Diana Albanese comes from a family that has owned a food market in Bayonne for 75 years. She has been a private caterer and was director of La Cucina D’ana. Diana studied at the French Culinary Institute, La Technique, and recently joined the faculty of Brookdale Community College’s Creative Cooking classes.
Barbara Seelig Brown
Author of the Stress Free Cooking cookbook and host of the Stress Free Cooking TV Show, Barbara brings her special style of "Stress Free Cooking" to Classic Thyme. Barbara writes a monthly column for the New Jersey Herald and is a regular contributor to other culinary publications. She is a member of Les Dames Escoffier and IACP. Her new cookbook, Sensational Seafood will be published in Fall 2009.
Mike Christiansen
Michael studied at The Culinary Institute of America and today is a Research Chef for the Bertolli line of frozen foods at Unilever. Michael gained most of his initial experience while working in San Francisco for Chef Bradley Ogden and Michael Mina. He opened his own successful restaurant, but has since forgone the traditional restaurant model and will be launching a food truck in early spring - "Hot Box" street cuisine. "Hot Box" will serve various gourmet street foods.
Toni Hartman
Toni Hartman has taught cake decorating techniques for 20 years and has won medals in various competitions, one from the prestigious International Geneva Association. She specializes in chocolate, marzipan, gingerbread, pastillage, modeling and flower arranging with sugar, porcelain and silks. She has been a Wilton’s teacher of the year and her botanical sugar flower renditions have appeared in American Cake Decorating Magazine and popular bride magazines.
Suzanne Zimmer Lowery
Suzanne Zimmer Lowery is a graduate of New School’s New York Restaurant School and Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. A former area pastry chef and professional cake decorator, she currently teaches at various local cooking schools. She is a contributing writer for the Star-Ledger newspaper’s “Savor” section, NJ Monthly magazine, NJ Savvy Living magazine and other regional publications. In addition, Suzanne has been a regularly appearing chef on the satellite television program, “Daily Connections.”
Daniel Rosati
Daniel Rosati is the owner of La Villa Cucina, a cooking school established in 1998, offering culinary travel programs within the Italian regions of Campania, Tuscany, Umbria and Sicily. While his expertise is regional Italian cooking, Daniel is also proficient in pastry arts and other ethnic cuisines. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Antonin Carême bronze medal, from the Société Des Cuisiniers De Paris, the Otto Gentsch silver medal from the Otto Gentsch Foundation and the Auguste Escoffier gold medal for outstanding achievement in the field of sugar and chocolate artistry. Daniel is currently at work on his first book, La Villa Cucina.
Stephen Schmidt
Stephen is the author of Master Recipes, 1987 and the forthcoming Dessert in America, a social history of American dessert that includes recipes. He was a principal editor for the 1997 and 2006 editions of Joy of Cooking and a contributor to the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. He was a regular contributor to Cook's Illustrated Magazine from 1993 to 1998 and has written on food, cooking, and culinary history for a variety of publications. He teaches in the Food Studies Department of the New School University, in New York City.
Justin Zach
As another long time member of the Classic Thyme family, Justin is one of our Birthday Party leaders and assists with adult classes and caterings. Justin is currently attending Kean University working towards is Bachelors Degree in Earth Science. He holds an Associates Degree in Psychology and plans on obtaining his Teaching Certificate. With a love for all things outdoors, he enjoys hiking, camping and snowboarding.
Rick Rodgers Rick Rodgers, named Outstanding Cooking Teacher of the Year by Bon Appétit magazine, has taught culinary arts all over the country for more than fifteen years. He has written over thirty cookbooks, including the best-sellers Thanksgiving 101 and Christmas 101, Fondue, and the IACP Cookbook Award nominees, Kaffeehaus and The Carefree Cook. Rick often works behind the scenes as a consultant and editor on cookbooks by other authors, including Patti Labelle, Alfred Portale, and Lilly Pulitzer.
Jesse Jones Chef Jesse has built his reputation on a fusion of classic French haute and down-home North Carolina cuisine. Formerly the owner of the Heart and Soul Restaurant in South Orange, he now stays busy with teaching and catering. “New Jersey’s winningest chef,” as Jesse calls himself, earned that title by consistently placing first in events that were professional and peer-judged, as well as in those that were “people’s choice” contests. Among his many awards is the recent Best in Show awarded to his smokey ribs at North Essex Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Essex competition.
Adam Augenzucker
Adam joined the Classic Thyme family at and early age assisting at birthday parties and later at adult classes, private parties and catering. Today Adam leads our teen programs and summer camps. Adam is an avid rock climber, outdoor enthusiast and video entrepreneur and a graduate of Ramapo College.
Steven Capodicaso
Best known for his "Couples" Classes at Classic Thyme, Steven has a profilic culinary career working with companies such as the Hilton Corporation, Kings Supermarkets, Atkins Nutritionals, Pret A Manger and most recently Firmenich USA. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and recipient of their prestigious "Augie Award" for outstanding performance in product development for the retail industry.
Catherine Titus Felix, CCP
Catherine is a Principal Chef for Unilever Foods, NA, and former Food Editor of “Victorian Homes” magazine. A 1980 graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, London, Catherine has worked as a pastry chef, consultant, culinary educator and writer. She contributed the chapter on “The Wedding Breakfast” to Romantic Victorian Weddings, Then and Now and has appeared on numerous television food programs, including HGTV’s “A Christmas in Cape May with Kitty Bartholomew.”
Jackie Leischner
Jackie joined Classic Thyme in 2000 as a birthday party instructor and expanded her repertoire introducing our popular Mommy & Me/Working Parent & Me classes and summer camps. Jackie describes herself as a Mom that is comfortable in the kitchen. She credits her passion for cooking to her Italian heritage and her mother and grandmother for their inspiration. Jackie has a B.S. in Business and Economics from St. John’s University.
Eileen Rooney
A long time instructor at Classic Thyme, Eileen was instrumental in the early development of Classic Thyme's Childrens Programs. Eileen is an experienced childcare professional and works as the numerous Children's Birthday Parties and Children's classes. Her experience with children carries over to her "real life" job as Director for the preschool at the Westfield YMCA.
Kathleen Sanderson
Kathleen is an accomplished culinary professional with experience in all aspects of foodservice including New Product, Recipe & Menu Development, Foodservice Editorial/Advertorial Concepts and Food Styling for Print & Video. As graduate of the California Culinary Academy and founder of the Gotham Food Group, Kathleen brings a wealth of information to her cooking classes. Kathleen teaches at several cooking schools in the area in addition to her principal role for Foodservice Solutions. Classic Thyme has been fortunate to have Kathleen as an instructor since 1997.
Leah Schneider
Leah is a childrens birthday party insturctor and adult class instructor at Classic Thyme. She received her Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education and is currently studying for her Teacher's Certification. She is also a Director of the After School Program at the Westfield YMCA.
Arlene Ward
Arlene is a long term member of The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and The New York Association of Cooking Teachers, and has been a food stylist for many professional photographers and various food companies. Founder of Adventures in Cooking Culinary School in Wayne NJ, Arlene has taught culinary classes for the past 19 years at her location. She was instrumental in helping David get started with opening Classic Thyme in 1995. Arlene has been a close friend and mentor of David for many years. Arlene is the Co-Author of ‘Pressure Cooking for Everyone’ and is renowned to be one of the best culinary instructors in the area, according to many tri-state area culinary instructors.
Nick Malgieri Nick Malgieri, former Executive Pastry Chef at Windows on the World, is a 1996 inductee into Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. His latest book is The Modern Baker. He is the author of Chocolate, winner of an IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award for best baking book of 1998, voted Best Chocolate Book in the World by the 1998 Salon International du Livre Gourmand, and included in Food & Wine magazine’s Best of the Best for 1998, and How to Bake, the recipient of a James Beard Foundation cookbook award for best baking book of 1995. He is also the author of Nick Malgieri's Perfect PastryGreat Italian Desserts and Cookies Unlimited, which was nominated for a James Beard Foundation cookbook award and was included in Food & Wine magazine’s Best of the Best for 2000.
Classic Thyme Cooking School ♦ 710 South Avenue West ♦ Westfield, NJ 07090 Phone: 908-232-5445
