Holiday Discount Special Pricing: The Gift of Cooking!

Dear Readers,

I am happy to announce A Pinch of Salt's holiday promotion! Now thru December 31, 2010 receive 20% off gift certificates or hands-on cooking classes and 10% off cooking parties of 4 or more. Mention HolidayBlog2010 to receive your discount!

For more info visit me at A Pinch of Salt.

Happy Holidays Everyone!
Raquel

Media Highlights

Dear Readers,

As you know I'm involved in a few things: chef instructing at Rustico Cooking, Camaje and for my own business A Pinch of Salt. I also volunteer at City Harvest and am currently working with Wellness in the Schools. This summer after being motivated by Mrs. Obama's White House Let's Move campaign I gave volunteer cooking class at PS 11 in NYC and have blogged about my 6 weeks there. I was surprised when recently a reporter contacted me to speak of my work there and recognized my work in this article. Pretty cool stuff, so figured I'd pass it along!

Thank you Deborah for the sharing the experience with others! Miss you guys!!!

UPDATE: The NY Times wrote an article on Wellness in the Schools. Check it out here!

Cooking Matters! Formerly Operation Frontline

This weekend I had the honor of being among countless people from all over the country who have engaged in providing cooking classes and other works for Share Our Strength programs. Because on my volunteer work as a OFL chef with Operation Frontline, recently renamed Cooking Matters, I was given a scholarship to attend this year's Share Our Strength Leaders Conference in Washington DC. The conference landed on my birthday weekend Sat Oct 16 - Oct 18th and it was a perfect gift! Moreover, Alex had the opportunity to join in on the festivities!

The event was absolutely amazing! It made me proud to be among such inspiring people who have pledged to make it their focus to end childhood obesity by 2015! It was amazing to see how large Share Our Strength truly is and how instrumental the work of this non profit has proven to be. The days were long and filled with back to back seminars as a lot of information and new updates needed to be shared in this little time. I learned a great deal after hearing leaders speak of the many challenges circling obesity and hunger in America and the solutions they have already, or hope to apply, to make this fight a reality. While the cause is one that is extremely serious, the event as a whole was warm, welcoming and fun. The conference kicked-off a welcome lunch, a dinner at Hook later that night, a breakfast the next morning, a special awards dinner, an after party (too tired to attend!) and a elegant breakfast the next morning. Not to mention the ability to meet some really cool special guest also involved in Share Our Strength, like Susie Fogelson, Brooke Johnson and Danny Meyer.

In these 3 days I have learned a great deal about Share Our Strength. The conference helped me put it all in perspective and motivated me to seek other ways that I can continue to reach out to help in this worthy cause. Share Our Strength offers various ways to part take in their works. For instance, Taste of the Nation, The Great American Bake Sale, Operation Frontline (Cooking Matters), and A Tasteful Pursuit. There are plenty of ways to get involved in this wonderful mission! At the very least you too can join me in taking the No Kid Hungry pledge. I look forward to working with you on this phenomenal national mission! Thank you so much Aliyah for allowing me to be a part of this exciting and honorable opportunity!

My Article in ParentGuide

Dear Readers,

Please check out the article I wrote Change is Past Due, now in November's issue of ParentGuide!

Let's Move! Into PS 53...WITS Program starts!

As of September I began training for the WITS (Wellness in the Schools) program. As a WITS in Residence I have signed on to the task of training public school cafeteria workers on returning back to slow cooking. The project involves me staying at a school for a whole year and upon my leaving the cafeteria staff should feel comfortable continuing the newly placed menus.

I was placed at PS 53 in the Bronx with a kitchen that has no actual stove, but has a bathtub-size braiser, a steamer, and warmer. There are about 5 cafeteria women and 2 heavy men (they throw out the garbage, take care of deliveries etc) I officially started Sept 27th and so far my task has definitely proved to be challenging. As you can imagine most of the staff have been there for more than 15 years and have become accustomed to warming up lunch food that we as adults may still remember eating as a child. Classics like chicken nuggets, french fries, hamburgers and rolled up lasagna. Although some changes have been made over the years--like the availability of low fat milk or the end to chocolate or pink milk, like in my school--there is so much more that needs changing. This is not to undermine the work of the staff, trust me they work hard and a lot of them have a natural ability to cook very well. I get a taste of there true cooking skills during family meal, but the fact that a separate meal is cooked by the cafeteria staff to eat says a lot: that even they want nothing or little to do with the food they serve. Guess we can all agree things need to change!

On October 4th we launched the new WITS menu (a compromise between school food services and the WITS program). On Monday we prepared Vegetarian Chili, Tuesday, Rachel Ray's Mac & Trees (soon to be changed to Pesto Pasta!), Wednesday Turkey and Cheese Wraps, Thursday, Asian Chicken with Brown Rice & Corn and Friday, Sauteed Vegetable Pizza. At first the staff were concerned that the children wouldn't recognize these new ingredients, that lunch numbers will decrease, that the peanut butter & jelly option will increase, but I am extremely proud to say that the reverse has occurred! The children are loving the new food and I have gained their trust! The children compliment the new food items, ask for seconds, want to know what's on the menu for the next day, and as an added bonus, I receive countless hugs and high-5's for a job well done! In such little time, I already received the title as "the best chef ever!" Now how cool is that?!
Among the many things I've learned from the ups and downs that have occurred (or those that await me) I remind myself of my purpose: I am doing this for the children. That in itself makes it all worth while, fun, exciting and a blessing. I hope to continue to share my love for food with the kids at PS 53 for as long as I can, whether it be me personally or the spirit I leave behind to the cafeteria workers who will hopefully continue to prepare the same meals with the love and integrity that the children have learned to appreciate. Here's to a new year guys with real cooked food and realistic dreams for a better dining experience!

Week 6....Can't Believe It's A Wrap!

Today was a bitter-sweet day as it marked the end of our 6-week summer cooking class. To celebrate the summer squash, tomatoes and pepper we made 2 different types of bruschetta: The classic, tomatoes and basil over toasted bread. The second, sauteed (Yes, the children know what this culinary term means by heart now!) squash and peppers over toasted bread and drizzled with basil oil. Both were crowd pleasures for sure. For dessert, the kids were surprised we didn't roast peaches, saute nectarines as we did in the other classes. That's because I wanted to surprise them with red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that I made especially for them that earlier that morning. (This treat has become a specialty of mine seem to make it for people who I hold dear) Before devouring the sweet treats the children had to finish their school lunch, so I was unable to see their faces as I was off to work. However the "oh's" and "ah's" they gave as they received each cake was good enough.

I must mention that the children also gave me a sweet treat. They gave me a beautiful folder filled with letters (and drawings) of appreciation which we took turns to read outloud. Some thanked me for being so nice, some recalled their favorite dishes, and all called me "their favorite cooking teacher in the world." Reminds me of when I was young and the teachers I gave this special title to. I am sure my third grade class will come across many "favorites" but I am blessed to have been seen as one of them. It warmed my heart, the same way I hoped to have warm their bellies. Thank you P.S. 11 (especially Deborah for making it possible!) for an extraordinary experience, a warm welcome and heartfelt ending. Well sort of, as I plan on making monthly cooking visits!

In the meanwhile, happy cooking and many blessings!

Week 5! Ice Cream Surprise!

Today we made Summer Squash Ribbons (pappardelle) with a Creamy Tomato Sauce. It's a delicious, light and easy dish that's also a great way to disguise vegetables. Dessert however was sinful: Doughnut Peaches with Caramel and a small scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Needless to say that the children gobbled up everything! As we served them dessert the comment was made: What part of this don't you like, the butter or the sugar! I know, I know, perhaps I took a dive in the wrong direction this week with my choice of dessert, but a scoop of ice cream every now and then is perfectly fine. First of all they are children (they will burn in off in no time), two it's summer, three it forms memories, and four life is short and moderation is key! Another reason I love the Let's Move! project. It is not about solely eating vegetables and fruits, it's about finding a healthy balance in terms of food and play. We did just that! After cooking class the children were heading to the pool! Now how perfect is that!