A world-renowned chef soon will make her mark in the Mid-Ohio Valley with a cooking demonstration and a book signing.
"I've had huge cooking classes and small groups and I love having these small groups that come with these smaller town cooking shops," said Sara Moulton, a television chef and author of three cookbooks, during a telephone interview with The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
Moulton is expected to spend the afternoon of Sept. 17 at The Cook's Shop on Marietta's Front Street.
"When word got around that Sara Moulton is coming, most people were surprised that we were able to get someone of her stature to come here," said Ken Kupsche, owner of The Cook's Shop at 180 Front St. "I was even surprised until I met her."
Kupsche, who owns the store with his wife Dagmar, said they were introduced to Moulton at the Chicago Housewares Show in March.
"We really enjoyed her demonstration and spoke to her afterward to see if she would be willing to come to Marietta," Kupsche said.
Lucky for The Cook's Shop, Moulton, who was the executive chef of Gourmet Magazine for 23 years until it closed in 2009, has been touring smaller cooking stores across the nation since 2010 after she was contacted by Chantal Cookware asking her to help it demonstrate fusion copper items while she toured to promote her latest cookbook Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners, which was released in April 2010.
"I would never put my name with something that I don't like and wouldn't normally use and I really fell in love with these pans," Moulton.
During the 2010 Moulton and Chantal demonstration/book tour, she and her cookware representative visited 23 cities across the country and as far north as Anchorage, Alaska.
"For my first two cookbooks ('Sara Moulton Cooks at Home' and 'Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals') the promotional tours took me to large bookstores and cooking stores where hundreds and sometimes thousands of people would attend and these tours with Chantal are more grassroots in 'mom and pop' cookware shops and I love it," Moulton enthusiastically said. "It's allows me to get to know my audience."
As one of the first well-known personalities in the first decade of the Food Network with shows such as "Cooking Live," "Sara's Secrets" and "Cooking Live Primetime" as well as her work as the food editor for ABC-TV's "Good Morning America," Moulton knows how to handle large audiences, but said she prefers the smaller groups, such as the 20 filled seats during the Marietta event.
"I love the small groups in these classes," she said. "It helps me know the people who like my shows."
Moulton will soon appear on Public Broadcasting Stations with the second season of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."
While Moulton's demonstration at The Cook's Shop is sold out, everyone is welcome to attend a booksigning with her beginning around 3 p.m. Saturday.
