The Reason For My Ever Expanding Waistline

My mom-in-law, sis-in-laws and I have been taking cooking classes together for over a year now. We do it for our monthly or biweekly girls night. Gotta love the GNO. We are very lucky to take them from Margaruite Henderson and we absolutely love it!


The classes are set up in an intimate atmosphere at Marguerite's home, she plans the menu in advance and gives us all a copy of the recipes to refer to as she cooks. We arrive to beautifully arranged appettizers displayed with gorgeous dishes and serving utensils. Rivaling such dexterity and finnesse of my precious Bree Van de Kamp.


Someone usally brings wine, which is a big plus, and then we sit back and relax while she cooks up a storm.


She is, without exception, the best chef ever. And the cutest.





We have learned so much from her, not only does she teach us how to cook the recipes given, but she also shares her insider chef secrets like how to know when a certain fruit is ripe, the most sufficient way to extract the juice from a lemon, the finest cutting techniques and the best cookware to use.


And my favorite part of the class?


Eating the food.


Of course everything she makes is to die for. The classes are 3 hours long and she makes anywhere from 5 to 7 dishes so you want to arrive hungry. Pacing yourself is the key, which is hard to do when every single dish implores you to have seconds and thrids. (And fourths)


By the time the class is over we've all split our pants and Marguerite has to roll us out the door. Seriously, you leave VERY satisfied, plus you get to take the leftovers home to the hubster.





The last class that we attended was called,

Fabulous February Fromage:

Cheese Fantastico! Big flavors in Puff Pastry Pizzas, Panini with Comte and Ham, Creamy Pasta with Four Cheeses, Beehive Cheddar Biscotti with Walnuts and a lemon blueberry torte!

Oh man. A class all about cheese? It was meant for me, I just know it.


Here we all are pre-pant splitting condition. From left to right: McKell, Rachael, Sharon, Cris & Me.

Marguerite persisted to take 5 pictures of us because she said Cris kept turning out too dark in each one. So we'd try to scoot Cris forward into the light and I would try to scoot back.





Um, no Margaurite, she just looks extremely dark because she IS extremely dark. And of course it doesn't help that she's sitting next to the pearly albino.

Nope, still dark.


I'm pathetic.