Culinary Arts

Albertson's Cooking School, P.O. Box 27, Wynnewood. 610-649-9290 ( www.albertsoncooking school.com). Authentic Vietnamese, with chef David Boyle of Davios, at Madsen Center, 2901 Springfield Rd., Broomall. Oct. 25, 6:30-9 p.m., $45. Atlantic Cape Community College Academy of Culinary Arts, 5100 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing, 609-343-4829 ( www.atlantic.edu/aca ). Degree programs and continuing-education classes available. Avalon Restaurant , 312 S. High St., West Chester, 610-436-6100 ( www . avalonrestaurant.

When the culinary students at Montgomery County Community College learn the difference between fricassee and flambe, the stovetop is 25 miles away. The future chefs are taught theory in Pottstown and practice in Plymouth Meeting. But that will change next year when the culinary-arts program moves into a 15,000-square-foot headquarters in Towamencin. The college's new Culinary Arts Institute will house kitchen and classroom. Officials broke ground Friday at the future site of the Towamencin Town Square complex on Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike.

In the quest for knowledge of foods and flavors, instruction can take many forms. For some students in Drexel University's culinary arts program, that means studying one aspect of their chosen vocation literally from the ground up. They are currently sowing, tending and harvesting many of the vegetables that will be cooked and served in their kitchen classroom and student-run Bistro. Under the tutelage of William Woys Weaver, about 10 students each semester participate in the Kitchen Garden - otherwise known as Culinary 425 or "Weeding 101. " Through this elective course, they gain hands-on experience in organic gardening, awareness of heirloom vegetables, and appreciation for the flavors and textures that fresh and varied foods bring to the table.

"Oooooh!" said Donald Hudson. "I think I heard it click!" said Robert Messina. "Keep going," Ron Lalusis told Messina. A steel-encased bank vault at a 200-year-old Mount Holly building now owned by Burlington County College was being cranked open by Messina, the college president. Lalusis, the hired vault-cracker extraordinaire, had arranged in recent days to have an 18-inch-wide opening drilled through the side wall. A man had just entered the hole and was working combinations at the vault's 24-bolt, foot-thick steel door from within.

The recently enacted legislation allowing the creation of charter schools has spawned five proposals that could begin to alter the face of public education in Philadelphia. One would be the ultimate consumer high school, offering medical care and social services, plus a solid academic load to city students who have been expelled or have otherwise fallen through the cracks. Another would cater specifically to drop-outs, getting them back into the classroom and at the same time giving them on-the-job training in construction.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Lined up in clean chef's whites and paper toques, five teams competing Monday in Atlantic Cape Community College's Academy of Culinary Arts annual Student Iron Chef Competition — the school's version of the popular television show — were nearly breathless waiting to find out the secret ingredient. Would it be clams? Squid? Or scup, the decidedly unglamorous bottom-dwelling fish species known around here as porgie? Porgie it was. And by the end of the six-hour exercise — in which the teams of five students each were judged on communication, presentation, and other skills — about 20 dishes had emerged from the kitchens, all featuring the firm, mild-flavored white fish.

The needs of a generation of adults who never learned to cook at home have spawned a wealth of cooking classes around the country, a stream of televised cooking shows covering basics - How to Boil Water - to sessions with gourmet chefs. Face it, when a whole cable network is devoted to one subject, it's definitely in. But cooking classes these days serve more than educational needs. Health concerns attract many to classes focused on low-fat foods, lighter meals and vegetarian cuisine.

Philadelphia's focus on food and the hospitality industry goes beyond wooing hometown customers and tourists. Training service providers has become just as important. To that end, Drexel University has expanded its hospitality management program to offer culinary arts as a fully accredited, four-year degree program. It also has drafted a team of prominent chefs and restaurant people, among them such prominent foodies as "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto, South Philadelphia macrobiotics diva Christina Pirello, author-food historian William Woys Weaver, and master chef Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin, elevating them from the food trenches to the role of adjunct professor.

Girl Scout cookie season is imminent, so it was a good opportunity for cooking students from three schools to compete at the Shops at Liberty Place in Philadelphia - using the cookies as a dessert ingredient. Scout Laura Martin, 12, works with Muhrjan McIvor on rosettes for a first-place Sunrise Chiffon Pie. McIvor is from JNA Institute of Culinary Arts. Desserts were prepared in advance, except for details.

America's restaurants post total average sales of nearly $1.2 billion a day. The industry has grown steadily for 12 consecutive years, according to the National Restaurant Association, which forecasts sales of more than $426 billion in 2003. And now, as throughout most of the past decade, many restaurant operators report that recruiting and retaining employees is one of their biggest challenges. At the same time, chefs have become superstars, and fine dining and dining spots are trendy entertainment.

D EAR ABBY: It is easy to watch or read the news and think people are awful and this world is going nowhere fast. At New Year's I made a resolution to try and do something about it. I decided I'd do 30 random acts of service for strangers. I know it may seem small and insignificant, but at least I can say I'm trying to make this a better place to live. Ideally, one or two people will notice and pay it forward. It's spring, and I'm already falling behind, and I'm struggling to come up with some good ideas.

THE DEQUAN Jackson Story is one of inspirational triumph. And while, yes, these words are being published in the sports section, and the endeavor in which he specializes is basketball, don't assume Jackson was once some horrible player who has blossomed into an All-American. His triumph can be traced to classrooms. As he wound down his middle school years, thanks to a nudge from his mother, Renee Henson, Jackson applied for admission to Murrell Dobbins Tech. "Sorry," he was told, "your grades aren't good enough.

One day, instead of "Rodeo," his current nickname, he might answer to "Chef. " Renz Compton, a two-way standout for Frankford High's football team, is studying culinary arts and hopes it might eventually become his profession. Could he whip up, say, an awesome crème brûlée? "I can make anything," the 18-year-old said. "You give me the ingredients and I can make it. " At Frankford, Compton is learning the ins and outs of the trade under the watchful eye of longtime teacher Wilma Stephenson, who each year helps future chefs land scholarship money to culinary arts schools across the country.

One day, instead of "Rodeo," his current nickname, he might answer to "Chef. " Renz Compton, a two-way standout for Frankford High's football team, is studying culinary arts and hopes it might eventually become his profession. Could he whip up, say, an awesome crème brûlée? "I can make anything," the 18-year-old said. "You give me the ingredients and I can make it. " At Frankford, Compton is learning the ins and outs of the trade under the watchful eye of longtime teacher Wilma Stephenson, who each year helps future chefs land scholarship money to culinary arts schools across the country.

ANOTHER SIGN that the apocalypse is upon us. Snooki had a baby. The reality-TV star and her fiancé, Jionni LaValle , welcomed 6-pound 5-ounce Lorenzo Dominic LaValle at just before 3 a.m. Sunday at St. Barnabas Medical Center, in Livingston, N.J., MTV said. In a birth announcement for the ages, a Snooki rep said, "The world just got another Guido!!! Nicole, Jionni & Enzo are doing great!" MTV congratulated Snooki and Jionni and looked toward pimping out the newborn on "Jersey Shore.

Students with Burlington County Institute of Technology's culinary arts department have been cooking up delicacies for Friday night's International Food Festival to mark the high school's 50-year anniversary. Many of the school's career majors will be contributing to the event, from banners and tickets produced by the print shop to a student-produced DVD to show the variety of the school's offerings, which have grown from machine shop and office skills to choices like performing arts, entertainment technologies, and public safety and more.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Lined up in clean chef's whites and paper toques, five teams competing Monday in Atlantic Cape Community College's Academy of Culinary Arts annual Student Iron Chef Competition — the school's version of the popular television show — were nearly breathless waiting to find out the secret ingredient. Would it be clams? Squid? Or scup, the decidedly unglamorous bottom-dwelling fish species known around here as porgie? Porgie it was. And by the end of the six-hour exercise — in which the teams of five students each were judged on communication, presentation, and other skills — about 20 dishes had emerged from the kitchens, all featuring the firm, mild-flavored white fish.

When the culinary students at Montgomery County Community College learn the difference between fricassee and flambe, the stovetop is 25 miles away. The future chefs are taught theory in Pottstown and practice in Plymouth Meeting. But that will change next year when the culinary-arts program moves into a 15,000-square-foot headquarters in Towamencin. The college's new Culinary Arts Institute will house kitchen and classroom. Officials broke ground Friday at the future site of the Towamencin Town Square complex on Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike.

"AMERICAN IDOL" host Ryan Seacrest will be at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia tomorrow to launch The Voice, a closed-circuit, multimedia center that his charitable foundation has funded. The event is open only to the hospital's patients and their families. The Voice, housed inside the main hospital's Colket Atrium, provides patients the ability to engage in activities related to radio, TV and new media, such as broadcasting like a DJ and playing songs, to watching performances and conducting interviews.

The aromas aren't there yet, but the sparkling, literally "stainless" steel kitchens are enticing, primed for the unveiling next week of a new culinary-arts center in downtown Mount Holly. The $9 million center - inside a nearly 200-year-old bank building and annex - is Burlington County College's newest venture. Elizabeth Dinice, a chef whose resumé includes work at two of Philadelphia's finest hotels, is in charge. "The thing that gets me most excited is we have a demonstration theater, and we will have a restaurant right here in the middle of a thriving town where we can work with other restaurateurs," Dinice said.