Ambrosia Tangents: Chez Atelier Melissa Coppel

In October, I had the amazing opportunity to take a class with Chef Melissa Coppel (incredibly talented and you MUST check her insta out here). Before I tell you about my journey, I want to give a massive shoutout to THE Ohio State University for making this possible- OSU has some great programs (esp. Food Science, and if you're someone who's even remotely interested.. please reach out!)

My day 1 in Vegas started with me grabbing some of the nicest grease I've had in a long time... mind you, it was 12am and the last time I ate was lunch at eastern time. I'd love some Inn and Out, but Burger Kind isn't half bad in Vegas.

Before I even talk about the class, I just want to give a shoutout for all the amazing lunched we had. Here's mole, made right in Chef Melissa's home. It reminded me of food from my childhood, and I swear I had the biggest grin after that meal.

And now for the important bit- the class. Chef Melissa's way of teaching is very interesting, in that everyone in the class gets a chance to see everything which I love- a lot of schools traditionally delegate or make multiple batches, but I do like her strategy of getting to learn each formula from her. It was more of a quality over quantity kind of deal. She also cares a lot about the quality of the product and excellence in execution, which explains why her product always looks and tastes top notch. With such sensitive and labor-intensive products like this, the margin or error goes up- and I kind of realized why being a chocolatier is perhaps one of the professions where you couldn't possibly excel without passion. She not only has a wealth of knowledge about chocolate, but also running a business while being a great mum. One of the things that really sets her apart is how much she cares about her students and empowering women, which I love.

An added perk of the class was getting to meet Gabriel Riva, master of several trades and jack of none- we got to try some of his gelato during the class, and I still have dreams about it on occasion. Something common between the two that I observed that even though their execution was flawless, they paid great attention to the quality and characteristics of their raw materials.