Maria & Michele kicked off the new year with a delicious fundraiser at Hart House at University of Toronto. On the menu was none other than Chef Michael Smith, celebrity chef of the Food Network’s Chef at Home and Chef Abroad series.
It was a quick but important pit stop for Smith, who was en route to begin preparations for cooking at Vancouver’s Winter Olympics. You could say he was doing it for the kids. Working with Chef Paul Finkelstien, he headed up a team of 12th grades from the Screaming Avacado program at Stratford’s Northwestern Secondary School. The four-course meal included such delicacies as black cod, loca pork with quince, and rosemary scented panna cotta.
With warm, happy bellies, Maria & Michele got a chance to meet Chef Smith and clown around with him for the camera. All proceeds from the evening went to fund Screaming Avacado and send relief money to Haiti. By teaching high schoolers the art of local and slow food cooking, we’re raising hope for a healthy new generation.