Virginia has studied at Cordon Bleu, Paris; Gastronomic Institute, Vienna; University of Science & Technology, Ames, Iowa. A cookbook author and former television video cooking show host, she founded her first cooking school in 1977 in Vancouver, Canada.

Mike is a former businessman, who, in his spare time, has been throwing large, fabulous parties and dinners since his college days. An avid cookbook collector, he also is a knife skills and barbeque expert. He has been teaching at Blue Ribbon since 1998.

Vanessa Volkman joined Blue Ribbon's team as a full time chef instructor in 2000. Over her years at Blue Ribbon she has shifted gears and now runs the day-to-day operations of the company. As former private chef and culinary consultant, Vanessa uses her experiences in the culinary industry in conjunction with her passion for planning and designing events to ensure the success of each event at Blue Ribbon.

Themes from any of our classes can be transformed into corporate team activities for groups of up to 150. We provide an instructor for every 12 guests. Participants receive hands-on cooking instruction and then feast together on the incredibly delicious meal they've created. It's fun, educational, builds morale, and is designed to allow everyone from the novice cook to a master chef to participate comfortably.

Standard classes are 3 hours, offered in several different formats, and can be arranged to cover any topic or ethnic cuisine. Each class is custom-designed with your company's needs in mind. Classes are held at our 5,200-square-foot waterfront culinary center on Lake Union. For more information, to check date availability or to sign up for a corporate team activity give us a call at 206-328-2442.