The next week, our very-own Mrs. Beck had 6 zucchinis the size of bats dropped off at my classroom (S-7, should you like to make a donation). With these, my students began to learn the proper way to handle a chef’s knife as well as correct knife skills as they sliced half-moons of zucchinis. In the end, they discovered that zucchini can actually taste pretty good when it’s been roasted in olive oil, garlic, grated Parmesan cheese and fresh thyme from our CHS Sustainable Garden & Lab. Even after all five of classes made this recipe, we still had lots of zucchini left over! To preserve it, one of my students, Anai Ponce, stayed after school with me on a Friday and using the Cuisinart, she shredded 4 large 1 gallon sized freezer bags of Zucchini; could you imagine?! I went home to research what we could make and suddenly recipes such as Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies and Chocolate Zucchini Brownies started popping up. Brownies it is! My students learned how to synthesize a recipe, recalculate the serving size, understand the importance of proper liquid and dry measurements and ultimately came to the conclusion that Chocolate Zucchini Brownies are chocolaty goodness, and that the zucchini mostly adds moisture and texture.

The third week of school brought our first catering request. The Parent Center was hosting the Title 1 informational for parents of our students and they wanted us to help cater their meeting. On the menu: Fried Chicken from Popeye’s and Potato Salad, Green Salad and Brownies from Kelly’s Cooking Colts. The students learned the proper cooking techniques for potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. They reinforced their knife and measuring skills and worked in small groups to complete various tasks. In the end, we had a lot of fun and a lot of potato salad, and what’s a girl to do with 15 lbs of potato salad? ~ Throw a last minute pot-luck fundraiser!

On Friday September 23rd, homemade foods began pouring into room S-7, along with beaming children with photos on their phones and stories of just exactly how they made their dish and in one case, how his baby brother inadvertently dug into it too soon. To go along with our potato salad, we had: fried chicken, hotdogs in sauce, Chilaquiles, Pancit, Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Patties, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Flan, Cornbread and more. By lunchtime, the Culinary Classroom was filled with organized chaos of hungry, laughing children as my T.A., Raquel Bandiago, documented some of the event.

I ordered the rib eye..actually, I wanted to order the petite rib eye, but wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t have any… Being that I had my heart set on the tender hunk of meat, I broke down and ordered the larger piece (with a blue-cheese crust) resigning to the fact that I’d have beef for days and look like the greedy one at the table (the two girls I was with both ordered the burger)…it’s all good, though, it was well worth it The steak was beautiful, a little on the rarer side, though the next day when I warmed it up for dinner, I couldn’t have asked for anything better! The birthday girl also requested an order of the wild mushrooms and onions which was lusciously earthy and rounded out the sharpness of the blue cheese on my steak. YUM…were passed on dessert, though the waiter insisted on bringing out sorbet for the special event…Happy Birthday Lisa! Can’t wait for our next adventure…Lakers-v-Timberwolves!!!!!