"Chef Gina Brown offers all-ages friendly cooking class."

It flummoxes me that while the former New Albany newspaper devotes an enormous amount of energy promoting a one-time cooking class to be held in Jeffersonville in May, Chef Gina's cooking classes keep right on going here in New Albany, under the newspaper's nose.

Gina's also taking the lead in helping organize a Fresh Stop Market in New Albany; the next meeting is on March 17.

This evening, Gina is providing a healthy cooking demonstration at Floyd Memorial Hospital.

Sweet home Alabama -- whatever. There's lots to cover right here, isn't there?

Chef Gina Brown offers all-ages friendly cooking class, by Caitlin Bowling (Insider Louisville)

Chef Gina Brown’s goal is to get people back in the kitchen.

It has nothing to do with societal roles and everything to do with making fresh food accessible. Busy schedules make unhealthy pre-made meals look tempting, said Brown, whose Every Day Fresh cooking classes aim to teach novice and experienced cooks simple recipes they can make at home.

The classes are around three hours long, which includes learning how to make the food and then eating it. Each attendee also receives a print-out of recipes used in the class.

Pre-scheduled classes cover topics like pasta-making, Mediterranean cooking and homemade Asian dumplings, potstickers and pierogies. This month in celebration of Pi Day on March 14, Brown also is offering a special pie-making course.

People also can request a class if they want to learn something specific that isn’t currently on her schedule, said Brown, an adjunct professor at Sullivan University and certified ServSafe instructor and proctor.

This past Sunday, Brown taught a pasta-making course to 10 people in the former coffee shop space at the back of Destination’s Booksellers, located at 604 E. Spring St. in New Albany. The bookstore acts as her base of operations. It also is the home of Taco Steve, a street taco eatery that moved in at the end of last year.

Chef Gina explains Fresh Stop. Should there be one in New Albany?

Many of you know Gina Brown through Every Day Fresh with Chef Gina. Yesterday she posted this on social media, and it piqued my curiosity.

"Just came from a meeting about starting a Fresh Stop in New Albany! This is so needed for our Community! If you are interested in being part of this, let me know!"

I asked Gina to explain Fresh Stop, and here is what she wrote.

"Many people in New Albany/Floyd County are living in what is considered a food desert. It is an area, usually urban but not always, where fresh produce is either non-existent or of poor quality. I don't have any idea what the numbers are, but I'm sure it is higher than most people believe. 

"I do know from working with Dare to Care in the Cooking Matters classes that people want and deserve fresh produce. The Fresh Stops are a community based group of farmers, volunteers and shareholders -- a CSA (Commnity Supported Agriculture). 

"Twice a month, each member will be able to pick out their own fruits and veggies. I will be a Chef Liaison in the Floyd County area. I'll be demo-ing recipes, using what the shareholders are taking home with them that week. I'll also be supplying recipes and other tips. 

I'm super excited. I think that everything I've through and doing over the last couple of years has been pointing me to community service. This will be very similar to what I've been doing at Floyd Memorial Hospital."

Interested? Talk with Gina. You can find her at Facebook here, or let me know and I'll connect you.

A kitchen incubator? That's real economic development, Jeff.

Gina Brown has been working for more than a year in the former Dueling Grounds cafe space.

Class with Chef: The official press release.

Foodie foreshadowing & denouement: Class With Chef.

Now she's adding the element of a "kitchen incubator," or a space where "early-stage catering, retail and wholesale food businesses" can share an accredited kitchen.

The article below explains the concept in the context of an effort in Louisville. Notice the entrepreneurial tie-ins with transitional neighborhoods; it's a leg-up for people with ideas but little start-up capital.

June 29, 2015: Louisville's First Kitchen Incubator

National and local leaders came together today to celebrate as Community Ventures, a Kentucky-based nonprofit corporation, broke ground on Louisville’s first kitchen incubator, Chef Space, located in the Russell Neighborhood. Chef Space will occupy the former Jay’s Cafeteria and will provide commercial kitchen space and business support services for up to 50 food- related early stage businesses. The facility will also house a retail outlet and meeting spaces open to the community. Community Ventures is renovating the 13,000-square-foot site with a late October opening planned as the first phase of a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization project.

Get your Kouign Amann now. It's a Breton butter cake, and it's great.

I can fully attest to the goodness of the Kouign Amann (pronounced kwin uh-mohn) Breton butter cake. The Bookseller may be embarking upon a career change.

Read about the baking; there also is a listing of upcoming Classes with Chef, taught by Gina Brown in the cafe space to the rear of the bookstore.

Hey Look! We Have a Bakery Going On, by Randy Smith (Destinations Booksellers)

Ann and I have been working diligently over the past 4 months in an effort to take advantage of the former Dueling Grounds Cafe space inside Destinations Booksellers. Quietly, but successfully, we’ve rolled out a single signature product. It’s a Breton butter pastry that, modesty aside, is drawing raves.

Class with Chef: The official press release.

First there was this:

Local joys of cooking at Every Day Fresh.

Then there was this:

Foodie foreshadowing & denouement: Class With Chef.

Now there is the official press release. The notion of cooking classes held in a bookstore with a fully functional kitchen is entirely logical, isn't it? It's also fascinating to watch as businesses evolve, seeing as I have a stake in just such a transformation.

Take it away, Class with Chef.

---

CLASS WITH CHEF CREATES HAPPY COOKS

NEW ALBANY, Ind. – Southern Indiana is rapidly becoming a hotbed for culinary entrepreneurs and starting next month, home cooks (and wannabe cooks) can join in the excitement.

Every Day Fresh, the food consultancy of Chef Gina Brown, is launching “Class with Chef” in a space once occupied by a popular New Albany soup and sandwich shop. Group classes on kitchen and culinary skills will begin on Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m.

Brown, a veteran of professional kitchens and a long-time New Albany resident, spent more than a year looking for a kitchen where she could offer hands-on instruction. “We want to show people how much joy there is in cooking great food,” she said. “The best way to learn about food is to get your hands messy and with a Chef Instructor on hand to help, we think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The chef is already offering meal planning and food shopping excursions to private clients. “We wanted to expand those services into a group setting,” she said, “and now we think we have the perfect place to do that. We’re excited to extend the Every Day Fresh concept to a more social environment.”

Class with Chef will launch in the former Dueling Grounds Café space inside Destinations Booksellers, 604 E. Spring St. in New Albany. Landlord Randy Smith said he and his wife had been looking for the right tenant and have always envisioned the kitchen, built in 2009, as a perfect incubator space. “Gina and I have talked, and we think there is still room for one or more part-time tenants,” he said, inviting inquiries from other food entrepreneurs looking for a chance to “prove a concept.”

For the time being, Chef Brown will be the sole instructor, with classes planned for Thursday evenings and Saturdays during the first month or so.

Brown is a graduate of Sullivan University with an A.S. in Baking and Pastry Arts and has more than two decades of experience in professional kitchens. She is currently a Chef Instructor at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg, Ind., and has previously taught at Sullivan University in Louisville, Ky., and the Prosser Career Education Center in New Albany. She is also a ServSafe Instructor/Proctor.

Classes are by reservation only and fees will run from $35 to $75 a person, depending on the class description, and includes all materials and equipment use. Customers can also purchase classes as a gift for a friend or loved one. Each class is limited in size to ensure adequate instructional time for each customer. Group rates are also available.

The June 5 class is Pie Making 101 and includes instruction in making the perfect flaky crust. Each class member will make a classic Spring pie and a galette (rustic tart) to take home.

The Saturday classes on June 7 and June 14 are called “Follow Me to the Market,” and features a guided trip to New Albany’s Downtown Farmers’ Market where Chef Brown will guide the selections for each class member to make a seasonal, locally-sourced meal.

For details on classes and to reserve a spot in an upcoming class, call Chef Brown at (812) 697-0266 or visit classwithchef.com. Every Day Fresh can also be contacted on Facebook and Twitter.

Foodie foreshadowing & denouement: Class With Chef.

Just the other day I took a glance at Gina Brown's Every Day Fresh, and while aware that further connectivity was afoot, the exact dimension was not known to me.

These two posts at the Destinations Booksellers blog tell the tale, and it is an encouraging development, indeed.

First, a tease ...

Ann and I Are Expecting

For some readers, this will come as a jarring shock. For others, it will bring tears of laughter to imagine us bringing a little one into this world.

No, it’s not what you’re thinking, except perhaps metaphorically.

Since 2004, we’ve tried to create a place for community, bending our backs to recruit, nurture, and facilitate the efforts of creators, whether they be communitarians, authors, or entrepreneurs bringing unique products and services to our city. And let there be no illusions: creators are the soul of a city.

There is always a dividing line between the creators and the looters, and hardly anyone qualifies as neither. One is either building and creating or one is extracting and looting.

We like to encourage the creators and it has long been our dream to build an incubator where they can do their thing without undue risk and with some infrastructure support.

... then, the hook.

A Kitchen Reborn: Welcome “Class With Chef”

It’s the culmination of a dream for Chef Gina Brown of New Albany. After more than 30 years as a professional and more than ten years as a chef instructor, Chef Brown is launching her own business and we at Destinations Booksellers are excited to become co-tenants with her.

Every Day Fresh with Chef Gina Brown is proud to announce the opening of “Class With Chef” [ClassWithChef.com] in the former kitchen space of Dueling Grounds Cafe inside Destinations Booksellers.

Local joys of cooking at Every Day Fresh.

How's this for foreshadowing?

"Still gotta keep it under wraps, but big things are happening!!! I'll have a huge announcement a week from tomorrow."

That puts it around the 26th. Meanwhile, you can read Gina Brown at her blog ...

Welcome to Every Day Fresh

My name is Gina Brown, and I want to show you and your family how to live healthfully and tastefully. Nothing makes me happier than teaching someone the joys of cooking. If you know someone who needs a little help in the kitchen, or a new bride/groom that wants to learn how to make some basic meals. I can show you how easily it is to stock your pantry, so you can create fantastic, yummy meals.

... and at Facebook.

Every Day Fresh

One of my favorite Julia Child quotes really sums up how I feel about food, ”Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.” I want to help you find the fun in cooking!

Can't wait for that announcement.