Cook without worry or intimidation Cooking without a Parachute began as a cooking class for teenagers graduating from high school with my older daughter. She was interested in learning some basic cooking skills and thought her friends would enjoy that too. We had a class with eight kids headed to college and called it "Cooking without a Parachute: No recipe, no fear." They learned basic knife skills, how to turn on a stovetop burner and how to saute chicken in a pan. I taught that class and others while I was a personal chef. I had numerous requests for catering which I could not do in Tulsa without a certified professional kitchen. And, there is really no place where you can go to cook on a regular basis. So Urban Kitchen was born. People from all walks of life and cooking skills come to the kitchen to learn everything from basic knife skills to risotto making to butchering a chicken. And, most importantly, they have a great time doing it. These recipes represent the first two years of Urban Kitchen and a few come from those years before. They are favorite, often requested, recipes from those classes. As I tell everyone who cooks at Urban Kitchen...recipes are merely a guide. Take them and make them your own."