Mud pies. The black goo on my young hands became the chocolate pudding and blueberry pulp of pies made in adulthood. But the mud pies were the beginning. They had all the elements that later on lured me to the kitchen laboratory: the smells (of fresh earth), the feel ( wet and soft), the look ( of rustic beauty), and the taste (of imagination).

Never thinking that the cooking I loved to do in my free time could be a career, I became an English teacher and retired from Connetquot High School a few years ago. I teach part-time at Suffolk Community College and after decades of exploring--and practicing--culinary works from Julia Child to Alice Waters, I began, as the Cooking Freak, to teach classes in my Bayport home.

My passion for creating both healthy and indulgent products for the table, everything from hummus and guacamole to puff pastry tarts and chocolate graham cracker cupcakes, has fostered a devotion to fresh, local, pure and seasonal ingredients.

If you want to learn strategies, techniques and recipes for meals, as well as where and what to purchase to make them, join me at my home for hands-on preparation and, with other wonderful students, a delicious sampling of what's been prepared in class.

Visit my website at: www.cookingfreak.net or email me at: cookingfreak@optonline.net for more information.