By: Echo Rogers
Without senior Becca Hetrick, their biggest event would have never happened.
Hetrick made sure French Club continued to attend their annual trip to the Kitchen Shoppe for a class in cooking despite losing their advisor, Melicia Widmer. On January 21st at 3:00 p.m., the French Club boarded a bus for Carlisle. They were off to learn not only about the french foods, but also a little culture along the way.
The class they attended was held in a room with a little kitchen attached to it. The members of French Club were split into groups and placed around long tables. Each group was given a lists of recipes. Head Chef Tammy Miller assigned them one of the recipes and a chef to each group to assist them.
In total, the French Club made quiche with tomato and goat cheese, crème du barry [cream of cauliflower soup], mesclun with walnut-crusted goat cheese rounds and dijon vinaigrette, coq au vin, tian de courgettes et de tomates [zucchini and tomato baked ratatouille] and crème brûlée. This list of recipes allowed for a salad, appetizer, meal, and dessert.
Junior Lea Heuer was in charge of making the crème brûlée. Besides decorating cakes, Heuer had never cooked before. She was, however, excited to try. Her recipe included cracking a lot of eggs and separating all the yokes. When her job was completed, Heuer said, “I’m so excited to eat it.”
Even the new French Club advisor Michelle Kindt was excited, “I wanted to learn how to cook anyway.”
Kindt especially wanted to learn how to make a salad dressing. Especially interesting to Kindt was a list of recipes the Kitchen Shoppe had provided for them to take home. This had been her first time at the Kitchen Shoppe as well.
It took about an hour for all the groups to finish preparing the meal and then, they had a little free time to wander the shop attached to the little kitchen area. As they shopped, Miller worked with the others chefs to finish preparing the meals and setting the table with drinks and silverware.
Miller has been working at the Kitchen Shoppe for 17 years now. She first started out as a volunteer when her kids were in school even though her educational background was in the medical field. Once the Kitchen Shoppe asked if she wanted to be an employee, Miller said yes. Thus began her culinary career. She next took time to earn her personal chef certificate in 2005. Since then, she has taught over 150 classes. Miller said, “Every day is different for me because each class is different.”
Not only is Miller in charge of the class, her job is much bigger than that. She also chooses which classes she teaches and the selections of foods for each class. On top of that, Miller has to shop for every one of her classes and buy all the food she needs. While that might sound like a lot of work, Miller said she loves it. Grocery shopping is one of her favorite parts. “I love my job,” Miller said, “I have been blessed in that regard.”
When Miller and the rest of the chefs finished preparing the last of the foods, the members of French Club returned and sat down. Each meal was given to them. While they ate, Miller explained each food and where it originated from. The French Club listened and enjoyed the meals they worked so hard to make.
Even though there was a lot of food to eat, the French Club really enjoyed the experience. Hetrick said, “We look forward to it [the cooking class]. French Club is all about food.” Not only is the event a lot of fun, it’s the biggest event for the club.
Hetrick hopes the event continues on even after she graduates.
“It a lot fun,” Hetrick said, “and you know it’s going to taste good.”
