highlights from the springtime picnic class

dear foodie, we'll yesterday i took a cooking class about summer picmics, so on the menu chef kelly fong cooked up and gave us delicious recipes for tropical fruit salsa with roasted jalapenos, Roasted grape salad with feta and candied pinenuts, ahi tuna sliders with japanese pickles and for dessert mixed berry cobbler, so we were divided into groups, we choose a recipe and me, my best friend becky and her mom debbie cleveland decided to prepare the cobbler while others do the other part of the menu, the results, the cobbler turned out outstanding, everyone and Chef Marcie Dompier and chef kelly foing were loved it, so i walked away not only full but with memories, becasue as of may 1st the whole foods culinary center will be going out of business but no worries, i'll go to draegers normally every month to learn from chefs bill Hutton, Patience thien, guest chefs from draegers and go to whole foods napa/cupertino with kelly fong or his brother eddie foing once or twice a year so take care, Ava

Momma Watts seasoned salt

Momma Watts seasoned salt

2-3 cups kosher sea salt
2 sprigs rosemary
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tablesppon fennel seed or anise

in a coffee grinder, grind up the last 3 ingreidents until coarse ground. then combine in a bowl with 2-3 cups of salt and mix until blended. put in container or give them as gifts

suggestions- its good on roasted potatoes drizzled with evoo and bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until roasted

you can use it on chicken breast or over easy eggs, so please enjoy!

My mom's Birthday cake and upcoming cooking class and concert line ups

dear foodie, today was my mom's birtday, i made a yummy gingerbread cake that i got from a semi homemade cookbook by sandra lee, everyone loved it, i wanted to make cupcakes, but ran out of liners, so i used 2 8 inch cakes to make 2 layers and frost it with cream cheese icing and it was delicious. in 2 days me, my best friend becky who also has autism, but is loving, but cannot fuction as much as i can and her mom are going to the springtime picnic class, its a perfect time to make these delicious delights for movies or concerts in the park, i plan on going to at least 2 movies at the park, one is bye bye birdie and another is dirty dancing, and 5 concerts in the park such as Michael Jackson, Billy Joel and Journey Trubite bands, also the club 90 and california cowboys concert. so i plan on bringing friends from camp and my siblings. so thats what picnics are for bringing. chef kelly fong is going to give tips on recipes such as salsa 2 ways, a fruit and a pepper salsa, roasted grape salad with feta and pinenuts, ahi tuna sliders with japanese pickles and berry cobbler, so i hope you enjoy ok! so i'll got to take my mom out to her birthday dinnner, so i will be back with more culinary tricks of the trade, so bon appiete!

my sister molly's Brussel sprouts Recipe

1lb brussel sprouts (trimed and washed)
5 slices of bacon
1 half small red onion sliced
balsamic vinagar

boil brussel sprouts in salted water for 10 minutes, drain.
in a saute pan, cooked chopped bacon and onions until bacon is done, add cooked brussel sprouts and splash some balsamic vinagar on them....salt and pepper to taste

ao i hope you enjoy my sister's recipe, i love this recipe so much and i plan on makiing it someday, so take care!

welcome to Chef Ava marie Blog network

hi friends, welcome to my blog, its Me Chef Ava marie Romero and my blog is about sharing recipes, tips, about classes at draegers culinary school, hottest new restaurants, foodie meeting and much much more!
as you may know i was born with Autism, ADHD And PDD and i didnt talk until i was six years old. i am not culinary trained chef, but am a chef at home who is actually a foodie, started cooking at age 13 in 2003 watching emeril and made me wanted to be a sucessful chef teacher someday my dream is to be a chef instructor at draeger's cooking school and a Paraeducator (aide) for special needs learners in the daytime, being autism has taught me everything, from learning how to write and to overcome feelings and tanturms. i learned a lot about cooking from mom, old texas guy jack, terri minor, my aunt laura, chef instructors chef bill hutton, Amy fothergill, Terri dien, kelly fong and much more chef instructors gave me not just recipes, but their inspriation to be a instructor someday. as of september 2011 i am going to work for 1 year from october 2011-2012 at community Gatepath, a vocational job training program for people like me who have autism or other learning disabilites like mental retardation etc. i might be working at a soup kitchen at saint vince de paul and/or working at draegers as a prep cook maybe before becoming a instructor, i am also a camp counselor who works directly with special needs, i used to be a camper as a kid, but didnt like it, so being a counselor is the best job i ever had and it taught me some responsabilies and care for people, i am also working with nurse sandy keefe doing a nutrition-culinary camp which will teach campers how to cook, which is my job to do, phyiscal actitivy lead by julie paulson who is a volunteer counselor and has down syndrome but very smary lady like me and someone new as an instructor and me and sandy will take campers to a couple of field trips such as Fresh choice and We talked about mcdonalds, but i dont think its a good idea, so im going to see if whole foods stevens creek will be a better choice for our campers, so take care and i will share my happiest about food so welcome to the Chef Ava marie Blog