eat the pork, but the chutney was amazing! And, that salad was so damn good, that Tiffany and I are on a mission to find homemade goat cheese that tastes as awesome as that cheese did that night. All in all, we learned some cool techniques, ate some great food, and proceeded to shop our little hearts out with the 10% discount they offered us for the night. We had a fantastic evening and we are really looking forward to the next class we can take - it's gonna be Rick Bayless' new cookbook - oh yeah, baby!
Here was the set up we arrived to, at our place setting:

Here is Chef Jonathan cooking away and showing us cool techniques:

This was the result of all the preparation and cooking. We had already eaten the salad, and it looked so damn good (and it was) that we forgot to take a picture of it :)

Our awesomely delicious dessert. It wasn't completely frozen since he didn't start it early enough, but it was like soft-serve and still yummy as ever!

Thanks for sharing the fun evening with me, Tiffany! And for taking all the pictures, too! Looking forward to the next one!