Last month I was invited along with some girlfriends to a cooking class at the newly opened, The Cooks Cooking School, in Bowral, here in the Southern Highlands, for an evening of Mexican street food. I must admit that my first thought when I got the invitation was “Okay cool, lots of taco’s, burritos and beans”.
Great. Yum! My kind of food. What I didn’t expect though was how limited my knowledge of Mexican food was, and how much I’d actually learn. And have fun!
Our evening was set up so beautifully (thanks to Events with Garth & Co), with candlelights everywhere, a gorgeous Mexican inspired table setting, all set in the impressive reworked venue that boasts multiple fully decked-out kitchens and a lot of fancy equipment.
Our class started with a brief bit of history about Mexican street food and a cooking demonstration by Anna Phillips, (local in-house cook, manager, presenter & food stylist extraordinaire), then we split into pairs and each cooked a dish from the evenings menu, that we’d later sit down and eat.
There was a lot of chatting, chopping, cooking, laughing and learning, but what I loved the most was that it was just a night of great fun and sensational food!
I particularly loved that we got to sit down at the end and eat all the food we’d cooked, with a glass of beautiful local wine and were able to enjoy the fruits of our labour (not that it was hard work at all! ha). The stand out dish of the night (that also blew my mind) was the Lime & Avocado Ice Cream paired with Sweet Tortilla with Aniseed Sugar Syrup!! Whoa was that good. One of the most interesting and delicious dishes I’ve eaten in YEARS.
The whole evening was led and run by the supremely lovely and experienced, Anna Phillips, and what’s so fabulous about The Cooks Cooking School is that it’s bringing some of Australia’s leading cooks, food editors and local producers to the Southern Highlands for a home cooking experience! And the best part is that all proceeds benefit local charity, Your Angel.
There are some fabulous events coming up over the summer so visit their website to find out more or to book.
N xo