November 27, 2024 witnessed an exciting event at Warwick Valley High School. Corrine Lane's Taste of Culinary Arts class saw students team up and compete in the Mac n’ Cheese Challenge. As one student chef passionately stated, "macaroni and cheese is that timeless food, always a winner." Four teams crafted unique mac and cheese dishes and presented them to a panel of judges to determine the best version of this beloved dish.

Uniting Culinary Skills and Community Spirit in Warwick

Warwick Valley High School's Mac n’ Cheese Challenge

In the culinary class, students are immersed in the fundamental principles of cooking, baking, and kitchen operations. They gain practical experiences such as following recipes precisely, making accurate measurements, mastering knife skills, ensuring food and equipment safety, and much more. By the end of the class, students possess a wide range of basic cooking and baking skills that are applicable both at home and in various career paths.During the Mac n’ Cheese Challenge, with just 40 minutes to prepare their dishes before judging, the four teams worked with urgency and precision. They applied what they had learned to properly prepare their pastas and select complementary spices. Each team was deliberate in making their dishes stand out, adding unique touches like breadcrumbs or bacon.WVHS senior Finley Moller's team created a mac and cheese topped with bacon bits. "And the cheese in our recipe is mostly cheddar cheese," she shared. "We chose this recipe because it had great user ratings and was quick to make."The four dishes presented included two traditional mac and cheese varieties, a baked mac and cheese, and a Buffalo mac and cheese. And the winner was the baked mac and cheese! The breadcrumb-topped dish won the judges' hearts.

Sanfordville Elementary School's Farm-to-Table Feast

Meanwhile, at Sanfordville, the Sanfordville Elementary School PIE program held its 3rd Annual Farm-to-Table Feast. In the spirit of PIE, this feast is a collaborative effort involving students, their parents and teachers, and is supported by the Warwick Valley community. As the Warwick PIE Community emphasized, "This event beautifully showcases the value of community, teamwork, and savoring the rewards of our labor."What makes this celebration truly unique is that all the dishes on the menu were made with ingredients grown in the Sanfordville garden! The menu included pasta with fresh tomato sauce, vegetable soup, applesauce, mint iced tea, zucchini bread, and pumpkin bread.After taking a moment to reflect and express gratitude, everyone enjoyed the meal they had helped prepare. The students were thrilled to be eating and sharing things they had grown themselves."This is all made possible by [the students]," said Debbie Lustberg, a PIE feast organizer. "Everything is farm-to-table, and that's why I had the students reflect on everything at the beginning, before they started eating, so they could recognize their efforts and how this all ended up on their plates."On behalf of the PIE community, we extend our gratitude to Ms. Lustberg, Sara Lustberg, and Caitie Collis for coordinating this event with the wonderful SES teachers and parent volunteers who played a crucial role before and during the event.