Food Crafting with hip, funny, fabulous Aida Mollenkamp ...

My youth volunteers from Operation C.H.E.F. and I with Aida.

Oh what a night. We LOVE you Aida. Fifty more passionate fans, and more to come...

We had such fun, I will split the event details into two posts:
 Passion & Personality and Recipes & Advice

Passion and Personality: I am thrilled to have spent Wednesday evening at the Fresh Starts Cooking School  cooking and learning from the stellar Aida Mollenkamp. Formerly of Food Network's "Ask Aida", her new show Food Crafters airs on the Cooking Channel, highlighting incredible artisan food producers from around the country. It is a "passion project" for her, as she explained, "Being a (San Francisco) Bay Area person, it goes without saying that we think local, seasonal and organic are tenaments to the way we live and eat and of course we support our local food crafters." Aida is able to "give these artisans their voice" with her new show. As a matter of fact, last week's episode featured Rustic Bakery  from Larkspur (a few towns over from Fresh Starts Coking School). The owners were in our audience for her class and of course we served their incredible flatbread crackers! A portion of the steak was from Springhill Ranch, olive oil from McEvoy, cheese from Bellwether Farms , ice cream from Straus Family Creamery and an incredible bounty of produce from Whole Foods Market in Novato. Nothing but the best from within 20 miles!

Making drunken cherries with zest!

What was so unique about the class was Aida's fresh, cool and funny delivery. Not only is she a fantastic cook, but she is a blast to be around. She is both driven and focused but still has a very open and relaxing way about her. A huge music fan, she made so many really funny modern music references that you really had to be on your toes to catch. She lifted up a jar of  "Drunken Cherries" and said "shake" and quickly, almost under her breath added, "Shake it like a Polaroid picture, Andre 3000." I was cracking up.

Aida talked about cooking being similar to playing music. "You learn a theme and then just riff on it." Like her quick pickled fennel, she explained. Once you learn to make it, you can vary the technique in so many ways. Great concept.

I asked Aida about her rise in the culinary world and who has been inspiring and supportive of her in the celebrity chef world. She immediately mentioned Chef Michael Symon of Dinner Impossible whose laugh, she says brings her mood up instantly. Her biggest surprise has been Chef Bobby Flay who has been her strongest mentor. "I never thought I would even get to talk to him, but incredibly he has been there mentoring me all the way." How cool.

Aida said "You take a picture of me while I take a picture of you!"

She even asked me how my weekend trip to Los Angeles was for the Sears Chef Challenge! How did she remember? She is moving to LA for her show, so I hope to see her there soon.

Most importantly, Aida donated her SUPER valuable time to design, drive to and execute this class to support Fresh Starts Cooking School, whose demonstration kitchen that you see here was outfitted, of course,  by Standards of Excellence Appliances. That donation and Aida's time supports our efforts to end homelessness and provide culinary training and jobs to our residents. That was easy for her, despite going at "light speed" right now. She has always given back and was thrilled to be of service. Here is a video I took of her being funny in the kitchen as she thanked our crew:

 Again, I repeat, we LOVE Aida. She gave us her time, her cooking lessons and a treasured memory and in turn we all gave her back our hearts.

Aida's Menu:

Plum Blossom Cocktail
Baked Bellweather Farms Ricotta with Balsamic Reduction and Mc Evoy Olive Oil , Fresh Figs, Onion Jam and Rustic Bakery Flat bread Crackers
Arugula Salad with Nectarines and Pickled Fennel
North African Grilled Springhill Ranch Waygu Steak with Basil Chimichurri
Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Homeward Bound's Paul Fordham and Mary Kay Sweeney say thanks!

Drunken Cherry Sundaes with Toasted Hazelnuts over Straus Vanilla and Coffee Ice Cream

Next up, Aida's Recipes and Advice!