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Class learns to get creative with cooking
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE © St. Petersburg Times, published April 12, 2001 CITRUS SPRINGS -- The cakes were ready, round and white. Empty canvasses. The cucumbers looked like . . . cucumbers, long and green. Other foods, uninteresting and ordinary, were on the three tables in Marion Wood's Citrus Springs Middle School family and consumer science classroom. Crystal River High School culinary arts students, though, were visiting and about to make things interesting. Juniors Adam Ringel, Michelle Reynolds, Kelli Helms, Josh Stone and Brooke Koney, accompanied by their food service teacher, Lucy Thompson, were with the seventh-graders to tell them about the food courses offered at the high school and show them a little bit about what goes on in them. Thompson told the younger students about the opportunities open for them by taking these courses. They are good options for students interested in food service careers, but are useful for any college bound student who might work in a restaurant while attending school. The curriculum for the courses is called ProStart, and upon successful completion of the program, students will have two certifications, the Food Handlers Certification, required by the Florida Department of Health, and the Food Service Workers Certification given by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation. Both certifications, Thompson said in her handout, look good in a portfolio to prospective employers. The high school students stayed for four of Wood's classes to demonstrate plate presentation, garnishing and cake decorating. For an example of garnishing, they built an edible beach scene throughout the day. By the time second period had arrived it had blue coconut water, brown sugar sand and a pineapple hut. At the end of their class, Adam, 17, had added a carrot and green pepper palm tree and had changed the cucumber into a shark. While Adam was carving his cartilaginous fish, Josh, 16, was styling what appeared to be a very fancy dessert. It was actually deceptively simple. He filled a small round sponge cake with whipped cream, placed strawberry pieces around it and artistically dribbled strawberry syrup over the whole thing. It looked very elegant. Shifting to another table, the students could watch Brooke, 16, and Kelli, 16, take the ordinary salad vegetables and arrange them on plates to make appealing-looking salads. "These are more interesting than regular salads," said Michelle, 16, presenting the finished arrangement of romaine, with cherry tomatoes, sliced onion, mushrooms, shredded carrot and green pepper slices to the onlookers. The finale was the cake decorating, and Michelle asked for a volunteer from the audience. Up came Josh Hamilton who was soon decked out in a blue apron to match the culinary arts students' aprons. After he had finished trimming the cake with blue stars, Kayla Barnes took over to finish the job, writing a tribute to her school in green. For their part, the seventh-graders seemed to enjoy the demonstration. Rusty Leone, 12, said he learned "how to make a lot of good stuff, especially that shortcake. It looks very tasty, easy to make. I'm going to make one for my parents for Mother's Day. You make a lot of money as a chef. That's another thing I learned." "I liked the shark," said Felton Kinchen, 13. "I learned that it's pretty easy to cook and decorate." Frankie Hill, 14, said he liked the carrot and green pepper tree and Caitlin Sullivan, 13, said she was interested in the class to help cook for her family and for getting a good job as a teen. She said she learned "that we can make creative things out of vegetables and fruit." "Food is fun," Thompson said. "You can be creative with it."
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