Mission Statement

Cooking with Class - Recipes for Life was conceived with the participation of all Park High Class of '77 classmates* in mind.  Its purpose is to compile in faux yearbook format "original" family recipes, short stories, photographs, poetry, and quotable quotes into a comprehensive "feel good" coffee table/recipe book for national and international publication with franchising of the "Cooking with Class" concept at a later date as a stated goal.

The premise of our book is that we, who came of age in 1977, are separately and together quite unique, even without realizing it; for we are, to put a name to it: "The Bridge Generation."  We have a rareness of insight and sensibility that very few other generations can claim.  We use computers, we play video games, we listen to iPods, we text and call on our cell phones, and yet, we can remember with total color and clarity a simpler less complicated time; in many ways, a far better time.  We understand the world around us for all of its glories and its pitfalls; we praise and fear them equally for we have the wisdom of age.  Yet, we are still filled with the often blind and ignorant hope of youth, to achieve, to change, to make better...

This book is a connection to our past - our beginnings - our family dinners around the table, our playing in the street, our drinking from the tap, our mowing the neighbor's lawn; but it is also very much a mirror image of who and what we have become – our present – managing an ever-faster-paced life, individual microwave dinners, bottled water and landscapers for hire.

This book is a clarion call to the generations that follow us to listen and learn from us.  To examine our mistakes, to emulate our triumphs, to pay heed to our observations and to strive to become better human beings; for the youth of today is our world's future and we are rapidly becoming its past.  These "recipes for life" are our legacy to them.  We owe them our best effort to get it right.  As the Park High Class of '77 that is our mission, our task, and our responsibility.





*To include any person or family member chosen by our deceased classmates' families with only one person or family member per classmate.  In effect a "de facto classmate" with privileges, and responsibilities identical to actual classmates.  The decision of to whom funds are to be paid shall be designated by the deceased classmate's family at the time of the "de facto classmate's" selection by the family.

Details

Goals	How to Participate	Ways to Participate
Seen through the eyes of a rational middle-aged adult many of these items may seem to be unrealistically lofty or even quite unattainable. Of that there is no argument. However, an equally indisputable argument can be made that with every deliberate success throughout history, that they too, appeared impossible or improbable when the path to success was first set upon. So, with that in mind, these are the goals of this project*: To make the New York Times Bestseller List. To be selected by Oprah’s Book Club. To be, as a class, featured guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show and to be, as a class and/or independently, on other television/radio/news/internet shows for the promotion of the book as determined and/or required. To have excerpts of the book read by Garrison Keillor on a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. To donate 10% of the net profit to a non-classmate-affiliated charity or charities as decided by the majority of the participating classmates. To improve humanity by imparting our collective insight, advice, and humor to future generations as drawn from our own separate life experiences, observations, successes, and failures. To leave a tangible legacy for our children and our children's children through the value of the book's content and the monetary benefits (royalties) into perpetuity. To establish the Park High Class of '77 Scholarship Fund. To establish a Park High Class of '77 Retirement Fund. To fund all future class reunions. To make additional income. To franchise the "Cooking with Class" moniker and concept to other classes. To produce a 30-minute "Cooking with Class" infomercial/cooking show to promote a surge in original and franchise book sales. To promote, at the correct time (@ two to five years after last "franchised" book release), the "Cooking with Class" series on PBS pledge drives. To simply make a difference and have fun in the process! *Where monies are involved and not yet specified, percentages assigned to follow at a later date as the project progresses.	Email Stacy Clark with a short message that you want to contribute to Cooking with Class. Or, sign the guestbook with a short message that you want to contribute to Cooking with Class. Either way you do it, please provide your personal email address - NOT your WORK email address! Stacy will send you an invitation to join the project at Projjex.com. Projjex is a project management site being used to keep track of all the recipes and stories and all the to-do items to accomplish on the way to being published. Sign up, learn your way around the project site (easy), and contribute your recipe/story.	Contribute family recipes along with stories that amuse or inform, but have something worthwhile to impart. Help find a publisher. Help keep the project site organized and up-to-date. Ghost write with classmates who have something to tell but don't feel they could write it well enough themselves. Contribute seed money. Contribute art work. Tell Oprah! Get your people with her people!

Buzz from the Guestbook

Displaying page 2, messages 11 - 20. Displaying newest entries first.

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Time	From / Message
1/12/2009 10:48am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Mark, Just saw your Sun Dogs picture on the Projjex site. Wow! Never seen that before. Only thing I've seen close to that is what I think is called "Mirada(?)" (I'm sure I got the name wrong but the phenomena is named after some greek siren that lured sailors to their death). The mountains in Alaska would reflect on themselves into the cold sky. When it would just start the mountains would look as if they were hanging by strings from the sky. When it would really get going the mountains would look like gigantic hourglasses. One time we had a new trainee in the tower. There was a particularily large reflection of a square iceberg (or something large and white) far beyond the horizon. It looked like a 10,000 foot tall block of ice. We told him it was a visibility checkpoint called "Square Mountain." He was a rock, I'm positive to this day he believes it exists.
1/10/2009 09:21pm	Stacy - Class Project Booya. Never had it. I remember every year in Newport they would have one at the shopping center on Hwy 61 by that bar/restuarant (Rocky's? At least I think it started with an "R"). I never went because only old folks went there. Now that I am an "old folk" I wish I would have gone. Yes definately needs to be in the book! Now, anyone know the secret to fish and batter at the Captain's Table in Prescott? Is that still going? Best fish fry ever! Thanks to Mark, Bruce, Cindy, Jody, Marlyse, and Mary for their submissions so far. Everyone hop onboard. Times a runnin'. Stacy
1/2/2009 11:43am	Stacy - Class Project Okay, one more time with feeling... Missed a couple of ingredients the first time around as my wife was reading a book as I kept bugging her for the ingredients. So this is the absolute final version. Lentejas Españolas (Spanish Lentils) "Lentejas" are probably the most popular dish in Spain; the one that Spaniards long for when they think of home. It is a super-simple dish but somehow very complex…just like the Spanish. They are served all year long but are especially popular on New Years Eve when they can be found on virtually every Spanish family’s table. The lentils represent coins and they are supposed to bring good luck for the New Year... Ingredients: 1 Yellow onion peeled and left whole 1 large green pepper seeded but otherwise left whole 1 large ripe tomato whole 2 to 3 cloves garlic (slightly smashed) 1 lbs. Spanish chorizo (not Mexican) cut into 2" lengths* (Optional) One 3" piece blood sausage (very dark sausage normally found in the Deli) 2 potatoes peeled and quartered 2 carrots peeled and cut into 2" lengths 1 lbs bag dried lentil beans 1 to 2 tsp paprika 3 to 5 black peppercorns (whole) 1 large or 2 small bay leaves 2 Tbsp (or more) olive oil 1 tsp salt 8 ½ cups water Salt and pepper to taste 1 large stock pot with lid *Spanish Chorizo is a hard pork sausage mixed with smoked paprika and other spices. Portuguese Linguisa or Andouille sausages are acceptable substitutes. In a pinch, you may even use a slightly spicy Polish sausage or any other sausage of your choosing. If using Polish sausage ensure you get the kind that’s tied together in a ring, i.e. Hillshire Farms, etc. If using another sausage, i.e.: Johnsonville Italian sausages (cut in half), choose a hard or firm one over a soft one. Bottom line, you don’t want the sausage to disintegrate. You also may want to add another teaspoon of paprika to take the place of the paprika in the Spanish Chorizo...it’s up to you. Preparation: Place all ingredients above except lentils and potatoes in stockpot. Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat medium to medium low. Cover and let cook until onion is soft (about 30 minutes). Break apart tomato and pepper. Add lentils and potatoes and cook for an additional 25 minutes on medium low or lower leaving lid slightly ajar (don’t beat the lentils to death, a slow bubbling is what you want). About halfway through, taste and add salt as needed. Remove onion (you may leave a few sections in). Serve in shallow bowls with crusty baguette or French bread on side. Suerte!
12/30/2008 01:09am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Annie, "Mark's snowflake is like a moment of time in our lives...it needs to be appreciated for its beauty before it melts quickly! In our minds it doesn't seem that long ago that we were kids sliding down Pine Hill or making angels in the snow, but when we look at the calendar or clock, we realize how many years have gone by. We are blessed by the memories of those snowflakes from many years ago." For someone that likes to sit back and watch you're pretty deep. Refine that thought, I think you're onto something for the book... Stacy :-)
12/24/2008 01:41am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Kathi - LOL! Dan - You too man, you too :-) BTW, you were 900. You know these Notalodge posts keep up and I may have to add another goal...(I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning)...The town of Notalot, MN. "Home of the world famous Notalodge." Just a stone's throw away from Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegon (of A Prairie Home Companion fame). I see about 100 wooded acres, small 1 or 2 bdrm cabins with kitchens and stone fireplaces, idyllic white church with a steeple, log lodge with a big 40's radio in the main room, old fashioned gas station/bait & tackle, tin ceiling tile bar (with Hamms and Grain Belt signs), antiques shop, sleigh parking, baseball diamond, small lake. Oh well, one can dream. To butcher a phrase from A Field of Dreams...'Write well and it may come.' Merry Christmas to all. Stacy
12/21/2008 12:36pm	Cindy Pabst Teal - Class Project Notalotalodge should be in the cookbook somewhere, don't ya think? 5 below zero here the last time I looked, not to mention the windchill. You think notalotalodge is frozen in time, I think it resides in MN.
12/20/2008 03:12pm	Stacy Clark - Class Project All, IMPORTANT: As of today, Saturday 12/20/08, please don't upload to the Projjex site. There are a few administrative issues I have to correct first. I have a call in to the Projjex people now but being the weekend I'm dead in the water which means the soonest I can get back to it will be after the holidays. Most likely, I will have to recreate the site at that time. Suffice it to say Projjex is acceptable for what we need but it lacks a lot in the way of administrative editing tools (read: extreme understement here). So, in the meantime I will be drinking heavily and hitting inanimate objects :-) Please keep writing in the meantime. And to all that have already submitted, your stuff is safe on my computer so no need to resubmit. Thanks, Stacy
12/20/2008 00:19am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Annie, Welcome to the project and thank you. I've added your name to our Projjex site you should already have an invitation in your email as I write this. You can go there via the link that Sean put up in the Cooking with Class pages. Best thing I can suggest is watch and read the tutorials on how to navigate and upload to the site. It's not the best but it's free and basically gets the job done. So you know, you're NOT limited to only one story and one recipe. So, you can have pizza and pancakes (and anything else you [or your ghost-writer dad/mom] want to add):-) I have a few entries on Projjex under my name that you can feel free to read and a few classmates have already submitted recipes as well. Speaking of recipes they don't have to be from le Cordon Bleu. Family recipes are best. That's one of the reasons for this book is to pass on our recipes to our families. Ideally, we need multiple submissions from each participant (preferably a mix of stories/recipes 3 to 5 or more) but of course that's up to the person. Stories by the way includes poems and original quotes too. That way there's more for the publisher to pick and choose from when it comes time to get them to sign-on to the project. (BTW, sorry for putting the Cooking with Class tag on this post but there's info here for everyone). As far as the ride, no I haven't done any others. I fell out of riding when I went up to Alaska. Road bikes and the bush don't go together very well. Apparently there's a law in Alaska that no 'round rocks' are allowed on the roads...only jagged ones (that's a joke but actually there is a reason...they lock together better when the dirt turns to mud). I'd like to say it was totally noble reasons that I decided to ride but the truth is initially it was to get me out of a slump I was in. It was only after I joined that I realized how many people all over the world are affected. This project however, is, in a convoluted way a spin-off of that ride. If you go to the very first entry in the Cooking with Class Buzz pages you'll see how. Thanks for joining. Stacy
12/16/2008 11:41am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Cindy, There were no recipes or stories on the Projjex site when you went. I had stripped them out and have now resubmitted them along with adding many stories, poems, etc. I have also reworded the tutorials under the How To... line to give a step by step for each upload. You should be able to see stuff now. I've got about 15 or so docs on there. Make sure in the drop-down lists at the top left of the page you choose "Everybody's Items," it may presently show your name in there (I don't know since I see everything automatically as the Administrator). I'm off to work right now but I'll bring the site officially online tomorrow (Wednesday the 17th of Dec.). I've found that once you putz around on the site for a while it's actually very easy. Not as easy as it could be...but you can't argue with "free." It's what we've got to work with. Let me know via email. Thanks. Stacy
12/15/2008 11:31pm	Stacy Clark - Class Project All, I just got an email from Sean saying I should put this up...so I will. It is a portion of an email I sent out this morning to a few of the folks that I bounce ideas off of (and whine to as well). :-). Here goes: "...I am definitely all for 'quality over quantity.' I envision the writings (stories, poems, quotable quotes, etc) to be along the lines of the kind of stuff that's in Reader's Digest. And, contrary to what my Mission Statement may or may not sound like it doesn't have to be all doom & gloom or dry as melba toast. That'll kill it right off. What I want is every type of emotion/experience put to paper. Through that 'honesty put to paper' will come the main "hook" of the book. Recipes will obviously have to be structured somewhat but the rest sort of loose. The beauty of the recipes is it will show our cultural diversity and traditions and gives a second strong "hook" to the book at gift giving time (that's our target marketing time by the way...just before and after Thanksgiving). It is also of no less importance that the recipes will be put to paper for our descendants after we have long since passed (my mother's pineapple upside-down cheesecake is lost to the sands of time for example). The third "hook" is the photos. Some of our classmates may not write well but they might be artistic in other ways. If you've ever seen "A Day in the Life of (Country)" series then you know what I'm talking about (photographers went out on one single day all over the world and shot pics. It captured life in a very unique way). The overall layout of the book I see with very little of a set pattern. In that way, every page is a surprise and something new and different when first read. I'm still "thunk'n'" on that though. Maybe I'll do like Nostrodamus and throw it all up in the air and then compile afterwards? Just a thought." Well, that's it in a nutshell. Stacy
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Featured Recipe and Story

Mr. Sirr (Bob) was an English teacher at Park Senior High School; later he taught at Woodbury Jr. High as well. He taught English of course, but he also ran a group home for adolescent boys in Cottage Grove. The group home opened in 1972 and took in adolescents until about 1977 or so. It was on the corner of 80^th St. and Hemingway Ave. right across the street from the Police Station (how appropriate).

Bob extended his hands in aid to many and I was one of them for almost 3 years. The group home's name was "The Island", taken from John Donne’s poem:

Bob would sit and talk many hours a week with each of us individually about how we were feeling and what was going on. He would constantly be seeking new ways to bring order and structure to our lives and never seemed to tire.

In 1974 he loaded up his 1973 Chevy station wagon with a bunch of us and took us for a 2-week trip to the West coast. Each of us got to bring a friend, I asked Dano Buckley, he gladly accepted. During one of the many hiking experiences I became trapped in a box canyon in Arizona, Dano came to my rescue and helped me to get out (my hero). We toured many National Parks and camped every night. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, which I will always remember.

Bob taught me the meaning of respect, care, and that adults really can and do care about children, as I came from a home where it was almost non-existent. If it had not been for Mr. Sirr, many boys would have taken the wrong road early in life. For me, he was the saving factor. Sure, I still did what almost every teenager was doing at that time, but I learned that there was a choice in the way to live one’s life.

Bob taught me how to drive, cook, wash and iron clothes, as well as how to clean a house. I left The Island in April of 1976 and I still see and talk to him often. He lives in a house he built himself in 1979 near Park High School with his wife Polly. They were married on June, 5^th 1976. I consider Bob & Polly to be my parents and love them dearly.

Thank you Bob & Polly.