Chef Brendy Monsada visited Hoover Elementary School in Palo Alto today and gave the children a whole new perspective on dessert. Chef Brendy talked about seasonal fruits and how important it was to eat well at a young age. And if any of the kids didn’t think that highly of eating fruit for dessert, they had an entirely different view by the end of the workshop.

Chef Brendy started out making whipped cream, and then layered slices of apples, figs, and pomegranate seeds with the cream and a strawberry coulis. For those of you that don’t know what a “coulis” is (I didn’t and I was happy to add a new term to my culinary vocabulary) it is a thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. In this case – strawberries. It was beyond delicious!

Each student got to prepare their own dessert, and it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Though some of the fruit layers ended up a little lopsided, it still tasted good. Teachers, students, parent helpers… everyone loved it.