Course Description

• Classes limited to 12 students per session
• Classes are at least 5 hours in length each week
• Students in the course are eligible to be involved in our Student Assistant Program where they get the opportunity to assist teachers and chefs, participate in our Catering operations and in Community Service functions in return for credit toward classes outside of this series. Our students have also been invited to assist with major events such as The Academy Awards, Grammy's, and Wolfgang Puck's annual Food and Wine Festival on the backlot of Universal Studios.
• Students may be placed in apprenticeship positions at selected restaurant and hotel kitchens so that they will have the opportunity to experience real work situations while in the program
• Students completing all 3 sessions receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program and will be referred for restaurant and other food related job openings if qualified and interested
• Cost is $4295.00 for the complete 24 session series, payable with a deposit and 3 additional installments

Additional Information

Classes will include guest speakers and chefs where appropriate, and Cecilia will arrange special tours of wholesale markets and kitchen facilities, at no additional charge, except for meals. Optional dinners at fine dining restaurants are often set up for students to help develop their palates, experience different cuisine, explore visual presentations, and to meet successful chefs during the course.

Textbooks, chef's caps, additional chef's jackets, professional knives and knife cases are all available for purchase at a discount in the store. Chef's jackets for the course may be purchased from Cecilia and she can also arrange for them to be personalized. Students receive an ongoing 15% discount in the store and invitations to attend several classes outside of the course for free during their enrollment.

Instructor

Cecilia de Castro has coordinated our professional program for the past twenty years. Cecilia has a degree in Food Science and Nutrition and is a Certified Culinary Professional with the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In addition to direct restaurant kitchen experience, she currently consults to restaurants and food suppliers, caters large functions and food festivals, and tests recipes for cookbooks. She helped produce recipes for Wolfgang Puck's television show on the Food Network. She has experience arranging many special projects related to food and has earned several awards and recognition for her efforts. She was nominated for Best Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2004. She is well known and respected in the professional food community.

Course Schedule

There are two separate groups that meet once a week on Mondays or Wednesdays. Classes for the next series will begin on:

• Monday, September 22, at 6:00 pm
• Wednesday, September 24, at 9:00 am
• Note: If there is enough demand, we will add a Sunday class which will normally begin at 4:00 p.m. Times for classes may vary on some Sundays because of other scheduled activities.

(Note: The classes will continue weekly at these time slots except on holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Any dates missed by students may be made up in future sessions.)

Orientation Information

We will hold a free orientation class entitled Exploring a Professional Food Career on Tuesday, August 12, at 6:30 PM, for all potential new students who would like to learn more about our program. Please sign up ahead.

All potential students are encouraged to fill out an application for the program and to make a deposit on the course as soon as possible. Classes do fill quickly.

Please contact Let's Get Cookin' for more information at (818) 991-3940.

New Information -- Please take note!

Students enrolled are also required to take a knife skills class with Cecilia to be held on Sunday, September 21, at 10:30 AM. There is an additional $35.00 fee. We will contact all students to confirm.