Florence 2009 - Abbey Road Programs

Congrats Claire I.!

2009-07-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Claire doesn't like pictures, but I still wanted to applaud her for a job well done. Bravissima, Claire!

Taylor Terrenzi can now have a chat with his grandparents in their native tongue!

2009-07-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

Vai Luiza

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Brava Adina

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Auguri Balin!

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Congratulations George!

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All the diplomas were printed in the Italian style, last name first and first name last, but with George Gordon and Balin Michael, you wouldn't even notice if ya didn't know them!

Hugs

2009-07-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Alex and Laura Lamponi, the director of the Italian Department at LdM

Alex graduates

2009-07-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

The students graduate from their Italian course at Lorenzo de Medici

Antonio thought that was a jolly-good idea and then landed on his butt

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A cartwheelin' Kent

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As we ran out of acts, we encouraged anyone to get up and put something out there. And Kent offered us a half-baked cartwheel.

Perche no?

A man impressed with his impression

2009-07-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

Brian is also our man of many voices and impressions. He did uncanny impressions of Fez from That 70s Show, Jack Sparrow, The Joker, Stewie Griffin and that freaky old cartoon dude.

But the best of all, was Brian's spot on imitation of our beloved art history teacher, Stefano. I will leave you with some gems that Brian picked up on and presented to us.

In the Galleria Borghese, Stefano had his favorite paintings...and his not so favorite paintings: "Ah, Bry-an. You like-a this painting? Why? It's crap-uh"

Or, when Stefano speaks in English he'll be talking and then suddenly insert three or four Italian words, probably the name of a museum or an artist, which confuses all the non-Italian speakers: "So, now we are going to the Pinocateca....la stazione centrale...etc, etc" SO TRUE!

"I am fashion"

Bravo!

Brian does stand up

2009-07-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

What's with those sweet old lady's that have super low, man voices?

Would Pirates of the Carribbean have been as successful if Jack Sparrow talked in a nasal, high-pitched Cockney accent?

Ditto for Hugh Grant?

And the thunder rollllllls

2009-07-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

Jake's singing was amazing. We had to convince him to get up there, and then when he finished, we were stunned into silence and then the group broke into thunderous applause (as thunderous as 34 people can be). What was especially amazing was the walls that surround the terrace provided great acoustics for Jake's song, sung accapella.

BRAVO!

Heard it hear first, ladies and gents: you can now play your iphone as a musical instrument

2009-07-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

George the digital flautist

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We had a friendly audience!

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Rachel, Dan and August take in the show

Something...then nothing

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The shyness was starting to get to the crowd, and the show encountered some starts and stops. At first, a gaggle of girls wanted to sing to Lady Gaga...and then it was Avril, and then they decided to pan the whole idea.

We're entitled to change out minds!

Claire O. and Sage sing Sk8ter Boy!

2009-07-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

My favroite part was when Claire and Sage sang "slammin' on his guitar," and both leaned back, slammin' on their own air guitars.

Laurie and Kelly do LAZY SUNDAY, the Florence rendition

2009-07-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

The girls dedicated their awesome Lazy Sunday rendition to Sarah Gleicher, who left early for a family vacation, and used to enjoy rapping with the girls on their terrace in the evening.

This is a strange view of our spectacular, triumphant AR STAFF PYRAMID!

2009-07-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Then Giovanna and I climbed on!

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And then Antonio jumped on the ground next to him..and William too! What's going on?

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And then Stefano jumped onto his hands and knees...

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We grooved for a minute...but wait! That's not all!

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Then I joined in...

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The staff kick off the talent show

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To get things started the staff was ready to dazzle! First Antonio started to wiggle....

Abbey Road's Got TALENT

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As the program draws to a close, the group has more free time to explore the city, buy last minute gifts, and spend the last precious moments with their new friends, who already seem like old friends.

On Sunday, the students slept in! We had a nice, lazy start and offered just one option for the morning activities, a trip to the Stibbert Museum. The museum houses the extensive armories collection of one Mr. Stibbert, who made it his goal in life to bring an extraordinary collection of Asian artworks and artifacts, along with European coats of armor, weapons, and more to the public eye. Four students accompanied Lindsay and Stefano to the museum. The rest of the students took their much-deserved free time to go shopping and enjoy lunch in town.

Then, in the afternoon, a group of students visited the Uffizi, who had not yet been with the drawing or art history classes.

In the evening, the students split up into their own groups of friends to have a stipend dinner in one of any of their favorite restaurants that they have discovered over the course of this month. The staff also had a lovely dinner together in ristorante, sampling pecorino cheese and fresh honey, avocado salad, grilled vegetables, chick peas, tomato bruschetta, and mozarella di buffala caprese salad. For our main courses, we ordered our own individual dishes, but we shared anyways, sighing at the sheer goodness of it all! Some of these delicacies included: the famous Florentine steak, gnocchi al pesto di rucola (arugula pesto has no basil in it--it's got serious bite!), and fioccheti di pera (tortellini-like stuffed pasta with pear, truffle oil, bechamel sauce, and asparagus). We all agreed that the fiocchetti di pera was the favored dish of all--but it was all so good!

And then came the TALENT SHOW! At 10:30pm, after our long dinners, the group re-convened on the staff terrace to enjoy an evening of talent of their fellow Abbey Roaders. I must say we have a bit of a shy bunch when it comes to performing, but nonetheless, the talent in the handful of acts that did go up exceeded my expectations!

Good beach reads

2009-07-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

Kent put the boogie board to interesting use

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Lindsay's leg wrap prevented her from swimming, so Jake kept her company

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No better way to spend a hot day

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The students have definitely embraced la vita italiana. From the two-hour long lunches, to the chatting and enjoying one another's company, your students will come back to you as an italophile!

Chillin' in the Ligurian Sea

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Claire grooves to her musica

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Jadyn catchin' some rays

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Enough was enough

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After an hour and a half of the sun beating down on our heads, Sage, Balin, Taylor and I met up in Corniglia, the third town of Le Cinque Terre, and we b-lined it for the train station. BEACH TIME! We caught the next train to Monterosso, by-passing the longest and most demanding stretch of the hike. Upon arrival, we found our fellow Abbey Roaders comfortably settled on the beach, taking a dip in the water, reading books and generally looking very relaxed. Some had gone in search of a delicious fish lunch.

Antonio, William, Stefano, August, Brian, Dan, George kept going. With both the female hiking enthusiasts having dropped out, it became the MANLY-MAN HIKE! Che maschile!

Stefano and I pressed on, trying to catch up with AR mega-hikers

2009-07-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

Janet and Stefano fall behind

2009-07-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

It was in Manrolla (pictured here) that I fell behind the group because I wanted a quick snack and the order took much longer than I expected (avoid the foccaceria in Manorolla!)

I encouraged the staff to continue on, but Stefano was kind enough to stay back and wait for me. Good thing he did, because I wouldn't have hiked as far as I did if I was on my own!

Abbey Road hiking enthusiasts!

2009-07-27T04:15:00.000-07:00

Antonio, Stefano, William, August, Dan, George, Brian, Taylor, Balin, Sage and I took on the challenge!

Manarolla is still a fishing village, despite its tourist shops. Here you see the fishing boats.

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Descending into the 2nd town of the Terre, called Manorrola

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Balin contemplates the great blue sea at the end of la Via dell'Amore

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The tunnel of Lover's Lane finishes with a bang!

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There is a bench for lover's to take pictures and throw their padlock keys away into the ocean. Here, Sage and I expressed our love for one another :)

L'amore all'italiana

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Lover's Lane also had a short tunnel which was covered in lover's drawings and messages

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The artists in the group really enjoyed seeing the graffiti following Lindsay and Stefano's graffiti class.

August was still resolved to do the whole thing!

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George

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George has done this whole hike before with his family (granted not all on the same day). When we rounded the first cliff, he pointed out to us the fifth town and our final destination, Monterosso. When I saw how far away it was I laughed and knew I had made the right decision to skip out at the halfway point.

Un mare meriviglioso!

2009-07-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

Don't see this every day. Via dell'Amore, Le Cinque Terre. July 25, 2009

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Taylor

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Taylor requested specifically that I take some photos of the sea for his mother--enjoy!!!

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The color of Stefano's shirt matched the sea

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The brave hikers!

2009-07-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

While the majority of the students went straight to Monterosso to lounge on the beach with laid-up Lindsay and Giovanna, there were 8 brave students and 4 staff members that wanted to do the famous Cinque Terre Hike. There is a path that runs along the coast through the five villages, the National Park of the Cinque Terre. The hike takes about four hours, starts easy and ends hard, so I offered to go halfway with those who didn't want to do the whole thing, and Stefano, William, and Antonio offered to bring the hard-cores all the way through the course.

The first path, from Rio Maggiore to Monarrola is a piece of cake, called Lover's Lane, or la Via dell'Amore. The paved lane runs along a fenced cliffside above the water, along which many lovers have carved their names into the cacti or left padlocks on the fences signifying their eternal love. The lovers close the padock around a fence and then throw the keys into the crashing waves below, an unbreakable promise in the eyes of their beloved.

Rio Maggiore

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Le Cinque Terre

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Saturday morning the group piled onto the bus bright and early to make way for le Cinque Terre, or the Five Lands. These five villages that line the Ligurian coast were relatively unknown to foreigners before an American guidebook published around 15 years ago made them famous. Since then, the local economies have transformed from small-time tourism and fishing villages and have become major international tourist destinations. Despite it's worldwide renown, the crowds were not nearly as bad as in Piazza del Duomo of Florence. The five villages, Rio Maggiore, Monnarola, Corniglia, Verazzo, and Monterosso, each has a personality unto itself. Those brave souls of our group who chose to hike through each village witnessed the subtle differences in architecture, food, and people. While Monterosso was full of young vacationers, Corniglia and Verazzo were less crowded, and had fewer foreign tourists.

The water was a perfect crystal blue.

Mixing and mingling with AR's Western Civilization Group

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Cassie c'ha il sorriso solevole! She's got a sunny smile!

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Antonio and Sage--che pazzi!

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Luiza likes Miss Sixty--and Miss Sixty likes her! Che bella gonna!

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Balliamo! Let's DANCE

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Carine!

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Belline!

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On our way to SPACE ELECTRONIC

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For all those that like to boogie, Friday night, following the Iron Chef competition, the students had the opportunity to go to Space Electronic, a teen discoteca in the city. The staff got dolled up, and we walked to Piazza della Repubblica with the group to meet up with another Abbey Road group, Western Civilization. The students mixed and mingled a bit, introducing themselves here and there, and then we were all off to SPACE! The dancing was high energy and fun, and the staff enjoyed sitting above the dance floor and spotting our students shaking it to Lady Gaga! I might have even joined them for five minutes... A fun night was had by all!

VICTORY!

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Maitre d' Kent

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They swooped in and left the plates bare! The sign of truly talented chefs!

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Mmmmmm!

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After the judge tastings and presentations, the students were free to graze--and graze they did!

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Antonio approves!

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La menu!

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Balin relays the cooking techniques employed--the chicken was fried in the pancetta oil to infuse it with a smoky bacon flavor!

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Taylor gestures toward his capolavoro

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THE WINNERS

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These young men provided a full-on bizarro presentation of their delicious meal--Kent read from his menu, George played his iphone's flute (yes, he blows into his iphone and presses the touch pad, and he makes whimsical flute melodies!), Balin talked shop, and Taylor waxed poetic about his beloved deli sandwich back home that inspired the meat dish. With all four cooking group members presenting in such an energetic manner, and the food having a unique and well-balanced flavor, they took home the final prize. While the staff judges were torn between Rachel, Lauren, Jess, Adina, Claire I., Talia and Alex's dish and the plate of these four boys, the group had a secret ballot, and the MEN WERE DECLARED WINNERS!

The staff is excited to bring them to a non-alcoholic apperitivo all'ialiana tomorrow evening before our final group dinner. CONGRATS!!!

Jadyn, like a chef straight from the kitchen, discussed her kitchen's focus on unique flavors and aesthetics in food presentation

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Sage presented her kitchen's masterpiece, citing the value of simplicity and freshness for a summer meal

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Brian affected a French accent to present his group's dish--hilarious!

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Liberte presented for her group, she gave a sweet sommelier-like explanation of their ingredients and their cooking methods

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The verbal presentations of the dishes begins!

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Kent wowed us in his green and white checked jacket, a waiter's towel draped over his arm, and his hand-written menu. But there was even more to his group's presentation--stay tuned!

Team Kent, George, Taylor and Jake

2009-07-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

These young men offered up a stack of chicken, melted provalone cheese, and fried pancetta (all' americana-style bacon). To top it off, they added cherry tomatoes--the American deli sandwich-inspired dish was great freed of its American bread. To garnish, they surrounded the meat dish with sauteed squash and zucchini. Mmmmm! The pears were then warmed up in a brown sugar reduction, creating a deliciously sweet fresh treat!

Team Erin, Kelly, and Laurie

2009-07-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

The ladies created a chicken and tomato dish, served on a bed of sauteed fennel and zucchini. Then, on their second plate they combined pancetta, pears and melted cheese. Inventive flavors, ladies!

Team Rachel, Talia, Claire I., Alex, Liberte, Jess, Lauren, and Adina

2009-07-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

A pear wrapped in provalone, please note the creative use of sprigs from the fennel bulb to tie the wrapped pears, lovely spiced sauteed veggies, grilled chicken and pancetta, and a swirl of balsamic. Garnished with basil leaves and a cherry tomato. A true tasting plate. Very refined!

Team Brian, Dan, August, and Jake

2009-07-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

This group presented an incredibly well-laid dish of grilled chicken strips on sauteed veggies, surrounded by crumbled pancetta and halved pears topped with melted provalone. The tomato-red garnish really makes the visual pop!

Team Jadyn, Kori, and Cassie

2009-07-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

These girls combined the chicken and the pears to create a sweet-savory chicken sauce in a bowl. Another pear was used to embellish the dish, in the shape of a flower. Surrounding the main dish, there was a mix of baked vegetables including fennel, zucchini, and tomatoes. YUM!

Team Jadyn, Kori, and Cassie

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Team Sage, Luiza, Texanna, Claire O., and Gabby

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The show began at 9 promptly. These chefs used the tomatoes as a bright garnish, and situated their Asian-inspired flavored chicken on a bed of chopped, fresh fennel and basil. Sweet and simple!

To the parents of Lauren and Talia: don't let these girls fool you--they can cook!

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Talia finally lets me take her picture! Grazie Talia!

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Lauren and Jess think about presentation

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Lauren and Jess think about presentation

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Alex at the stove, with Lauren, Jess, Adina, Liberte, Claire I., Rachel, Taliael,

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Laurie, Erin, and Kelly's kitchen has never worked with bacon before--but they did it just right!

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Chef Jadyn helped direct Kori, Laura, and Cassie

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Luiza's got it under control

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Claire O., Luiza, Gabby, Sage, and Texanna's kitchen worked to incorporate the pears into the dish

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Apartment 8's chicken

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Apartment 8

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Jake worked on uniformly cut vegetables

Apartment 8

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Dan, August and Brian look into cooking up the meat...

Apartment 4 works on a meat dish inspired by an American sandwich

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As Kent sat in the corner, carefully writing out a menu (above and beyond the requirements of the game, love it), Balin sliced and diced, George was busily thinking up what the necessary ambience (confused? just wait). Taylor worked on cooking up the chicken in the pancetta grease in order to infuse the chicken with a salty, bacon flavor.

Iron Chef Competition

2009-07-26T07:45:00.001-07:00

Iron Chef, Florence 2009 Edition occurred on Friday, July 26th. The students assembled in their cooking group apartments and sent one representative to the staff terrace, where they each received a bag of mystery ingredients. Each bag was packed with the same items in the same amount. They included: 6 Chicken breasts, 200 gr. of fresh cut pancetta, a handful of cherry tomatoes, 2 mini-zucchini, 1 fresh bulb of fennel, 1 round, green squash (it looked like a green golfball), 6 slices of provalone cheese, and 6 pears. The students were told that they were not to use a recipe, but they were to draw from the many culinary experiences they have had on this trip to create their own signatue dishes. These experiences included:

1) cooking group sessions
2) cooking lessons with William
3) cooking lessons with Francesca at LdM
4) the dessert activity with Giovanna
5) the olive oil and balsamic tastings at the residence and at a Florentine vendor's shop
6) the outings with William and LdM to the Central Market
7) the many catered dinners, in which we chose new flavors and dishes to acquaint the students with Florentine specialities
8) the many evenings when the students have ventured out on their own to enjoy Florentine restaurants with restaurant stipends

Faced with this long list of culinary experiences, the students admitted that they were prepared for the challenge!

The staff judges explained that they would be cooking in their own apartments for an hour and a half, during which time they were to devise a menu, complete the cooking, eat together, and then create a tasting dish to present before a panel of judges and the rest of the group. They would be judged upon taste, plate presentation, description, and incorporation of all materials, including the fennel (huh?) and the green golfball (whu?).

So, off they went, and Arthur and I followed, taking photographs of the prep period.

I would have never expected the tasting dishes to come out so well--from my quick visit to each kitchen, things seemed calm and under control, so I assumed the students were playing it safe. But, then, voila, right on time, the students appeared on the terrace ready to present their various interpretations of the raw ingredients. I will let the pictures that follow tell the story.

All the best,
Janet

Iron Chef Competition

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Now the students get to eat their creations!

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