Elliot signed us up for a potsticker cooking class at Hot Stove Society as my birthday present. I am not a huge fan of potstickers mostly because I don't know how to cook potstickers. I always end up boiling my Ling-Ling dumplings. I think this is the way of him saying "stop ruining the Ling-Ling dumplings for me." The cooking workshop is located inside a nice boutique hotel, so even before I saw the workshop, I already felt super cozy (I love cute boutique hotels!) Once I walked in to the workshop, I was surprised how nice everything looks. (I went into the class not having set any expectation because my mind was preoccupied with thoughts about my last week at Microsoft.) We were instantly greeted with alcoholic drinks and some finger snacks. There were six huge butcher block tables for the students and lots of professional-grade kitchen appliances in the back of the room. The front of the room was the instructor's kitchen and large monitors showing better view of the instructor's chopping block and stoves.
The class started with a demo of making different components of potstickers from scratch. I was told that we probably would only make few things on our own, so my fingers were crossed that I didn't have to actually make potstickers. It just looked incredibly hard even though the instructor managed to make it look effortless. I was even hoping we didn't have to make anything because then I had to stand up from my chair (yes, I am that lazy.) At the end, my wish didn't come true so I had to get off my butt and start making dumpling skins and wrapping the fillings. To my surprise, making dumpling skins was not as dreadful as I thought. I struggled with a few at the beginning but then I improved quite a bit. Then, to my surprise again, it was actually pretty effortless. I was having fun cooking something I thought was impossible to make.
The end result was incredible. The potstickers were SO GOOD. I'd actually pay to eat them at a restaurant. This certainly boosted my confidence in my cooking. Now I want to try all sorts of dishes such as homemade pasta and maybe hand shaved noodles for beef noodle soup which I've always dreaded making. (I just realized rice lovers have it easy. They just go pick the best rice and they're all set.) Definitely a 5-star experience.
