Chef Jesse Jones Shines on SOMAtv

Last night, the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School held their annual meeting in Columbia High School's Black Box Theater.

The evening's entertainment came in the form of a cooking demonstration, complete with a back-up band. 

Chef Jesse Jones hosted the cooking show for broadcast on SOMAtv.  Jones owns a business in South Orange called Heart and Soul Catering, and currently teaches cooking classes at the Adult School. 

The chef lovingly prepared shrimp with beer and herb-infused compound butter, which everyone had the opportunity to sample afterwards while mingling in an adjacent room. Chef Jones explained the details of his recipe while simultaneously amusing the crowd. 

Joking about needing to control the temperature of the delicate seafood he was preparing, Jones quipped that he was going to throw to commercial "while these shrimp are burning – I mean browning."  That got a big laugh, and there were plenty of those throughout his demonstration.  

Jackie Jones, no relation to the chef, serenaded the crowd with her soulful ballads and scat singing, as she and her band acted as the musical entertainment for Chef Jesse's show.  

Ultimately, the shrimp were browned to perfection, and Chef Jesse served his dinner guests. Among them was surprise guest Liz Black, host of Sunday Morning Praise with Liz Black on the gospel radio station 1190 WLIB.  

Charlie Bibbins, an Adult School trustee, was presented with the Gus and Thelma Sickles Lifelong Learning Award. Thelma Sickles herself was in the audience for the event. 

Adult School Director Sue Marcus gave a speech about the past year and the one to come. Marcus noted that with the influx of Hatian people to our area, the number of people that the Adult School has had to turn away from ESL classes has increased exponentially. There was a theme of worry regarding the impending budget cuts, but also the drive to keep the Adult School going.