Cooking classes in Skamokawa

photo: Kathleen Morgain

 

Would you like to learn to bake bread like those gorgeous loaves in the picture? If so, you are in luck. Kitty and Don Speranza, a pair of talented and passionate cooks who own The Inn at Crippen Creek Farm in Skamokawa, WA, are now offering cooking classes to the community as well as their overnight guests.

Before moving out to eventinierTown, Don and Kitty owned and operated Mangiamo! Catering and Italian Eatery in Portland, Oregon. Their bread is such a huge hit at the Two Island Farm Market on Puget Island in Cathlamet, WA during the summer months that they started a bread subscription service to keep their customers happy in the off-season. (Ahem, their bread is so good that I buy their focaccia all summer long instead of making my own.)

Classes vary from a 2-3 hour course to an immersion weekend for 2 or 3 couples with accommodations at the Inn.  Current topics include Artisan Bread Baking, Italian Country Cooking, Pizza and Calzone, and Quick Classic Pasta Sauces.

One of the coolest things about these classes is that couples booking a weekend stay may collaborate with the chef for a particular theme. How much fun would that be? I'd have to put together a dessert class so that I could get Don's tips on the dessert buffet he served for a post-concert party at the Inn last weekend: New York cheesecake with fresh lemon curd, chocolate cake with chocolate panna cotta 'frosting', and Don's signature tiramisu...maybe Kitty's cinnamon rolls too.

The current class schedule includes: 

• Beginning Artisan Bread Baking - Saturday, January 26, 2008 11am until 1:30 pm $50 (includes pizza luncheon)
• Quick Classic Pasta Sauces -  Saturday, February 2, 2008 6-8:30 pm $65 (includes pasta dinner)
• Beginning Artisan Bread Baking - Saturday, February 16, 2008 11am until 1:30 pm $50 (includes pizza luncheon)

Less than two hours from Portland and about three from Seattle, a weekend at the Inn with bread baking lessons (and maybe a romantic dinner) might be just the Valentine's gift you have been looking for.