Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble ...!

So this week I attended a Cooking Class at a local cookery school, organised by the Scottsdale 'newcomers' group.   What a fun way to spend a morning!  This one was all about sauces and covered 6 savoury and one sweet.  Not only did we get to make the sauces though, we also made each of the dishes that went with them and best of all, got to eat them all afterwards!  The chef was a lady called Amy Barnes, and for those Phoenecians among you that might be reading this, if you ever get the chance to attend one of her classes I would definitely recommend it!  Not only did she provide excellent demonstration and 'insider' tips and techniques, but was also very humorous - right up my alley.

Once Amy had run through each of the dishes we were going to make, we then split into groups of two or three and decided between us which dishes we wanted to make.  My partner was a lovely lady called Jennifer who had also moved to the area fairly recently and we got along famously. Also by pure co-incidence *ahem* we also happened to be seated nearest to the dessert workstations, so we elected to make that.   It was a croissant bread pudding with a praline sauce and OMG! ... it was absolutely delicious (probably had something to do with the whole dairy herd's worth of butter and cream it contained, but hey ho).

Croissant Bread pudding

The rest of the dishes were equally delicious, well maybe with the exception of the Swiss Chard dish, which I have to say was not my favourite (at the end of the day you can call it what you like but it's still cabbage as far as I'm concerned... bleugh!).

The other dishes were :

• Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Citrus Pan Sauce - yum
• Turkey Piccata with Tarragon Cream - yum
• Pan-Fried Steak in Bourbon Peppercorn Sauce - my favourite (can't think why)
• Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Apples & Brandy Cream Sauce - yum
• Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese & Wine Sauce - meh (the sauce was nice!)
• Grilled Shrimp with Lemon Aioli

The quantities of each dish were designed to feed at least 4 (our pudding was 8!) and as there were only about 16 of us, it's fair to say that nobody left hungry.  I didn't eat for the rest of the day!

I will definitely be recreating these dishes at home, in fact I am cooking the pork and apple dish for dinner this evening (I thought I had better wait at least another week before making the bread pudding though to allow my arteries to recover!).

On a somewhat related note, I also made 90 scones this week. Yes, that's right.  90.  Those of you who follow on Facebook will already know the reason why, but for those who don't, let me elaborate.

Mr B came home from work a couple of weeks ago and announced that he needed to come up with an idea for work as part of a 'Give2gether' campaign he was involved with at work (to encourage charitable donations).
"I was thinking of doing something British ... maybe an Afternoon Tea? How much trouble would it be for you to make a few scones?"
"That should be ok ... how many do you need?"
"Hmmm, well enough for 90 should be ok"
"WHAT?!?! ..... 90?  f*%*#@  b#@**!!!"

"Hmmm, yes, that's what I thought you would say"

Fast forward to last Friday evening after making sure I had already consumed one very large margarita ...
"Erm ... you know those scones I mentioned?"
"Yeeeeees.....?"
"Well, I might have accidentally mentioned it at work and someone has already sent out an email telling everyone that I will be providing afternoon tea ... Oops!"
"Oops?!?  You are in soooo much trouble right now Barlow ... "
"Erm ... I don't suppose you would be able to make sandwiches as well ... and maybe a cake or ten?"You could hear the baking tray ricochet off the back of his head for miles around .... (the answer in case you were wondering was NO!)

This weekend is the much anticipated Halloween celebration - quite a big deal over here apparently, 

On Thursday evening the dance studio that Mr B and I have been attending held a Halloween Dance Party.  Sadly, Mr B wasn't able to come as he was slumming it at one of the swanky hotels on a work do, so I went along on my own.  There were some very glamorous costumes, from vampires, to can can girls ... and then there was me.  I hadn't been planning to go as I knew Mr B couldn't make it but was persuaded at the last minute during our lesson the evening before.  Oh God.  What could I come up with in 24 hours?  Apparently this.

Black eyed pea!

Once again though, my warped sense of humour was completely lost on the natives, and I had to explain to almost everybody (I think the only person that got it straight away was a fellow Brit!).  Note to self ... maybe avoid 'subtle' in future.

Sarah, our dance teacher!

Well, better go and light up my pumpkin and fill up the sweety bowl, although not sure how many trick or treaters we will get here as it's a gated community they can't really get in.  Not seen many children out and about round here either (although to be fair it has been hotter than the surface of the sun for most of the time we have been here) so we will have to wait and see.

Hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween!

TTFN and see you next time.

Bev x