Checked out Portland’s Culinary Workshop last week and discovered that cooking classes weren’t half as pretentious as I expected…

PCW opened earlier this year and is the brainchild of two food-loving women, Melinda Casady and Susana Holloway. Tired of working the professional circuit of culinary schools, the women wanted a place that was open, fun and educational. It’s all about getting their students to learn about good food, the kind of philosophy that anyone with a love of good food can get behind.

My visions of an intimidating chef hovering over my shoulder as I shakily held my thermometer in boiling milk soon disappeared, and by the time Susana had put a glass of wine in my hand and a Fresh Cheese 101 print out in front of me, I realized that I felt surprisingly at home. Cooking with fresh ingredients with glass of wine in hand? If I’m perfectly honest, it’s sort of my ideal Friday night.

Susana walked us through our first concoction, lemon cheese, a simple combination of milk and lemon. Had I known cheese was this easy, I would have started making it long ago.

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