Off the Beat: Smith Voke students to prepare Halloween dinner
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NORTHAMPTON - You never know what might happen when you put creative young people with active imaginations in charge of a menu.
In the case of the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School's Junior Chapter of the American Culinary Federation it goes something like this:
"Insect salad with green goddess dressing," "Frankenstein's brain," "maggots and night crawlers," "spicy barbecue bat wings" and "baked pumpkin guts" are among the menu items student cooks at the vocational school will serve to 200 expected guests Friday at their second annual Halloween buffet.
The dinner, held from 6 to 7 p.m. at the school's Oliver Smith restaurant, is an all-you-can-eat buffet created by students.
Translated from frightful to culinary terms, the menu includes tossed salad, baby carrots, carved ham with tropical stuffing and Hawaiian glaze, Cajun shrimp tossed in pasta, spicy barbecue chicken wings and pumpkin cheese squares. To drink there will be "blood," also known as fruit punch, and "radioactive sludge," a.k.a. lime-ade.
Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for kids age 12 and younger and $2 for kids age 5 and younger, and may be reserved by visiting the school or calling 587-1414. Proceeds are to benefit student activities and scholarships.
There are about 13 Smith Voke students in the Junior Chapter of the American Culinary Federation. Club advisers and chefs John Kislo and Nelson Lacey help the local senior chapter collaborate with the junior chapter to give students career connections and experience new and different cooking, Lacey said. In this project, students are educated in menu pricing, organization and design, finding side dishes to compliment other dishes and hosting a theme event.
"An endless number of hours are put into this," Lacey said.
Students will bus tables and serve food, wash dishes and clean floors, and dress for the occasion in costume.
"It's really great for students at this stage in life because they're kind of at that in-between age where it's not cool for them to go out trick-or-treating anymore and they're too young to go out to the clubs, so (here) they can still dress up and not feel goofy," Lacey said.
Voke holiday cards
Smith Voke's first holiday card collection for people in area nursing homes and hospitals was so successful last year, the school decided to do it again in mid-October, adding small stuffed animals to the gift mix this year.
"We really want to push the 'Ty's," said Michael Furman, who teaches graphics communication at Smith Voke. "The cards were nice, but this way they have stuffed animals next to their bedside through the whole year."
Wrapped in holiday paper, a big collection box is available for donation drop-offs at the school Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Nov. 25. People are asked to put their cards, envelopes and stuffed animals in or around the box. Students are to design the cards and deliver them to such places as Holyoke Soldiers Home, the VA hospital, Northampton Nursing Home, Sunbridge of Hadley and others.
"We're teaching kids the art of compassion," Furman said.
Last year, the school surpassed its goal of 1,800 cards, delivering more than 2,600 cards in total. This year's goal is to deliver more than 2,400 cards, according to Furman.
Spanish heritage night
Nearly 200 people celebrated Hispanic heritage with cultural costumes, cuisine and Congo lines last week at the R.K. Finn Ryan Road School, where roughly 17 percent of the student population is Hispanic.
"It fosters the knowledge of different cultures and diversity of the school," said guidance counselor Bill Owen, who is Puerto Rican.
Families returned to this year's annual event with their favorite cultural dishes. Maggaly Reynoso served white rice, chicken with potatoes, mushrooms and pot pork, a meal she regularly prepares for her two children, Raymond and Katherine Reynoso, third and fourth-grade students at the R.K Finn Ryan Road School.
"I like people to experience what we cook in our home," Reynoso said, standing behind her food as guests helped themselves at the table. "People say 'I've never tasted this and it's great'."
Zulma Cabral and her husband, Angel Sanchez Ortiz, dressed in home-made costumes as vejigantes, ritual figures in Puerto Rican festival celebrations. Dancing in a furry, bright yellow costume and ornate mask, Cabral said she is proud to practice her ancestral traditions in Northampton.
"We try to let people know and keep up with it," Cabral said. "Never forget where we came from."
Birthday girl gives to camp
City resident Theresa Ruszczyk turned her 16th birthday party this month into a $600 fundraiser for Camp Hodgkins, the Hampshire Educational Collaborative program for children with disabilities. Hampshire Educational Collaborative director of development Margaret Collins said the family is "extraordinary," noting this is its second fundraiser for children with disabilities in the HEC program. Ruszczyk asked for donations in lieu of gifts at her 16th birthday party.
Catherine Baum can be reached at cbaum@gazettenet.com.
