It really doesn’t take much to break the writing mojo does it? Since my recent computer meltdown, and consequent enforced break, I am struggling to get back to my happy writing place. So apologies for my slackness, I’m working on it. I’ll get there, please be patient with me.

Anyway, that aside, I went to a thermomix cooking class last night, held at the arse end of the earth in Mulgrave. It was a special event with guest presenter Nico Moretti, who has just published his first cook book, ‘Food for Friends’. It was off to a rough start with one of my particular pet hates. 120 people were expected and at start time numbers were well down. So we waited. I hate that. Loathe it. Detest it. Get the picture? It makes me irate. I just find it so incredibly insulting to those who arrive on time. I wouldn’t expect anyone to wait for me if I was late and and I really don’t feel the need to wait for anyone else.

Eventually though it did start and it was worth the wait. The presentation was far from flawless with the odd problem like the steamer basket being referred to as the varoma and similar. No problem for those of us who have a thermomix but very confusing to the prospective customers sitting beside me. I know I’m being nit picky but really, I’m just getting the negatives out of the way first.

The food that was prepared was delicious, persimmon sorbet (too much lemon in my opinion…..OK, I’ll stop picking), pan brioche, Thai hummos, Thai salad, Thai chicken and basil, steamed Thai fish cakes and a simply divine white chocolate pannacotta. Additional recipes were included in the handout. Aside from getting my hands on some wonderful new recipes, the thing I enjoyed the most was the odd comment here and there that acted as a light bulb moment for me. I spent a lot of the time furiously scribbling notes to self on the recipe leaflet with ideas for recipes to develop, food styling thoughts and just little tips about how to get more or more effective results from the thermomix. Seriously, I have notes from everything from a new idea in sausage making to freezing coriander roots.

So there you have it, minor picks aside, it was a very worthwhile evening. In fact at $15 entry and roughly $150 in petrol I would even call it a bargain.