by Ilona Saari

Exploring Ojai’s Very Own Cooking School at the Lavender Inn

The first time I ever heard of a cooking class was back in middle school.

Where? “Shop!” Woodworking and electric for the boys, sewing and cooking for the girls and “never the twain shall meet.” Of course, I wanted to take electric shop and had to convince my school to let me. They agreed, as long as I took cooking. Easy peezy, my mom had been teaching me how to cook since I was a toddler, but boy oh boy, the boys wouldn’t be caught dead in an apron in front of a stove.

Oh, how things have changed.  Men discovered “iron chefs.” Of course they did… it was a competition!  No bashing of heads or running around bases, but they could relate. They learned about Kosher salt vs. good ol’ Morton’s, extra virgin olive oil vs. canola oil, and discovered the holy grail of wine pairings.  Girls moved from their middle school’s cooking class and their moms’ kitchens to lessons from the Barefoot Contessa and Emeril (Bam!).  “Foodies” were born.  Cooking classes became as common as foodie puns on aprons (“Keep Calm & Curry On,” “Don’t Go Bacon My Heart” — but I digress).  Chefs in little out-of-the-way bistros in the countrysides of Europe offered classes to tourists. Homegrown chefs in restaurants all over America began holding classes in their kitchens.  Regular folks began throwing around words like aioli, puttanesca and chimichurri. And, right here in our village, we have our very own cooking school, the Ojai Culinary School at the Lavender Inn, where classes are conducted in the Inn’s country kitchen by some of the best private chefs in the valley.

Built in 1874 as the town’s very first schoolhouse (how appropriate) when our hamlet was known as Nordhoff, the Lavender Inn became a private residence in the 1930s and eventually morphed into the charming bed & breakfast it is today.

The Ojai Culinary School classes take place on Sunday afternoons. Each class is taught by a different private chef and offers various “themes,” ranging anywhere from Chef Randy Graham’s popular pizza making class to Clarissa Fishman’s “Speak — Cook — Eat,” a 4-course Italian cooking class (with wine pairing) to a class on making sourdough bread (you get to take home a “starter”). Try a private “team building” class, the school’s version of the TV show “Chopped.” Two teams of friends or corporate employees are given the same ingredients to create their own dishes which are judged by a guest chef. You might even win a ‘prize.’

A cooking school in a charming old inn? How could I resist? I am a foodie, after all. The day I attended, Chef Robin Goldstein was at the stove conducting a regional pixie tangerine lesson that began with a “to die for” pixie crab terrine with a shallot-champagne vinaigrette, followed by a savory roasted beet salad with pixie tangerines, avocado and goat cheese with a pixie tangerine dressing, coupled with melt-in-your mouth mini-pixie tangerine muffins, and topped off with a truly delicious pixie tangerine pudding. I was whistling pixie!

While in her class, I realized that it doesn’t matter how experienced you are in the kitchen, everyone is welcome to enroll in this school.

Just don’t forget your notebook and pencil (or iPad), and don’t forget to prime your taste buds.

For more information on upcoming classes, check out the school’s website.

lavenderinn.com/ojai-culinary-school/