RFH Students Found Cooking Club

Three Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School idea to start a cooking club has quickly caught on.

Leela Srinivasan, Jacquelyn Bruckmann, and Meredith Apicella established the club dedicated to creating delicious meals and exploring cuisines, and now the group has expanded to include 17 members, according to a press release from the school.

RFH Head Librarian Linda Wien Murray is the Advisor to the Cooking Club, now in its first year. Murray, who earned a degree in pastry at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City, also supervised a program of cooking classes for Brookdale Community College from 1998 - 2003. RFH Guidance Counselor Chrissy Camp also provides assistance with the club's activities.

"I am excited to be a part of the Cooking Club, because this type of activity appeals to a wide variety of students," Murray said in the press release. "It's wonderful that the students are experiencing many different types of cuisine, and discovering techniques and working with ingredients they had never heard of before joining this club."

The students have an agreement with St. George's By the River Episcopal Church in Rumson allowing them the use of the church's kitchen. In turn, the cooking club provides leftovers for use by the church.

The club has held various activities in its first year. A pasta workshop was held at Taste and Technique Professional Cooking Studio in Fair Haven in November, and Murray taught the basics of baking during an event in December.

The students made good use of the holiday treats they created at the December workshop by hosting a bake sale to raise funds for upcoming activities.

These future activities include cooking and baking workshops at Taste and Technique on February 21 and May 16 and a cooking event at St. George's on March 28.

In addition to the three RFH seniors who founded the Cooking Club, actively involved members include Emily Boak, Madeline Burpee, Janie DeVito, Mackenzie Haskell, Anne Himmelsbach, Katelyn Kearney, Jourdan Lenskold, Madeline Makstein, Siera McDaid, Lindsey Mulligan, Jenna Sandoli, Nicole Vuong, and Kaitlin Wallace.