Cooking up ideas

Carol Sanborn’s inspiration for a family Christmas gift came where so many good ideas seem to come from: The shower.

“I was in the shower one day thinking, ‘What are we going to do for gifts?’ ” Sanborn said. “We are not lucky enough to have grandchildren yet, and we’ve tried to venture away from presents.”

So instead of wrapping gifts for her three grown children and their significant others last year, she gave them a cooking class dinner party.

“It was one of the best Christmases we’ve had,” Sanborn said.

The family gathered a few weeks after the holidays at the home of Char Zyskowski, a local chef, caterer and cooking instructor, to don aprons and help make a memorable five-course dinner. Of course the best part was they got to eat it, too.

Giving cooking classes as gifts isn’t a new idea. Sanborn said she’s given cooking classes as gifts and knows friends and coworkers who have done the same.

Zyskowski, from Apple Charlotte Cooking and Catering, said she gets calls four or five times a week during the holiday season from people wanting to give a cooking class gift. And the folks at the Institute for Extended Learning, a program of the Community Colleges of Spokane, said their cooking classes also are popular gifts.

“We have people give classes as gifts all the time,” said Laura Williams, from the IEL enrollment office.

Claudia Potts, community education manager, says a better idea than just giving someone else a cooking class gift is to give one to yourself and a friend. “Take a friend with you. It’s more fun,” she said.

There are plenty of options for those seeking cooking class gifts. And they can fit nearly any budget from single night classes in the $20-$30 range offered through the Institute for Extended Learning on up to one of Zyskowski’s five-part cooking class series, which cost $275.

There are classes for just about every taste, too. Potts said the IEL ethnic classes are always filled, tempting people with East Indian, Thai, Italian, Mexican and even Russian dishes. The Spokane’s Best Chef Series, offered through the community colleges, is a very popular class, as are the dessert classes.

“It’s a fun night out,” Potts said. “You watch a demonstration and eat what you make.”

It’s amazing how many women bring their husbands.

“Jerky making and sausage making are popular (classes) with men,” she added. .

For those looking for more intensive instruction, Zyskowski’s five-part “Taste and Technique” class gives even novice cooks the know-how to make everything a little better. She also offers an international series in which students explore Tuscan, Spanish, Asian, Mexican and Sicilian dishes. In the summer, she runs a grilling series.

For a more personal gift, there’s the idea of a cooking class dinner party, as Sanborn arranged for her family last year. For $65 per person (minimum of 8), your group can pick from a list of menus for a four- or five-course meal that everyone pitches in to make.

“She (Zyskowski) had everybody doing a little chopping or stirring,” Sanborn said. “Even the guys that were a little reluctant were in there.”

The Sanborn family enjoyed an antipasti plate followed by a white bean soup and homemade bread. A tuna dish was the main course, served alongside a fennel green salad. The family brought their own wine and received copies of all the recipes they prepared.

Zyskowski said most of her cooking dinner parties last between three-and-a-half and four hours, depending on the menu. She’ll even do a dinner party at your home, if there is a minimum of 14 people participating.

Christopher Reader, co-owner and chef of Culinaria Catering with his wife Jessica, offers one-on-one instruction, private classes for groups of up to 20 or 30 and dinner parties. Reader likes to teach people in their homes, so they can work in their own kitchens with their equipment, but can hold seminars in his kitchen as well. Soon, Culinaria will be offering classes in the kitchen at Angelica’s Bed and Breakfast, at Ninth and Cedar, which Reader recently purchased.

He leaves the details of the classes up to those who request them, whether they want to focus on a particular cuisine, perfect a certain dish or host a cooking dinner party at their home. “I like to teach people what they want to learn,” he says. Culinaria specializes in world cuisine including Greek, German, Italian, French, Creole, American and Asian. Private instruction by Reader costs between $30 and $35 an hour. The cost of the classes and dinner parties depends on the size of the group and the food that will be prepared. He offers a group rate for bigger parties.

For a somewhat smaller, but not necessarily less rich affair, consider a French pastry cooking party, offered by Paula Richards, who owns The Vintage Truffle, a gift store that specializes in chocolates.

For $25 per person (minimum 4 for a private booking), Richards will demonstrate tasty goodies including cream puffs and eclairs with fillings such as mousse and lemon curd. A former teacher for Spokane Public Schools, Richards said her classes are packed with a lot of learning. “It’s a delightful and elegant experience,” she said.

Though a cooking dinner party isn’t on her gift list this year, Sanborn said, “I think we will do it again some year. It’s a fun evening. You learn so much.”