Arugula and Anchovies

I recently found out how much I despise these 2 things at my cooking class adventure with Monica Pope. I have been talking about these classes for a while now. We went about 2 weeks ago and it was so much fun!!

As far as I know, there are two options for her classes at Tafia in Houston. There is a sauce class and a sides class. We went to the sides class. Now, if you think you are going to learn recipes from this adventure, think again. While we did have an awesome time, the only teaching point I got from this night was how to properly cut herbs and onions. Although, since I haven't cooked a thing in over 3 weeks, I probably forgot this already.

The class is above her restaurant and starts around dinner time. The class is full of couples, groups, families and even some singles -- so anyone feels welcome. You split up into 4 groups and each group will make a side dish. I chose to make some sort of vegetable mixture that included artichokes because I wanted to learn how to cook them. We ended up soaking the veggies in anchovies and needless to say, I was not a fan. But honestly everything else was sooo good. I even tried beet salad for the first time. It was mixed with goat cheese (I think) and strawberries.

Murdering the beets.

Beet Salad. Yum.

Learning/trying to chop properly.

With Monica Pope!

Our recipe. Sorry if it's blurry but there's probably no way you could make it anyway.

Other selling points of the class? Free flowing wine all night. She had her assistants bringing us up appetizers like the bacon wrapped dates (if you've been to tafia you know how good these are) and cheeses up to us while we were cooking. Also, Monica's big thing is farm to table. So everything she cooks with is very fresh, organic and bought at a farmer's market. I was surprised to know there's literally a farmer's market every day of the week in Houston. I definitely did not think of Houston as the type of city you could get fresh farmer's market veggies and fruits ever, let alone on any day!

 It was just an all over good time and I suggest everyone go. Monica is also really funny. She just walks around telling you gossip and different stuff she learned on Top Chef Masters. She doesn't really teach you much unless you are doing something waaaay wrong. Then she shows you whats up. Hence how I learned to chop herbs. BTW, I am not sure on the pricing because I received this class as a gift.

--FreshGerms