Events

Covenant Christian School has a commercial quality kitchen facility for training students in hospitality. The school is one of only a few offering this level of courses in the Northern Beaches. On Monday the 17th of November, Covenant Christian School students as well as some parents, got to experience a sushi making class, led by Mrs Nakashima and Miss Nishimura – and assisted by many helpful volunteers. The class started off by separating off into smaller groups, and running through a brief overview of the history of sushi. We then got straight into the making the sushi. Rice was already provided, as it is a lot quicker this way.

The teachers and volunteers gave us a quick lesson on how to correctly roll the sushi. In sushi making you use a bamboo mat to roll the seaweed and rice into a roll. We learnt best not to overfill the seaweed with rice, because it overflows. The volunteers would help us out if we were having difficulties, however they would show us, but not take over, which was a plus. Along with many other people, I made as many rolls as I could, however by the end of the class, half of them had already been eaten. We got to choose from a variety of flavours such as; tuna, crab, avocado and cucumber.

The class went by all too quickly. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who could have  kept on going, making sushi for many more hours, however it was time to go home. I would like to give a big thanks to Mrs Nakashima and Miss Nishimura and the many other helpful volunteers, who put so much time and effort into making an enjoyable and  memorable afternoon.  

Joshua Foster

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Here is a brief report from a parent...

I had the privilege of attending the sushi making class on Monday afternoon in G22!  My arrival was greeted by Anna, who was to wow us with her knowledge of all things sushi (I never knew there were so many varieties!!).

A high school student amazed us with his deft hand at making sushi, and then it was our turn!  It wasn’t as hard as I’d thought, especially with all the ingredients prepared in advance for us!  We quickly turned the piles of rice, cucumber, avocado and sticks of crab meat, tuna and nori into sushi rolls just like the shops sell! 

Thank you to Anna and all her able helpers for such an enjoyable afternoon, and making it look so easy!

Jenny Pierson

 

40 excited students, delicious aromas and a tasting of Chinese yum cha was a great way to celebrate the Olympics and learn about food culture.   The year 10 Design & Technology and year 9 Food Technology students and a few staff indulged in a yum cha lunch.

Yum Cha traditionally means –drinking tea, the Chinese would meet at tea houses for yum cha, they soon decided that it was nice to eat food with their tea so they added “dim sim” – food, to their yum cha so that the people could gather together, enjoy company in a relaxed setting and eat.


The students partook in 5 different yum cha delicacies – chicken dim sims, pork buns, vegetable gowgees, dumplings and vegetable puffs, all served with soy sauce or spicy plum sauce. All the food was steamed and served fresh as was the traditional way.  The students enjoyed the experience and were enthusiastic to try the yum cha experience further with their friends and families outside school.

Even thought the student ate with forks, traditionally the Chinese would use either chopsticks or for smaller items toothpicks, the toothpicks would them be used to clean food from around the teeth. This was not considered impolite to do in public. There were many other customs we learnt about, one was the one of tapping two or three fingers on the table at the end of the “tea” to show that we appreciated the meal and to thank the host or inviting us. Another is when someone does finish a pot of tea the lid is always turned upside down to indicate this. This custom began when a poor young boy who had just caught an exotic bird which he could sell for lots of money, placed the bird inside the teapot. The waiter lifted the lid of the pot to see if he was finished his tea and the bird flew out, thus resulting on a brawl over who should pay for the boys lost income, thus the sign for an empty pot was to turn the lid over.

It was a great way to learn about the Chinese “yum cha” and a culture that have influence the Australian diet.