As you all many know, Mrs. Barnett has recently retired from Harriton, leaving a major hole in our school community. But the new and wonderful Ms. Binkley has arrived to fill this hole. Ms. Binkley, before coming to Harriton, worked as a middle school family and consumer science teacher, as well as coached the track teams for Downington Middle School.

Ms. Binkley has been interested in cooking her entire life, although never was given the opportunity to take a Foods Course in her own high school, (go Rams!). Later she attended the Drexel Culinary School and furthered her culinary training in restaurants such as the White Dog Café and Savona, where she worked for one of her favorite chefs Andrew Masinilingo.

The foods courses at Harriton are great classes to take because they go beyond simply following different recipes and provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to master the kitchen. In foreign foods, Ms. Binkley’s favorite to teach, they are focusing on Chinese cuisine, including artful dishes such as wontons, fried rice, and general tso’s chicken.

Now the class is moving into studying French cuisine.

In the advanced foods class, students are learning about kitchen science, including the use of fermentation in the cooking process. Students have baked yeast bread, challah and sourdough, and have done experiments with using steam as a tool to cook and experiments in preserving food.

Other projects students have done include making cheese, yogurt and decorating cakes. The course expands beyond the classroom, as they have started planning the Ram Cafe, which is coming up on April 23. Also, students recently had a cook off using only healthy recipes where teachers came in to vote on the dishes.

We also found out some of her other favorites:

• Restaurant: Savona as well as Umai downtown
• Chef: Alice Waters (a pioneer of the Farm to Table movement)
• Food: Sushi

The best question for a foods teacher is this: “If you were a vegetable, what would you be?” Ms. Binkley’s response was simply a hot pepper, because she enjoys spicy food. “Can’t be a ghost pepper, maybe just a jalapeño.” Ms. Binkley is a talented and caring teacher and we are so excited to have her as a new, vital member of the Harriton family. Cannot wait to see what she and her students whip up for the rest of the year!