Thanks to all my readers for the incredible response to my last post, Why we are taking the FUN out of life. It was overwhelming and humbling to see something I wrote resonate with so many. Thank you for sharing!! When you write for free, it's the very best pay off. I feel very blessed to be surrounded by so many incredible parents and individuals in my life who are trying so hard to raise this new generation.
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| image via Ann Arbor Cooks |
Today we are moving on to a fantastic review of a local business, Ann Arbor Cooks. I attended a company function there last year and we had an INCREDIBLE time and ate seriously delicious food. However, this post is by guest blogger, Ann Luke who is a regular at Ann Arbor Cooks. She blogs about her life and interests for
family and friends at http://rooseveltstreet.blogspot.com. ENJOY!
When it comes to cooking, I always joke with my husband that
I wasted my twenties. I could be found
almost anywhere but the kitchen and regarded meal preparation as a necessary
evil to keep us alive. I had no cooking
skills and no interest in obtaining any.
Fast forward ten years to my mid-thirties and I there I am with two
young children, a deep desire to put nutritious and delicious meals on the
table, and no idea where to start. Luckily
for me (and my family!) I somehow managed to stumble across Ann Arbor Cooks.
While all of their classes stand on their own and teach you
everything you need to know, I started my culinary adventures by taking a
knifeskills class, where I sliced and diced my way through a variety of vegetables and even
learned how to cut a whole chicken into its parts. Then I got into the often
sold-out
Bootcamp series where one night a week for five weeks I spent time in their kitchen learning a
variety of cooking techniques and making some ridiculously good dishes. After that class finished, I continued to
go back for other one-night classes that interest me, and I just recently
finished taking a four-week Sauce Bootcamp series which built on some of what I
learned in the original Bootcamp.
Every class I’ve ever taken at Ann Arbor Cooks has been
phenomenal. You always start with an
instructor-led demonstration of the dishes you are going to make that night, and
then you break up into teams to make everything on the menu yourself. It’s a full hands-on experience prepping the
ingredients and cooking them. Then you
get to sit down to enjoy the dishes you made and take home any leftovers! While you’re given the printed recipes, they
really focus on technique during the classes to help you become a more
intuitive cook. My skills and comfort
level in the kitchen have increased exponentially, and I actually look forward
now to spending time in my kitchen versus avoiding it!
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| image via Ann Arbor Cooks |
Located on Jackson Road near Zeeb, Ann Arbor Cooks is a
small, local business committed to supporting other small businesses in Ann
Arbor. All of the ingredients are
seasonally appropriate and locally sourced – the meat and seafood we’ve cooked
with has always been amazing! The
instructors are all chefs with oodles of experience and insight to share and
everything you could possibly need is provided for you. While I went as a beginner with absolutely no
skills whatsoever in the kitchen and have learned a lot, I also think more
experienced cooks would find their classes interesting and engaging. And your kids can get in on the action
too. While my girls aren’t old enough
yet to go, they have parent/child classes, family dining classes, kids-only
classes and summer cooking camps!
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While I normally take cooking classes, the photo below is from their Bouche de Noel baking class (a traditional French Yule log cake served around the holidays).
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So if getting into the kitchen and making more delicious and
nutritious meals is a goal of yours for 2014, I highly encourage you to give
Ann Arbor Cooks a try.
Labels: Ann Arbor, date night, good eats, Mom Stuff, shopping