Mini Culinary School

This weekend, I learned the right way to cut up a whole chicken, properly sharpen a knife, render beef fat into lard, make beans/rice/greens, frittata, and pulled pork for 25 people, make hot sauce from fresh chilis, pan fry chicken raised on the farm, pan sear a pork shoulder, poach eggs (it's true, I've never done that before), make sour kraut, cure pork jowls into guanciale, and prepare chicken stock from scratch.  I'd like to tell you that I could repeat these activities on my own, but I'm skeptical.  Chef Christina is amazing.  She can multi-task like nobody's business.  She can talk in detail about a wide variety of cooking techniques while simultaneously directing us to chop, gather, soak, wash, stir, grate, pour, pound, and knead.  She is not shy about using lard, butter, or salt.  She often rates food dishes on the "scale of awesomeness."  I love that.  Did you know that to poach an egg it is best to stir the water and "create a vortex" in which to drop the egg?  And to cure a pork jowl you must massage it often and "show it a lot of love?"  What a great time!  Thanks, Christina.