Cooks and Culture Club

By now all of you know that I'm a sucker for library programs.. especially craft nights and cooking ones. Author visits are great too. History events can be interesting. Little Chute Library started a new club this month. It's called  Cooks and Culture Club. 

The Cooks and Culture Club will focus on one of the different cultures that help settle the Little Chute/Fox Valley area. They said we will explore local culture every month as we learn about their history and try an authentic dish. Sounds good to me.. History and Food.

This month was France. To be honest I forgot we had a slight French Influence in the area. Jean Nicolet was the first person to reach Green Bay and travel as far south as possibly Lake Winnebago. The Grignons in Kaukauna were French settlers as well. Again I totally forgot about that despite visiting the Grignon Mansion a few year back. The history portion was definitely interesting. \

Since we learned about the French influence in the area, it only made sense we were going to have crepes. Wine would have been good but since the event was not 21+, that would probably not be a great idea. 

We all got to make our own crepe. Since I've made crepes a few times, I had no qualms at going first knowing the first crepe never turns out. Like usual my crepe was not even close to being perfect. I had trouble flipping it and was not perfectly round. Oh well. 

Toppings were minimal. There was ice cream syrups, Nutella, bananas, and lemon and sugar. Lemon sugar is a traditional French. I went with both syrups and the lemon sugar. Lemon sugar was definitely interesting. I'm not used to a tart crepe but I can see why the French like it. It is kind of addictive.

Besides tasty treats and a bit of history, we also all got our own aprons to take home and bring back each class. It is the perfect apron as it is only the bottom half of the apron which is exactly where I need to cover. My thighs get filthy when I bake. I can't wait to use it at home.

We also get a different button each month to add to our aprons. 

I hope this club keeps going after the first couple of months. It is a great program. It gets people out of the house especially in the winter. Next month is Dutch and I can't wait to see what treat we get to try. 

Herb Your Enthusiasm -- A Rosemary Adventure

 Kimberly Library has a cooking club called Herb Your Enthusiasm where they feature a different herb or spice each month. I've looked into this before but it is usually a spice I don't have any interest in cooking with. This month was rosemary -- a herb that I actually have and recently started using. Instead of being at the library, it was at Il Bar Coffee Shop in Kimberly where we would get a cooking demonstration. Sign me up. I didn't pick up the packet of herbs beforehand.. why I already had rosemary.

Despite feeling like an outsider initially since everyone there usually came to every meeting, the librarians made you feel welcome. Then they asked for volunteers to help make the cookies. Since no one else volunteered, I did. I had a real tough job.  I had to use the hand mixer to make the dough. The pastry chef at Il Bar taught us to make lemon rosemary shortbread cookies. We never did get the recipe. It would be a fun summer recipe. I may have to google it.

The owner then showed us how to make lavender rosemary lemonade. Again they needed a volunteer and I'm glad I volunteered for the cookies otherwise I would have to squeeze 10 lemons. While our volunteer was squeezing the library we learned about the coffee shop as well as the rest of the ingredients. Surprisingly the lemonade was quite tasty. I am not a fan of lavender but it was very subtle.

Overall it was a fun hour and a break my mundane routine. It got me out of the house, got to meet some new people, try new foods, and discover a new coffee shop. I will definitely check out the Herb Your Enthusiasm again but probably not in May since I'm not all about foraging for food. I can't wait to go back to Il Bar for a iced chia latte or hot chocolate. They even have flights of their drinks.