The theme for my recent visit to Grace-Marie’s Kitchen Cooking School was Italian Cucina Sunday Supper, which I was looking forward to very much, because Grace-Marie grew up in an Italian American family and has been to Italy five times eating her way through the Northern half of the country, so she knows her Italian food. The Chicken, Sausage, Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta we had was very similar to a dish she had in Italy, but instead of asparagus, the original had fresh artichoke hearts.

“I always try to explain to the students that my dishes may not be 100% authentic,” Grace-Marie said, “but they are my version of what I’ve experienced based on what is fresh and available where we live, thereby, ‘making it my own’ … something I encourage them to do — change the recipe however they like, making it their own version, but most importantly, inspiring them to get in the kitchen and cook!”

Here you can see Grace-Marie using a microplane to zest the lemon to flavor the cheesecake. She gave a demonstration on how she separates the egg yolks from the whites, before mixing the yolks with the ricotta, sugar and zest in the food processor. The heavy cream is beaten with cream cheese and sugar until thick, and a cup folded into the ricotta mixture. Then the egg whites are beaten with sugar until thick and also folded into the ricotta mixture. It is poured into the cookie crumb coated pan and baked until the top is barely browned and the center is a bit “jiggly.” Before serving, the sliced strawberries were mixed with fruit preserves, then spooned over the cheese cake with a dollop of whipped cream. It was divine!

Our starter salad for the luncheon was a Provolone Bruschetta topped with Spring Cucumber & Roasted Red Pepper Salad. The crusty Italian bread was first spread with garlic that had been simmered in olive oil and then mashed into the oil. This was topped with slices of Provolone cheese and baked until melted. Over this bruschetta went the roasted red pepper, cucumber, parsley and caper salad which was dressed with an olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette. This salad was so beautiful with shards of Parmesan cheese on top for garnish.

An exciting thing that happened in January was that I had one of my photos on the cover of a magazine! You can see that the photo is of Grace-Marie’s Fiesta Papaya, Pineapple and Avocado Salad which I posted about in May 2010 and had also been in the Beach Magazine. The editor liked the photo so much he decided to use it for the South Bay 2011 Menu Guide cover. Grace-Marie and I were very proud of ourselves, let me tell you.

Here are the friends who came to the Italian Cucina Sunday Supper cooking class. Thank you for coming and sharing this wonderful food from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

Click for the Italian Cheesecake Recipe

Cook & Be Merry in the June 2010 issue of the Easy Reader Beach Magazine was devoted to Summer Salads. I showcased the luscious Fiesta Fruit and Avocado Salad from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms, and my very favorite and difficult to photograph Potato and Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing. Also included was a recipe for these amazing Orange Chile Croutons that could be used with my salad. It was still cold outside, usual Southern California June weather, but I wanted to present recipes that could be used when it finally warmed up and we fired up the grill. Little did I know that it wouldn’t warm up at all, except for a couple days at the end of August. Oh well.

The reason I am now posting about the June Beach Magazine is that the dish I made today, and was going to photograph, was a dismal failure. So I had to dig up something else to post about. I was going to write about some Crispy-Coated Oysters with a Remoulade Sauce. I didn’t want to make massive amounts of oysters, so I bought the jarred ones in the iced seafood section. The jar was 8 ounces, so I figured there would be 7 or 8 oysters. Wrong. There were 4 huge egg-sized humungoes. I already had my flour, beaten egg and panko in bowls, so I decided to slice each oyster into three pieces. Bad move. They were already slimy to begin with, but after slicing they were just disgusting. But I persevered and got them all breaded. I browned them in olive oil and they really looked nice and golden. I had made the Remoulade the night before, so I was ready to give them a taste. Well, I couldn’t get past their texture to actually taste them. Cooking them had not eradicated their slime-iness. I didn’t even get out my camera.

The moral of the story is: one can have gone to culinary school, but that doesn’t mean anything. Failures still happen.

One of my commenters for the Twirly Lemon Cookies post said they wished they could have seen me in my first chef’s coat. I found some photos from that time period that were taken of my class at a banquet we cooked for a hundred people. This photo actually appeared on the front of the UCLA Class Catalog the next semester. Our banquet had been a great success and we were all very happy. I’ll be posting about that class in the future. I am in the front row on the far left.

Well, since I’ve got you here, my captive audience, I might as well show you what my living room looks like. Those are my cookbooks. With all that reference you would think I could come up with a recipe for oysters that works. lol.

I have some interesting things to post about coming up. September is going to be a busy month. I recently went to Ford’s Filling Station, Ben Ford’s restaurant. He’s Harrison Ford’s son and he was at Campanile for a while when I was doing my cooking internship there. His food is incredible.

Sunday, September 12, I’ll be at Rosti Tuscan Kitchen in Encino for a pizza making contest.

Saturday, September 25, is the Viking Food Blogger Boot Camp in Baldwin Park put on by Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk.

Sunday, September 26, is the Lobster Festival at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach.

And somewhere in there I’m going to be eating, interviewing and photographing at the Porto Fino Hotel’s signature restaurant, Baleen, in Redondo Beach.

So I guess one failure isn’t the end of the world.

Cook & Be Merry in the May 2010 issue of the Easy Reader Beach magazine was devoted to the California Avocado. Not only is May the beginning of the avocado season, it is kicked off by the Cinco de Mayo festivities, during which the California Avocado Commission estimates 84.1 million pounds of avocados were consumed in the U.S. this year.

My own recipe in the Beach was Exquisite Salad ~ Rice, Chicken, Asparagus, Avocado with Cilantro Vinaigrette. I have been making this recipe since about 1990, and every time I take it to a potluck, people ask me for the recipe. I was also filmed making this dish for the Torrance Cable Network in 1991. I think the recipe is still on their website. That cracks me up.

I also went to a Food Blogger Lunch at Ciudad restaurant with Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, which was put on by the California Avocado Commission. The Crispy California Avocado Taco recipe in the Beach came from the Ciudad Day, along with Chicken and Avocado Skillet Chilaquiles and the California Avocado and Mango Desert.

The Salmon with Avocado and Sweet Chili Sauce recipe in the Beach came from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, the Cooking School at Bristol Farms in Manhattan Beach. I think of all the new avocado dishes I ate this month, this was my favorite one. Just awesome. Grace-Marie’s Cinco de Mayo class also included a marvelous Fiesta Papaya, Pineapple and Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing. Oh, and by the way, Grace-Marie’s Salmon recipe and my photo are going to be featured on the California Avocado Commission’s website in the very near future. I’m so excited about that!

Thank you, Easy Reader Beach Magazine and your artists who take my words and photographs and turn them into such a beautiful creation. You’re the best.

• Exquisite Salad
• Food Blogger Lunch at Ciudad with the Two Hot Tamales
• Crispy California Avocado Taco
• Chicken and Avocado Skillet Chilaquiles
• California Avocado and Mango Desert
• Salmon with Avocado and Sweet Chili Sauce
• Fiesta Papaya, Pineapple and Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
• Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms
• Easy Reader Beach Magazine

Finally! The highly awaited and anticipated Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms article is published!! I thought it would never happen, but there it is….the real deal. The Easy Reader production team did such a great job on taking my words and photographs and turning them into something beautiful.

Now you can also go to the Catagories list in the right column and click on Grace-Marie’s Kitchen and read the other posts about her with the accompanying recipes. I would especially like you to look at the one about the Kid’s Cooking Class. These are on-going throughout the year and they are fantastic. My kids are grown now, but if I had school age kids, I would definitely be sending them to her cooking classes.

I am also looking forward to photographing the participatory cooking classes she is planning to begin soon and going on the three day bus trips. Those are going to be great photo opportunities for me and lots of fun.

Grace-Marie ~ I salute you!

This is the first article I’ve had published in a magazine in my life, so it is really exciting for me. I’m trying not to let it go to my head – in fact, I’m trying to take it with a grain of salt (just ignore my screaming and jumping up and down in the background).

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged me these last two months since I launched Cook & Be Merry. I could not have done this alone in a million years.

First of all, thank you Easy Reader Beach Magazine for including Cook & Be Merry’s Barbara Schaefer and MyKickAssGlass post in your March 11 – Best of the Beach 2010 issue. Thank you Kevin Cody for this amazing opportunity.

All my gratitude to MattBites and Food Fanatics for the outstanding Foodstyling and Photography Workshop they put on last November, and I was fortunate to attend. I learned so much, I can’t put it into words.

Also thanks to Foodgawker and Tastespotting for publishing my photos so viewers would know my blog even existed.

My gratitude to L’Exquisit by Sonia and Chocolate River for being inspired by my photo and recipe, and posting their own photos on their blogs with a link back to me. I am totally flattered.

To Worth The Whisk: Thank you for your supportive emails, the blogging class you taught and your lovely guest post. I’m really looking forward to attending your Camp Blogaway in May.

I want to convey my thanks and appreciation to all of you who have visited my website. Keep coming back, ok? And those who left your kind comments. You’re the best!

And I want to re-thank everyone who helped me get started. (Look under Did you create your website by yourself?)

Ok, ok, I’m not going to get gushy on you. You know what I mean.