Total Foodie Weekend

Last April when I visited Nicki in New York, I ate some of the best food I have ever eaten in my life. Hands down, New York is a melting pot of food for every palate, from every country in the world. I came home determined to try cooking some of the yummy things I'd eaten in New York. So last Friday I took an Indian Cooking class. I learned to make Naan bread (so yummy and easy), Chicken Makhani, Bangalore Chicken Curry and Indian Veggie Patties. All very good, all very easy. Best of all, I learned that with very little know-how, you can cook from a variety of countries around the world.

My next project is gnocchi. I've had it before (not in New York), but I want to learn to make it from scratch. It isn't as easy as it looks. I've watched cooks on the Food Network make it, and of course, it looks so simple and easy. Big lie! I tried Giada's recipe (nothing to it, she promises) and ended up with tiny little pillows of brick in my tummy, not tiny little pillows of pasta. I ran into someone at Friday's cooking class that swears she has a fool-proof recipe, but it involves dehydrated potato buds - not the kind of fresh I was looking for, and probably not what any Italian cook who is worth her weight in pasta sauce would use, but I'll try it. Why don't I just buy it you ask? Well, because I have yet to find it in a grocery store here in quaint little Cache Valley, and I've been looking for about 7 years (no kidding!) only the dried stuff - yuck. If any of you out there have a great recipe (Bonnie) and are willing to share, I'm up for making it multiple times until I get it down. How hard can it be, right???

Add in a big batch of homemade bread, an apple pie ( as per Trevor's request) and a coconut cream pie (as per Kent's request) and I had a cooking/baking filled weekend.

HCG diet, anyone???