by Jason Rivers, '20 and Dani Fletch! (Teacher of English/Life)
On Friday, February 17th, Project Vine went to the culinary kitchen and dining room for the first ever “Vine Feast!” where we learned how to prepare certain dishes, like buffalo chicken dip and pasta with bacon alfredo that was superb, and had the chance to sit together as a community and eat the food we had all made together.
The event was the idea of Annie Bettencourt, ‘18, but started out as a response to a question on Ms. Fletcher’s senior English midterm. “I asked students in what ways they felt ready for life after high school, and what ways they still felt unprepared. A surprising number of our seniors said they didn’t know how to cook much for themselves, and that got us thinking that we could share our cooking skills with each other. When I happened to talk to Annie about it, she proposed this event as a way we could do that--both help some students learn some basic stuff about cooking and learn from each other in a community.”
Ms. Bettencourt approached Chef O’Malley about using the kitchen and dining room space for such an event. Freshman Alia Shuman wrote and conducted a survey to find out what students could cook and what they wanted to learn how to cook, as well as to find out if there were foods we should avoid as a group for medical reasons. Staff sat down and planned a menu and time frame for the event with Annie, then Ms. Anna Cotton did the grocery shopping for the needed ingredients.
Sophomores in Ms. Cotton’s science class also used the Feast as an opportunity to study the effects of different marinades and how certain enzymes work to break down proteins. After testing different juices as marinades, pineapple was chosen which created a tasty pork dish.
Annie demonstrated how to make a great salad with an avocado dressing, as well as a basic shortbread cookie recipe.
Ms. Fletcher, Colby Balboni, ‘19, and I (Jason Rivers, ‘20) made bacon Alfredo. It was very good and everybody loved it. Mr. Balboni commented, “It was pretty good, especially with bacon.” Walter Greene, ‘18, thought “it was a little al dente, but it was still really, really good.”
The program hopes to continue the Vine Feast as a yearly tradition both to help students learn some basic kitchen skills and to have a chance to eat together some food we all helped make.
On Friday, February 17th, Project Vine went to the culinary kitchen and dining room for the first ever “Vine Feast!” where we learned how to prepare certain dishes, like buffalo chicken dip and pasta with bacon alfredo that was superb, and had the chance to sit together as a community and eat the food we had all made together.
The event was the idea of Annie Bettencourt, ‘18, but started out as a response to a question on Ms. Fletcher’s senior English midterm. “I asked students in what ways they felt ready for life after high school, and what ways they still felt unprepared. A surprising number of our seniors said they didn’t know how to cook much for themselves, and that got us thinking that we could share our cooking skills with each other. When I happened to talk to Annie about it, she proposed this event as a way we could do that--both help some students learn some basic stuff about cooking and learn from each other in a community.”
Ms. Bettencourt approached Chef O’Malley about using the kitchen and dining room space for such an event. Freshman Alia Shuman wrote and conducted a survey to find out what students could cook and what they wanted to learn how to cook, as well as to find out if there were foods we should avoid as a group for medical reasons. Staff sat down and planned a menu and time frame for the event with Annie, then Ms. Anna Cotton did the grocery shopping for the needed ingredients.
Sophomores in Ms. Cotton’s science class also used the Feast as an opportunity to study the effects of different marinades and how certain enzymes work to break down proteins. After testing different juices as marinades, pineapple was chosen which created a tasty pork dish.
Annie demonstrated how to make a great salad with an avocado dressing, as well as a basic shortbread cookie recipe.
Ms. Fletcher, Colby Balboni, ‘19, and I (Jason Rivers, ‘20) made bacon Alfredo. It was very good and everybody loved it. Mr. Balboni commented, “It was pretty good, especially with bacon.” Walter Greene, ‘18, thought “it was a little al dente, but it was still really, really good.”
The program hopes to continue the Vine Feast as a yearly tradition both to help students learn some basic kitchen skills and to have a chance to eat together some food we all helped make.