Cooking Class

The other day, June, one of the ladies in our complex who is from Wisconsin and happens to be a Colonel in the US Air Force, suggested having a cooking class for the ladies. 


This is June. 

June got Elsie, who speaks very good English and is the head of housekeeping, to volunteer to be the instructor. 

This is Elsie.

Elsie decided to show the ladies how to cook ARROZ con POLLO which means chicken with rice.  The ingredients included:
-2 whole chickens
-2 kilos (4 pounds) of rice
-1 kilo of carrots
-1 kilo of green beans
-3 sweet peppers
-3 cilantro (bunches chopped)
-2 clumps of cloves
-5 small packages of chicken seasoning
-1 big bottle of Lizano salsa
-1 stick of butter
-1 small achiote (paprika)
-2 big cans of sweet corn
-3 stalks of chopped celery
-3 onions
Elsie started cooking the chicken (Pollo) at around three o'clock.  All of the ladies helped.


This is the ladies helping.

While the chicken was cooking, all of the vegetables had to be chopped.

As you can see, chopping the veggies took a lot of work.  Oh yes, Elsie is off to the right of the picture chopping vegetables.

Once the chickens were ready, the rice was cooked in the chicken broth.  The vegetables that had been chopped were cooked in oil and then the rice was added and cooked like a stir fry.   This took a lot of planning.

The Planning Committee

The meat from the two chickens had to pulled off the bones and shredded.  It was then added to the mixture and cooked a little more.  By about seven o'clock the meal was complete.  By that time everyone was pooped but still managed a smile for a congratulatory picture.

With everyone's hard work they managed to prepare a meal that would feed about thirty people.  Everyone enjoyed the success.

And everyone ate well that night.

I know I appreciated all the hard work and the results were delicious.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!