Meet the Winners of Our Cooking School Scholarship

In February, we asked bloggers to tell us why they wanted to learn to cook. Why? We were giving them a chance to win a 1-year scholarship to the America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School and the opportunity to blog about their experience on The Feed.

The response was overwhelming. Nearly 100 bloggers applied for a chance to win one of our scholarships. It was no easy task paring the list down to just five winners, but after some serious debate and hand-wringing, we managed it.

Over the next few months these five bloggers will get personalized culinary instruction from TV’s Bridget Lancaster and will tell us what it’s like to attend an online cooking school. Learn along with them as they post their lessons here, from the first quiz to the final dish.

Now, meet our students and the lessons they’ll be taking:

Susie Anderson

Lesson: Homemade Pasta
Guest Post: April 9
Why do you want to learn how to cook? “Because there’s nowhere I’d rather be after a hard day or week than in the kitchen and when I care about something, I want to know as much as I possibly can about it.”

Susie, of Brookline, MA, is 1/2 of We are Not Martha. While she’s confident in many areas of cooking, she wrote that she’d like to improve her kitchen basics because, “there are so many basics that if you don’t master early on, you can’t build on your skills.” She’s also a cupcake aficionado,  trekking across the city on a regular basis to find the best.

Susie will be cooking through and blogging about the Homemade Pasta lesson. You can follow her on Twitter @WearenotMartha or @Susie.

Cynthia Winward

Lesson: Italian Salads and Vegetables
Guest Post: May 7
Why do you want to learn how to cook? “If my veggies tasted better, I’d be healthier. My kids are still young and now is the time to hook them on good food. Already they eat more veggies than most kids, but I can always do better.”

Cynthia, Provo, UT, is the author of Deep Thoughts by Cynthia and a 30-something mother who loves cooking, sewing, modern machine embroidery, and decorating. While she lives in Utah, she still thinks of herself as a California girl.

Cynthia will be cooking through and blogging about the Italian Salads and Vegetables lesson. Find her on Facebook here.

Brooke Idol

Lesson: Successful Steaming and Poaching
Guest Post: June 4 

Why do you want to learn how to cook? “My family would reeeeeally like it if less of my recipes gave them stomachaches. I use an electric steamer which I love, but it really is ridiculous that I’ve lived this long and don’t know how to use a basket.  I’ve also never poached an egg.  Can you poach other stuff?  Is that even legal?”

A vegetarian wife and mother to three meat-eaters, Brooke, of Kenmore, WA, loves experimenting in the kitchen and creating her own recipes on Crackers on the Couch. She wants to get back to basics and work on her knife skills and basic techniques while at the Cooking School. Brooke has assured us that learning how to poach something other than an egg will not only better her as a cook, but will better society as a whole!

Brooke will be cooking through and blogging about the Successful Steaming and Poaching lesson. Find her on Facebook here.

Truc Luu

Lesson: Best Chicken Soups
Guest Post: July 2

Why do you want to learn how to cook: “I consider myself an excellent baker, from the simplest cookies to laminated doughs, but I can’t say the same for cooking. I want to be known as a baker and a cook!  I’d like to be able to cook with innate intuition, something I don’t think I currently possess.”

Truc, of San Francisco, CA, is a baker and photographer extraordinaire who posts about her baking adventures on Treats SF. While she’s confident in her skills as a baker and recipe follower, her goal at the Cooking School is to learn more about cooking savory dishes.

Truc will be cooking through and blogging about the Best Chicken Soups lesson. You can follow her on Twitter @TreatsSF.

Darla Magee

Lesson: Foolproof Apple Pies
Guest Post: July 30

Why do you want to learn how to cook? “I currently can’t make a successful pie crust, but I long to… especially as I look at all my beautiful recipe books! If you can make a pie crust, you can make anything… right?”

Darla spent many years in a hot yoga room helping people change their lives. After a few too many shoulder injuries and the great good fortune of receiving a full set of All Clad cookware for Christmas in 2010, she realized it was time to get out of the heat and into the kitchen.  Now, motivated by biscuits and instant gratification, she blogs at Darla Cooks.

Darla will be cooking through and blogging about the Foolproof Apple Pies lesson. You can follow her on Twitter @DarlaCooks.

Can’t wait to start reading their blog posts? Check out “Confessions of a Cooking School Student,” a series by Lena Hanson, who blogged her way through the Cooking School.