Happy December Everybody! I hope most of you remembered my previous posts on Sur la table and cooking classes so I don’t have to go over all that again. We all know how boring reviewing is 🙂
So to celebrate my Black Friday last week I thought, what better way than go take a cooking class? That too this one was especially special since head chef Amber Lancaster, yes that really nice same one mentioned in most of my other posts, had signed me and my mom up for a Thai cooking class that day for free.
Considering it would be my moms first time at Sur La table I was both skeptical and excited. Especially since every time I sign up for a class she asks me “what’s the big deal about Sur la table” and having to pay $70 isn’t that fun either for her.
Moving back to the class, I was glad to see more people who had even signed up for the class compared to my pasta class in which I was the only member. Not that being the only attendee is bad but a little bit of interaction with others is always fresh.
Note I couldn’t take much pictures since there were like 9 more people who attended the class with my mom and I so too much picture taking would have been awkward.
The class menu of the day was:
Stir fried rice noodles with broccoli and beef
Chicken coconut soup
Forbidden rice pudding with mango
Roasted Peanut salad
We started class off with a whole lot of vegetable cutting. Even for being in a class of 11, one whole hour of the class was taken into cutting up all sorts of veggies such as basil, onion, galangal, ginger, cucumber, etc. But this was no surprise considering we were gonna cook Thai.
“Be careful, don’t bring your knife that close!” My mom whispers from next to me at every moment that I even touch a vegetable with the knife.
After dicing who knows how many different variety’s of greens, the part of all came; heading over to the grill.
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By the way, no that saucepan with purple liquid is not ooze… that’s how our rice pudding looked before fully developing. As promised, Amber would specifically wait and reserve the part of making the dish of stir friend rice noodles for my mom since she wanted to learn that recipe badly.
Once we were done with pudding and let it sit, we accomplished making the spicy chicken coconut soup an everyone sat down and begin drink except my mom and I of course; we don’t eat chicken.
Finally, came the time to make the stir fried rice noodles in the wok pans while other group members worked on the peanut salad. As usual, chef Amber Lancaster was very descriptive of the dish we were about to prepare as she went over tips, tricks, and instructions before we got started.
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Here are some videos from the rest of class. Mom tried her best to learn how to flip food from a Wok Pan and finally did so with the noodles right when I had to end the video, also chef Amber gave more instructions.
Summary:
Well I can definitely say class was different thanks to the celebrity appearance. The food also ended up turning out great and we had tons of fun… even my mom stayed a bit after class to talk with our chef instructor! Check out some pictures of the food we made. Note I do not have a picture of the coconut soup since I didn’t take a bowl. The first picture is our stir friend rice noodles, the second picture is the amazing forbidden rice pudding turned out! The third picture is the roasted peanut salad with veggies,
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At first I have to admit, I wasn’t excited about other attendees in the class because that equals to more sharing of all the steps of preparing the dish. But, before I knew it, it was no problem at all! Everybody was nice to each other and besides the attention for being the only teen in the class of adults, my mom even had a positive social experience as the people of our table were more than friendly and had many conversations with her throughout the class.
Best of all, everybody was a team player. We have all at least once in our lives had that one person (s) in a group who (first bad word so bare with me) bitches around and takes up all the work or fun parts. Either it’s in a kitchen or project, it just sucks away all the fun but most certainly was not the case in class.
Also, for a promotion Sur la table was doing on the chocolate caramel filled cookies they sell in stores, all class attendees for the day got one free caramel chocolate cookie. And yes that is me and my mom below in our work aprons.
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Mom’s opinions:
Different from me who will probably always take Sur la able’s side, my mom had some opinions of her overall experience at Sur la table, that too her first time. Not all them were good but at least they all weren’t bad either
Pros:
Met some very nice people; made new friends
Finally learned one of her most desired cuisines, Thai
Found the food to be delicious and right on spot with the kind of flavor she was looking for
Enjoyed opportunities with cooking WOK
Amber Lancaster
Cons:
Felt the kitchen was a bit too small and crowded
Overpriced store merchandise
One of the pans we used she glimpsed at was heavily burned/worn out; she’s a bit picky plus I guess she expected perfect from their cookware since she’s use to me always raving about it at home
Though their might have been cons, my mom agreed she was glad to come and that she felt she learned many new things about Thai she did not learn before and plans on duplicating the recipes made in class at home. Meanwhile, I will be looking out for more opportunities to get her back in that kitchen with that apron on. I really felt it was also a bonding experience since we worked alongside and discussed a lot about the recipes during class.
Great class, Great food, Great chef instructor as usual. Thumbs up! Thanks for viewing this post I hope to be back at Sur la table for another cooking class soon and I am sure I will blog about it. Meanwhile, I will be posting a post with a video of a review and unboxing video of my kitchenaid professional 5 plus mixer I recently purchased so… keep your eyes out for that post in 2-3 days!
Anyways, today I thought the best way to kick off and celebrate Halloween the best way, is none other than taking a Halloween treat making class! This is my first personnel experiences post so work with me people.
Above is the picture of me and all the fellow class attendees that also signed up for the class. See that whole class there? Do you also see that only one boy standing their in a whole class of girls? Yup that was me, said who cooking is only for females…
Moving on, class was tons of fun and we made spider web decorated cookies, red velvet cupcakes, royal icing, and haunted pumpkin patch whoopie pies. Regardless of being the only boy their, everyone was nice and we all ended up having a lot of fun and working together, The class was held at Sur la table and taught by chef Amber Lancaster.Â
By the way check this page of my blog out, it’s about Sur la table, the place I take cooking classes, and it goes into details on the store and chefs if anyone is curious, https://bakedtothebone.wordpress.com/category/reviews-and-opinions/
First we started off class by rolling out cookie dough, that’s why everyone else and I were by rolling pins and brown dough, we next initially all went to the counters where their were numerous kitchenaid stand mixers positioned where we would make icing
By the way that nice looking lady in red was our chef instructor, Amber Lancaster. every pair of three girls got assigned to working on their own frosting on one of the three mixers. The only reason I was not in the shot was because I was assigned to stove duty, as in boil sugar syrup and work on melting marshmallows while everyone else makes icing 🙂
Skipping ahead, We got done making red velvet cupcakes and we all got to light the marshmallow icing on top of our cupcakes using a torch. That’s me below lighting my frosted cupcakes.
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We even made pumpkin whoopie pies, which are similar to small macaron like top and bottom buns/parts, we even piped some orange frosting in between both of the whoopie buns and put it together with a hershey kisses thingy on top making it look like a little pumpkin sandwhich.
Decorating one of my cookies using a white frosting pen
Summary:
Class was great, very hands on, everybody enjoyed themselves and we ended up wishing each other a happy Halloween at the end of class. All the sweets we made ended up tasting great, check out some of the pictures I took of the stuff I got to bring home from class.
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Also….
That’s me and Sur la tables residential chef and todays instructor, Amber Lancaster. I not only took a picture with her for this blog, but also because me and her know each other very well, if you read my previous post in reviews and opinions, she has been my teacher for many other classes I have taken at Sur la table. She’s kind, passionate about what she does, and ensures everybody in class has fun. She had even signed me up for a thai cooking class for free out of her own generosity, but that’s not the main reason why I like her. She’s a good person and you should be thanksful if you ever end up having her as your instructor 🙂
So that was my class, best Halloween ever. Thanks so much for reading this post and I hope one of you nice people comments.
my favorite Sur la table store, Old orchard, Skokie
In this post I will be reviewing Sur la table. This Sur la table in particular that I took a photo of is the one located in Old orchard Skokie. For those of you that do not know about Sur la table, you are in for a treat. Sur la table is a company with many stores spread around the U.S. that sells numerous bake and cookware and are well known for their cooking classes ,which you will constantly find me at. Plus they have the best products ranging from kitchenaid and Cuisinart ,to professional and very kind hearten chef instructors. I will be reviewing both their store and their cooking classes.
The store:
Sur la table may look like a small store from the outside but it is actually pretty big. Through the entrance their is a large store that sells numerous items and in the back there is a door leading to a amazing well geared and equipped kitchen. I will be reviewing the store on 5 pieces , Â 1. stock and inventory , 2. Prices, 3. quality in product, 4. Staff, and 5. Organization. To start I will post some pictures that I have taken in the store section of Sur la table so you guys get a bit of an idea what we’re dealing with.
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So, as you can see above, the store offers a variety of cooking and kitchen utensils… when I first came in here two years ago I wanted to buy everything off the shelves… till I saw the prices.
1.For our first rating piece, Stock and inventory. I personally believe Sur la table has a large inventory of kitchen tools. From balloon whisks and spatulas you can choose to stand mixers neatly sitting on the shelves, this store has it all. I have even came when their have been lots of customers and the store is always freshly stocked and reloaded with new equipment to make sure no shelf goes empty! I give this piece a 10 out of 10!
2. Prices. OK trust me I like Sur la table, they have nice products and all that cooking jazz but… they are way too pricey! if you go in with only a 10 dollar bill I can guarantee you will only be able to get like a small 8 dollar worth garlic peeler or a couple of cookie cutters that are a $1.50 each. Even for a store with good quality, Sur la table kind of pushes it here. did you know a small bottle of vanilla bean paste is $12! You can get a kitchenaid artisan mixer for $270 dollars off of amazon that includes every part in the box but if you buy the same mixer at Sur la table , its $350. But one thing really nice about them is that every month, Sur la table always and I mean always will give customers 20% off deals. Plus they are always having promotions and sales everyday, for example when I was in their one day they were having all day sales where mini food food processors  are $30 or they might have 60% off on cutlery and knives all week. Bottom line, they always have sales so that’s much to appreciate plus they are way way better than Williams-Sonoma. Sur la table has the decency to at least constantly have sales and have reasonable prices on some items but Williams-Sonoma on the other hand, they are just way more overpriced than Sur la table and some of the merchandise they give isn’t as good in product or quantity. For example (and this is true and can be proven if you visit both Sur la table. com and Williams-Sonoma.com), it’s $899.95 for a set of 10 all clad Williams-Sonoma self brand pans, while at Sur la table you can get a 13 piece Sur la table branded all clad set of pans for $479.96. I’ll at least give Sur la table a 6 out of 10 on this part.
3. Quality in product. As expensive as they may be, their tools, however, are pure amazing.
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As you can see above, they even sell fine espresso and coffee machines that are great quality, plus the staff always offers a free cup of coffee using one of the machines so customers get an idea how good it is. The pictures for some reason are coming out blurry so excuse me on that. At the top of the page you can even see that they have kitchenaid mixers, which are one of the best quality stand mixers that last for a lifetime as some customers say who have had their stand mixer for more than 10 years! Many companies that Sur la sells and is partners with includes Kitchenaid, Breville, Cuisinart, King Arthur flour, and they sell their own line of well made stainless steel and clad utensils and measuring cups engraved with “Sur la table”. These tools, pans and so on, last a life time and are well capable for balancing heat over stove tops or being the perfect baking dish. I give this piece a 9 out of 10.
4. Staff. Now a lot of the chef instructors are very nice but the staff is a bit different. To be honest a lot of the times I have been in the store their have been many staff members that some I have never seen before so I’m gonna base this on general staff workers excluding chef instructors. A lot of the retail workers and cashiers are very friendly but you have to learn if you are going to shop at Sur la table very often, you have to be rich. and I guess that is sort of a standard they expect from their customers. They were pretty nice to me when I was scoping the area out but I mostly think it was because I had my class apron on so they must have known ‘Oh he’s one of those people who payed’. But some of the workers were nice overall regardless of wealth, while others would try selling expensive goods to you and shun you if you don’t follow through. But no matter what kind of inner person they were, they always provided a lot of information on any product, helped you around in case you needed a specific tool, and always offered a free cup of coffee to promote their new fancy coffee and espresso machines. They even offer in store demos on new grills, toaster ovens and on any new appliance.  I give this piece a 7 out of 10.
5. Organization. Sur la table is always well organized every time I have been in their. clad and stainless steel pans will be on one display while nonstick will be on the other.
As you can see above, all the nonstick pan were well stocked on one display while all the other kinds of pans were on the other side of the store in display. Also, if you scroll up to my first 4 photos, you will see all food processors and stand mixers were accordingly lines up on the shelves against the walls where most electrical appliances stayed. Even the coffee machine pictures above this one were all lined up neatly in a coffee machine section. I give this piece a 10 out of ten.
The whole overall store gets a 42 out of 50 with all points added, so that’s a B+ . Regardless of any cons, Sur la table has an amazing collection of kitchen tools and even has some basic baking and cooking ingredients on shelf such as pure vanilla bean paste made fresh from Madagascar vanilla beans instead of vanilla extract. I believe everyone even if they don’t like to cook, should have the opportunity to stop by and take a look into this lovely store/company, it has every pot and pan for home cooks and for starting a restaurant or bakery 🙂 , P.S. Sur la tale is not only in IL, The corporate has stores in 18 states and each of these states has a minimum of three Sur la Tables in them.
Lets move on to talking about my favorite Sur la table topic, Their hands on cooking classes.
Cooking classes:
Besides their very unique and well equipped overpriced store, Sur la table is also very gifted with their cooking programs. I’ll try making this summary short don’t worry… try. I first discovered about their cooking classes when I was looking up numerous cooking day camps for teens. Every summer Sur la table has this program for teens and kids where from the beginning of June to the end of August, you can sign up for a five day course.
You can choose from taking a five day course that either focuses on baking and universal deserts, or you could take a savory and science in the kitchen course. Each course is a staggering $250. I thought it was way too much money but trust me, once you have taken a camp session you will see it’s all worth it.
Anyways, each camp is 2 hours a day for 5 days where each day you make 4 different dishes and work in groups of three to four, everyone still gets a opportunity. Or if you are a adult, everyday, not just summer, Sur la table has one day cooking classes for adults and sometimes kids where usually for one day where you cook for up to 2 and 1/2 hours and it’s $70 dollars but well worth it, they even give you a 10% off coupon at the end of class for in store purchases.
I won’t rate the classes like I did for the store, no point counting 🙂 below are pictures of the fantastic kitchen Sur la Table holds their cooking class in.
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Since 5 day courses are only in summer, I still strongly recommend one day classes because they may be expensive but well spent. Plus any class you take is tons of fun!
Usually when stepping in, the kitchen tables (The wooden one above is an example) usually are neatly prepared with recipe packets of what you will be cooking that day along with a chopping board and a professional Wushtof knife if you are chopping any vegetables for the class.
You usually are paired with either 3 or 4 people but the chef leading the class will make sure everything goes just fine. During class you create all four recipes while doing each step at a time. Usually the chef will give you a demonstration before you start and they will usually give out tips, tricks, and teach you something new.
Talking about chef instructors, this Sur la table specifically has up to 7 chefs, I have only had three of them as chef instructors of the classes I have taken, while some other of the chefs I have met. Every chef their is especially nice, gives tips to making the recipe, and are very passionate about their job, which, I find a very good quality. I would especially like to reference two of the most nicest chefs , Residential Chef Amber Lancaster and Chef Beth Welch.Â
Beth was my first ever chef teacher at the first Sur la table class I ever took and she is really nice and very professional at what she does, if you sign up for a class and she is the instructor for the day, your in for some luck. Also make sure to, if you get a chance, check our her new shop Beth’s little bake shop down in Evanston.
Shortly after I took a break from taking classes, Beth opened her own bakery and rarely taught any of the classes or camps anymore. That’s why when I signed up for a sweet treats making 5 day class, Amber was my teacher. Amber might have been different than Beth but that didn’t stop her from being just as good. Not only is she the Residential and head chef of the Sur la table down at Old orchard, but she is very generous and has a big heart. She gave me a cake decorating nozzle set for free and even signed me and my mom up for a Authentic thai cooking class she will be teaching. Not only that, she even offered good deals to all the other class attendees as well and always made sure everything was perfect. She’s a real gift if you get to meet her 🙂
Back on topic, The kitchen for the cooking classes as I showed above, is always well equipped with the finest kitchen appliances that are up to date just for class uses.
They have a whole shelf in the kitchen just with numerous food processors, artisan stand mixers and much more advance and modern appliances
Lastly, in every class the chef will always make sure everyone is having equal amounts of fun as well as an opportunity. For example, in most classes, The chef will call up three volunteers to work on the stove to make chocolate ganache or for whatever recipe for that day requires a stove top. During this time, other students could either  watch the other student at the stove-top and take notes on any advise the instructor gives, or they can head back to the wood work table to get started on the next recipe.
Also… You don’t even have to clean any dish or utensil you use! They take care of it all. I give their cooking classes an A+ for good efforts, passionate chef instructors, and a hell of a good time while cooking 🙂
The summary:
Apologies if this was too long, I just can’t stress enough about what a good store this is. For anyone curious of how many classes I have taken before or what kind of classes such as pasta making, stay tuned for the personnel experiences menu, I will post something on their at Saturday.
Overall Sur la table is a great store for finding any cooking tool you need and it’s one of those stores that always have something new to look at every day. As for their classes, beyond great!. With fine chef instructors who really make sure you understand every recipe, and professional machinery you get to use in class and meet new and hopefully nice people who are their as the same reason you are : to cook.
Next post will be this friday on a Halloween treat making class I will be attending at Sur la table this Saturday on Halloween. Thanks for reading. Make sure to check out the website below, lots of great stuff!
These are Pictures from a French macaron making class I recently took with my first ever chef instructor that I had a while ago, Beth Welch. By the way I’m that guy with the blue sweater, and Beth is the one standing next to me.
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Baked to the Bone 