- With three kids under the age of nine, we are still in that phase of life where the cost of babysitting can overwhelm any other expenses when parents want a simple evening out -- but it's worth it.
- A three hour course in the finer points of making dim sum entirely from scratch is not a simple evening out.
- It is possible for a guy -- even a guy who likes sports and pizza -- to attend a cooking class held in a language he barely understands and still have a good time -- and a lot of dim sum.
- However, it is best not to inhale a bag of cheetos while driving to the dim sum cooking workshop since that volume of cheetos can displace at least two and possibly three units of the finished class product.
- Having attended several different cooking classes in the last few years, I am now convinced that accomplished chefs only convene these amazing yet complicated and labor-intensive affairs in order to convince gung-ho cooking afficionados that it really is worth it to pay to eat in a restaurant.
- This cooking class's registered attendees were divided about equally into two groups of people: those who didn't show up, and those who had no idea the World Cup Final was today (apparently that's soccer, which I'm told is popular in a few countries).
- I have now witnessed two master chefs lecture for hours on the finer points of chopping ginger and whether sugar works better with vinegar or lemon juice. I have also enjoyed lengthy conversations with devoted culinary hobbyists about choosing the optimal tomato paste for proper water content and consistency. For some reason, a love of cooking seems to include a love of sharing that love of cooking with the rest of humanity. I say this in contrast to those of us with expertise in my chosen field -- computer programming -- many of whom would rather not speak to another human being if at all possible.
- Spending three hours making a big batch of dim sum from scratch has left me even more amazed that humanity ever bothered developing recipes for anything more complicated than dry toast and cave-fire-roasted chicken on a stick. Dim sum requires a tremendous amount of work that doesn't directly involve killing or burning anything, but it tastes pretty good so I guess it was inevitable someone would invent it eventually.
- Bringing home leftovers from the class confirmed one of my hunches: dim sum is wasted on the young, unless maybe the dim sum are filled with chocolate -- which we were told really is quite delicious.
- Cooking is much, much easier when someone else chops and mixes all the ingredients for you beforehand.
