Hipcooks

To kick off this blog, I thought I'd start off with something that's a combination of both cooking and a review. What better way, then to review a cooking class? For Christmas, I had looked up cooking classes to give a friend as a gift, and stumbled upon Hipcooks. The instructors seem to be dedicated to making the classes fun, and have imaginative class titles like, "Oh my God, Dinner for 15 PEOPLE?!", "My Big Fat Greek Cooking Class", and "A Romantic Dinner for Two". Going to a class, regardless of how much fun it may sound, is always better to do in groups, so I made the supreme sacrifice to go with her (sarcasm anybody?). The class we signed up for "A Spring Brunch" was held at their relatively new West LA location. On a Sunday, we had no problems finding street parking, which if you know LA, is an important commodity. We had a total of 11 students (I believe the limit is 15), our instructor Bonny, and her Assistant.

The class was taught whole group, with us clustered around a large table in the center of the kitchen, and we took turns mixing, chopping, tasting, etc. In the 3 hour class period we made a cocktail, an appetizer, 2 entrées, and a dessert. Here are some pics of our hardwork:

Pomegranate Bellinis

Chevre-Stuffed Grapes with Pistachio

Smoked Salmon Potato Pancakes with Lemon Crème Fraiche

Poached Egg Cups Wrapped in Ham with Mushrooms and Hollandaise

Hazelnut, Lemon, and Ricotta Cake

Bonny, our instructor, was extremely knowledgeable about cooking and explained the recipes as we went a long. Most importantly our food was DELISH! Our poached eggs were a little over done, and the consistency of the Hazelnut cake could have been more refined, but overall these dishes weren't too difficult to make, and definately worth repeating. If you're interested in learning more about the technical side of cooking, this class is not for you. If you're like me, and just looking for a fun activity to do with friends and family, Hipcooks is a wonderful place. Just as a word of caution, the West LA classes are a little more expensive of $65 versus the East LA classes of $55. Why the price difference? I'd assume that rent for West LA is higher because the offered classes are the same. Anyway, you'll see this foodie returning, in fact, I've already signed up for my next class!