By Irena Choi Stern, Member, Board of Trustees, Bronxville Adult School

Feb. 24, 2016:  This spring, the Bronxville Adult School will feature no fewer than eighteen cooking classes, and twelve of these will be taught by longtime instructor Nancy Contessa in her lovely home kitchen. 

"Normally, the cooking classes were taught in the [Bronxville School] home-ec room, but, in 2007, the year I started, there was a flood, which is why we started doing it in my house," Contessa said. "The next semester, the kitchen was repaired, so I did them at school, but only for that one semester. For me, and for the people who come, they enjoyed it much more at my house."

Contessa, a longtime Bronxville resident, has been teaching at the Bronxville Adult School since 2007 and, this spring, her classes will include new offerings, such as French Bistro Dinner Party, Raising the Salad Bar, No-Cook Appetizers, Weekend Brunch, and The Pies of Summer. All classes are offered twice: once during the day, and a second time in the evening. 

Additional cooking classes this spring will be taught by Kate Brewster-Duffy, chef-owner of Stillmeadow Gourmet (65 Pondfield Road), Denise Leemputte, and Asha Thadani.

Contessa, a former business analyst for Dun & Bradstreet, modestly says that she is not a "lettered chef, just a home cook," but during her years in Manhattan she took classes at the top culinary schools. After a brief sojourn in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Contessa family, which includes her husband, Bill, and two sons, Brice and Drew, moved to Bronxville in 1985. Brice, 35, is a saltwater fishing guide and lives in Martha's Vineyard, where he manages a restaurant. Drew, 32, is married and lives in New York, where he works for a company that sells software products geared toward the pharmaceutical industry. Since Contessa arrived in Bronxville, her cooking has become legend, and she enjoys the opportunity to share her expertise with interested cooks.

"Sharing something that I find such a pleasurable thing and taking people who are nervous about cooking and trying to show people that home cooking can be so much more than a chore, that for me is a creative outlet," Contessa said. "I love for people to get comfortable in the kitchen. The interaction with all the delightful people who come to my house is wonderful."

Classes are conveniently scheduled weekdays, weeknights, and weekends this spring at the Bronxville Adult School. To find out more about the school's spring course offerings and to register, go to https://www.bronxvilleadultschool.org or contact the office at 914-793-4435.

Pictured here:  Nancy Contessa in her kitchen.

Photo by Irena Choi Stern, Member, Board of Trustees, Bronxville Adult School