Who's a chef?

Certainly not me, but I did have my first cooking class tonight, courtesy of Sur La Table. The menu for the evening:
Crostini with Homemade Ricotta and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Jam
Crispy Onion Rings with Homemade Tomato-Chipotle Ketchup (my team worked on this)
Polpettini: Little meatballs braised in tomatoes, garlic, and white wine
Asiago and Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pizzas
Mini Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Frosting

17 people attended and the class ran from 6:00 to 8:30. The instructor and assistants were great and the recipes were fairly easy to follow. I tried making onion rings once before (with much assistance) and I'm happy to say that should I ever try again, I now know some tricks to make things easier. The ketchup is fantastic and truly easy to make (toss everything into a blender, blend, and then heat for about 20-30 min). Everything we had was pretty spectacular and while the Polpettini was voted favortie dish of the class, my vote went to the surprisingly good Crostini with Homemade Ricotta and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Jam (who knew making ricotta cheese was so easy?).

All in all, a very fun evening and I'm hoping to do more of this kind of thing in the near future.