Sushi Making Class

One of the coolest things I have done lately is take a sushi rolling class.  Part of my plan of continuing my education is taking cooking classes.  (Official culinary education is too expensive for me, but that doesn’t prevent me from taking classes offered on Groupon, Living Social, and the Wilton cake decorating classes!)   I decided to take Sushi Making...Just Roll with It through IWisshLessons.  When I registered for the class, my signature line identified me as a gluten and dairy free blogger, but I failed to come outright and say that I could not consume those two allergens.   Upon arriving for the class (which was held at a downtown bar), I informed the ladies from the company that I was gluten and lactose intolerant.  They went through the ingredients and could not think of anything that would cause me trouble expect for the soy sauce.  Of course, I brought my own, thanks to San-J’s single serving soy sauce packets.  Only when we got to the final roll was any red flag raised regarding allergens – crabmeat.  Thankfully I pretty much memorized the lists of forbidden foods on the gluten free diet over the past two years, so I avoided the crabmeat (imitation crab is often bound together with wheat) and asked for more cucumber sticks.  Everyone was very accommodating and our instructor was excellent.  She is a sushi chef at a nearby restaurant and was great with making sure everyone knew what we were doing.  I went to class solo, but there were couples and groups of friends learning sushi rolling together over a glass of wine or bottle of beer.

Our first roll was an extremely basic Cucumber Roll.  We laid out our seaweed and spread the sticky rice over it, filling it completely except for a small section at the top.  Then we laid the cucumber sticks on the rice and rolled it as tight as possible.  Next, we cut the sushi into equal sized pieces.  (Hint: if you dip a knife in water first, you'll get a cleaner cut.)

The second roll was a California Roll that appeared to be inside out.  It started much like the first, but we added toasted sesame seeds.  Then it was flipped upside down and then the fillings were added.

The final roll could have been made one of the two previously shown ways.  We had spicy tuna added to our ingredient repertoire.  (It was quite spicy, too!)  If we wanted, we could enter our sushi into a friendly competition, judged by the I Wish representatives and the instructor.  The competition was based on presentation.  As a blogger who almost always has her camera attached to her wrist while doing anything food related, I understood presentation.  I carefully plated my sushi and submitted my plate.  Although I lost, the instructor exclusively pointed mine out as “exceptionally rolled”.  Go me!  Maybe I have a knack for this sushi thing after all!

Overall, I recommend taking a sushi class.  The I Wish lessons were well presented and the company’s reps were great about making sure we had the necessary supplies throughout each step.  (Although they didn’t have to be so stingy with the paper towels – I didn’t realize just how much one needs to rinse their hands off after touching the sticky rice!)

Nourished 2012 - Top 15 Takeaways

You're supposed to live life without regrets, right?  Well at Nourished, the first ever gluten free blogger convention in Lombard, IL started off with a big one.  Why in the world did I not bring my laptop?  I was envious of the other bloggers maximizing on the perfect social media opportunity.  My tweets came from my phone (and it was easier to text-tweet rather than spend a minute having my phone try to load the Twitter page - sorry I was so non-conversational on Twitter!)  My other big regret?  I could not be in two places at once.  There were always two very exciting workshops to attend.  I felt horrible for ducking out of the food writing one, but as soon as the introduction announced the speaker's book, I realized that I read her book a few months earlier and rudely ran to the other room to learn about social media, something the I can't learn from my Chicago Public Library education.  During the presentations, I went old-school journalist and took a LOT of notes and even photographed the slides to give my hand a break.  Not since my stage management days have I written so many notes so quickly!

I have a lot I want to mention about how fantastic and wonderful and life-changing Nourished was.  In order to prevent a novella entry, I'm going to limit it to the top fifteen things I learned from each presenter  (in order of appearance.)  My blog is going to be changing and growing better than ever in the coming months.  One of the things I rushed home to do was build a lightbox.  Now my food photography (taken after working a +10 hour day at a law firm in the late evening) will look so much better!


Creating a Strong Blog Brand with Mary Fran Wiley

• You are your brand.  Your brand is your blog.  Your blog is you.
• Translate you and your personality into a brand.  Your brand is your voice.
• Who are you?  Figure it out, embrace it.
• Be awesome at one thing instead of just okay at everything.
• Your personality is important - be consistent, share your opinions and views, put yourself out there.  People will support your opinion.
• Tell the whole story.
• Get out there! Join the conversation, connect with people.
• Be humble.  Say thank you.
• Have a logo.
• Think about your blog design.  Do not have it look like it was done in Paint or use Comic Sans.
• Don't be afraid to evolve.
• Be a peacock in a sea of pigeons.  (If you are writing a blog, you are a peacock.)
• Have fun!  Be authentic!  Love what you do!
• Be proud of who you are.
• Go with your gut.  Trust yourself to know what is best for your brand.

Savvy Recipe Development with Karen Morgan

• Keep a journal of your endeavors.
• Make recipes better than before.
• Know your strengths and weaknesses.
• What is your goal?
• If you have confidence in yourself, you can do anything. Embrace it!
• Take risks.
• Document everything you do.
• Know what you don't know.  Do research.  Read.
• Understand your ingredients and how they work and interact.
• Gluten is the magic rubber band in baking.
• Recipe development is very expensive.  Look five steps ahead to avoid waste.
• What are your standards?  Same?  Better?  Better than good?
• Test the recipe many times before it is perfect.  Once perfect, make it three times to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
• Try multiple techniques, methods, and perspectives.
• Let time be the revealer.  Be patient with the process.

Unconventional Food, Mainstream Appeal: Beyond Gluten-Free with Ricki Heller and Carolyn Ketchum

• People are turned off by "contains no ___"
• Not everyone loves your specialty diet.  Make your food more appealing.
• Be true to your natural niche.
• The four key aspects are: you, the food, the words, the pictures.
• Draw people in with the words before the recipe.
• Thing about the name of the recipe - that is the first thing people see.  Use adjectives to "punch up" the titles.
• 650 words is optimal for most posts.
• Specialty food is not photogenic.
• Mix it up with regards to recipe length and complexity.
• Make the food easily accessible to your readers.
• Gluten is magic, add protein instead, such as Greek yogurt or eggs.
• The Internet is the best way to source ingredients.  Buying in bulk is cheapest.
• Make photos a time investment rather than a money investment.  Play around with exposure, different settings.
• Upload your photo with a name, rather than a string of numbers.
• Brand yourself, but don't pigeon-hole yourself.

Food Photography Made Simple with Cara Lyons

• There's so much more that I can eat than I can't.
• People eat with their eyes.  Draw them in through pictures.
• Build your own photo studio - even it it is on your dining room floor.
• Natural light it best.  Never use your flash.
• Bounce your light with white foam board.
• Plating and styling - food bloggers do it all.  Put as much effort into the food as you do making it look good.
• Shoot on a stained board with a neutral background.
• Show raw ingredients to help people know what is in a dish.
• A little green goes a long way - herbs, scallions.
• Keep it about the food - how can you enhance it.
• Use white balance settings.
• Post processing should only take a few minutes.  Take good pictures upfront.
• Square pictures a more visually appealing.
• Always light from the side of the back.
• Use the macro setting for food photos.

How to Grow Your Blog Through Social Media with Melissa Jennings and Suzanna Florek

• Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online.
• Interact with your followers.
• Create an atmosphere where your readers are involved and engaged.
• Consider a schedule so your readers will anticipate it.
• Add social media buttons.
• Have a Facebook fan page.
• Readers need to relate to you and your brand.
• Watermark all your photos with your URL,
• Pictures make people want to eat your food.
• Create keyword rich names on Pinterest,
• Posts can go viral.
• Give something to your readers that is yours.
• There are lots of different ways to love food.
• Social media works.
• Use hashtags that make sense.

Nourishing Others Through Food with Cybele Pascal

• Cookies free of all top eight allergens are super delicious.
• Come from something that is personal.
• Niche is not tiny - look around - niche is huge!  It is a growing movement.
• It is becoming more and more common to be on a non-traditional diet.
• Food blogging is the ultimate block party.  All can come together and see everyone and what they do.
• Embrace your niche.
• Expand and evolve.
• Meet a need.
• In the past, publishers dictated what authors we see.  Now there are e-books and blogs so more writers are accessible.
• Cookbook writers have to have a blog.
• Open the door in front of you rather than the door you are trying to force open.
• People struggle to find foods that are safe and delicious for them.
• Find the hole in the market.
• Reach out, add support, build exposure.
• Whatever dream you have, you can make it happen.

What made your top takeaways from Nourished?  To see what other bloggers were saying, be sure to check out Twitter under the hash tag #nfbc.  Find me on Twitter - @windycitycookin

Wilton Decorating Basics - Class 1

While my cupcakes with powdered sugar dusted on top are pretty, at some point in my gluten and dairy free life I need to put a little more work into the finished product. And learn how to decorate a cake without resorting to the decorate-while-warm-for-the-melted-frosting look. I've known about Wilton cake decorating classes forever - there is a Michaels store in my hometown and I've always wanted to go but never really felt like it was the right time for me or it did not fit in my schedule. This past birthday, my aunt went to the Wilton tent sale and bought me some new brownie and loaf pans (with rounded edges so no crumbs stick) to upgrade my gear and surprised me with a 25 piece decorating set with some piping gel. She obviously thought more highly of my decorating skills than I did... When I was a prop designer, I decorated three cakes in a year - all of them looked horrible. But that's going to change! I signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Basics course at my local Michaels craft store and now I'm going to be a decorating extraordinaire!!!

For the first class, our supply list included the kit, ready made icing and cookies. After a few e-mails back and forth with Wilton, I learned:

White Decorator Icing, 710-118: no dairy or gluten in this product but there was dairy and gluten in the plant. This means our lines are cleaned for cross contamination but we let customers know this for air born allergies.

Most of our icing colors are gluten and dairy free but the only way to be sure is to check each stock number such as 610-256 in order to know for sure. I hope this helps and I apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any other questions or stock numbers you would like us to check, please feel free to let us know! We appreciate your business,

So far, so good! I'm still not a fan of needing to e-mail the company with stock numbers of already purchased products (that seems to be the only way to get a solid answer), but am happy to know that Wilton is on top of the cross contamination issue and declares allergens on their labels. (The white decorator icing is made in a facility that also processes milk and wheat products.) They were also quick with their responses.

I'm always going to be the special kid in class because I'm left handed. But I can't eat wheat or dairy? And I need to make buttercream icing? Fun fact: Wilton's class buttercream icing is butter and cream free. It uses shortening (Crisco), milk or water, confectioner's sugar and the optional flavor, meringue powder and salt. Helpful hint: Crisco doesn't change consistency with temperature. Butter does. Keep it dairy free. No problem!

For the first class, we were supposed to bring in cookies. Since I'm super excited about baking these days, I made up a recipe to make six very large, chocolate cookies. Recipe at the bottom. I was ambitiously over-prepared for the first class (I found the supply list online) so was able to buy some things with 40% off coupons first (you get a 10% off class supplies coupon, but 10% off is kind of a joke when you are looking at all the toys you need/want. At the first class, we started late because people needed to still buy their kits and icing (do this in advance!). Our instructor went over how to bake a cake (no new info for me), recommended using box mix (too expensive for me), how to make the icing and how to water it down for the right consistency, how to fill a decorating bag, leveling and torting a layered cake, how to ice a cake and how to make a piping gel transfer. Seems like a lot of info, but a lot of the class was very basic.

When we did get our hands into the action, we pretty much just piped stars using tip 18 on the practice board and then class was over. I wasn't leaving until I decorated at least one cookie, so I piped some stars in a swirl on one and took a picture. I decorated the rest when I got home. The next night, I took out the practice board and kept going with the stars. They are getting closer to consistent the more I practice.

Next week we need to bring in an 8" cake to level and tort. Gluten free cakes don't rise too much, so this means I'll be making two 8" layers and leveling off the tops. I still need to decide on the filling... And find a recipe! And buy more things! Yeah...I'm going to be that awkward girl on the train next Wednesday during rush hour juggling a cake, plastic tool box and backpack, aren't I?

Michelle's First Ever Cookie Recipe

1 stick vegetable oil spread/dairy free butter

1 c gluten free flour mix

1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c sugar

1/4 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

2 t vanilla

1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a stand mixer, cream the butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Slowly add to the butter mix. Then add in the vanilla and egg. Mix well. Place cookies on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 8 minutes. The cookies should expand quite nicely and give you PLENTY of room to add as many stars as you desire.