Cannelini and Personality Types

"Hold up a cooking implement!"

Monday night cooking night...this time we have the usual suspects: Caroline, Becca, and the Jessies (though Stacey and Abby, of course! were greatly missed); but we're expanding with some welcome additions! Emily and Kristen joined us for the 'lesson' and of course, there's always a boy involved who somehow gets invited to the consuming part. That's fine. A way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? And I've always said one of the most satisfying things in life is feeding hungry boys. :)

So, tonight, we're making Cannelini e Gamberetti (white beans and shrimp in a tomato sauce) and Calzone Fritti (fried calzone). Lots of instruction and demonstration on how to hold a chef's knife, popping little cherry tomatoes without squirting them all over the stovetop, kneading, keeping an even temp while deep frying, etc. Everybody's hands were busy and messy.

I loved this particular menu because it incorporates so many basic skills: chopping, mixing and kneading of a basic yeast dough, fundamentals of frying, utilizing the necessary ingredients in any great Italian sauce, peeling shrimp, dispelling fear of using too much olive oil ("don't be shy with the olive oil"). And in the end, you have this lovely, visually-appealing-long-before-it-hits-your-tastebuds platter of delight. And the fried calzone...ahhh, is there anything better than fried dough? Seems every culture has its version. And this has the added pleasure of cheese and ham tucked inside.

With so many bright young minds in the room, what could be better than ending a great meal with stimulating conversation? Tonight's topic? Personality types. We discovered several obvious ones in the room - The Enthusiast, The Individualist, The Achiever, The Reformer. I love the multi-generational nature of being with these girls. They challenge the way I think, and bring fresh ideas to the table. This age-segregation thing is not for me; bring on the twenty-somethings! (At least they'll tell me when I'm wearing something ridiculous!)