Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
looking forward to this class. What a disappointment! The great
Italian chef might have been great, but he spoke not one word of
English and relied upon his Austrian wife to translate and *her*
English wasn't up to the task frequently. Consequently, this was more
of a cooking demonstration than a cooking class, as we watched about
80% of the time and *did* the rest of the time. The biggest problem,
IMHO, was his assistant, Gina. Gina spent more time touting her
cooking classes at the Orange branch of LCA than she did being of use.
Chef had to run after his own implements - Koko and I found the damned
colander for him - and about all she did was drift around and
criticize everyone's efforts when we *did* actually get to do
something. She also often planted herself directly behind Chef, making
it impossible to see what he was doing from my angle.

Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment, so
abandoned the attempt and went into another room to use a hand roller.
Since the KA was one of the main reasons I wanted to take the class (I
have this attachment, but hadn't figured it out yet), I took my hunk
of dough and started monkeying with the KA attachment. Didn't take me
long to get the hang of it and after that almost everyone in the class
was lining up to use the KA while Chef labored away in the other room.

When it came to making the sauces, I had absolutely no idea which
sauce was which, as he threw in all the previously-measured
ingredients in and banged and flipped the skillets around like he was
playing 3 card Monte. Finally, they plated everything and took us to a
set table. What had been advertised as an extra $10 "wine pairing" was
actually 3 bottles of a $14 mediocre red set out to divide between the
10 students, the chef, his wife and Gina.

We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
response to the letter I plan to write.

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

--

To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"

Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:
>
<snip>
>
> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment, so
> abandoned the attempt and went into another room to use a hand roller.

WTF??? The KA roller and the hand roller are essentially identical, I
think they are even made by the same company. My Atlas Pasta Queen hand
roller is made in Italy, and so is my KA pasta roller set. Comparing
them side by side they look like they came out of the same factory, the
metal gauges, the contours, etc. all look the same.

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:49:03 -0800, Terry Pulliam Burd
> wrote:

> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.

Darn! Sorry to hear it was such a disappointing class and glad to
hear the rest of your weekend with Koko was fun.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

"Terry Pulliam Burd" > wrote in message
news
> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
> Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
> experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
> looking forward to this class. What a disappointment! The great
> Italian chef might have been great, but he spoke not one word of
> English and relied upon his Austrian wife to translate and *her*
> English wasn't up to the task frequently. Consequently, this was more
> of a cooking demonstration than a cooking class, as we watched about
> 80% of the time and *did* the rest of the time. The biggest problem,
> IMHO, was his assistant, Gina. Gina spent more time touting her
> cooking classes at the Orange branch of LCA than she did being of use.
> Chef had to run after his own implements - Koko and I found the damned
> colander for him - and about all she did was drift around and
> criticize everyone's efforts when we *did* actually get to do
> something. She also often planted herself directly behind Chef, making
> it impossible to see what he was doing from my angle.
>
> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment, so
> abandoned the attempt and went into another room to use a hand roller.
> Since the KA was one of the main reasons I wanted to take the class (I
> have this attachment, but hadn't figured it out yet), I took my hunk
> of dough and started monkeying with the KA attachment. Didn't take me
> long to get the hang of it and after that almost everyone in the class
> was lining up to use the KA while Chef labored away in the other room.
>
> When it came to making the sauces, I had absolutely no idea which
> sauce was which, as he threw in all the previously-measured
> ingredients in and banged and flipped the skillets around like he was
> playing 3 card Monte. Finally, they plated everything and took us to a
> set table. What had been advertised as an extra $10 "wine pairing" was
> actually 3 bottles of a $14 mediocre red set out to divide between the
> 10 students, the chef, his wife and Gina.
>
> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
>
> --
>
> To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"


I'm sorry it was such a disappointment! I would definitely fill out the
questionnaire and write a letter. Hopefully, if you do decide to take
another of their classes you'll have a much better experience. I'm glad you
and Koko had fun, regardless

Jill

On 2/26/2012 1:49 PM, Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:
> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
> Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
> experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
> looking forward to this class. What a disappointment! The great
> Italian chef might have been great, but he spoke not one word of
> English


Bummer. It sounds as if LCA hadn't set any guidelines for him or
gotten any feedback about his skills or interest.

If you've had good classes there before, I wouldn't let this one
experience keep me away.

gloria p

>
> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
>
> --
>
> To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"


So very sorry you had a poor experience after your good experience.
Writ away, sister.

Harriet & critters.

On Feb 26, 3:49*pm, Terry Pulliam Burd > wrote:
> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
> Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
> experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
> looking forward to this class. What a disappointment! The great
> Italian chef might have been great, but he spoke not one word of
> English and relied upon his Austrian wife to translate and *her*
> English wasn't up to the task frequently. Consequently, this was more
> of a cooking demonstration than a cooking class, as we watched about
> 80% of the time and *did* the rest of the time. The biggest problem,
> IMHO, was his assistant, Gina. Gina spent more time touting her
> cooking classes at the Orange branch of LCA than she did being of use.
> Chef had to run after his own implements - Koko and I found the damned
> colander for him - and about all she did was drift around and
> criticize everyone's efforts when we *did* actually get to do
> something. She also often planted herself directly behind Chef, making
> it impossible to see what he was doing from my angle.
>
> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment, so
> abandoned the attempt and went into another room to use a hand roller.
> Since the KA was one of the main reasons I wanted to take the class (I
> have this attachment, but hadn't figured it out yet), I took my hunk
> of dough and started monkeying with the KA attachment. Didn't take me
> long to get the hang of it and after that almost everyone in the class
> was lining up to use the KA while Chef labored away in the other room.
>
> When it came to making the sauces, I had absolutely no idea which
> sauce was which, as he threw in all the previously-measured
> ingredients in and banged and flipped the skillets around like he was
> playing 3 card Monte. Finally, they plated everything and took us to a
> set table. What had been advertised as an extra $10 "wine pairing" was
> actually 3 bottles of a $14 mediocre red set out to divide between the
> 10 students, the chef, his wife and Gina.
>
> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
>
> --
>
> To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"

Completely agree. A class means hands on, a lecture is more like what
you got.
Don't pull any punches when you write.

Kalmia wrote:
>Burd wrote:
>>
>> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment.
>
>A class means hands on.

Why would any normal brained person need a class to operate a
KitchenAid gizmo... doesn't it come with an owner's manual that any
5th grader can comprehend?

http://kitchen.manualsonline.com/man...duct_list.html

"Brooklyn1" <Gravesend1> wrote in message
...
> Kalmia wrote:
>>Burd wrote:
>>>
>>> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>>> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment.
>>
>>A class means hands on.
>
> Why would any normal brained person need a class to operate a
> KitchenAid gizmo... doesn't it come with an owner's manual that any
> 5th grader can comprehend?
>

Foul! Inappropriate snippage! LOL

Jill

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:16:26 -0500, "jmcquown" >
wrote:

>
>"Brooklyn1" <Gravesend1> wrote in message
.. .
>> Kalmia wrote:
>>>Burd wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>>>> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment.
>>>
>>>A class means hands on.
>>
>> Why would any normal brained person need a class to operate a
>> KitchenAid gizmo... doesn't it come with an owner's manual that any
>> 5th grader can comprehend?
>>
>
>Foul! Inappropriate snippage! LOL

Really was no innapropriate snippage, I got rid of all the grandiose
verbiage and cut to the meat n' potatoes. LOL

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:16:26 -0500, "jmcquown" >
arranged random neurons and said:

>
>"Brooklyn1" <Gravesend1> wrote in message
.. .
>> Kalmia wrote:
>>>Burd wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>>>> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment.
>>>
>>>A class means hands on.
>>
>> Why would any normal brained person need a class to operate a
>> KitchenAid gizmo... doesn't it come with an owner's manual that any
>> 5th grader can comprehend?
>>
>
>Foul! Inappropriate snippage! LOL

Creative snippage, I must agree. And, frankly, the difficulty I had
with the attachment the one time I tried to use it was with the dough.
It was far too stiff and dry, as it turns out. Wound up with pasta
lace <shrug> I'm going to use Chef's recipe and see if I can't get the
thing humming.

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

--

To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"

On 26 Feb, 21:49, Terry Pulliam Burd > wrote:
> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
> Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
> experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
> looking forward to this class. What a disappointment! The great
> Italian chef might have been great, but he spoke not one word of
> English and relied upon his Austrian wife to translate and *her*
> English wasn't up to the task frequently. Consequently, this was more
> of a cooking demonstration than a cooking class, as we watched about
> 80% of the time and *did* the rest of the time. The biggest problem,
> IMHO, was his assistant, Gina. Gina spent more time touting her
> cooking classes at the Orange branch of LCA than she did being of use.
> Chef had to run after his own implements - Koko and I found the damned
> colander for him - and about all she did was drift around and
> criticize everyone's efforts when we *did* actually get to do
> something. She also often planted herself directly behind Chef, making
> it impossible to see what he was doing from my angle.
>
> Chef couldn't get the hang of the KA pasta roller attachment, so
> abandoned the attempt and went into another room to use a hand roller.
> Since the KA was one of the main reasons I wanted to take the class (I
> have this attachment, but hadn't figured it out yet), I took my hunk
> of dough and started monkeying with the KA attachment. Didn't take me
> long to get the hang of it and after that almost everyone in the class
> was lining up to use the KA while Chef labored away in the other room.
>
> When it came to making the sauces, I had absolutely no idea which
> sauce was which, as he threw in all the previously-measured
> ingredients in and banged and flipped the skillets around like he was
> playing 3 card Monte. Finally, they plated everything and took us to a
> set table. What had been advertised as an extra $10 "wine pairing" was
> actually 3 bottles of a $14 mediocre red set out to divide between the
> 10 students, the chef, his wife and Gina.
>
> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
>
> --
>
> To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"


Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! it's really a tragi-comic
adventure!!!!! Come here in Italy next time! we will enjoy cooking and
smiling together with hectolitre of gratis
wine )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) ))))))))))))))))))

On Feb 26, 3:49*pm, Terry Pulliam Burd > wrote:

> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

I am so sorry about that. Sometimes people ask how non-Italians have
the nerve to teach Italian cookery, but the truth is not many have
the ease with English that Vilco has and what do you learn without
words? You can learn some things by watching, but not just once. My
mother learned French cookery from her MIL by watching over and over
and measuring the casual scoops of this and that.

I know absolutely no one who has the motorized attachment for rolling
pasta in Italy, but I don't know all 60 million Italians yet. My hand
roller is the only roller in my neighborhood. Everyone else works
like that chef, hours and hours of patient rolling on a huge board.

I know you've had good experiences before and you will again. Come on
over and learn with me when I go back to Italy!

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:49:03 -0800, Terry Pulliam Burd
> wrote:

>Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
>experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
>looking forward to this class. What a disappointment!

snippage

The class was_very_disappointing, not_anything_like our last class.

That being said, the rest of the weekend was beyond wonderful.
Sat we ran around and shopped 'till we dropped, found a neat little
spice shop, ate oysters on the half shell, drank Cosmopolitans,
shopped at Sur La Table and grilled out Sat night. The only thing we
forgot to do was make the French 75 cocktail, and we even made a
special stop to buy the Champaign.

Hey, we got together and had a great time, that's all that matters.

koko
--
Food is our common ground, a universal experience
James Beard

www.kokoscornerblog.com

Natural Watkins Spices
www.apinchofspices.com

On Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:55:13 -0800, wrote:

> The only thing we
> forgot to do was make the French 75 cocktail, and we even made a
> special stop to buy the Champaign.

I've had two and they were different from each other, both were very
good - but I guess I have to make it myself to figure out what it
really is.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:49:03 -0800, Terry Pulliam Burd
> wrote:

>Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
>experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
>looking forward to this class. What a disappointment!

snippage

At least we had fun.

Here are the photos of the class. I'm practicing great restraint in my
reporting of the evening.

http://www.kokoscornerblog.com/mycor...ary-arts-.html

or
http://tinyurl.com/8yh7st8

I'm working on the photos from the rest of the weekend, which was a
fabulous weekend by the way, they'll be up soon.

koko
--
Food is our common ground, a universal experience
James Beard

www.kokoscornerblog.com

Natural Watkins Spices
www.apinchofspices.com

On 2/28/2012 5:45 PM, wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:49:03 -0800, Terry Pulliam Burd
> > wrote:
>
>> Koko and I went to a pasta class at Laguna Culinary Arts school in
>> Laguna Beach on Friday night. We have previously had a great
>> experience with a pastry class a few months ago, so we were really
>> looking forward to this class. What a disappointment!
>
> snippage
>
> At least we had fun.
>
> Here are the photos of the class. I'm practicing great restraint in my
> reporting of the evening.
>
> http://www.kokoscornerblog.com/mycor...ary-arts-.html
>
> or
> http://tinyurl.com/8yh7st8
>
> I'm working on the photos from the rest of the weekend, which was a
> fabulous weekend by the way, they'll be up soon.
>


Thanks for the pics! I especially liked that the last one had at least
your signature thumb ring in it while you toasted the group.

Giusi wrote:

> I am so sorry about that. Sometimes people ask how non-Italians have
> the nerve to teach Italian cookery, but the truth is not many have
> the ease with English that Vilco has and what do you learn without
> words? You can learn some things by watching, but not just once.

Heh... When I attended the University of Florida, one of my friends was
in a calculus class taught by a Korean professor who couldn't speak
English well enough to be understood. So the professor would write
equations on the board, and if anyone had questions, he'd just write the
same equations again.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:

>Heh... When I attended the University of Florida, one of my friends was
>in a calculus class taught by a Korean professor who couldn't speak
>English well enough to be understood. So the professor would write
>equations on the board, and if anyone had questions, he'd just write the
>same equations again.

Is that some kind of racist crack? You should go to doggie obedience
school and learn the true value of repetition.

George M. Middius wrote:

>> Heh... When I attended the University of Florida, one of my friends was
>> in a calculus class taught by a Korean professor who couldn't speak
>> English well enough to be understood. So the professor would write
>> equations on the board, and if anyone had questions, he'd just write the
>> same equations again.
>
> Is that some kind of racist crack?

No, it was a response to Giusi's remark about the difficulty of trying
to learn from someone who doesn't speak the same language you speak.


> You should go to doggie obedience school and learn the true value of repetition.

You should go **** yourself.
You should go **** yourself.

Bob

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:45:56 -0800, arranged random
neurons and said:

>Here are the photos of the class. I'm practicing great restraint in my
>reporting of the evening.
>
>http://www.kokoscornerblog.com/mycor...ary-arts-.html
>
>or
>http://tinyurl.com/8yh7st8

I *love* that photo of you and Chef Amato! It's one of the few I've
seen that actually looks like you do in RL!

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

--

To reply, remove "spambot" and replace it with "cox"

Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:

> We were given questionaires as to how we liked the class, which I
> slipped into the recipe sheets and took home with me. I plan on
> writing a letter to LCA explaining my disappointment with the class.
> The experience didn't wreck the weekend with Koko, but I'll be wary
> about taking another class at LCA, especially if I don't get a
> response to the letter I plan to write.

You'll sure do a good job with that questionary. Sorry for the class, glad
you anyway managed to learn something out of it

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>
> Heh... When I attended the University of Florida, one of my friends was
> in a calculus class taught by a Korean professor who couldn't speak
> English well enough to be understood. So the professor would write
> equations on the board, and if anyone had questions, he'd just write the
> same equations again.

A lot of college students report experiences like that in one class or
another. There doesn't even need to be alanguage barrier for it to
happen.

On 29/02/2012 11:21 AM, Doug Freyburger wrote:
> Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>>
>> Heh... When I attended the University of Florida, one of my friends was
>> in a calculus class taught by a Korean professor who couldn't speak
>> English well enough to be understood. So the professor would write
>> equations on the board, and if anyone had questions, he'd just write the
>> same equations again.
>
> A lot of college students report experiences like that in one class or
> another. There doesn't even need to be alanguage barrier for it to
> happen.

I was never good at math but my worst year was the last one in high
school when we had a Chinese guy who used to scribble theorems across
the chalkboard. I would be trying to write it all down, really not
understanding. As he got to the end of the side blackboard he would go
back and start erasing it saying "change to shoot purples". After a
while we realized that he was saying that he want to change it to suit
his purpose. When we got into calculus he was talking about terms like
teeter, dirty, hooomahgaw.


I would not have taken any math at university except that I was majoring
in a social science and had to take probability and statistics. Son of a
bitch if my math professor is not another Chang, though this one spoke
better Enrish.