Friday, December 5, 2008

We're almost there!

GREAT NEWS!

We are 80% built out!
The equipment is being delivered on Monday.
The rest of the fixtures will be installed over the next two weeks.
The inspections will follow, and then we'll open the doors.

Thanks for all of your support!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Online Registration

Hi Everyone,
Several of you have been reaching out to us trying to figure out what happened to the cooking classes that were online less than a week ago.

Unfortunately, we've shut down the class registration temporarily until we know DEFINITELY when the doors will open. Two Monday's ago, our equipment vendor called with the news of another setback, and now, we are staring down a 3-5 week delay. Ouch.

We understand your excitement and your frustration to get out and do something new, but I promise you no one is more disappointed than we are to be delayed once again. I've been at this since April and it's been riddled with stops and starts almost every month. According to my original plans, I should've been open September 15.

But I can't go back.

It is unfortunately, the nature of the beast. Those of you who have built or remodeled your home, you feel my pain.

That's okay. An old boss of mine used to say, the only way to get past it is to go through it.

So onward!

I sat down with Doug, my executive chef, today and we packed the January schedule with even more interesting classes than the December schedule. We have some DC's biggest "celeb" chefs. We have the Etiquette School of Virginia teaching us about the Art of Mingling and Dining Savvy.

Chef Gretchen Gates is going to show us how to cook for health by keeping all the bad stuff out of our food: sugar, white flour, preservatives. She's also going to show you how to sneak veggies in your kids' food, a la Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, but Gretchen goes one step further to teach us about "superfoods" and how to cook them and how to get your whole family eating well. Gretchen owned a catering company in Arizona, and through a series of interesting twists began helping people manage their Fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis through their diet. She has seen amazing results with very simple changes.

We have an I Can't Cook! skills class series, for all of you who would like to enjoy cooking but don't know where to start.. We're also offering an amazing bread class, Asian inspired cuisine classes and wine tastings. 

Chef Tabetha Martinez is hosting couples nights with her personal trainer husband. Bring your significant other, and they will show you how to get dinner on the table in record time by splitting tasks, working together and at the same time eating good, healthy food.

We're also planning a great men's cooking class, "MAKE. EAT!" Hoo haa. No ladies allowed. We promise not to make you wear an apron unless you want one, and if you want to bring your own knives, that's cool.

Then there's FAMILY NIGHT! Imagine this...you and your husband/partner/best friend take your kids to Cookology. The adults spend the night making braised Moroccan chicken with parmesan polenta and wilted spinach, and finish with creme brulee, all in the professional kitchen. And the kids, with one of our kid's instructors in the kid's kitchen, make wheat pizza dough, pizza sauce from scratch and top it off with veggies, meats and a variety of cheeses. Don't forget the parfait sundaes for dessert! Then miracle of miracles everyone sits down to eat together! How fun is that going to be?

Now...if only we can get the doors open! Hang in there my new friends, we have so much to share with you.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

And we're off...again

Hey Everyone, I'm so sorry I've been MIA for so long. We hit a few snags the moment I signed the lease, but things have happily worked themselves out and now we're moving quickly.

Last week, we broke ground. Here's a pic of my general contractor from Restaurant Design & Construction, Jim Juliano (far left) and Greg Juliano (far right). Jane Miller, second from right, is the Mall's Tenant Coordinator. She's been a big fan of Cookology from the start and has done nothing but help me push the build-out along. And that's me, second from left, the frazzled yet joyful owner. Behind us is Cookology. In a few weeks we'll have walls and equipment and lots of great kitchenware.
We're looking at a December or January opening, and will begin class registration mid-November. If you're part of our mailing list you will get a pre-reservation heads-up a week before everyone else on when and how to register online. The response to our "Coming Soon" sign at the Mall has been overwhelming, and so far we have over 500 people on our mailing list. To be one of the first to sign up you and your kids for classes in December, January and February, join our mailing list!

Come meet us!

Come out to meet me at the Great Kids Expo Chantilly, Va. I'll be offering discounts to upcoming classes for kids and adults. Plus we'll have gift certificates you can purchase for friends and family for the holidays. I'll be joined by my kid's class coordinator, Anna Reeves. Anna is an elementary school teacher and owner of an amazing kid's chef company, Tiny Chefs. She'll be responsible for making sure your kids are entertained, informed and taken care of during classes.

Our executive chef Doug Singer has lined up some amazing chefs for our adult cooking classes in December including former executive chefs and sommeliers from some of DC's top restaurants. (I can't wait to take my own classes!)

On this blog, I'll keep you up to date on the construction. The newsletter will give you specifics on classes, demos and our upcoming product lines. 

Can't wait for you to join us!

Thanks for your patience.

All the Best,
The Cookology Team

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Cool, New Kitchen Gear


I'm a Gizmodo blog fan. While at first I'll admit I only read it so people will think I'm cool (which is very important to me), I realized there's a lot to learn on this little techie site, even for food lovers. Their blogs about the latest tech gadgets on the market occasionally showcase new or concept kitchen appliances, utensils and kitchenware.

Gizmodo, in their typical irreverent way, panned the appliance shown, but I think it's rather useful for a small kitchen, and is efficiently paired, especially if you drink tea, Chai or instant coffee, and love toast or tartines in the morning. You could pop in crumpets and heat the water for tea at tea time if you're British. Perhaps you could put it in your cube at Gizmodo to heat up hot chocolate or reheat that morning's Starbucks and toast Pop Tarts. This is refined cubicle hardware. We're definitely carrying this at Cookology.

Attention bakers and persnickety cooks! The spoon scale is here. Accurate to 1/10 of a gram!

I'm psyched about this because most Euro and Asian cookbooks and some vintage cookbooks measure ingredients using the metric system. It looks like it's only being sold in the UK. Don't worry, we'll get it in the store.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

COOKOLOGY IS GOING TO BE A REALITY

The time has come!

Cookology, recreational cooking school and gourmet cookware shop is coming to Dulles Town Center in late 2008/early 2009.