AUBURN - For Michelle Goggins, a recipe demonstrator for the Taste of Home Cooking School, food is everything.

“Food is an important part of life,” Goggins said. “It is one of my favorite subjects to talk about. I even like just saying the word food, and this is the perfect day to talk about food.”

Goggins had a captivated audience in Auburn High School's auditorium Saturday evening as several hundred people gathered for the 10th annual Taste of Home Cooking School, sponsored by The Citizen.

This year's theme, “Great Gatherings,” was a two-hour demonstration designed to give those in attendance ideas for dishes they could make for family gatherings, parties and the holidays.

Goggins began by showing several easy-to-make dishes for breakfast, such as ham and cheese strudel, tropical bran muffins and almond crumble twist.

Breaking each recipe down in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step fashion, talking and joking the whole way, Goggins made many in the audience feel like they were right at home in a cozy kitchen.

“I love the way she talks and explains everything,” said Jen Rulison, who traveled from Canandaigua to see the show. “I'm really interested in cooking and she makes everything look so easy and she makes it look like a lot of fun.”

Even for Goggins, who travels the country doing these demonstrations, things in the kitchen aren't always as easy as they seem on television shows or the way they are explained in cookbooks.

Some uncooperative dough gave Goggins the perfect opportunity to share some of the many helpful tips she has picked up along the way.

“Sometimes we all need a good power nap,” Goggins joked. “This happens at home, too. When your dough is acting like this it is telling you it needs a rest. The best thing to do is to spray some plastic wrap with non-stick spray and cover your dough and let it rest a while until it is ready to be rolled out.”

Dish after dish she had her audience both interested and hungry.

“It all looks so good,” Anne Nielson of Auburn said. “I mean everything she made looks just like it came out of a cookbook, just delicious.”

While Goggins may have been the main attraction, the halls of the high school played host to several other culinary delights through the afternoon.

Along with food vendors and cooking demonstrations, a table was set up for RISE (Reaching and Inspiring Survivors Everywhere), to help raise awareness of breast cancer.

The Citizen publisher Rick Emanuel dedicated this year's program to the memory of former RISE secretary Marilyn Stregiel, and reminded the audience that a walk in honor of survivors and the memory of loved ones would be held Sunday from noon to 4 starting at Loop Road.

A portion of the proceeds raised from this year's Taste of Home Cooking School will be donated to RISE.