Angry Cows, Chalkboards, Alton Brown and Another Shameless Plug

Chalkboards are synonymous with teaching and learning and just about as common to see somewhere near Alton Brown; whether that's on TV or at one of his demos. It just wouldn't be right if a huge ol' slab of slate and a stick of calcium sulfate weren't somewhere in the vicinity of Alton pontificating, in fact he quipped at Cleveland's Fabulous Food Show that he traveled with a chalkboard, a leftover fetish of childhood. He's even been spotted in New York City with one during last year's NY Wine and Food Festival.

Most of the demos I've attended, AB has broken into drawing molecules, illustrations and meat maps, going so far as drawing his "angry cow" meat map (seen below) to liven up his Cleveland demo. On Good Eats, no episode is complete without getting a look at what is drawn on the refrigerator's chalkboard door or when the old, squeaky board rolls in frame.


Chalkboards and learning about food and cooking go hand in glove, in my mind at least. So when I recently scored a chance to teach a cooking class for my county's parks and recreation departments, one of the first comments I made to mom was "I need a chalkboard."

Yeah, I'm that warped.

The room were I'll be teaching the classes has a mighty fine kitchen set up, better than my home kitchen, but lacking in the classroom end of things. After checking out my class' digs, I rattled on about what I would be doing for the sessions and what I'd need. Chalkboard came up and my Mom immediately said she had chalkboard on an easel. Mom's countless yard sale and church rummage sale ventures always pay off eventually.

Lo and behold, she did have a chalkboard. A chalkboard on legs no less. A perfect, albeit small, replica of the Good Eats chalkboard! The only thing missing were wheels (oh and the squeaky sound effects). I gave the board a test run buy drawing the most appropriate image I could think of...

An angry Cow mini me.

Its a little short and the board itself isn't as wide, so no posing like AB did with his board. It will, however, help me teach my students something about cooking techniques, food and maybe I'll throw in a fun illustration as well.

One small step to becoming the next AB or Julia Child, after all she started by teaching classes while living in France.

If you're in the Charleston - Huntington, W.Va. area and would like to attend my class or know someone who would be interested, drop me a line at lisa@allaboutalton.com. The classes start in April. The room is small so I'm maxing out the class at 15 people. And I hope to get that many so I can gloat that my class outsold Sandra Lee's demo slated for Charleston back in 2009. Seems Aunt Sandy canceled a charity event because she only sold 14 tickets. I know more people would like to learn cooking from an AB wannabe anyway, so I'm sure to pack them in. ;)

March may be a slow posting month as I extrapolate all of the cooking info and recipes from my brain. That, I have discovered, is one of the more difficult things about this journey thus far, taking what I've been cooking for years sans recipes and making it approachable to beginners. Something else I'd love to talk with AB about someday. Perhaps when I trade in the not-for-profit food writing for the bright lights and fame of TV cooking he'll think I have the cred to chat it up with him and we can talk about some of those things I've yearned to discuss on a deeper level than a few minutes at a book signing.

Until then, I'll be a little sardine in a little pond trying help people understand more about what's going on in the kitchen and how to make a decent meal for their families while passing on my passion of cooking.