lóleo
After a day of travel, then a day of coasters, it was time to do something completely different. Ken signed us all up for a cooking class at a place called lóleo - and according to google translate, that means “I read it.” No, it doesn’t make sense to me, either. The kitchen is in a cute little neighbourhood not too far from our hotel.
The taxi dropped off on a commercial street full of markets and such, where we found the door that led to the stairs that led to the landing that led to lóleo.
We were the first ones to arrive and so we had a few moments to get a feel of the place, then Lola (the chef) provided our cooking aprons.
The kitchen was very nice, clean, and already set up for us and the other six people who would be attending.
Before long, the others arrived: A couple from Waco, Texas, a couple from Northern California, and two guys from France who left their wives behind.
Now, I’ll get this out of the way before I even get to the food: the list of foods and/or ingredients that I like is a short one. Lots of very common things that you’d think everyone likes to eat are on my “eww, that’s nasty” list. Today’s cooking menu included lots and lots of those things. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t wax poetic about the deliciousness of what we prepared. Now, on to the cooking.
The first two things we made were a Russian salad and some croquettes. The Russian salad is made of potatoes, mayo, pickled veggies, hard-boiled eggs, olives, and tuna. Literally the only thing in that list I like is potatoes, but it was interesting to make it, anyway. The croquettes were also fun to make, involving that two-spoon technique of shaping dough that you often see on the Food Channel. Plus, they were deep-fried, so bonus points for that.
Everyone who wanted to got a chance at working the cooktop before the class was over.
Behold, Russian salad and croquettes!
We got to sample our cooking with some nice wine while Lola explained about the next dish: paella. You can make paella with lots of different things, but today we would be making it from squid, using the ink as well. I’ve only ever seen squid already cleaned and prepared, so the “how to clean a squid” lesson was all brand new to me.
It’s not particularly difficult, but it is messy. Interestingly, the squid “skeleton” is long and thin and clear. It looks like plastic. Once all of that is out, you turn the peeled body portion inside-out - which some of us had more fun doing than we probably should have.
Before long, all the calamari were cleaned and sliced and Heather cooked it all up in a green sauce made of parsley, garlic, and olive oil.
Of course, the main ingredient in paella is rice - very short grains, never long grains. We also learned that you don’t stir it once you’ve got it in the pan.
More ingredients got prepared: sliced green and red peppers, shredded tomatoes, more garlic, and a few other things. Rob’s job was to make chilli paste from a big dried chilli.
Once the rice went into the pan with the squid, Lola added squid ink to the pan and everything turned black.
There was also a cod dish that utilized the peppers, tomatoes, and garlic we’d chopped and sliced. Interestingly, Lola used whole cayenne peppers. Rather than just toss them in, she skewered them with toothpicks so they’d be easy to find and remove once the dish had enough flavour. I’d never seen that done before, but it’s a good idea.
We all had a lot of fun over the four hours we spent cooking and getting to know each other…. even if I wouldn’t ever make any of that stuff again.
After returning to the hotel, Rob and I headed back over to the Royal Palace to retrieve an item he’d accidentally dropped there the day before.
None of us did much for the rest of the day, after spending all afternoon cooking and drinking enough wine to play with squid ink. Tomorrow sees us splitting up again and also the first day that Viking takes over the itinerary, beginning tomorrow afternoon. See you then.