In The Kitchen With Shelby

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THE GREAT GRETNA PLATE

Mount Gretna Fire Hall

March 29, 2026 from 3-5 p.m.

Tickets required

On Sunday, March 29, Mount Gretna Magazine hosts the Great Gretna Plate — a lively, Chopped-inspired cooking competition. Join us for an afternoon of community, laughter, and good-natured culinary rivalry as three local amateur cooks compete for the winning dish.

Advance tickets are $15 (cash) at Porch & Pantry — and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

MEET THE COMPETITORS

Our final competitor is Shelby Larkin, a friendly Chautauqua cottager and graphic designer with a penchant for pink whom you may have encountered along Rt. 117 working at either La Cigale or at the Heritage Hill Blooms’ stand. While Shelby has only lived in Gretna for two years, she has family history in the area and has integrated quickly into the community. Let's learn more about Shelby, in her own words:

What do you like best about Gretna? I love that I feel like there is a true sense of community here in Gretna. Even handling the ups and downs of first-time home ownership seem to have been easier thanks to how thoughtful and caring my neighbors have been. And when I say neighbors, I mean even outside of just my next-door neighbors (who have been a massive blessing, Hot Corner is truly the best spot in Gretna for an extrovert to end up!). I had neighbors from other streets and neighborhoods, whom I had only met once upon moving here, gifting me furniture, offering a ride in their pickup truck to purchase Facebook Marketplace finds, and inviting me to porch parties … I have lived in a lot of different places and moved 10+ times, and have never had an easier time feeling like I belonged.

Who taught you to cook? My mother was the chef in our family. By late elementary school, she was teaching my sister and I how to bake. We loved to try the different cookies she would bring home from cookie exchanges. Over the years, our own list of what we baked grew to four or five different types — on top of the chocolate-covered pretzel rods for teacher Christmas gifts. By high school, I started to get into watching food shows. One of my favorites was Chopped. Watching the show was inspiring to me, and I quickly fell down the rabbit hole of food bloggers as well. While my mom still did the majority of the cooking, I definitely started to pitch in more with recipes I wanted to make, especially for special occasions.

What’s one ingredient you can’t live without? Grass-fed salted butter. This is the not-so-secret ingredient in the browned-butter chocolate chip cookies I have become known for bringing to most Gretna events!

What food could you eat every day? Cheese! I am obsessed with all types of cheese. Growing up, I was raised on white American cheese. By the time I graduated from college, my palate had developed, and now I will try any kind of cheese I can get my hands on.

What food would you eliminate from existence if you could? Spaghetti! I eat all kinds of other pasta noodles (even angel hair). I still love pasta sauce, but I got sick from spaghetti as a kid and it's truly my least favorite food to eat. It’s also everyone’s go-to when having guests over, which is unfortunate for me!

What do friends and family say about your personality in the kitchen? Non-verbal. I tend to go from focused to frazzled pretty quickly when having to talk to others while cooking, so this competition will be interesting.

Share a kitchen disaster story if you have one. The biggest kitchen disaster I can recall includes a toaster and Panera’s Cinnamon Crunch bagel. For a semester in college, I lived at home with my parents. They would both head to work before I had to leave for class; one morning, I was quickly prepping a bagel for breakfast as I got ready. I put the bagel in the toaster, ran to the bathroom, and suddenly I was smelling smoke. I sprinted back down to the kitchen to discover flames licking up the sides of the toaster, which was sitting under the overhead cabinets! Somehow I had the sense to reach around the toaster, unplug it, and drag it out from under the cabinet by the cord. I also knew where we kept the fire extinguisher, so I was able to quickly put out the electrical fire — but this left a mess everywhere. I couldn’t miss school, and we had pets I had to worry about getting into the fire extinguisher residue. Thankfully, my dad was able to come home and handle the cleanup. From then on out, I have always made sure that any toaster I use is not tucked under a cabinet and that I keep a close eye on it while it's toasting!

Favorite dish/food to make? Caramelized onions. I think that they transform any dish they are added to and I try to keep some in my fridge at all times. I also love the way they make my house smell while I am cooking them.

Most intimidating food (and have you attempted it yet)? Sourdough constantly intimidates me! One of the first things I did when I moved here was take Bill Leonard’s sourdough class offered through the Chautauqua Summer Programs. Bill made the subject so approachable — he is a fantastic teacher — and later that year one of my best friends came to visit and brought me some of her sourdough starter. I am always worried I am going to kill the thing! I have had varied success over the past year. Especially here in my 120+ year-old cottage, where the temperature and humidity are constantly changing, getting my bakes to proof and rise correctly takes a special level of trickery. I’ve been fortunate to have as many successful loaves as I have had, but I know there is much room for improvement!

Favorite drink while cooking? I’m honestly drinking water all day long, so that is what I consume the most when I am in the kitchen. If I have the thought to make myself something before I start cooking, I am often making a jam jar cocktail. I learned the trick to use the last little bits of jam in a jar to make an easy cocktail. You just add ice and whatever liquor and mixer you want. Shake thoroughly to mix (and strain if you are fancy like that) and you’ve got yourself a simple drink.

Sweet or savory? Very hard question. I am a salty & sweet kind of gal, but I think I enjoy baking the most so I have to go with sweet.

Butter or olive oil? Why not both? Truly, a lot of recipes I make (including the caramelized onions) use a bit of both. I think they both have their places. A good grass-fed butter is 100% the secret to my success when baking, but I use olive oil for most savory dishes I make.

Follow the recipe or improvise? For the first time, I stick to the recipe. I want to see how it turns out before I start majorly tampering with it. I hate reading comments on recipes where people swap out most of the ingredients and then complain that it didn’t turn out right. Use common sense, people!! After I have tried the recipe the way the chef intended, then I can start making changes to my preferences in the future, or swap out ingredients that I happen to have on hand.

Cast iron or nonstick? Again, I use both. I have some incredible heirloom cast iron pieces that I have inherited, but I mainly cook with stainless steel. I have two nonstick pans that have pretty specific purposes, such as scrambled eggs and steaming potstickers.

Apron or no apron? No apron most of the time. If I can remember that I am going to make a mess (like when I make pasta sauce) I try to throw one on. A lot of the time, I just make sure I am not wearing anything super nice when I cook.

Wash as you go or big sinkful at the end? Sooooo … I’ve always washed as I go. It’s how my mom raised me, and I quickly learned it avoids a massive mess at the end. That being said, ever since my boyfriend came into my life, the deal has been that I do the cooking and he does the cleaning (we do not have a dishwasher). Sometimes, if he is around while I am cooking, he will get to the dishes as I am cooking, but a lot of times he gets to them later!

Cook with music or silence? Definitely with music. For the last few years, Taylor Swift has been my top-played artist when it comes time for Apple Music Wrapped — mostly because it’s my go-to when I’m in the kitchen.

Best kitchen dance song? "Pink Pony Club" by Chappel Roan.

What’s something surprising about you that has nothing to do with cooking? A few years back, I read 100 books in a year. I did NOT do the math ahead of time when I set that goal. My boss pointed out that I would need to read, on average, 8+ books a month. It was also the same year I did a 40-day road trip around the East Coast and Midwest, so thankfully I had plenty of time by myself in the car to listen to audiobooks. I managed to meet my goal, finishing my 100th book on NYE, by reading and listening to a mix of autobiographies, traditional books, and comic books/graphic novels.

Why did you say yes to this competition? As I mentioned, I love the show Chopped, and this was sold to me as a Chopped-like competition. While the aspect of being the main chef is pretty intimidating, I do think this is a cool opportunity to try my hand at this style of contest with some incredible Gretna friends by my side.

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Want to see Shelby in action? Be sure to purchase your ticket at Porch & Pantry before we sell out. And check the Stories section at MountGretnaMagazine.org to meet Shelby's competition!

This event is co-sponsored by Porch & Pantry.