Meg! How fun to read this! I love it, and seeing the pictures reminds me of the wonderful time we had together taking this course. Thank you for this special Birthday present!! We both have milestone birthdays this year, 4 weeks apart. You are a very treasured friend. Perhaps we should take ourselves to CIA again to celebrate our love of cooking and our friendship.
Very interesting. Laura and I did several weekend “hobbyist” classes (and one week long) at NECI, and only the week long really taught more than very basic things. I suspect they know that it’s a small percentage of the willing who are actually able to handle the intensity.
Most of the NECI folks did as well, except in the Italian weekend, where it was much too much for some, and too little for others. Not a lot of happy mediums. The week long bread baking class was all hard core folks, so we were all in. It helped to have then student Alton Brown as kitchen help, as he kept things lively and light.
I suspect it's maddeningly difficult to design curriculum for such a wide range of students. I should probably have noted that a couple of my fellow students were repeat "campers," so it was certainly working for them.
That makes sense. When Alton was a student as NECI, his then wife was the coordinator for the hobbyist classes. We got to know them from going so many times, and blending hands on and lecture in the programs was one of the biggest challenges.
Meg! How fun to read this! I love it, and seeing the pictures reminds me of the wonderful time we had together taking this course. Thank you for this special Birthday present!! We both have milestone birthdays this year, 4 weeks apart. You are a very treasured friend. Perhaps we should take ourselves to CIA again to celebrate our love of cooking and our friendship.
It was fun to revisit this and remember our wacky time in that kitchen. Happy birthday!
🙏🥰
Very interesting. Laura and I did several weekend “hobbyist” classes (and one week long) at NECI, and only the week long really taught more than very basic things. I suspect they know that it’s a small percentage of the willing who are actually able to handle the intensity.
My fellow students seemed to be having a ball.
Most of the NECI folks did as well, except in the Italian weekend, where it was much too much for some, and too little for others. Not a lot of happy mediums. The week long bread baking class was all hard core folks, so we were all in. It helped to have then student Alton Brown as kitchen help, as he kept things lively and light.
Wow! Alton Brown!
I suspect it's maddeningly difficult to design curriculum for such a wide range of students. I should probably have noted that a couple of my fellow students were repeat "campers," so it was certainly working for them.
That makes sense. When Alton was a student as NECI, his then wife was the coordinator for the hobbyist classes. We got to know them from going so many times, and blending hands on and lecture in the programs was one of the biggest challenges.