The GIANTS' 2011 season got off to a flaming start yesterday with the player’s first cooking class. Cooking classes will be on the agenda every Thursday afternoon for the Giants’ boys to help them learn some valuable cooking skills now that many of them have moved out of home for the first time.

We caught up with Jimmi Savage, a rookie from Norwood in South Australia, after the class.

“…The idea of the cooking classes is to teach us to cook for ourselves. I haven’t cooked much at all really, a bit of toast and bacon and eggs. It’s a good personal skill for those of us who don’t cook often because it means that we don’t have to go out for dinner all the time,” he said.

First on the menu for the year was spaghetti bolognaise. Under the watchful eye of house mother Mel Lambert and some of the Rooty Hill RSL chefs, the boys created their masterpieces.

The production line started with the boys dicing up their onion and some herbs to throw in the pan.

“Some of the boys borrowed some sunglasses to cut up the onions and some of us braved the fumes,” Savage joked.

After some careful consideration of their ingredients, the Giants boys added some sauce and pasta to the pot and put some final touches on their dishes. Finally, after a couple of watery eyes from the onions, with sauce and ingredients scattered on the benches and with all their fingers and eyebrows in tact, the boys served up their dishes.

Jimmi and many of the other players proved to be quick learners during the session, impressing the chefs and their team mates, “I started off slowly with the chopping but I picked up the pace towards the end. I think my dish ended up being about a nine out of ten.

“Josh Bruce’s spaghetti looked the best; I think I’d have to give him ‘best in kitchen’ this week.”