Food & Drink: Cooking with kids: Suzy Farnworth mixes it up with students at Draeger's cooking school Food & Drink: Cooking with kids: Suzy Farnworth mixes it up with students at Draeger's cooking school (March 02, 2005)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyles Editor

Your child's birthday party is coming up. You've already done Chuck E. Cheese and the ice rink. You've had the magician and the folk singer to entertain. How about teaching the kids to cook?

That idea is proving to be a hit locally, says teacher/chef Suzy Farnworth of Menlo Park. At a recent birthday party for a 10-year-old girl, she showed the kids how to make their own pasta, prepare two sauces (pesto and tomato), and make bread sticks. The menu also included Caesar salad and cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate chip filling.

After eating the lunch they had prepared, guests went home with personalized aprons and a collection of the recipes. The cost? The minimum is $350 for 10 participants.

Ms. Farnworth has also supervised a cookie and craft party for 12 that involved 5 pounds of buttercream frosting, and is planning a party for an 8-year-old girl who loves potstickers. "I'm going to build the menu around them," she says.

This month Ms. Farnworth will show kids how to make blueberry muffins, flip pancakes, and scramble eggs in after-school cooking classes at Oak Knoll School.

The Thursday afternoon classes on March 10, 17 and 24 are part of the Menlo Park City School District's annual Lyceum enrichment program, now in its 23rd year.

Surprisingly, the sold-out March 24 class for kindergartners and first- graders is almost all boys. That's fine with Ms. Farnworth, who is the mother of 6-year-old twin boys.

This month she is also teaching classes for middle-school kids on March 12 at Draeger's in San Mateo, and classes for teenagers on March 19 at Draeger's in Menlo Park.

The Draeger's San Mateo menu for grade-school cooks will include: dark wizard cupcakes, "invent your own" smoothies, crunchy chocolate-covered toffee, and pumpkin pancakes.

Teenage basic culinary training will focus on roasted herbed chicken, twice-baked potatoes, pasta with two sauces, a taco bar, "over-the-top" desserts (one will be "chocolatey"), and Jamaica tea.

Cooking classes are a natural for Ms. Farnworth, a former elementary school teacher with a teaching credential from UC Berkeley.

Looking to make a career change from teaching, she pondered: "Do I want to go to law school or cooking school? I decided cooking school would be a lot more fun."

After graduating from the California Culinary Academy, she worked at classy Acquerello restaurant in San Francisco, did recipe development for Mattson & Co. in Foster City, and tested recipes for cookbooks, including "Savoring the Wine Country" and "In Nonna's Kitchen."

After a few years as a stay-at-home mom with her children, Amy, 9, and twins Scott and Sam, she began teaching cooking classes last fall, "now that the boys are in school."

She also has started a culinary consulting business, Mise en Place (everything in its place). "My husband, Scott, calls it mess in place," she says with a laugh.

On a recent Saturday morning at Draeger's in Menlo Park, kids in her cooking class prepared sweets and savories: guacamole, mushroom quesadillas, pico de gallo (tomato salsa), mango lime salsa, toffee-fudge crunch bars, cranberry-apricot muffins, and blackberry bars -- all within two hours.

First, the children listened quietly to instructions, then proceeded to their work stations. They worked in teams, using ingredients that had already been assembled. It wasn't just mixing and stirring. They used sharp knives to chop onions, mince red pepper, and peel mangoes. They were also encouraged to help themselves to the little dishes of ingredients, such as chopped chocolate, dried fruit and nuts.

"It's important to teach kids a life skill," says Ms. Farnworth. It's also important to expose them to new foods and encourage them to taste everything. "Take unsweetened chocolate; most of the kids have never tasted it."

Lending a hand in classes was chef Jim Nolte, kitchen assistant at Draeger's cooking school, who also teaches international cuisine in a life-management class at San Lorenzo high school.

Addressing the kids in Menlo Park, he says: "You guys are doing a much better job (than the high school students)."

The children prepared their sweets first so they would have time to bake in the oven and cool before serving. Then it was time to tackle the savories.

Ms. Farnworth showed them the trick to peeling a mango (always slice down around the seed), but several mangoes had to be discarded because they weren't ripe enough to use. The children also learned how to handle a fresh jalapeno chile for pico de gallo.

The children worked well together, paying close attention to what they were doing. Ms. Farnworth was everywhere, demonstrating, explaining, and helping with special flourishes. She also told the kids, "Part of being a good cook is cleaning up your area."

Famous chefs often say they first began cooking as children, learning their way around their mother's or grandmother's kitchen. Perhaps today's cooking classes will be the first step toward culinary fame for some of tomorrow's celebrity chefs.
Mango lime salsa

(Great with grilled meat or poultry) 2 mangoes (or peaches, papayas, apricots, or pineapple) 1 ripe yellow tomato 1 small red onion 1 jalapeno chile (or 2 tablespoons minced red pepper) 8 large fresh mint leaves juice of 1 lime 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons salt 1. Cut fruit, tomato and red onion into small dice. Put in small bowl. 2. Mince the jalapeno (or red bell pepper) and add to bowl. 3. Chop fresh mint and add to bowl. 4. Add lime juice, honey and salt. Mix well.
Toffee-fudge crunch bars

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups coarsely crushed Heath bars 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. 2. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Stir in the vanilla until blended. 3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cornstarch, cocoa and salt. 4. Stir the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture until blended. 5. Add 1 cup of crushed Heath bars. Stir until blended. 6. Evenly spread the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining crushed Heath bar on top and press in lightly with back of a spoon. 7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the side of the pan. 8. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into bars.
To contact Suzy Farnworth, call 888-3080 or e-mail her at suzf@spectrumbcs.com. For information or registration at either the Menlo Park or San Mateo Draeger's cooking school, call 685-3704.

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