Inspired by Grandma

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Rebecca Scholl

Chef Reylon Agustin, executive sous-chef at the Rosewood Hotel’s Madera Restaurant – visited Juana Briones Elementary school today. He shared a recipe that he learned from his grandmother when he was a child – a simple home-made apple sauce. Starting from several apple varieties (namely the tart Belle de Boskoop and the sweet Hudson golden gem), chef Reylon steamed the apples in a small amount of water and blen agustin-gem-apple ded them with absolutely nothing else added! The kids smelled several spices that can be added to enhance the flavor – such as cinnamon, allspice, clove and star anise, but the plain natural apple sauce was a big hit on its own, warm directly from the blender.

Pears that Taste like Apple Pie

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Rebecca Scholl

Tom Culbertson is a very unique Tasting Week chef. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena with a Baking and Pastry Certificate. He had many jobs in food: Cheese monger at Dean and Deluca, Pastry Cook, and even Pastry Chef. After following his passion for food – he developed a new passion for education, and is now a fourth grade teacher at Juana Briones Elementary school in Palo Alto! This made him the perfect choice for this week’s workshop at his own school. He changed his teacher clothes for an apron and prepared the most delicious pears dipped in a syrup composed of star anis, cinnamon and cloves. The multipurpose room smelled so good! The kids said they could not believe that pears could take so much like apple pie.

The Balance of Flavors

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Husna H.

Christy Wolf, resident chef at Sur La Table visited Peter Lee’s fifth grade class at Hoover Elementary school today for Tasting Week. She focused on the elements of tasting with the students. Discussion started with the students recalling the sweet, salty, sour and bitter taste buds. She went on to mention one more which many students were unaware of, umami (Japanese origin) – a savory taste. She taught the students that the amino acid glutamate is responsible for this particular taste. Browning/searing the meat and aging the cheese breaks down the protein leading to this flavor.

Chef Wolf went on to make a healthy, colorful and balanced (taste) salad which the students enjoyed greatly. She mixed together Dijon mustard, Cranberry Pear Balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar and Tuscan herb olive oil as a dressing with salt, black pepper, chili, garlic powder and lime. For the salad, she tossed together the mixed greens, carrots, cucumber, beets, apples, persimmon, watermelon radish and parmesan cheese. She also used melon and apple mixing them with salt, chili and lime to make a quick and tasty fruit salad.

Christy Wolf’s visit was a huge hit with the fifth graders and helped the students realize that eating healthy can also be tasty!

Apples to Apples

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Rebecca Scholl

Chef Jannai Mapanao, who runs the Facebook café on the Menlo Park campus, visited Hoover Elementary school today. He showed the students how apples can be transformed in many different ways, from plain to salad, crisps, jello, apple sauce and juice. What is key to triggering pleasure in your palate and your brain? Contrast! Contrasts are important for eating, healthy eating, tasty eating. So mix and match flavors and textures in order to create surprise and enjoyment in all your dishes.

Fruit for Dessert? Dee-lish

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Inna Kaplan

Chef Brendy Monsada visited Hoover Elementary School in Palo Alto today and gave the children a whole new perspective on dessert. Chef Brendy talked about seasonal fruits and how important it was to eat well at a young age. And if any of the kids didn’t think that highly of eating fruit for dessert, they had an entirely different view by the end of the workshop.

Chef Brendy started out making whipped cream, and then layered slices of apples, figs, and pomegranate seeds with the cream and a strawberry coulis. For those of you that don’t know what a “coulis” is (I didn’t and I was happy to add a new term to my culinary vocabulary) it is a thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. In this case – strawberries. It was beyond delicious!

Each student got to prepare their own dessert, and it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Though some of the fruit layers ended up a little lopsided, it still tasted good. Teachers, students, parent helpers… everyone loved it.

Pizza for Breakfast??

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Aurelie Teyssier

Today Chef Nathan Beriau from Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, visited two 3rd grade classes at the International School of the Peninsula to share his passion for world-class cooking with the students.

He chose to cook … a breakfast pizza! A delicious sweet and healthy version of pizza made with orange marmalade, a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese, fresh strawberries, and topped with fresh mint in a “chiffonade” and balsamic vinegar syrup… unexpected, right? Well, it was a hit and the kids ate it all, down to the very last crumb.

Many thanks to Chef Nathan, Bay Area Tasting Week who provided this great workshop, and all the teachers and volunteers who made it happen.

A Whole Lotta Shakin’

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Carla Matlin

Today Google chefs Kimberly Tran and Tatiana Contreras led a fantastic interactive demo with the children at Walter Hays Elementary School in Palo Alto. Each child was given their own individual container of whole milk. After a lot of shaking, jumping, and even some dancing, the children observed their milk transform into cream, and then into butter.

But the best part came at the end of the workshop when the kids tasted the whipped cream with strawberries and enjoyed the butter on fresh bread. Almost everyone asked for seconds. It was a great time for the kids, teachers, and the chefs.

Chef Kimberly remarked that it was this same experience, making butter, as a child that led her to become a chef!