So I signed up for this 12-week Food Preservation class organized by Food Forward and last night was the first class! I am so excited to learn new techniques to use in my kitchen!! I’m especially excited to learn about the safety techniques because I worry about sharing my home-made Sauerkraut with others. So, last night we canned Tangerines in a variety of different sugar-based liquids! I made a new friend Amanda who is a photographer that shares my love for combining food and art! Hooray!

Next week in class we will get to taste all the different varieties!

For a large part of the class the teacher, Ernest Miller, lectured about food preservation safety and the new LA Cottage Food Law! A few interesting tidbits we learned included the importance of hand-washing in hot water! At NOMA 70 people got sick because they didn’t have hot water for employees to wash their hands! Also! McDonald’s Hamburgers won’t go bad if you leave them out of the fridge because they are cooked until they become dehydrated! I had no idea Mickey D’s was so progressive and interested in food preservation!! Hahaha!

Speaking of Master Food Preservers, I had the good fortune of going to a Seder at Jessica from SQIRL‘s house on Monday. Of course, I love my family’s seder back in NYC but this Seder blew my mind. So many nice people and amazing food of course! My contribution included roasted carrots with cumin and fresh thyme and a “Magically Moist Almond Cake” from Bob’s of Redmill flour that I drizzled with melted chocolate.

It was a pretty big hit along with this unsuspecting item I picked up at Whole Foods! Who knew gluten-free matzo tastes better than regular matzo!?!?!

This weekend my big brother is coming to town for his bachelor’s party so I’m sure I will have lots of fun adventures to share with you soon!