18 Reasons to cook

My team recently had an offsite at 18 Reasons, a community cooking school that teaches cooking and healthy eating classes to various groups in the community, particularly lower income groups and kids. They have a super chic space in the Mission in SF, and are a part of the Bi-Rite family. We were treated to a special cooking class, where we learned how to make two salads, a fish or portobello mushroom entree, and a stuffed dates dessert. 

The first salad was a root vegetable mix, including shaved beets, turnips, carrots, and fennel. I learned to use a mandolin for the first time, and loved the idea of presenting an entirely "shaved salad". The salad also included chickpeas and the fennel leaves. We made a roasted cumin dressing for this one: after roasting full cumin seeds on pan on the stove, we ground them using an old-school mortar and pestle.We mixed the powder with olive oil and lemon juice. It was amazing!

The second salad was more traditional, lettuce, radicchio, avocado, parsley, and dill, topped with roasted hazelnuts, shaved Parmesan, lemon slices, and a honey mustard vinaigrette. 

We made the entree in a cute little parchment paper pouch that we baked. We placed our entree (mine was a mushroom) over a bed of swiss chard (I learned to chiffonade!), semi-boiled purple potatos, turnips, and a slice of lemon. We wrapped the whole thing up in the parchment paper, and tied with string. We baked the pouches for about 20 minutes, and then served directly in the cute pouches. 

Last, we combined cream cheese, creme fraiche, vanilla extract, and orange zest together, piped the mixture into halved dried dates, and topped with powdered pistachios for a delicious dessert! We didn't have to sweeten the filling at all because the dates were so sweet.

Here are my 18 reasons, in no particular order. What are yours?
1. It's relaxing
2. It's lab science for the ex-experimentalist in me
3. It's healthy
4. It's price conscious
5. It's an art--both in the recipes and the plating
6. There is always more to learn, try, and achieve
7. It makes your whole house smell yummy
8. It never comes out the same way twice
9. It's fun to share with others--the recipes, the process, and the product
10. It's a non-sedentary activity, unlike most of everything else in our lives
11. The result can appeal to all 5 senses
12. Your mom's food is the ultimate goal, but not one you will achieve
13. It's a creative project that you actually finish (I have tons of unfinished paintings, and embroideries, and crafts)
14. It's the "fun chore" that trumps all others (much rather cook than do the laundry or bathrooms)
15. You feel accomplished each time
16. Everyone loves to be cooked for--it's the best gift
17. If you are the chefs, you always get to put your favorites on the menu
18. It's delicious!

I highly recommend that you check 18 Reasons out...be it for a cooking lesson, their Thursday evening cafes (18th hour, 6:00-10:00p), to volunteer, or to donate to their great cause!

(Special thanks to my friend TC for all the pictures in this post...typical me showed up to the class with no battery power left in my phone)