Couples looking to spice things up before Valentine’s Day can grab a bite to eat at Blessings at State Bed and Breakfast.
Blessings owner Gwenn Eyer is hosting a cooking class for couples led by Susan Steffan of Galena on February 11th.
Stephan, a former innkeeper, appeared on the Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championships” in 2015, won the first round, and “completely crashed and burned himself in the third episode and went home.” She said before that she did “pretty well” in the second round. .
That crush was fine for Stefan, who said she hated and was proud of her for winning that first episode.
“I just didn’t want to be the first person to come home,” she said.
Back home, Stefan opened a cooking school in Galena. It’s a tourist attraction and she was “surprised to see her attention on her network show Hood,” she said. It’s something anyone with basic cooking skills can do. ”
That’s her intention for the Blessings cooking class.
“That’s what I focus on: delicious, easy meals…anyone with basic skills,” she said.
Stefan and her husband Don sold the bed and breakfast and the cooking school closed, but she’s just semi-retired. She teaches the occasional cooking class and is trying to decide whether to update and reprint her cookbook, Breakfast Diva: Morning Favorites, or simply write a new one.
“I love creating these little school venues,” she said of the class. “I love teaching. I enjoy my little classrooms.”
She also enjoys an “active presentation style,” she said.
“I don’t want to stand in front of a group and talk for an hour,” Stephan said. “I want people to interact with me.”
In this class, participating couples do not prepare meals for two. Instead, participants help Stefan cook and demonstrate techniques before enjoying a formal meal in her dining room.
The class will probably run for about 90 minutes before participants take a break to get dressed for dinner, Eyer said.
“Susan will host it. It’s like a chef’s table,” Iyer said. “The chef’s table that happened to be my dining room table.”
Participants will also be provided with a recipe book with tips and techniques demonstrated in class.
Served with beef bourguignon and naked Schwarzwald cake for dessert, the meal features locally sourced ingredients such as grass-fed beef from Bland Family Farm, fresh bread from Obadiah’s Bakery, salad and ayer with Proud Richards citrus vinaigrette dressing Use the. Said.
Eyer and Stefan bonded at an inn meeting in Cincinnati and are now good friends. It can become an event.
“She’s no longer an innkeeper, so she’s got some time,” Iyer said of Stefan. “She has a stage presence and good[cooking]training techniques.
A couples cooking class with Susan Stephens of The State Bed & Breakfast will be held on February 11 at 4:30 PM at the Bed and Breakfast at 1109 West State Street. follow. For more information, please contact Eyer at 217-245-1013.
