May is all about cooking!

Today is another great Melbourne Autumn day perfect for walking in my neighborhood.
I check in with my coffee review app and select a new place for me called "New York Tomato" on York and New streets Richmond. It's has a one bean rating and sounds like a Good place to do my blog, about 1.3km from my house.

I can imagine it in New York, except for the lack of hustle,bustle and sounds of New York traffic. Today is quiet so far with half the tables occupied mostly by Baby boomer age group, yet the cafe is right in the middle of a trendy apartment area right near the West Richmond train station.



The coffee was again great, strong, flavorful and hot, just how I like it. They serve very interesting options for food such as Fabada - spiced Spanish bean stew with roasted red peppers, preserved lemon, caramelized onions, chorizo sausage, a poached egg and toast. Yum, think that will be lunch.

Well i am 7 weeks into my sabbatical. It's gone fast in one way, but it's been a very relaxed pace compared to life before that. I will admit that my thoughts have wandered back to what's next and if I should start that whole process of finding a job. I don't completely reject the idea now, but rather ask myself what else do I want to do or experience before I go back to working.

One thing that I do want to do is some cooking classes. I have set May as cooking month. Either classes or experimenting with cooking great food. I have always enjoyed cooking and of course eating. With all the emphasis on cooking with TV shows My Kitchen Rules, and Master Chef starting soon it seems fitting.

Starting with this weekend cooking for my family with a chestnut inspired menu. I have roasted 2kg of chestnuts that I purchased in Bright over Easter and now need to peel them, a bit of a tedious task. But worth it I am sure.

I have booked into Class Culinary in Ascot Vale, recommended by a foodie friend. The class is part 1 of their introductory covering stocks, sauces, knife skills, meat boning, garnishes. Part 2 is pasta making, fillings, advanced sauces for meat and pasta and cooking techniques.

Five ways with Fish is another class I have booked into in May at Essential Ingredient in Prahran. Learning how to fillet and prepare different will be fun and expand my options for using fish, which I love.

The Whole Beast is another class, but not until August at Essential Ingredient. This class covers all the different cuts and ways of cooking pork. Which has recently become another favourite of mind, well at least pork belly is.

Now to plan another dinner party in May for a few friends.
Oh and May is also get back to regular exercise time as well, a must with all the cooking and eating!

Is cooking one of your passions? Or just eating?
What would you most like to learn about or cook this year?

Narelle