Cooking without tears

What I love about Clerkenwell is discovering the unexpected just around the corner. A wonderful Christmas present was a voucher for a group cookery class run by a company called eat drink talk.

On investigation, the company turns out to be based just around the corner in St John Street, a few doors from Tesco. The courses are hosted by a vivacious blonde Canadian called Jennifer Klinec, in her immaculate loft apartment in a former shoe factory.

Arriving for a 'cuisine of the Middle East' class, we are invited to take off our shoes, wash our hands, and settle down with a grapefruit and basil mojito - a recipe which will definitely be making an appearance at home. There's ten of us in all - men and women, all 20- and and 30-somethings in couples or on their own.

Cocktail in hand, we sit back while Jennifer gets to work on a menu which includes spinach, walnut and feta fatayer (triangular parcels, a bit like samosas), an aubergine dip, chicken pilaf, and - yummiest of all - plump golden pastries called tahini spirals.

Part demonstration, part DIY, the class is a great lo-effort introduction to ethnic cooking. With just the right amount of activity - lots of therapeutic dough rolling and artistic sprinkling of sesame seeds - it's not too taxing for straight after work. When each creation comes out of the oven, we get to eat it. Plus, unlike an ordinary cookery school, there's no washing up - Jennifer's assisant whizzes round clearing used plates and utensils.

Jennifer is not professionally trained, but that's a plus - her extensive travels and huge knowledge of food anchor these courses in reality. This is not fancy restaurant food which ordinary mortals can't reproduce. We learn the difference between bruising and muddling, the best types of pastry brush to use (silicone, not hair), how to tell counterfeit saffron from the real stuff, and where to buy Middle Eastern ingredients in London.

At the end of the evening we leave relaxed, well fed and inspired by a new spirit of culinary adventure, ready to track down our nearest purveyor of pomegranate molasses. This would be a great event for a team away day, a hen party or just a present to yourself. Yum.