My new play school

My brand new Play Station

getting all ready for my first lesson

It's been a while since i posted in my blog. I do apologize but last 10 days i was busy getting  trained to be the first Indian 'Food Champion' ever at the very famous 'Recipease by Jamie Oliver'.  Yes, that's my new job title and i absolutely love it. When i start something new, i try to focus on it completely and this time i started 2 new activities in the same week. One is my new job and the other is my new fitness club. I am loving both of them as i am a strong believer of 'eat healthy,live healthy' concept. So, after a week of training and observation i was allowed to do teach my very first lesson today on the amazing 'Vietnamese street food' and also i got trained today on home made pasta. So, i was teaching and learning on the same day and as i always say' Teaching is a way of learning!!!   I never tried Vietnamese food before but to be honest i fell in love with the whole concept, flavors, ingredients and visual appeal apart form being one of the most healthy cuisines in the world. The famous 'Pho'  is a bowlful of health,aroma, flavors and texture. I shall post the recipe very soon as soon as i come up with my version of it. I still need to get my head around the real names of the Vietnamese dishes as they are a bit hard to remember unlike the dishes that are so easy to make. In the picture below you can see the Pork mince balls on a bed of crunchy salad vegetables and rice noodles, a bowl of light and fragrant beef 'Pho' soup , Summer rolls with Prawns and vegetables with a Sweet and Spicy dip. All this were done form scratch in an hour. So, it's not at all hard to make them at home.

Next, was my pasta lesson. I was always scared of making home made pasta because i was not very sure of my  pasta making skills but today i was doing it fresh along with the guests while the other chef was teaching . By the end of the class i made 4 different pastas (Linguine, Spaghetti, Farfalle and Fettuccine) and cooked them using a fresh cherry tomato, basil,garlic and red chili sauce, finishing with generous amounts of Parmesan cheese and trust me Pasta never tasted better than this before. I realized what  difference fresh pasta can make to the visual appeal and taste of the dish when compared to the pastas we buy in the supermarket form a shelf or precooked pastas from fridge. I was pleasantly surprised when i realized that it was not hard at all to make pasta fresh. It could be done in 15 minutes and all you need is a small table top pasta rolling machine. I felt so happy looking at my fresh pasta and it was like this feeling when you learn your first rhyme in kindergarten and can't wait for you to get home and recite it to your mom.I just said to myself, if pasta is this easy to make and tastes so good when made fresh, why am i going to supermarkets to buy them off the shelf? That's it!!!No more dry pasta or machine made pasta for me from the shelves. It's all going to be fresh and hand made. This decision will be my way of showing  respect to all those passionate Italians who love and live fresh home made pasta.Bellissimo!!!!