
DATE: Friday, September 19, 1997            TAG: 9709190076

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNNE MILLER, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  128 lines

CHEF GIRL-AR-DEE COOKING CLASS WHET HER APPETITE FOR CULINARY SCHOOL

CHRISTINA ABERNATHY looks professional.

She wears a crisp white jacket, blue name tag, and black and white checkered pants with black lace-up shoes.

The only thing missing is the tall white chef's hat.

Christy is no Julia Child - yet. But the 17-year-old graduate of Western Branch High in Chesapeake is a chef in training.

Two weeks ago, she started classes at the Norfolk campus of Johnson & Wales University, the largest culinary-arts college in the world. She hopes someday to work on the East Coast, maybe as a seafood chef.

``I want to get a full view of everything,'' she said. ``I don't want to rush into anything yet. I don't want to specialize. I want to work at different places.''

Friends and family are sure Christy will realize that dream, but they were a bit surprised by her career choice. Although she showed an early interest in cooking - making spaghetti and brownies with her father by age 10 - she had decided to become an X-ray technician.

Then, in her senior year at Western Branch, Christy took a food management class. Her teacher suggested that she participate in C-CAP: Careers Through Culinary Arts Program, a national, yearlong program for high school students interested in professions related to cooking. She learned cooking basics such as sauteing, braising and handling knives. She also learned a bit about French cuisine. More importantly, she learned about herself.

``I love to create,'' Christy said. ``It's your way.''

Soon after she started C-CAP, Christy began collecting cooking awards.

Her gingerbread carousel earned second-place honor in a contest held by the International Food Service Executives Association.

A marinade she made from balsamic vinegar, dill seed, orange and lime zest won her a $500 scholarship from Johnson & Wales.

A cheese omelet cooked in front of C-CAP judges in February guaranteed her a spot in a cooking competition at Johnson & Wales.

Christy showed up for the March 4 competition anxious and sick with bronchitis.

``I was miserable,'' Christy recalled, her brown eyes widening. ``When I got in there, that was the worst.''

There were 22 student chefs and at least eight judges. Working within a two-hour time limit, students prepared a French style meal of poached chicken with chive sauce, carrots and zucchini shaped like miniature footballs, and crepes with cream filling and chocolate sauce.

Having practiced the recipes at school and at home before the competition, they made everything from memory and made it all look pretty on a plate for the watchful judges. The competition, which included face-to-face interviews, lasted all day.

It ended with each of the students receiving some type of cooking school scholarship. Christy earned one of the larger awards, a four-year, $10,000 scholarship to Johnson & Wales. It will help her cover the school's $12,024 yearly tuition.

``I think she deserved that scholarship,'' said Sharalyn Midgett, who served on the interview panel at finals. Midgett said Christy impressed the judges with her confidence and her certainty about a career in cooking.

``She'll be successful in whatever she wants to do,'' Midgett said. ``She can almost pick and choose what she wants to do.''

That she chose cooking still surprises her father, Steve Abernathy.

``It sort of floored me,'' her father said of her decision to go to culinary school. ``I didn't understand where she got that from.''

However, Abernathy, who likes to dabble in Cajun cuisine, is behind his daughter.

``I love it,'' he said. ``I think it's the greatest thing in the world.''

Christy's friends, too, have gotten used to the idea of Chef Christy.

``When you get your own restaurant, I get the first seat,'' her friends tell her.

``I've had lots of people say that to me,'' Christy said with a laugh.

Christy is curious about food. She's constantly learning.

When she and her boyfriend Robert go out to eat, Christy analyzes her food. She tries to figure out the ingredients in the dishes. ``It gets on my boyfriend's nerves,'' she said.

This summer, she left home to work at Dockside 'n' Duck, a seafood market in Duck, N.C. Among other things, she learned about sanitation and customer service. Christy didn't mind the occasional grumpy customer.

``I love customers,'' she said. ``If they have a problem, I try not to make their life any harder.''

When she and her co-workers got hungry, they'd throw something together in the back of the shop. Christy mastered the art of making crab cakes.

She also found out what it's like to be on your own. For three months, she lived at a friend's home in Duck. Occasionally she would sneak home for a break.

``It was hard living away from my family,'' she said. ``When I did come home, I felt like I wasn't there very long.''

On this day at school, Christy is between classes. Later this afternoon, she will attend ``Stocks & Sauces,'' a freshman lab where students make basic sauces, including hollandaise, veloute and espagnol. All of Christy's classes this year are hands-on labs. She'll take academic courses near the end of the two-year program at the Norfolk campus.

Guys vastly outnumber girls in the ''Stocks & Sauces'' class, but it's no big deal for Christy.

``It doesn't matter to me if they're men or women,'' she said. ``That's not the first thing I noticed about the class. We have a really good group.''

Male students outnumber female students at Johnson & Wales but not by much. Males made up about 53 percent of the student body in September 1996, the school says.

Christy likes Johnson & Wales for a couple of reasons.

First, the school's placement rate is strong. About 98 percent of all graduates find jobs within six months of graduation, says a school brochure.

Second, it's nearby. Christy wanted to go to a college without leaving the family nest. She is close to her parents and 21-year-old sister.

``I'm not ready to leave yet,'' she said. ``Summer was hard enough.''

After she earns an associate's degree from the Norfolk campus in two years, Christy will head to Johnson & Wales' main campus in Providence, R.I., to work on a bachelor's degree. The school operates five campuses around the country.

Steve Abernathy knows his daughter will succeed.

``She's hard-headed,'' he said. ``When she takes an interest in stuff, she goes for it no matter what it is. She doesn't look to the side or behind her. There are no detours.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

Christy Abernathy of Chesapeake...

Photo

TAMARA VONINSKI / The Virginian-Pilot

Christy Abernathy won a $10,000 scholarship to Johnson & Wales.

Graphic

CHRISTY'S CITRUS MARINATED TUNA

[For complete recipe, please see microfilm]