Pat's Kitchen opens in Hartington

Aug 25, 2011

Photo courtesy of Pat Patricia Ward

Patricia Ward loves nothing more than cooking, and she aims to share her lifelong love with like-minded individuals in the community. Having recently retired from a long career in the high-tech world, Pat has just launched her new cooking school and business, and is offering small classes at her waterfront home on Hambly Lake in Hartington.

Pat spent years as a youngster in her grandmother’s kitchen, watching and helping her grandmother bake. She has since attended various cooking schools and classes in her world-wide travels in North America, North Africa and Europe, and also acquired a Culinary Diploma from Algonquin College in Ottawa in 2010. She is a trained artistic cake designer and decorator, and earlier in her life she baked and sold cakes from her home. She has studied Tex/Mex cooking in San Antonio, Texas, Sicilian cooking in Italy, and has taken numerous courses at the Cordon Bleu school in Ottawa. So it is no wonder that she is making cooking her new focus since retiring. “Some people eat to live whereas I live to eat,” she joked.

Her new business is called Pat's Kitchen, and on August 20 she launched the first of many classes with a session on Thai Cuisine, in which she and five students prepared a full-course Thai meal that included a sweet and sour lemongrass soup, fresh mango salad with a classic Thai dressing, a main course of red curried chicken and a typical Thai dessert made with sticky rice and coconut cream. Following the session, participants sat down to enjoy the meal they prepared and were given the recipes to take home and try in the comfort of their own kitchens.

Pat says that her classes are not just about eating, but cover all one needs to know to add ethnic foods into their regular meal roster at home. “Education is a big part of what I do in my classes - we not only cook but I also teach students about ingredients, where to find them, and how to pick the best. After that we work specifically on the recipes I have chosen for the class and I divide up all of the tasks between the students so that everyone can see first hand how to prepare each item on the menu.”

The prep time can vary from class to class and on Saturday the students spent about two hours preparing the food and another two sitting around the table enjoying it together. “Many people like to go out and enjoy ethnic cuisine in restaurants. I’m aiming to teach cooks how they can prepare the ethnic food that they love right in their own homes.” Pat is offering a number of ethnic food themed courses at her home this fall. On September 8 she is offering a vegetarian sushi class. She says, “Personally, I didn't think that I liked sushi until I was shown by a Japanese chef how to make it. It's incredibly easy to make and is the perfect hors d'oeuvre.”

On Sept. 10 she will be giving a class on making salsa from summer-fresh tomatoes, and on Oct. 1 she will be offering a class on Moroccan cooking, something that is close to her heart and that she has incorporated into her home.

Pat had her kitchen designed specifically to accommodate the cooking school. The open concept log home is perfect for accommodating large groups and the kitchen boasts a 7x6 foot island that provides each student with a comfortable work space. Her Italian Ilve gas stove provides the control needed by professional cooks, and an ample supply of kitchen utensils and a huge sink make her classes easy to participate in and enjoy.

Future classes will include how to prepare a typical roast beef dinner, and there will be a special class on cooking fish and one dedicated to Christmas baking. “These classes are perfect for new young cooks who want to learn how to prepare these basic meals, which can seem overwhelming to those who have never done a lot of cooking before.”

For more information visit www.patskitchen.ca or call her at 613-374-1366.