Gourmet Cooking Fun

Thomas DeLay, Reporter

The clock reads 3:45 on a Friday, and the janitors are hard at work cleaning the vacant classrooms. The halls are dead. The school as a whole almost seems abandoned. But one place is still very much alive. The Ames High foods room bustles with activity as 30 young chefs cook, laugh and smile. This is the scene inside of the newly founded Gourmet Cooking Club.

The club is sponsored by the wonderfully nice Mrs. VanWaardhuizen and is led by senior Sarah Shen. The club was founded to “express a love of cooking” according to Shen. This love of cooking is immediately evident to anyone who comes to a meeting. Gourmet cooking club is no joke: “Gourmet cooking is a higher level of cooking where you really train your palate. It is really just a way to make your favorite foods in a more refined and elevated way,” said Shen on the differences between gourmet cooking and regular cooking. This being said the club is not in the least bit snobby or exclusive.

When new members come they can expect to be met with a welcoming and fun loving community. “The club isn’t for me to learn how to cook, it’s for me to have fun (cooking) with friends,” said Freshman Dani Adams. “We cook and eat as a family,” Shen said after generously offering me Christmas cookies. “I didn’t know how to cook, so I came to learn,” said member Kennedy Olson and multiple other members. In short the club creates an inclusive and supportive community for all of its members.

Gourmet Cooking Club makes a large variety of food, some of the favorites that were mentioned at the meeting I attended were; chocolate mousse, pad thai, and holiday cookies. Some of the early steps of cooking (studying recipes, making dough, etc.) are taken in the plus period the day of the meeting so that the afternoon meeting will not go for too long and so that they are ready to cook right after school.

If you enjoy cooking and having a fun time doing it, this club is the place for you. As Sarah Shen says at the beginning of every meeting “Let’s cook”