I was lucky enough to attend a course at Waitrose Cookery School a few days ago as a guest of Chillian Wine and it was so much fun. Arriving at 3 pm we were first given champagne and snacks in a room designed to be both dining room and meeting room with beautiful cook books well displayed. The racks of wine would make you tipsy just to look at the amount and the staff and chefs were lovely. The session started with wine tasting where everyone learn just why wine is swilled around a glass. We tasted a rainbow of colours and tried not to look to undignified when we spat some out. We had twelve people on the course and everyone was enjoying themselves. Then came the cooking, the chefs were fantastic and we worked through three courses learning how to sear kababs, make salad look interesting, and not burn our fingers. We then went on to cook racks of lamb and marmalade steam pudding. We drank a different wine with each course and sat together chatting and eating our efforts. When we left at 8.30 pm we were given a goody bag containing a bottle of wine and a Waitrose Magazinewhich was a nice touch. I did check prices in the magazine and it is £105 per person for a three hour cookery session. That would be a lot from my budget but if you can afford it do go it is a great experience, or maybe ask for this as a gift for Mothers Day etc. The staff really encourage you and everything is whisked of on a trolley to be washed up how good is that.
