While most people sneak into the kitchen to get a snack, Helen spent her life sneaking into the kitchen to cook. At 10, she thought making bean soup was more exciting than practicing the piano. At 18, she was feeding her fellow college students in exchange for help with her programming assignments. After finishing her degree in Computer Science, she went to Provence, France to study art history and ended up studying the art of cooking and eating. Traveling through the Mediterranean made her fall in love with the sun drenched cuisine of the coast.

Upon return to the States, she spent most of her free time exploring the fish and farmer's markets of Boston and cooking every kind of fish and vegetable she could get her hands on. Bored with her job at a dysfunctional dot-com, and not having enough money for culinary school, Helen got an internship in Casablanca Restaurant, and spent her nights and weekends learning the ropes of professional cooking. What started out as a hobby turned into a teaching position at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. After teaching over 300 students, Helen decided to open her own kitchen to anyone who wants to learn about food. That's how, in 2005, Helen's Kitchen was born.

Helen's cooking philosophy centers on finding creative ways to prepare local ingredients. She teaches cooking classes in her house in Natick.

It's impossible not to start drooling when you walk into Leslie's Kitchen. There is always something buttery and terribly delicious in her oven -- hardly surprising considering her accomplished career as a pastry chef and bread baker. It all started at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge where Leslie worked as a line cook. She spent every free minute with the bakers, fascinated by their craft. As soon as the opportunity came along, she joined their team and spent her days kneading, shaping, rolling, and baking. After mastering French pastry techniques, Leslie went to work for Vicky Lee's as a pastry chef. Then she moved on to Harvest Restaurant, finally attaining the position of the Head Pastry Chef.

Breads were Leslie's next frontier, and what better place to work as a bread baker than Clear Flour bakery in Brookline. While Leslie was enjoying baking baguettes, focaccia, and brioche, it was impossible for Clear Flour not to notice her pastry skills. They asked Leslie to start a pastry line and soon their shelves were brimming with Leslie's beautiful tarts and galettes. These goodies were so popular that Clear Flour continues Leslie's pastry line to this day. Leslie left the world of restaurant kitchens and bakeries to raise a family, but continued to delight people with her scones, biscotti, and tarts at the Belmont Farmer's Market. In 2008, Leslie started the baking program for Helen's Kitchen. She welcomes home bakers of all levels for hands-on baking classes in her kitchen in Belmont.

Whether your question is about duck confit, shrimp jambalaya, Thai curries, or sous-vide cooking, Mark DesLaurier has an answer for you. While Mark's culinary expertise is astounding, it is hardly surprising. He grew up in his parents' restaurant kitchen, trained under European Master Chefs, and spent 30 years in the restaurant business working as executive chef, pastry chef, restaurant manager, and sommelier. 10 of those years, Mark spent abroad in the Virgin Islands, Belize, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Tunisia. Mark taught culinary history at Tufts University and serves as an occupational specialist on the National Accreditation Board for Culinary and Vocational Schools. He is an active member of Les Amis d'Escoffier, Chef's Collaborative, The Culinary Historians of Boston, Somerville Local First and Slow Food.

Mark joined Helen's Kitchen in 2009. He gladly welcomes cooks of all levels to his kitchen located in an artist loft community (the Brickbottom building in Somerville), and looks forward to teaching you how to shop, chop, braise, roast, sear, and poach like a pro.

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