« Graffiti for Good | A Luxury Pop-Up Shop » |
Culture Thu Jun 23 2011
A Short Evening with Dabble
Dabble - How it works from Jess & Erin on Vimeo.
I spent the better part of last night scrubbing pieces of pasta dough from my skin. Every few minutes, I noticed a rogue piece in the thick strands of my too-long bangs or embedded in the crease of my elbow. Earlier in the evening, I attended one of Dabble's classes (How to Make Fresh Pasta) and the experience was pleasant for this curious attendee. Growing up, my experience with the classic dish was limited to dry spaghetti and my mother's tomato meat sauce. As I've grown older, my tastes have expanded exponentially but my experiences making food from scratch is still a work in progress.
Last night's class, hosted by Brandon Biederman, was an intimate affair with less than 15 people. However, what the class lacked in size it made up for in down-and-dirty hands-on instruction. Biederman's instructions were thoughtful and accommodated the most skilled to the most inexperienced. I was able to "dig in," literally, as I mixed egg yolk with semolina. I cranked the dough until it was long and thin. I rolled and constructed the ravioli - filled with fresh basil or buffalo mozzarella or prosciutto - and ate it, near-gluttonously like my fellow classmates. As a means of exploring the cooking process, this Dabble class, like many of their offerings, was an infinite success.
Classes are $20. Dabble recently added new classes ranging from topics as diverse as creative non-fiction, dog care, urban composting, and creating hand-bound books. Visit Dabblehq.com for more information about signing up for, hosting, or suggesting a class.