Photos of Maureen Mader’s recent cooking class at Dunning’s Market are among the growing number being collected online through the #flossmoor365 hashtag.

pasta dough at the Dunning’s
Market cooking class.
(Photos by Danielle Maya Banks/
H-F Chronicle)
Mader envisioned a way for local customers to tell these stories. She hosts cooking classes at Dunning’s.
“The story behind the Italian food I make is that my grandma taught us,” she said. “Of course, every time I make that dough I’m emotional. I think of my grandma, my mom, Christmas, Easter. This is what we are trying to offer customers when they come in for a cooking class. There is so much passion in food.”

replicates her grandmother’s
pizza dough during a recent
cooking class.
Photos of the cooking class at Dunning’s can be found on Instagram, under #Flossmoor365, the social media campaign launched by the Village of Flossmoor in January. The hashtag tells the unique stories of Flossmoor life, in photographs.
Amy Kent, Flossmoor’s communications manager, says the photos customers posted from the class at Dunning’s are exactly the type of local activity the campaign aims to spotlight.

cooking class celebrate with
a meal of what they learned
to create in the kitchen. Tina
Coleman is at the center with,
left to right, Joan Walker,
Tony DeSantis, Laura Baltuska,
Phil DeSantis, Anne DeSantis,
Samantha Revels, Rob Revels,
Puma Tannehill and Brenda
Tannehill.
“#Flossmoor365 allows us to recognize the unique opportunities we have here” Kent said. “I’m sure there are plenty of cooking classes in the city, but Flossmoor residents don’t have to leave the community. We can go down the street to Dunning’s and take a class with family and friends. Who would have thought?”
Flossmoor resident Laura Baltuska shares Kent’s appreciation for the local “gem” that Dunning’s cooking classes are turning out to be.