Sticky #gingerbread a la Nigella Lawson #fhlearn #fhcatering #holiday #bakingJoe Tong

The fav of many: Broccoli Salad #fhcatering #fhlearn #sd36learnJoe Tong

Turkey prepped and ready to go for our Food Art Holiday Dinner today! #fhlearn #sd36learnJoe Tong

Testing a chocolate truffle recipe. Smells amazing #fhlearnJoe Tong

Decorated truffle! #fhlearn #sd36learnJoe Tong

Birthday cupcake #fhlearn #sd36learnJoe Tong

Deep fried bocconcini – holiday dinner 2012 #fhlearnJoe Tong

One of our grads. @crotoscro, getting our gravy and cranberry sauce ready! #fhlearnJoe Tong

Bird is out of the oven! #fhlearn #holidaydinnerJoe Tong

Mash! #fhlearn #holidaydinnerJoe Tong

Vegetable tempura galore #fhlearn #holidaydinnerJoe Tong

Stuffing! #fhlearn #holidaydinnerJoe Tong

Pastries! #fhlearnJoe Tong

Cupcakes #fhlearnJoe Tong

Cupcakes #fhlearnJoe Tong

Cupcakes again! #fhlearnJoe Tong

More pastries #fhlearnJoe Tong

Beautiful mess of holiday food #fhlearn #sd36learnJoe Tong

Holiday dinner with guests #social #holidaydinner #sd36learn #fhlearnJoe Tong

I am proud of my first Food Art 11 class for putting on such a spectacular and intimate dinner for their peers and for some friends of Food Art 11. Students created their own recipes after being randomly assigned a particular course for our holiday meal. With little direction, they came up with the beautiful pieces you see here with very little top-down direction from me. Yes, at times it was messy and unpredictable – but did they figure out things for themselves? You bet. What you see here is the end result and everyone is happy. There definitely were some bumps along the way and we learned how to adapt together. As Mr. Tong usually says – “…such is life.”