Cookalong 23rd October 2020

Grand Final Eve saw members of our parish and wider community come together for a cooking workshop run by yours truly. Some participants cooked along with me while others chose to sit back with a drink and watch and perhaps cook at another time. It was terrific to see seventeen people Zoom in for this social event. It was my debut presenting on Zoom. Whilst I have taught culinary skills over many years to various groups of people of all ages, it has always been live / in person, never streamed via technology. Thus, it was a learning curve for me too. It was a lot of fun and a pleasure to invite people into my kitchen and equally see everyone with their smiling faces, aprons on ready to cook in their own kitchens. Cooking alongside one another was a lovely social activity to do together and one we often don’t get an opportunity to do. Often, we are busy cooking for ourselves, families or our guests- rarely together.

So, what was on the menu? Chilli Turkey Pot Pie. This is a wonderful combination of turkey mince cooked in an aromatic mix of spices, fresh herbs, corn, capsicum, beans and tomato, all topped with a crusty polenta pastry. Mexican inspired is probably the best way to describe the flavour profile. There would have been some tantalising cooking aromas in our collective kitchens! If only we had “smellavision” on Zoom! I provided a vegetarian option for tweaking the recipe too, so hopefully it was just as tasty.

There has been some tremendous positive feedback with one participant saying that it is a great way “to stay in touch and keep the parish camaraderie going”. This made me smile as this is what we, as a parish team, have really endeavoured to do throughout the whole lockdown.