Student Tiffany Barber reads ingredients out. Marisa Giuffre prepping lemons.

Susan McKenna explaining cooking to students while Marisa boils water.



Susan -- Let the cooking magic begin!

TWO COOKING EXPERTS – THE FORMER OWNERS OF THE COMMUNITY ORIENTED CORNER STORE – BRING THEIR EXPERTISE TO WHAT BETTER PLACE – SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL WHICH LOST ITS CULINARY CLASSES THIS PAST YEAR;

THE AWESOME TWOSOME HEAT UP AN AFTER SCHOOL COOKING CLUB THAT’S MET WITH MORE THAN DELECTABLE DELIGHTS; THEY KNOW THEY COULD RUN IT EVERY DAY AFTER SCHOOL IF ONLY THERE WAS MONEY, TIME AND MORE VOLUNTEERS; THERE ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH STUDENTS

By Diana L. Chapman

Squished side by side, the students practically crushed the culinary room with big eyes, good behavior and beaming interest in something San Pedro High School recently lacked for the past year – anyone to teach them how to cook.

Boil a pot of water. Break an egg. Cook up a plate of pasta. That’s what scores of teenagers wanted to learn, but their former Culinary Teacher Sandy Wood retired last year and no one was hired to replace her.

But as usual and just in a pot of time -- when it seemed the culinary scene for the high school was over -- Susan McKenna and Marisa Giuffre arrived with big hearts for kids and a dream to teach students how to whip up meals for themselves. The former owners of the popular Corner Store -- stepped up to the dish – and launched a “survival cooking club,” in May after school every Monday.

They plan to continue, with perhaps expanded plans, in the fall.

With not much time left in the school year and more than 57 students signing up straight away and more asking to join, the experts have already taught students how to make affordable delicious dishes from fresh lemon pasta to making their own salad dressings from scratch.

The first day of the class, Susan, who now owns a cozy eatery in downtown San Pedro called Nosh Café – asked student, Tiffany Barber, a junior, to read out the ingredients in a processed French dressing:

As Tiffany read: “Soybean Oil, Water, Sugar, Vinegar, Salt, Contains Less Than 2% of Skim Milk, Paprika, Xanthan Gum With Sorbic Acid And Calcium Disodium Edta as preservatives, Polysorbate 60, Dried Garlic, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Yellow 6, Yellow 5,” students gasped at the latter ingredients.

“There is absolutely no reason on earth to buy salad dressing,” Susan told the students as they boiled pots of water getting prepared to make pasta. “It’s easy to make.”

The gals – including their friend pastry chef Therese Dee–

showed students how they could blend mustard, vinegar and

“whisk in some extra virgin olive oil” to make a traditional

vinaigrette.

Susan and Marisa, who both came from Australia, share similar

beliefs on what students should learn to cook;

Summed up: it’s scrumptious made from scratch meals that

and not expensive to make – in many cases an entire course

can be made for less than $4.99 that a student would pay for

greasy fast food fare.

They wanted kids to get away from becoming sugar-aholics and fast-food addicts, and show them how the meaning of true food – cooked from your own ingredients – can be easy – and tasty. Call them both “foodies ” -- and it looks like many of their students will follow suit.

“We still thought there was a need to educate the kids as

fast food had become the norm for most kids and we wanted

to change this,” Marisa explained.  “There was a culinary

kitchen at (San Pedro High), nobody using it with the

possibility that it may have been taken over for something

else besides cooking. 

“Susan and I jumped at the chance to start our

after school survival cooking program, giving the kids

a chance to learn alternative ways of cooking and the

ability to turn a few simple ingredients into a meal for

one or ten.”

But don’t  even think of this as the “white-bowl,” 

everything chopped and ready to go as done on T.V.

stations like the Food Network, the women say.

Think of this as finding good things in your own cupboard

and learn what to do with them.

They especially want to target high school students leaving home and need this skill in their tool kit.

Get lemons free from your neighbors to make lemonade and other dishes, the women exclaim!

Buy a giant bottle of virgin olive oil from a cost-savings store that will last a long time and run about $13!

Shop at Numero Uno where the produce is good and often cheaper!

“The goal of this is shop well, cook well, eat well,” Susan explained during an interview at Nosh. “Those three things go together and then you can’t go wrong. There’s this bit of knowledge that you just need a few ingredients and you can provide a meal.

“There’s a sense of accomplishment.”

At the first session, students zested lemon peel, used leftover pasta water to make lemon pasta and had a delicious meal afterward. They giggled when scraping the peel and delighted in tastes that some described as “awesome.”

Working with students is nothing new to these culinary

wizards. Both of them taught children in Australia and

Marisa has  a repertoire of cooking abilities coming from

an Italian family. Her parents , when they immigrated to

Sydney, ushered in their cuisine by opening a restaurant.

Both women are loaded with talents and are eager to share

it with students. Susan qualified as chef with London City

and Guilds and received a Cordon Bleu certificate. 

The students brimmed with pleasure in the class, many saying they would join again next year. Pots steamed. Dressing was whisked. And kids smiled.

One senior already plans to ask if he can come back even after he graduates; He’d even volunteer, he said.

“It’s really fun and the food is good,” said 15-year-old Caytie Briggs, who already plans to return in the fall and doesn’t cook at home. “The ladies are really nice and they explain everything so well. We made three cheese pasta. It was good.”

Rita Marquez, a 15-year-old sophomore, said she does cook at home, but mostly a Mexican cuisine of rice, meat and beans. Already, she has started making foods she’d never experienced before, such as pasta.

“Their food comes out really good,” she said, who added she was disappointed when she made it at home. But she plans to return anyway.

Two brothers, Leland, 16, and Marsalles, 17, Williams also enrolled.

“I like it,” Leland said candidly. “We are cooking all types of different foods and we get to cook it! They don’t do it for us.”

Added Marsalles: “What I like is if there’s enough, you get second helpings.”

As this point, the culinary sky is the limit, the women say. They have bigger plans for the future, perhaps going non-profit and teaching at more schools. But for now, they are pleased just to be at San Pedro High. They plan to do fundraisers, maybe teaching parents to cook or hosting a dinner.

The next thing on the menu: they’ll just have to let us know.