Unbelievable Who turns down business? I called 5 times a day for the last 3 days and left several voicemails. I dragged 4 kids here (half hour drive) to catch someone to help me book a birthday and they say they're in the middle of the class and closed the door on my face. Not closed- slammer. I said I want to talk to someone for a minute they said no we are busy and slammed the door. Is this somewhere I want to spend close to a grand and bloom a parry at??? Absolutely not! read more

Definitely deserving of 5 stars! My friend and I came a little late, but Chef Liz welcomed us with a big smile. We put on our aprons, washed our hands, and quickly got seated to begin our group lesson on knife sharpening and vegetable chopping. She and Chef Adam even walked around to make sure we were doing everything properly and not cutting our fingers off. What I thought was really neat was that Chef Liz had a mirror on the ceiling to provide an aerial view of what she was doing at her station! The menu was great. We had lemon berry scones, quiches, bell pepper and leek hashbrowns, bread pudding, and an omelette bar! Chefs Liz and Adam were very organized and had each station prepared with all the ingredients. They had all the instruments needed to create a truly delicious brunch feast. I will definitely be back to try one of Chef Liz and Chef Adams classes in the near future! read more

I had a blast at Cook LA. Liz is an amazing Chef. I finally learned how to make French Macaroons. Thank you Liz. Susanna read more

Cook LA - Espresso Macaroons - Cooking Schools Near Me

I don't know where to begin. This was the best birthday i had ever done for my daughter ! The patience and the dedication of the chefs was aww worthy ! From the planing to the last minute of the event i was just impressed ! . Liz, thank you ! Chef Adam thank you ! The lovely assistant chef thank you ! I highly recommend Cook LA. Very reasonable price even cheaper than any play area . The service was priceless !!!! What an experience! THANK YOU !! We will be back !! read more

Cook LA - Thank you for everything ! The best birthday every ! - Cooking Schools Near Me

This was a really fun evening. Comfortable; Delicious; Accommodating to all skill levels. Chef Liz is friendly, knowledgeable and gracious. The class was well organized and flowed easily. read more

I really wanted to enjoy this experience, especially since I waited over a year to be able to take the bread making class that was paid for, but the class was very disorganized and time management was severely lacking. Chef Liz is nice and made things fun, but here were the issues I experienced during my class: 1. Expired rapid yeast was used for all of the breads. If paying that much for a course all items should be fresh regardless of what you're making. This also gave the baked items a very yeasty flavor (some more than others), which is not how all baked items should taste...the cinnamon rolls (which are my absolute favorite) were almost inedible in my opinion. 2. The number of breads trying to be tackled in the 2.5 hour window was overly ambitious. When questions were asked about making the breads, techniques for how to do things, etc. the class attendees were taught "shortcuts" because there wasn't enough time to go through the proper process needed for bread making. Isn't that the point of the class though? To know how to properly make bread? 3. We got leftovers of the items to take home, but none of them lasted more than 24 hours and they all had to be thrown out. Strongly believe this was tied to the expired yeast being used and shortcuts given so we could cleanup the space and leave on time. My opinion for future classes is to cut the number of breads being made for the class and extend the class time so attendees can really learn the art of bread making correctly. And no more rapid yeast, please! Sadly, it will be my first and last class. read more

Came here as a birthday gift. Delicious menu, and wonderful atmosphere! Loved the white wine chicken, veggies, and salad. All made by us students. 100% student participation made the class so much fun. Chef Adam was amazing, very personable and so much fun. read more

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Went for a corporate group event, with 12 people. Pros: -Food came out great -Staff was friendly and knowledgeable -Ingredients and recipes were conveniently and efficiently placed around the room Cons: -No parking lot (metered street parking only) -A lot of plastic cookware and melamine serving dishes (not the most hygenic) -Dessert was served on paper plates (I guess this was not the fanciest grade class, however I think I would have felt better if all the equipment was state of the art. Maybe need to try a culinary school instead). -Only 1 small restroom, gets crowded with groups. -Guests are not required to wear gloves, nor did the instructor wear any, during food prep -The room was a bit small read more

AH, yes. "Cook LA". The vanguard of seemingly limitless inadequacy, incompetence, rudeness, and of course "Chef" Liz...the knife wielding succubus who treats you like a three year old who just soiled their pajamas at a sleepover with a friend. I managed to come out of there with an newfound feeling of how underappreciated and admonished one could be as a human being. Incredible what joy one self-titled "expert" in the field of cooking can provide. With years of culinary expertise under my belt I attended an event with some good friends in order to enjoy a tasteful evening of fun and R&R...you know, wine, laughs, good food, etc. Looks good on paper at least. Well, that all soon turned into prep school circa 1872. God forbid I hold a knife the "wrong" way, cut up my onions more than 1cm the "wrong" way causing the mad hatter of a grandmother assistant to bubble with incandescent rage, or (wait for it) dare crack a smile. Talk about fun. I think Lizzy had a dunce hat hidden under her bloomers...along with half of the Sequoia Forest which seemed to be firmly supplanted up her rumpus. So uptight, so wound up, and suuuuch a buzz kill. If you want to enjoy yourself, then don't go here. You could get more pleasure out of cleaning up a cat's litter tray with your mouth after feeding it a whole raw chicken instead of going here. Avoid. -J read more

How not to run a corporate team building event: *Do not single out one attendee to berate (especially when she's done nothing wrong). *Do not throw a fit about that attendee's behavior in front of her co-workers. *Do not treat your customers like children. *Do not handle the customers roughly when showing them knife skills or helping them put on aprons. *Do not shake your head at what they cook without offering any explanation about how to make it better. *Do not then act surprised and demand full payment when your customers decide to leave early. *Especially, don't do all of these things during a team building event for a company with a large local presence, thereby ruining any chance of getting additional business from the company in the future. read more

Cook - LA? More like Crook - LA. -Yelled at customers -Mocked customers -Missing ingredients -Rushed our cooking -Demanded Full Payment #SOCIALSKILLSFAIL read more

There are a lot of great cooking schools in the LA area, this is not one of them. First, I had a reservation here for a cooking class and that same day I woke up sick--I contacted the owner to apologize but things happen...people get sick. I asked if I could use the purchase towards another class- nope! Terrible customer service and using the excuse that supplies were already bought- are you telling me that the individual supplies just for me really cost $60 or is it that you just want to profit the full amount? Then it gets worse...my company held a team building event there and it was a disaster. I was so appalled at what happened to people I had to write a review. If you want a cooking class---got to Chez Cheri in La Canada or Barbrix in Silverlake...even Sur la Table offers them close by. In a world where doing a cooking class or a team event is now a luxury you have to make it worth people's time and money and Cook LA does the opposite. read more

I totally had a blast at Cook LA! I'm kind of surprised by all of the recent 1 star reviews given my very recent awesome experience, but it seems like those recent reviews all come from the same person/group experience ... One of my network groups held a small gathering (10 girls) here this last Wednesday. It was supposed to start at 6:30 and go til about 9/9:30. I'm new to LA and vastly underestimated how long it would take me to get from DTLA to Studio City. I left work at 5:30 and didn't end up making it to Cook LA until 6:50ish. It was totally not a big deal at all. I hate being late and I hate when people are late, so I was relieved that it wasn't a big deal that I was late. We started off with knife skills. My boyfriend has been trying to teach me how to properly hold a knife for the last few months with no luck and Chef Adam and Liz got there in a matter of minutes! I was chopping onions and celery galore! Our class was based off a Cuban themed menu and everything we made was delicious and now, seemingly easy to make. When I first looked at the menu I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to make everything taste good. I'm glad to know that cooking tasty food isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Chef Adam and Chef Liz were so much fun to hang out with. I would definitely come back for another class on my own if it wasn't so far away from where I lived. read more

Liz, Reserve your right and I'll reserve mine to express my experience publicly. This is my final posting as I have bigger and better things to do with my time. I didn't leave anything out that would make a difference in your response to me. Good luck to you but I am the customer who refuses to feel as though I am being done a favor. Me making sure we are on the same page is not considered mistreatment but for someone like you who is rigid in her thoughts, then I suppose it is. read more

The lady i spoke to over the phone (who's name i do not know, unfortunately) was very rude. As soon as she answered the phone, i was disappointed. Try sounding a little more friendly.. and when i began to ask questions she answered them as if i were stupid and after being very nice and thanking her for her help she just said "welcome," in such a cold way and hung up the phone. That did it for me, I will no longer be booking a private event with them. thats one good way to chase away your business... read more

This is a pretty cute little kitchen in Studio City and it literally feels like you're on the set of a cooking show or something. I came here with a party of 10 to have our own private cooking party. There was a big table set up with cutting boards, knives, and some ingredients that were already carefully sorted out. Each person gets their own cutting board, and Chef Liz would go over basic cutting techniques and such. We all cut the veggies up in the beginning, and then split off into groups of 2 to go to a cooking station and prepare a dish. What I didn't like about the structure of the class was that they assume you're really stupid in the beginning. We were all girls, in our mid 20s, who were familiar with cooking. So we didn't really need to go over how to hold a knife, and stuff like that. So the whole first half of the class was really slow, and I was getting antsy to just chop away. It turned a 5 minute task into a 1 hour snooze fest. After the cutting, we were off on our own to follow a recipe. It seems like they go from assuming you're a complete noob at cooking, to completely capable of cooking on your own. Which was weird. Of course, Chef Liz would walk around and see how things are going. But there are about 6 different dishes being cooked at the same time, and she's only one person. There is very limited instruction and even supervision during this time. We still had fun since we all kind of knew what we were doing and hung out and drank wine at the same time. But I don't think that the class is structured nicely for people who actually want to learn how to cook The dishes turned out alright. It's really nothing special. You could do this for free at home by pulling up recipes online and getting together and cooking them. This class cost I think $80 per person and no way did I think it was $80 worth of fun. Maybe $20 at most. The biggest peeves I had about this place is that they diluted the hell out of their hand soap. Which is just gross. It was slightly soapy water, which doesn't seem sanitary. This was both in the kitchen and bathroom. Also, they don't let you take the food home. They say it's for liability purposes, such as, you serve it to someone else and they get sick, they can sue. But if we got sick, couldn't we sue them too? I don't understand. If they're so hung up on protecting themselves from getting sued, why not just have people sign a waiver in the beginning. read more

Had a great time at a "Japanese Finger Foods" class here last night. We've wanted to take a class here for quite a while, and are so glad we finally made it to one. Chefs Liz and Adam were fun, extremely friendly and helpful, very knowledgable, and clearly love what they do. We made some really interesting and tasty food and learned a few new things. Looking forward to taking another class there very soon! The day after the class they've emailed all the recipes we used, answers to some questions that had been asked, and info on where we can find some of the hard-to-find ingredients and equipment we used. Great follow through! read more

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! Wanted to get details about an upcoming event...never received the information and Liz was not understanding...even blamed me. read more

Want to learn to make gourmet pizza from scratch? Of course you do because everybody loves pizza! My lady and I took the pizza making class at COOK LA and it was so much fun! We arrived there and we were greeted by Chef Liz and Chef Adam. They had a big jug of homemade red sangria and some apps for the wannabe chefs. We got there a few minutes early so I had time to down quite a few glasses of sangria before the class actually started. Nothing like handling cutlery while buzzin. Anyway, we sat down at our station with some other ladies. The people we sat with were pretty cool and thank god there were no annoying folks in our class.There was a mix of people in our class which was great. You had younger folks, couples, singles and middle aged men and women all brought together by their love for pizza. I'm far from being the filipino male version of Julia Childs. I can eat, but I can't cook for ish. Adam and Liz teach you the basics principles. They teach you how to handle knives, how to slice and dice. How to make the dough from scratch, knead it, etc. They are really helpful and they keep everyone engaged. I made two pizzas, one pizza topped with tons of meats and cheese and a nutella pizza topped with raspberries. My pizzas came out oddly shaped, but it tasted wonderful ! At the end of the class they email you the recipe for the Sangria and they provide you step by step directions for making the pizza at home. I haven't attempted to make the pizza again, but I have made the sangria multiple times for parties and get togethers. Cook LA is a great place to hang out with your significant other, friends, or if you just want to learn to cook. Thumbs up. read more

Came here with a friend for a pizza cooking class! We had so much fun! They were very welcoming when we arrived. Offering us water and an olive tapenade appetizer while we waited for the class to begin. They start out the class with some knife skills as we chopped the ingredients for the pizza sauce and pizza toppings. Great quick lesson on easy way to chop onions without crying among other things. We made the dough for the pizza and the pizza sauce from scratch! We each got to make our own individual pizza, and had the option to grill or bake the pizza. There was a variety of toppings which we had chopped up and delicious mozzarella cheese. The pizzas tasted delicious! They also made a nutella and strawberry dessert pizza for us to share at the end of the class. They e-mail you the recipes the next day so you can try cooking on your own. Don't know if I'll ever take the time to make this again by myself, but overall a great time with a friend and a great dinner! read more

We just had a Cuban cooking lesson this past weekend for a bridal shower and it was so much fun... AND delicious! Liz, the owner and instructor for our class, taught us how to properly hold a knife, the difference between different types of cutting boards (glass vs plastic vs wood) and showed us how to cut with a knife (the proper motion). We learned a super clever way to dice onion, garlic, cut kiwi, pineapple, and mango. On our menu? Grilled Cuban chicken breast with rice and beans and a fresh shrimp ceviche. For dessert, tropical fruit tarts with orange custard and fresh fruit on top. For drinks, mojiots. The cooking studio was clean and inviting. One of the bridal shower attendees said she felt like she was in someone's home. It has the right combination of feeling professional and homey at the same time. She let us decorate it a bit for our bridal shower which was so thoughtful of her. Liz is knowledgable, friendly, and approchable. All the things you'd want in a cooking instructor! Her expertise is cooking that is healthy and that's way more useful and practical for cooking at home than fancy sauces and specific techniques you wouldn't use at home. Liz's cooking is delicious and practical! I loved the class and want to come back to take more cooking lessons! I highly recommend Cook LA! read more

Had a really nice time at Liz's 'knife skills' class. The instruction was fairly basic -- how to hold a knife, how to sharpen, which cutting boards to choose, how to slice and dice and mince a variety of vegetables -- onions, garlic, turnips, carrots, celery, shallots, kale. Knew some of the stuff, but picked up a few new tips. It's an intimate space that fits 15ish people, and Chef Liz, who is friendly and good-humored, walks around often to advise on technique. The group did a "mise en place" arrangement, where you prepare all the ingredients before the cooking happens. There were four dishes at the end -- a delicious sauteed kale with garlic, excellent tilapia with fresh red pepper and onion salsa, a great roasted vegetable and arugula salad, and a fruit salad. When it's time to assemble the dishes, you break into groups of four and split up the work. The cooking part took 25 mins or so, then we set up the dishes in a little buffet and everyone got a plate (I went back for seconds because I'm selfish). The dishes were, as I said, incredibly good given the basic cooking techniques and simplicity of ingredients, I would proudly serve the meal we made, and it wouldn't even be that hard. Healthy as hell, too. I later went back for a pizza-making class, which was also totally fun. Cool people, and the recipes (which Liz sends you afterward) are the kind you'd make many times. read more

I was lucky enough to celebrate my 30th birthday at Cook LA with about a dozen of my friends. My friends and I research several cooking schools in La and we were very happy we ended up here. Chef Liz did a great job of keeping the evening informative and fun. We all got a little crazy towards the end and she did a great job making sure we didn't ruin our dinner. The space itself is very comfortable to work in and the back patio was a great place to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I look forward to going back soon and taking a few classes. read more

This place is great! A nice, intimate kitchen setting to comfortably learn knife and cooking skills. I took the brunch class today and though I did not know any of the people going in, there was a great energy and warm welcome. Liz is great in her teaching skills, the meal we created was delicious and simple and I will definitely be going back! read more

My daughter and I attended the French Macaron Class. Since these cookies are more temperamental than your average cookie I wasn't sure how well they would come out. Chef Liz explained the good, the bad and the ugly part of making this culinary treat which was very helpful. We all had successful cookies and enjoyed learning the do's and the don'ts. I think one of the Yelper's nailed it though- if you have a great vibe in the group it will be fun- so chill out people and just enjoy! read more

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After having a very poor experience with this business owner a few years ago (i.e. she thought I was asking too many questions about logistics for my corporate event), I decided to give Cook LA another chance. Unfortunately, same poor attitude, lack of flexibility for a private party during the mid-afternoon on a Tuesday and passive aggressive antics. read more

My fiancé and I went for our valentines date and we had a great time. The group we were with we're awesome and we all pulled off a delicious dinner. Chef Liz was amazing and she taught us well. We will definitely be coming back. I would highly recommend taking a class here. read more

Cook LA - My fiancé and I had a fantastic evening at our class tonight. Chef Liz helped us create a delicious dinner. - Cooking Schools Near Me

Just went to a pizza making workshop, it was fun, delicious and oh so tasty. Interesting to know how to make pizza dough and they gave us some good tips also. I will be going back to try another class sometime:) read more

Cook LA - After I grilled the dough and put the toppings on and then into the oven:) - Cooking Schools Near Me

Had a work function here and we did the Iron Chef Challenge. A great time was had by all. The trivia was fun, lots of laughs, good food (that we cooked) and a fun time had by all. Liz was a pleasure to deal with from the beginning of planning all the way through the event. Very helpful! Billie and Eve (our 2 other chefs) were GREAT! Thank you so much for a fun day! read more

I have taken my family to Cook LA three times. The lessons were pleasant and the chef was very amiable and professional. However, I walk from Cook LA with a bitter taste in my mouth. I happened to leave my library book at the location during our lesson. I realized this a day later and called to ask about it. We were only given a few short windows of time when the store was open during which I could recover the book which left me with only the option to pick up the book 10 days later. When I drove all the way to the location, I called the owner who was very rude in the way she spoke to me, yelling and eventually hanging up with me! Hard to believe the complete lack of professionalism and respect the owner exhibits. It's a shame too because the chef and teacher of the class did such a great job and left a wonderful impression. read more

The first class my best friend and I took was the thai cooking class. The second class we took was the French pastry class and I can't wait to go back for the third! Both classes were informative and easy to follow! Chef Liz and her assistant were patient, helpful, and kind. The classes were fun and you get to work together in teams and taste what you cook! Everything we made was delicious! I even got to take my fancy French pastries home for my family to taste! The recipes you get are easy to follow with ingredients you find in your local grocery stores. I am very excited to learn more and book my next class! read more

Cook LA - French pastry class! - Cooking Schools Near Me

Five of us attended the French cooking class on Saturday night with Chef Marjorie. The menu of chicken, veggies, as gratin potatoes and an amazing apple recipe was great! Other Yelpers mentioned the fun and entertainment value of the classes but we also found Marjorie patient and friendly so we learned a lot. I read some other reviews by dissatisfied Yelpers but our experience was pretty good. As an example, we read the cancellation policy and it was pretty clear about last minute cancellations. When I called the owner Liz, to get more general information, she carefully explained how the food would actually be made (in smaller groups) so it's important to know what to expect so people are not disappointed. We are planning more visits to Cook LA! read more

Great little spot. Went last night for sushi making. Chef Adam was great! Learned a lot, he answered every question, explained every little detail, even where to go get the special sushi-grade fish. Everyone was a beginner. Super comfortable. Showed us everything we wanted to know. Very nice guy. The ONLY thing is, my bf and I are pretty loud and ridiculous, and were sort of there to have a good time rather than be students. I think booking the class with a group of friends would have been more fun for us. I'd definitely go back though! But warm sake included! :) read more

What a blast!!!! One of the best Corporate Team-building experiences ever! Intimate, hands-on cooking class. Chef Liz was amazing - fantastic demeanor, very relaxed, patient and practical ... and she played great music too! The food was delicious!!!! Would absolutely take classes again! read more

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The instructor took one of the girls in the class to the back of the room and scolded her for mentioning a discount website where they purchased their tickets. The instructor was totally rude and profoundly unhelpful. We barely even cooked anything!! Seriously don't waste your money on this overpriced ripoff. Never again. The WORST cooking class I've ever attended. Would never ever ever give them more of my money knowing that's how the instructors think they can treat their paying customers. Go somewhere that respects you and actually teaches you something. Such a waste of money. read more

Chef Liz might have knife skills, but she most certainly lacks people skills. We had a team building event at Cook LA, and we're all looking forward to cooking, chatting and having lots of fun - you know, the things that come with team building. The event started at 6 pm, and everyone made it there on time but me. I finally got to the place, and as soon as I walked in I felt that the atmosphere was so tense that I could've cut it with a knife. That was NOT what I expected - we're a bunch of fun professional people, but everyone looked like they're were in some sort of punishment room. I was greeted by chef Liz in an unfriendly way, but I said to myself "well, you're late... what can you expect?!." As I sat down, I stated looking around the room and I realized that something must've gone awfully wrong because no one was enjoying their time there. Soon after, I found out that Liz chose to berate someone (probably the sweetest girl on our team) for no reason. Needless to say we had to salvage the rest of the night and left early. Bottom line, save yourself some time, money and frustration and find another place for your team building event. All we wanted was to have some fun while cooking - we're definitely not looking to change careers and become chefs or be treated like kids. Liz should've ensured that we're enjoying our time there cooking some decent food and hopefully not cutting our fingers. Liz, I do want to tell you something that others might not feel comfortable sharing with you, but it's one of my pet peeves as an immigrant - it's VERY disrespectful AND unprofessional to speak a foreign language in front of people that don't speak/understand that language. English is my second language, so I'm more comfortable speaking my native language, but I always default to English when I'm surrounded by people that are not from my home country. I believe you're speaking Armenian with the older lady (she might be your mom), and it was probably stuff like "take the onions away" or "let's clean the tables," but that's not an excuse! read more

Are you looking for a team offsite with unlimited coworker bonding potential? You have come to the right place! Chef Liz will greet you at the door with a grimace & admonish you for snacking on too much tapenade. Then, she & her charming assistant will hustle you outside to stand in 50 degree weather on the back porch as you huddle together with your coworkers for warmth. Give her a half hour to finish making a mixture of a pound of sugar, a bottle of Sprite & a few bottles of wine. She'll throw in a handful of citrus & call it Sangria. You will disagree, but keep it to yourself! We're team building! You will then be hustled in. Time to cook! Now comes the fun part! Scolding lectures that are periodically interrupted by Chef Liz hissing at one of your coworkers about her stank eye. After interrupting the class a few times to scold a woman who was doing nothing except paying attention, everyone will feel uneasy & slightly sad. Your confused coworker (owner of said "stank eye") will shrug & continue to respectfully pay attention. 5 minutes later Liz will unleash the mother of all hissy fits to a room of adults. It will be hard to decipher, but you will pick up the occasional shriek of "respect" and "shut this class down!!". Your managers will go outside to talk to Liz about WTF is going on. You & your coworkers will mill about in a muddle of awkwardness. You will take another sip of "sangria" and immediately regret it. A few minutes later everyone will decide to leave in a group. Your evening will be saved by margaritas! Everyone will talk about this evening & bond over this bizarre little cooking school. Team building success! Thanks, Chef Liz! Customer Service: 0/5 stars Sangria: 0/5 stars Team Building: 5/5 read more

Im going to keep this short and sweet. Chef Liz and her Mother are rude. They completely ruined our evening by yelling at us throughout the night (we ended up walking out before we even started cooking). We were excited to have a fun event and cook together, but it all went wrong. It was a horrible and unforgettable experience. I love to support local businesses and I love to cook, but I just cant support this business. read more

I attended a corporate event at Cook LA today and had a great experience. The chefs are knowledgeable and friendly, but they let the guests do all of the cooking. My whole group raved about the fun and the challenge of developing a plan and playing our creations at the end. A great way to spend time with friends and coworkers! read more

Missing a couple of key ingredients.... ...that is if you value professionalism and customer courtesy. All I will remember is that co-workers and I went there for a fun, casual team bonding event. Instead, we witnessed Chef Liz literally berate a well liked co-worker in front of us for no real reason. It was like a scene out of a movie. Who does that??? The entire group was shocked and afraid to say or do the wrong thing for fear of Chef Liz's wrath. She made professional adults feel like delinquent children. I do want to be clear here that NO one was doing anything inappropriate or offensive. We were there to learn and have a good time with co-workers. Chef Liz, for future reference, if you ever feel that someone is 'looking' at you in a way that isn't to your liking, finish what you are doing with the group first. Then pull him/her aside and talk to them like an adult. Chances are that this person, that you don't know, isn't intending anything negative towards you. This is what professionals do I really hoped to go to Cook LA and have an awesome time. I'd already planned to sign up for a class later in the month with my husband. That will not be happening now. read more