Take a cooking class at Sur La Table in Manhasset

Pick a country, any country. Then pick your favorite dish from that country. Is it noodles from Thailand? Dumplings from Asia? Or just plain chicken strips from America? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could cook that dish just like a professional chef? Now, you can, at Sur La Table cooking school and store in Manhasset.

Here’s a little history of Sur La Table. In 1972, Shirley Collins kept on going back and forth from Europe to America. She loved to cook and when she came back to America, she got angry because she didn’t have the right utensils to make the food she wanted. She started a shop, Sur La Table (which means “on the table” in French), in Seattle, and it’s still there. At Sur La Table in Manhasset on Northern Boulevard, they do classes for kids and adults. You don’t need experience, but if you do have experience, you can do a higher level of cooking.

There is an amazing store on the first floor. In the basement there is a beautiful kitchen. For the holidays, they do special demonstrations and events. All the classes are hands-on, so you can do everything the chef does. It’s really fun — believe me, I did it. I participated in a one-week camp, and I made so much. I made homemade pasta from Italy, chocolate truffles, cornflake-coated chicken and much more, and I was only there for a week. If you’re lucky, you might get to do a Chopped Challenge, which is just like the TV show. It’s awesome. You can register in the store or online at surlatable.com. What are you waiting for, chef? Get cooking. Bon appetit!

Debbie Cain and Derrick Horodyski’s sixth-grade class, Chatterton Elementary School, Merrick