Taking Out Chinese

Savor the sweet joys of summer with some of the season's most exciting and easy-to-prepare desserts. Sure to be the hit of any barbecue, picnic or summer supper, these fresh-fruit showcases make the most of luscious berries, stone fruits and citrus without taking all day to bake! Your menu to make, taste and take home includes: blackberry and peach cobbler; mixed-berry pavlova with crème Chantilly, St. Germain and mint; lemon-blueberry pound cake; and toasted marshmallow s'mores brownies.

Sitting down to an assortment of dim sum in a bustling restaurant is the culmination of a weekend stroll through Chinatown. It's never easy to choose from the myriad of delicacies that pass by the table, or to not try just one more thing. In this class, you will learn to prepare a variety of popular dim sum dishes, to impress family and friends with a feast of your own. You will make: shrimp shao mai; spring rolls; spareribs with balck bean sauce, and pan-fried vegetable dumplings with spicy dipping sauce.

You want to make great food in a minimum amount of time, but don't have a clue how to go about it. Or you're on your own for the first time and have discovered that eating out is expensive and takeout is tiresome! You need a small repertoire of dishes for daily dining, but you can barely manage instant coffee. Does this sound like you? Then this is the course to take. We assume you know nothing --- absolutely nothing --- about cooking and take it from there. In three relaxed, fun-filled classes, we'll get you on your cooking feet, teaching you how to prepare simple, healthful, delicious food. You'll learn about basic cooking equipment and menu planning; knife skills, including vegetable chopping and paring; how to make salad, vinaigrette, and other easy no-cook dishes; how to roast garlic and root vegetables; how to prepare delicious pasta; how to sauté and roast meats and more; and how to make desserts in minutes. You will learn to make three complete meals in three easy lessons, including: guacamole and chips, make-your-own taco bar, tres leches cake; classic Caesar salad, roast Cornish hens with root vegetables, and blueberry crisp; shrimp cocktail and garlic bread, classic fettuccini alfredo, arugula and radicchio salad with apples and glazed walnuts, and ice cream tiramisu

For a flash course on all the basics you need to make a varied and impressive meal, look no further. With a professional chef, you'll gain the skills vital for moving through any simple menu with ease. You'll practice knife skills, roasting vegetables, cooking proteins with a pan sauce and a vinaigrette. Then you'll use what you learned as you make a menu of: popovers; sautéed chicken with classic pan sauce; roasted root vegetable salad with fresh herb dressing and garlic mashed potatoes.