First though, there was the small matter of dropping birds at our local poultry show (held half way between home and Tba. The pavilion at our local town has been condemned so we've moved the club to a town 40 minutes away). Last night we were in the farm shed, in the dark (except for a lamp), cleaning the legs of the big wyandotte boys. It involved an old shirt with two holes strategically cut, some degreaser and an air compressor. Don't ask.
I left G at the show (he is Club President) and drove on to Tba where I had a long hot shower at Meg's. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the class location - it took us 3 minutes - so we browsed in the shop while we waited.
The teacher was Kelly Lord....
Kelly has years of experience leading kitchen teams in 5 star hotels, he has an innate gift for food styling. Originally employed as Head Chef in the Spirit House Restaurant, Kelly joined the cooking school there after spending four years leading the restaurant kitchen team. While still a schoolboy, Kelly worked as a kitchen hand in a Brisbane restaurant, starting his apprenticeship at 15. Over the next twelve years Kelly worked his way up the hotel career path to Executive Chef, cooking for numerous celebrities, including the Queen.
Realising his future hotel career entailed daily meetings, but no actual cooking; Kelly decided to take the plunge back into the heat of a smaller restaurant kitchen. In 2004, Kelly accepted the Head Chef position at Spirit House restaurant. This was the beginning of a huge learning curve in Asian cuisine, a journey that has taken him to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. Working with a team of ten chefs and three apprentices, Kelly helps design the Spirit House menu and takes regular cooking class.
In consideration of his wife’s career with Singapore Airlines, Kelly commutes from Brisbane to the Spirit House, and now, luckily for us, to The Sauce Kitchen in Toowoomba! http://www.thesaucekitchen.com.au/chefs.htm
There were 12 of us at the class; we had a little run through of how things would progress then moved to the benches to begin preparations. Ingredients were chopped, shaved, pummelled, mixed, julienned, peeled, roasted, wrapped, deep fried, simmered, scored, shredded, seared and - finally..........tasted.
The Menu:
The teacher was Kelly Lord....
Kelly has years of experience leading kitchen teams in 5 star hotels, he has an innate gift for food styling. Originally employed as Head Chef in the Spirit House Restaurant, Kelly joined the cooking school there after spending four years leading the restaurant kitchen team. While still a schoolboy, Kelly worked as a kitchen hand in a Brisbane restaurant, starting his apprenticeship at 15. Over the next twelve years Kelly worked his way up the hotel career path to Executive Chef, cooking for numerous celebrities, including the Queen.
Realising his future hotel career entailed daily meetings, but no actual cooking; Kelly decided to take the plunge back into the heat of a smaller restaurant kitchen. In 2004, Kelly accepted the Head Chef position at Spirit House restaurant. This was the beginning of a huge learning curve in Asian cuisine, a journey that has taken him to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. Working with a team of ten chefs and three apprentices, Kelly helps design the Spirit House menu and takes regular cooking class.
In consideration of his wife’s career with Singapore Airlines, Kelly commutes from Brisbane to the Spirit House, and now, luckily for us, to The Sauce Kitchen in Toowoomba! http://www.thesaucekitchen.com.au/chefs.htm
There were 12 of us at the class; we had a little run through of how things would progress then moved to the benches to begin preparations. Ingredients were chopped, shaved, pummelled, mixed, julienned, peeled, roasted, wrapped, deep fried, simmered, scored, shredded, seared and - finally..........tasted.
The Menu:
Pork and Prawn Spring Rolls
Sweet Chilli Sauce
Cuttlefish and Green Pawpaw Salad with Red Chilli Nahm Jim
Massaman Curry Paste (how to make)
Massaman Curry of Lamb with Tamarind and Roasted Peanuts
Caramelised Pumpkin Salad with Coriander and Cashews
Go Meg!
The pork mixture for the spring rolls - pork mince, red curry paste, kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce, white sugar, green eschallot and coriander.
Lots of spices and flavours for the made from scratch massaman curry paste.
Crispy shallots, deep fried for garnish for the salad.
Marinating cuttlefish.
Putting the salad together.
The finished cuttlefish salad.
In the wok - lamb massaman curry.
In the plate.
Roasted Caramelised Pumpkin.
On the table.
Ready to eat.
The shop. We may have had a little browse through the aisles after the class was finished. It took a while.
I may have purchased a couple of items.
The kitchen garden.
We finally left and went to Kathmandu to look at backpacks for Meg's trip to SE Asia in September. After pulling three fully stuffed backpacks off the wall, Meg lined them up on a table. They all proceeded to fall over and totally wrecked the shop display (with a big bang). Can't take her anywhere. We decided on the 65l grey and pink pack.
By this stage it was raining; autumn leaves were blowing up and down the street....and because we hadn't eaten enough during the day we went for coffee and a scone/brownie at CClub where we talked and laughed some more.
While all this was going on, poor Drew spent the morning stressing over his first exam which was at 1.30. It went ok. Tonight he worked at the British Lions v Qld rugby game, got soaked to the bone as he made his way back to Milton train station (where he had to sprint to make the train) and nearly fell over. From there he travelled to Toowong then caught a bus back to Uni. Soaking wet. In Winter. During exams.
In chook news - we won some cards and three class champion sashes but no ribbons. Gibbo and the birds got a lift home with someone else. I didn't get home until after dark. Bruce kept me company; we sang away together.
I had a very good day.
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