Looking for something special to do with your love for Valentine's Day? Ditch the reservations and join Terry Kelzer for a Jane Austen-inspired evening. The evening starts in our kitchen classroom, learning from Instructor Terry about the evening’s English fare. Then you’ll move to a sit-down dinner, served family style at a festive communal table. It will make for a romantic, memorable evening.

Here’s a description of the inspiration for the menu you’ll be learning about and enjoying!

If 2018 was the year for Janophiles to relive all that was Jane Austen on the 200th anniversary of her death, then 2019 would be a good year to recall Fitzwilliam Darcy - the handsome, rich, brooding, enigmatic hero of “Pride and Prejudice” whom most all women fall in love with and most all men have the highest respect for.

Our menu is inspired by Jane’s own recipes from a time when classic recipes were being written down for the first time and all food was from scratch. We will feature traditional pasties, a chicken (a modern substitution for larks!) pie, a potato onion cheese pie, and a spinach and herb pie—all with delicious flaky crusts—and salamagundy (a salad of pickled and fresh vegetables and herbs). The evening will close with traditional puddings and an English trifle (a mixture of custard, sponge cake, spirits, fruits, and nuts) for dessert.

Local culinary and cultural expert Terry Kelzer brings more than 50 years of cooking and baking experience, as well as a delightful sense of humor, to all her classes. After 12 years working in restaurants and bakeries in the Twin Cities, she and her husband and young family moved to a small farm near Amery where they raised dairy goats, chickens, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Terry says that is when her education in the basics of real food began, along with a deep appreciation for her ancestors as she had to learn to prepare, process, and preserve everything produced on the farm on an old wood cookstove. During this time, she also cooked and baked 'from scratch' for Head Start for 26 years. Terry’s great joy is sharing with others all the things she has learned along the way. Join us and experience both her knowledge and her joy.