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By Daniel Curtin
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Sweet aromas filled the air, and the repetitive thud of knives hitting cutting boards banged over the quiet hum of strawberry and rhubarb slices sizzling in a pan. This was the scene in the kitchen of Powisset Farm as members of the community came to chop, stir and taste delicious food at a cooking class last Wednesday.
The two recipes featured on the day were a strawberry coconut rice pudding and a rhubarb cardamom pound cake.
The event was sponsored by both the Dover and Westwood Councils on Aging. Janet Claypool, the Director of the Dover Council on Aging, believes the classes are a great way to learn more about different food topics.
“Westwood and Dover have partnered with Powisset Farm and we have been doing these [cooking classes] for two or three years now. We do them in the spring and in the fall and we offer different topics. The farm helps us find some wonderful chefs,” Claypool said.
The Westwood and Dover COAs’ cooking lessons throughout the spring and fall cover a wide variety of topics such as Chinese food, cooking with herbs, and French cuisine, to name a few.
Chef Didi Emmons, who was teaching the course, helped those in attendance by showing them the proper way to use a knife, how to identify if rhubarb is still fresh, and how to properly measure the different ingredients. Emmons, who has authored three books of different vegetarian recipes and meals, likes thinking of ways to incorporate healthy dining into her teaching.
“I try to teach people things that they can make in their own home. New [approaches] of seeing healthy food in ways they haven’t thought about,” Emmons said.
The class allowed people with all different degrees of cooking abilities to share their knowledge of food and socialize.
After the class was finished preparing and cooking the food, there was a quick clean-up. Then, of course, the assembled moved on to the best part: tasting the delicious results of their hard work.
Cooking classes sponsored by the Westwood and Dover Councils on Aging will start back up again in the fall.
