It was a pleasant birthday surprise, my wife picked me up from work, one evening not so long ago. Handed me a strip map of a place the other side of Johannesburg, in a suburb we do not often frequent. On asking her for a bit more details, was informed that it was a surprise.

She kept a smug, you gonna like this smile all the time she was driving us there, carefully avoiding the subject of where and what we were going to and why. The only thing that concerned her was the time, I ask you, normally we never clock watch, unless, I had we are going to a theatre or stage show production. This was not correct either as in the direction we were headed there was nary a place like the Barnyard’s, a popular small stage theatre over here in South Africa.

Tried the ploy, well can we at least stop for at a coffee shop, as I am dying for something light to eat and to have a cup of coffee, this to was denied as we do not have the time, we will grab something afterwards, was all I could get out of that ruse.

So I did the next best thing, I went with the flow, directed her to our final destination. We eventually got there, turned into a security driveway of a private residence, which had partially been altered into a cooking school, I had been brought here to spend a pleasant evening cooking my own meal, and paying for the priviledge, hey this is what you call a clever scheme.

I was sceptical at first, but after being welcomed by the chef, female, with a nice reception cocktail, and pleasant banter, I took a step back and relaxed.

The rest of the evenings participants arrived and we went in to do the whole trip.

Pleasantly she introduced us to the school, explained the rules and regulations of the establishment, made us doff our aprons, chefs hat, then go through to the scullary and wash our hands, a bit like schoolboys and girls, we obeyed.

We were all assigned to a work station which had all the raw materials, recipe and condiments all laid out. Each couple had to make a specified dish each, there were nine couples that night, as one couple did not arrive, so some of us made an extra dish.

The menu was varied and while we were cooking we were fed some of the snack type foods that was prepared by one or more of the party.

By this time, we had started to loose some of our reservedness around strangers, drop those defence mechanisms we have when we have to share kitchen space with others, a couple of jokes being told, quips about other cooks, and our intrpid chef and teacher passed on some very usefull ways of handling certain mundain preperation tasks.

The menu was wide and all the dishes chosen were complimentary, no after tastes or heartburns experienced afterwards.

The snacks that came around were:

• A sliced and fried banana dish Kelewele, midly spicFalefelry tasty.
• Roasted Pumpkin Pips, garlicky and very nutty
• Spicy Felefel, served with a hot Tahini Dip, again very different
• Tabouleh,  finely chopped salad with crushed wheat placed in a lettuce leaf and eaten like that

As I said this was being made and eaten fresh, under the chefs guidance by members of “class”. This was while we were preparing our supper for the evening.

What was the main meals, you wander if that was only the starters, well feast your eyes on this for a taste sensation, which I might add, will take a lot of beating.

• Chicken and Peanut, a delightful nutty and spicy hot chicken dish
• Chicken with Olives, an unusual combination of tastes, cooked by me, not a difficult dish
• Coal Roasted Corn, hot and tasty
• Stuffed Fish, with couscous almonds and herbs, excellent
• Eggplant Salad, layered eggplant and peppers
• Moroccan Lamb Stew, unusual with prunes and apricots
• Couscous Stir with fried vegetable, a pleasnt accompaniment to all the meat and fish dishes

We had some Moroccan breads as well, to go with the meal

• Khobz, a whole wheat flat bread
• Charkalaka Bread, made with spicy Charkalaka

Once the dishes were prepared and laid out in the serving dishes, we then had to present our dishes with a description of what it was, how it was made with as much detail as possible.

Then the proof of our endevours in the Moraccan Tent,, a resounding success and a very pleasant evening. Not only did I come away with a C of the recipes, as well as some others added in, but  came away having gained an experience.

Will be writting about Sushi, shortly as been booked to go for that lesson very soon.

The final plus, someone else was in the kitchen to do the washing up of cooking utensils and to tidy up after us.