Cooking School

I am a woman who neither fries nor fricassees. I bake not, nor do I blanch. What I do is eat out. Since childhood and an actress-mother who looked on pots as a place to plant tulips, restaurants have been familiar turf. I can manage a menu in any language. The secret is all in the pointing. All this, however, is coming to an end for two reasons: salary and salmonella. One is inadequate to meet the restaurant prices in London. The other is more than enough to make me suspicious of food prepared by hands other than my own. Three weeks ago I came down with salmonella food poisoning.

Everybody clamors to book themselves into Spain's paradores, a state-run network of hotels that provides generally luxurious accommodations at reasonable prices, often in renovated historic castles and similar edifices. Reservations for the one at the Alhambra, for instance, need to be made a year or more in advance. But not as many people know about the paradores puertorriquenos (Puerto Rican paradores), a group of country inns located out beyond San Juan in the gorgeous countryside.

I'm not naturally a wild-and-crazy kind of guy. But when I'm shy and quiet, things don't happen, and that's a bad rut to travel in. The meek may inherit the Earth, but they won't enjoy it. When you're traveling in Europe, make yourself an extrovert, even if you're not. Be a catalyst for adventure and excitement — and don't be intimidated. Generally speaking, Europeans enjoy getting to know Americans — all it takes to connect is a friendly smile and genuine curiosity. Here are a few tricks I use to connect with the locals.

Not all who wander away from home at this time of year are in search of a tan. Summer is a great time to plan a culinary-themed getaway, especially with local produce hitting its peak. And over the last few years, the possibilities for short, easy, delicious trips in the region have multiplied, with options for cooking lessons, tours of farms, wineries, and cheesemakers, and multicourse feasting at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The following are just a few ideas for roaming eaters this season.

It could happen. Onion dip, cheese balls and baked Brie might just go the way of the dodo bird. It could happen, that is, once cooks take a look at the newly published Hors d'oeuvres (OK Publishing Inc., $19.95) by chef Eric Treuille and caterer Victoria Blashford-Snell, both of London. A second glance should send cooks scurrying for the cumin and coriander, shrimp and chicken wings, skewers, phyllo and tortillas - whatever's on hand to begin the magic. The only remaining problem: Which recipe to go for first?

"We are e-mul-si-fy-ing," trills Lisa Prell, as she shows a young student how to whisk a mixture of mustard, oil and Tabasco sauce. "You know what that is? It's when all the ingredients are separate and come together for a group hug. Cool beans, huh?" At the Saturday morning cooking class, three girls and three boys, ages 7 to 11, listen attentively to a lesson on knife safety at the Kitchen Kapers studio in Moorestown. Then Prell passes around Rachael Ray Tadpole knives ergonomically designed for little hands.

Darina Allen, doyenne of Irish cooking, is a huge advocate of her ancestors' foodways, of growing your own vegetables, making your own butter, even raising your own chickens. Her latest cookbook is a how-to for what she believes is a new generation who want to live closer to the land. She chatted with us from her Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, about her book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways Are the Best.   Question: What inspired you to write a cookbook that includes skills like how to pluck a chicken?

If your family is like most, there's a whole lotta cooking going on these days. Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year's are all prime time for stuffing your face family-style. But if the only time you venture into the kitchen is to fill your plate with leftovers, you're missing out big-time. Cooking is one of those useful life skills that your mom, dad or grandma can actually teach you. And besides, you'll need to feed yourself once you're on your own (one can not live on McDonald's alone)

The 16 patrons seated along the counter at Cook, the exclusive demonstration kitchen near Rittenhouse Square, watch chef Sylva Senat as he places a bass fillet in a pan. A glorious aroma fills the air to the sound of sizzling. "Fish normally will curl up by the edges," Senat, the executive chef at Tashan, tells the class, each of whom has paid $175 for the evening this month. "Do you know how we keep that from happening?" Brianna Wellmon knows. In a white jacket, black apron, and black hat, Wellmon is his sous chef, both at his restaurant and for this class, working at his right elbow.

Stan Kletkewicz couldn't believe it. When he and his wife, Lisa, added up what they averaged each month on restaurant dinners and take-out meals, the total was upward of $1,000. "Like everyone else, we wanted to look for ways to cut back on our food bill," said Kletkewicz, a recent retiree living in Mount Laurel. "We were spending an ungodly amount of money on dining out. It was time for a change. " For these two, and many others around the region, the change meant getting reacquainted with their kitchen by signing up for cooking classes.