What a Day!

We've been anxiously waiting to go to the symphony and a cooking class for months! Both happened on the same day! Saturday, April 13 was noteworthy. 

Symphony 

The Symphony does a family series geared towards youngsters. It's significantly shorter and more interactive for kids. Our kids got free tickets from their PBS kids adventure passes. I was shocked when I heard they even let babies go to the production. Penny fit right in and even dozed off. The symphony music was outer-space themed. They had 2 actresses come on between songs, and a screen showing images of outer space. The crowd was enthusiastic to hear that the grand finale was the Star Wars theme song. The music throughout the production was charming.

Our children were greeted with outer space slap-on bracelets as we entered Abravanel Hall and these were received warmly. Our seats were perfect for our needs. I was able to stand behind us and rock Penny to sleep. We were on a balcony. Izzy was glad she didn't fall off. I hope to go to this event again. I was proud of our kids for sitting still and engaged.

Cooking Class

For my birthday present, I wanted an experience. I've always wanted to take a cooking class and now I can say I have! Andrew and I went to a gnocchi pasta class at Harmon's grocery store. Whew, making homemade pasta is not for the faint of heart. We made ricotta gnocchi and potato gnocchi. We also had a simple salad, a sausage sauce and prosciutto sauce. It was flavorful! Most people in the class seemed to agree with me and Andrew and liked the potato gnocchi best. The potato gnocchi dough was delicate and sticky to work with. It was surprising to learn that you only have to boil the gnocchi for 2-3 minutes! 

We worked in groups of 4 to make the food. It was nice to have helpers. I thought maybe I would attempt making the dish at home, but after experiencing the intensity firsthand, I'm not so sure. Only trying to make one kind of gnocchi instead of 2 seems less daunting and maybe doable. Working with such high quality ingredients definitely made a difference in the taste! I enjoyed all the fancy cooking gadgets. The knives were so sharp and easy to chop with! I used a device that peels potatoes for you! We made a list of a couple of these items that will elevate our kitchen. It was the first gnocchi class at Harmon's and we were the guinea  pigs. I will say we were crunched for time. About half the group finished plating their meal at the time the class was set to end. We took our dessert to go. I would be up for another class! The street tacos class has been calling my name and Andrew has been more into cooking than ever before, so now's the time.

The best news is that Penelope was happy for the babysitter. Wahoo! I was anxious about this especially after the last time we left her. We went to bed with full bellies after this terrific day feeling like life is beautiful.