The Bleu Ribbon Kitchen Experience

Have you ever seen pure bliss? Complete joy, excitement and passion lighting someone from inside? Let me show you what it looks like:

Those were tears of joy in my eyes. Seriously! Why was I so happy? I was making cookies at the Le Cordon Bleu!!!

Last month I went to Food, Fight, Write, a food blogging conference in Las Vegas, held in conjunction with The World Food Championships. One of our field trips was to lunch at Le Cordon Bleu! Not just any lunch, but a tasting tour of nine different kitchen classrooms, each with its own chef instructor, culinary students and different foods to try.  Talk about heaven!  I harbor a secret deep desire to go to Culinary School at Le Cordon Bleu!  (I guess it’s not so secret now!  HA!) The opportunity to tour the school and get a peek inside the kitchen classrooms was a dream come true!

We were there because Le Cordon Bleu has a fabulous program called Bleu Ribbon Kitchen.  It’s a series of culinary workshops designed for cooking enthusiasts! (Does this sound like anyone you know?)  A complete list of workshops can be found at: Bleu Ribbon Kitchen Workshops. We got sneak peeks of their classes on Cookies, Cake and Cupcake Decorating, Holiday Treats, Rustic Desserts, Game Day Snacks, Vegetarian Cuisine A.K.A. “Who says healthy food can’t be sexy?”, Korean BBQ, Dim Sum and there was even a kitchen dedicated to showing us how to make Ice Sculptures and create food decorations!

All the workshops are taught by Le Cordon Bleu professional chefs in the same commercial kitchens where future chefs are taught AND you get an apron!

Can guess which Bleu Ribbon Kitchen workshop was my favorite? Here’s a hint:

There were so many of us on the field trip and so many fun things to see, they split us up into groups to go to specific workshops first, then we were free to wander to the rest of the kitchens.

The miracle of fate took me to the Cookie Workshop first. I swear, _I_ didn’t choose it!  Once there, I didn’t want to leave.  They offered us the opportunity to work with the culinary students and make some cookies ourselves, instead of just watching.  You can bet I JUMPED on that opportunity!  Here I am with one of the students making Raspberry-Hazelnut Rugelach!

I asked twelve million questions about the program, how they liked it, what they were learning and the whole time I prayed I was making the cookies the right way!  This poor student was very patient.  She’s laughing at me because I kept saying “I can’t believe I get to make cookies here! Thank you!! Please Lord, don’t let me mess them up!”  I was so nervous, but it was such a thrill!  I can forever say “I made cookies at Le Cordon Bleu!”

Not too bad for an amateur!

And they were delicious!! Baking is truly my passion. It simply makes me happy and making cookies at Le Cordon Bleu was nothing short of amazing!

After I explored the rest of the Bleu Ribbon Kitchen classrooms, somehow I found myself back in the Cookie classroom, where the Culinary Instructor, Chef Kathy let me make  chewy ginger molasses cookies!

She was a LOT of fun!  She even called me out for coming back not once, but three times! Ok, so I might have popped my head in as I walked past on my way to another classroom. Whatever Chef!

Uh-huh.  Not only can I say I made cookies at Le Cordon Bleu, but I was photo-bombed by a Professional Le Cordon Bleu Chef Instructor!  We were laughing so hard and having such a good time baking together.  They really did make us feel at home and encouraged us to try different things and ask as many questions as we wanted!

Do you know the BEST part of this whole experience?  Le Cordon Bleu is generously offering YOU an opportunity to take one of their Bleu Ribbon Workshops for a discount! That’s right! Give a workshop as a gift to your favorite food enthusiast, or take one yourself! When you register for a workshop use the code BRKLV1420 for 20% off! I know I’ll be checking out our local Le Cordon Bleu locations for classes. Maybe I’ll try their Steak at Home Workshop, Bistro Bread or even the Dim Sum Workshop. They all sound delicious!

Enjoy your discount (Thank you Le Cordon Bleu and Bleu Ribbon Kitchen!!) and please remember to share your workshop photos with me! I’d love to see them!