Now in Module 4 of my Culinary Arts Career Program , we've ventured into the world of pastry and baking where butter, sugar and flour rule.

Two nights, 20 sauces. This was the task at hand as I stepped into the kitchen for my very first two-session recreational class at ICE, Mother Sauces and Their Offspring.

If I’ve learned one thing so far about pastry and baking, it’s patience.

One of the benefits of being President of ICE, is that I can go to any class I want. So on Monday Feb 22nd, I joined the Culinary Management students at ICE for a special morning talk and tasting from Randall Grahm, founder of Central California’s Bonny Doon Vineyard, and one of the original “Rhone Rangers” (a term granted to those who preserve and produce Rhone varietals in California).

I've had a lot of "firsts" as a student in ICE's Culinary Arts Career Program, and cooking scallops was right up there with filleting a fish, making homemade pasta, rolling sushi and disjointing a lobster.

This rich pasta recipe features a sautéed mix of sun-dried tomatoes, creamy mascarpone, and delicate chanterelle mushrooms.

I’m not sure why, but I am always shocked and delighted by how ICE’s Asian food cooking classes sneak up on me and become my absolute favorites. Perhaps it’s because I spent some of my formative years in Asia, and so there’s an emotional attachment, or perhaps it’s because many of the recipes take a slew of ingredients that I don’t generally use and therefore will never have room for in my teeny-tiny kitchen. But most likely, my love of ICE’s Asian-themed cooking classes is a result of the vast number of techniques the classes expose me to.

In the last three weeks I have been able to cross off two major items on my never-ending culinary bucket list: learn how to make homemade pasta and roll my very own sushi.