I’ve been a huge fan of Julie Goodwin’s ever since I watched the first season of Masterchef all those years ago. I loved how personable she was, how much she so obviously loved her husband and kids, and mostly how much her cooking style was like mine. Simple, home-cooked food with the best ingredients she could afford, and cooked with love.
Also, like Julie, when I’m stressed my cooking ability completely fails me [if you follow me on twitter or like my facebook page you will have seen much evidence of this…].
It also didn’t hurt that she lives on the Central Coast – where I grew up. I felt a kinship.
I started following Julie on twitter maybe three years ago and found her just as personable there as on TV. Over time we have struck up a few conversations, naturally all about food. So when I heard she had opened a new cooking school in Gosford, I was determined to get there on my next visit to Killcare [where we have a family holiday house, and one of my favourite places on earth]. This conveniently happened to be a few weeks after the opening soiree. Talk about good timing!
When I tweeted Julie that I was keen to attend her Pickles and Preserves class, and were there spaces left, she very generously said yes, and could I please attend as her guest. After a few back and forth tweets with me saying I would pay, and Julie saying no way, I gratefully accepted.
I’m not sure what I was more excited about – meeting Julie, or that there is a fabulous new cooking school in Gosford! [I should say here that there may be other cooking schools on the Coast, but when I was growing up there was NOTHING. Plus, I nearly failed Home Ec. All to do with parsley and eggs. Which don’t go together. Ever. But I digress…].
Julie’s Place is located very conveniently on one of the main streets in Gosford [technically in North Gosford], and about a 10 minute walk from Gosford train station. PERFECT FOR ALL YOU SYDNEY PEOPLE! The train ride from Sydney to Gosford has about 30 minutes of completely stunning scenery through the Hawkesbury River and then around Brisbane Water, and you don’t get to see this when you drive. I know as I have done that train trip probably 600 times and driven it another couple of hundred. The train is better.
I loved the fit out – from the colour coded bookshelves to the vintage-look light fittings, to the piano and lounges in the back room [perfect for a function – it can fit 100 people].
The cooking set up was very practical, with very shiny stainless steel workstations that can accommodate 24 students for a hands-on cooking class, and a demonstration workbench in front.
Julie’s teaching style was just like she is. Personal, friendly and with no “look at moi look at moi” airs and graces. I’m still laughing at my attempt to mimic her fingers for chopping and slicing. No matter how hard I try, I cannot hold onto the onion in that way. I’ll just keep practising.
In our class we made tomato kasundi, a red onion pickle and Julie demonstrated how to make confit garlic (we all were given a jar to take home) and a quick and simple pickled cucumber that we ate with a ploughman’s lunch that was included as part of the class. This was my favourite bit [I have long since realised that as much as I love to cook, I love to eat, drink and talk more!].
Julie’s Place offers an array of classes to suit a range of cooking skill and ability, and she has a team of chef’s teaching with her. It is also available for private classes for corporate team building, birthdays, hen’s nights and more, and the space can be used for private functions such as a cocktail party or a lunch.
Julie’s Place – www.juliesplace.com.au
Lower level, 370 Mann Street, North Gosford NSW 2250
Ph: (02) 4337 0777
Disclaimer: The cook’s notebook attended Julie’s Place as a guest of Julie Goodwin. I had a great time and met some lovely people. Thank you.
Great article Mel, love your work!
I just wanted to echo all of Mel’s comments above. I was lucky enough to be invited by Mel to attend Julie’s class with her. The reason, I suspect, was an attempt by my good friend Mel to facilitate my cooking education as I will admit, I am not a good cook. The result, I really learnt a lot from the class. I was the slowest at doing everything, but Julie was very patient, answering the many questions I threw at her about both the dishes we were preparing and a number of unrelated cooking queries I had. Julie’s place has a lovely atmosphere, it’s beautifully well laid out, welcoming and friendly, reflecting of Julie herself who was just lovely. At lunch were able to try all the pickles we made on the day as Julie opened bottles she had made previously. They were so delicious. Now I’m just hanging out to open the bottles in my cupboard, which I’m letting sit for a few weeks, or until I can’t wait any longer, to allow their flavour to enhance. I really had a great time doing this class and would totally recommend the trip to Gosford (I took the train from Sydney) for anyone who wants to learn about preserving and pickling.
Aww thanks Jo! I didn’t want to mention your cooking “ability”, although you have definitely improved over the years 🙂
Great review! I’ll have to sign up for a class when I’m next in the region. I love Julie and her style too. So happy that her career has taken off in such a great direction – seems so well deserved.
Mel, I can never imagine that you DON’T have the skills such as cutting onions a la chefs! Glad you had a good time. I did a stint of preserving some years ago, mostly surplus stone fruit from Stanthorpe relatives. I’ve never revisited since I sold the Fowlers Vacola set.
Hi Mel, a lovely post. As you know, I visited Julie at her cooking school not long after she opened but I haven’t had a chance to attend a class there yet. I’d really like to do that some day. She’s a delightful hostess and, like you, I share her passion for good home-cooked food.
We held a network group breakfast at Julie’s Place a couple of weeks ago. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed a great interview with Julie. She has so much to give beyond cooking.
she does, doesn’t she Marcus? I’m an even bigger fan now.
Awesome Mel! Great post! I really like Julie Goodwin too-I have learned to cook a bit, but it’s mostly through practise with recipes, I don’t seem to have that instinctive feel for ingredients, flavours, textures and so on. Mostly the word ‘cuisine’ just makes me nervous! But Julie seems just the sort of down to earth teacher who could help me make sense of it all…
no one is a good cook without practice Michelle!! Great to hear you are learning more. Julie’s books have a lot of simple recipes that are great for a beginner who is cooking for a family.
so inspired by this …. now I need to go visit. DC x
Thanks Deb let me know when and I’ll try and come down too.
Julie Goodwin is my favourite cook. I pour over her cookbooks weekly!!! Sounds like a wonderful set up. Will have to make time for a visit next time I am down south. Lucky you Mel!