Tag Archives: cooking class

Pond House Grille Side Dish Cooking Class

I received complimentary admission to this event in exchange for a blog post about my experience. All opinions are my own.

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to attend my second cooking class (read about my first one here) at Pond House Grille in Glastonbury, CT. The restaurant has been doing one class per month, and with Thanksgiving coming up this one was appropriately themed “Spice Up Your Side Dishes”.

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This month’s class had enough participants to be held in a bigger room in the restaurant’s adjacent banquet facility.

All classes are taught by Executive Chef Jordan Stein but I wouldn’t exactly call it teaching…hosting is a more accurate word. Jordan is so great with his guests! I felt like I was in his home and he was letting us all help him make Thanksgiving dinner. He made sure every “student” got some hands-on cooking time in. He would demo each step and afterwards pass it off to a volunteer – or someone he chose. Some guests were hesitant to volunteer and Jordan did a wonderful job of encouraging them to do so.

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Hot Summer Night at Pond House Grille

Pond House Grille provided me complimentary admission to this cooking class. This is not a sponsored post, and all opinions on my experience are my own.

Pond House Grille has revitalized not just its appearance (examples: shiny website, tablet menu format) but also its food. Executive Chef Jordan Stein is placing a huge emphasis on seasonally appropriate and creative cuisine which makes heavy use of local ingredients. I had the privilege of receiving a chef’s tasting there not long ago, and was truly blown away by the dishes this talented and humble guy served up.

Love his signature fedora!

Love his signature fedora!

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Paella Partying at Barcelona!

Thank you so much for your comments on Friday’s post! I have to admit this weekend and today I have failed at my me-time and less technology goals…but that’s no reason to give up. I’m going to keep at it and have a couple relaxing nights in planned tonight and tomorrow! Glad to hear my therapist’s definition of an “introvert” was a new and interesting find for some.

The last event I attended at Barcelona Wine Bar in West Hartford (as their event blogger) was a Monday night cooking class appropriately titled “Paella Party”. I invited a couple of friends from high school – one of which had come with me to the Foods of Galicia dinner – and we turned the evening into a foodie girls’ night of nostalgia!

Lindsay, Corri, and me!

Lindsey, Corri, and me sitting in front of the outdoor patio’s mural!

The cooking class took place in my favorite area of dining at Barcelona – the gorgeous outdoor patio.

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