Working the cooking school

Every year about this time, Newnan Utilities and The Times-Herald sponsor the "Taste of Home Cooking School." It is a huge success each year in our community and is presented to a sold out crowd at The Centre for Performing Arts, in Newnan. This year Angela, the editor of Newnan-Coweta Magazine and I had the opportunity to work behind the scenes and we didn't hesitate to say, "Yes, we would love to work." You can read her account, plus more photos on ther blog.

Above, the show is about to begin and people are filing in over an hour before the start of the show. Outside the auditorium, vendors set up booths and people sign up for free drawings.

Michelle Roberts, a member of the "Taste of Home" staff travels all over the southeast, entertaining everyone while whipping up around ten dishes in front of the crowd, while handing out cooking tips and funny quips.

Above, Michelle does a last minute check before the show begins.

Local sponsors provide door prizes that are given out during the show. This year, the giveaways included a Microwave from Knox, many gifts from Newnan Utilities, a gift card from The Times-Herald and gifts from other local businesses. Roberts gives away a number of pretty cookbooks and the food that is cooked during the evening become extra prizes, given away on serving dishes. Everyone who comes is a winner because everyone automatically receives a bag full of "Taste of Home" magazines, coupons from local advertisers and samples from Viva and Ziploc.

Susan, above, was thrilled to also work behind the scenes. She is an avid baker and has attended the cooking school every year it has been held. This year, she was a part of the show. When we arrived at 8:30 am to help with preparations, we had to begin by washing dishes and then we chopped vegetables, cooked foods and measured out everything for the show. Some things we prepared entirely, other things were made while the audience watched.

We each took a tray with detailed instructions and scurried around getting ready, asking questions of Roberts to make sure we were right.

One of Angela's tasks was to make a cake to decorate during the show.

One of Taste of Home's field editors Kay Rainwater, from nearby Fayetteville attended and presented the recipe she is shown above preparing, during the show.

After many preparations were done, we took everything out of the refrigerator and then repacked it for the show.

The next thing was to get each tray ready for the show.

After a two hour break, we came back and met again to decide on tasks for the show and then we prepared our recipes and the tasks for the show.

Michelle and Angela are preparing for the show.

It all went so perfectly and even though we were all a little nervous before the show, it was easy and went off without a hitch. We worked hard and it was a long day that ended about 9:45 pm, when we had to repack all the items so Roberts could travel to her next show, but we all agreed we would be happy to do it all again.

See the photo of the "behind the scenes" group in our pretty red aprons we wore during the show on Angela's blog. We were excited to receive them as a gift.