Find your wings.

image credit: realsimple.com

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season! I sure did, and am just getting back into my groove after 3 rounds of company, many, many desserts and meals made and I don’t even want to think about the dishes. I’m finally caught up around here (although if you’ve driven by my house, you’ll see my Christmas trees are still up!).

Hope you’ll start the year off right by signing up for a few classes! Click on the link to the new schedule for January/February/March 2012: here.

Photo via hgtv.com

After a several month hiatus, Social is back in the kitchen with sleeves up and ready to dig in! A little R & R (or maybe a lot!) can go a long way in recharging batteries and getting back in the swing.

I’ve missed seeing your smiling faces in my kitchen! And speaking of my kitchen – we had our granite countertops installed this summer! My kitchen is coming together so beautifully! I can hardly wait to share it with you all!

Please take a peek at the Fall classes and see which ones excite you! Sign up is easy – just email or call (abgeist@hotmail.com or 990-4493). A reminder that my schedule is flexible. If a class interests you, and the time doesn’t work out for your schedule – there might be several other people with the same predicament. Just give me a call or send me an email and I’ll see what I can do.

For now, Happy Fall! Wishing you a wonderful season of colorful mums and pretty pumpkins – and of course warm, mouth-watering, satisfying fall foods!

Where to begin? This summer has been a blur of travel, home projects and attempting to stay cool.

I should start with Memorial Day, as that’s what most people think of as the start of the summer season. We went to Ellsworth to my in-laws, as we do every year for a wonderful picnic filled with lots of Rathbun relatives, young and old. It’s held in my mother and father-in-laws’ beautiful backyard on the farm that has an incredibly breathtaking bluff as the backdrop. Always a wonderful time, and lots of good eats, too. Where is the photo, you might ask? Well, I was so busy chatting and eating, I forgot.

Next up, came a memorial golf tournament in my father’s honor. Most definitely bittersweet. Miss him like crazy. Can hardly believe this much time has passed since I’ve heard his voice or hugged him. One hundred of his friends and family gathered to raise over $14,000 for a scholarship for his alma matter, Northwest Missouri State. We enjoyed seeing some of dad’s friends, ones that the last time we saw them it was a much more somber experience. It made me feel connected to dad to be around all the people he loved and love him back.

A wonderful surprise came from our trip to Mt. Ayr, Iowa (dad’s hometown and where the golf tournament was located). Randy and I coaxed and begged for my 85 1/2 (apparently you start counting the halves again when you get that old) year old GG to come home with us. Sure, GG’s been to my house to visit. But it was always quick visits with my dad.

GG came to visit for 2 weeks here in Wichita. She was able to experience one of my cooking classes, the art of running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off (which I tend to do a fair amount), go to Red Rock Canyon Grill for a Perfect Margarita – twice and shop till we dropped – day after day! GG has quite the sweet tooth, and she went through 6 or 7 dozen Krispy Kremes on that 2 week trip to Kansas! Clearly we were trying to put weight back on her. (Gee, how I wish that were my problem!) Mission accomplished for her at least!

You might have noticed from driving by our house that we landscaped a large portion in the front and had the trim painted on the house. It was no small job as we have a ridiculous amount of windows in this house! Bless those guys’ hearts who worked in the CRAZY heat tirelessly to get my job done before the party. So thankful because it looks awesome! All of the doors are now purple (although the front and back have been purple for a while) and the trim a cool charcoal grey color.

Many other couples, Randy and I hosted a couples shower in early July for our friends, Kevin and Lauren. Randy and I rushed to get so many things done around the house to get ready for the party and it was so worth it. Beautiful party, beautiful couple and everyone enjoyed the Mexican food, Jesse and David – best bartenders in town – from At Your Service, The Shoes as musical entertainment and the flowing Lovelies (tasty cocktail) and other libations. I should at LEAST have a photo of this wonderful party, but once again, I was too busy drinking, eating and hosting to worry. Perhaps I need to hire a photographer next time!

I took a week or so to recoop from all of the work I’d done around the house to get ready for such a big party and just RELAXED! It was well worth all of the work, but I was worn out!

Next major happening of the summer was a bachelorette party for my friend Sabeena to Las Vegas! Pretty sure that City of Sin didn’t know what hit it, and like the saying goes, what happens there stays there! Fun times were had by all, a wee bit of drama (hey there were 17 ladies!) and many funny stories!

(Image via thegreenergrass.org)

Spring is my favorite time of year! Flowers blooming, warmer weather, artichoke & asparagus season, the list goes on and on! To celebrate the season, Social is running the BEST offer yet:

Buy 3 classes, get 1 FREE!

Click here to view the schedule.

Purchase classes in packages to make your dollars stretch further. Credits can carry over into the Summer schedule if you would like (and you are welcome to purchase multiple packages).

Please move quickly though. You must buy this package by April 26th!

See you in class, and thank you for your ongoing support!

Although it’s freezing cold and snowy outside, it’s rather toasty warm in my kitchen!

The past 14 months have been a wonderful adventure of food, friendship and fun teaching cooking classes to you all. As I’m sure you have noticed in that time that our edible staples keep rising, so I have raised my class price to $45.

But you’re in luck. Starting today through Saturday, January 15th, you can book your Winter classes for the old class price, $40. Get your calendars out and decide how many nights you’ll spend with me, send me and email (abgeist@hotmail.com) or call (990.4493), and as always, your check is your reservation.

There are still a few spots in Tuesday’s class, One Dish Wonders as well as Thursday’s Alice Waters’ Meatless Meal. Call soon cause they won’t last long.

Happy Snowfall and Keep Warm!

(Image via luminous-landscape.com)

The much awaited Winter 2011 classes are now online. Thanks for your patience. Click here for the schedule. I could not be more ready to be back in the kitchen teaching. And speaking of the kitchen, all of the construction is finished – yay!!! We still have our countertops to go, but the rest is complete. (It’s an ongoing debate – honed granite or soapstone?) Wow, has it changed my life, but I’ll write a post about that later.

So get your calendars out, decide how many times I get to see you in the near future, and let’s get to COOKING!

The summer has flown by so quickly, I can hardly believe it!

Time for back-to-school, cooler temperatures and a whole new crop of Social cooking classes. I can’t decide whether I’m more excited for fall foods or fall weather. This November marks Social’s one year anniversary! What an awesome year it has been, thanks to you all. The lineup of menus will surely have your mouth watering. Can’t wait to see you in class.

Check them out and RSVP soon! They will fill up quickly.