Julia Child's 100th Birthday

To commemorate Le Cordon Bleu International's most famous graduate's birthday, I was asked to create a cake to celebrate her life and contribution to women chefs and French American cuisine.  The more you read about her life, the more you want to learn more about her passion and personality, her friends, her zest for life.  I actually feel bad that I never got to meet her, so I am honored to have created this cake to remember the things that she loved....

CHIC Urban Parking Lot Garden Paradise

Groundbreaking

Armed with shovels, spades, rakes and ready for action muscles, instructors, staff and students broke ground for what should be a promising organic culinary garden. Mixed with a butterfly sanctuary, the garden is being dug up right in the middle of what once was one of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, in the CHIC parking lot, now CHIC, hip and very urban.
After digging for a while, we soon realized the muscles were not ready for the very thick grass on the north side of the school, and we ran off to Home Depot to rent a rototiller. The garden right under the admissions window was a breeze, but the other side across the way was really tough, so we decided we will cover it with about a foot of topsoil to kill the grass. This area gets full sun and this will be the vegetable garden. We plan to install at least six different tomatoes, six types of basil, at least 4 kinds of peppers, zuchini, cucumber, beans, oriental vegetables and but of course, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, some mint. I am even trying to get roots on a store bought lemon grass.
After the back breaking hard labor, Chef John bought the group some Bari subs and Chef MIke brought some soda.
This week, we will amend the soil with store bought topsoil, some manure from the horse farm , compost, peat moss and perhaps some bone meal or blood meal. for some slow released food. BY next week, we hope to plant.
Thanks to evrybody who came and participated. Bill Mustari, Chef John with Matthew, Michael and Alexander, Chef Mike Skufca, Emily Johnson, Sala Schweiger, Tabitha tattone, Daniel Crum, Andrew, Gerry McCarthy

ACF Central Regional Conference

Le Cordon Bleu North America is a sponsor in this year's ACF Central Regional Conference. Chef Christian Faure, MOP, flew in from Ottawa just for the ocassion. I was given the honor of introducing him. Here wasmy little speech:

Good Morning. Welcome to the ACF Central Regional Conference.

Our guest this morning, Chef Christian Faure started his interest in Cooking and Baking at an early age of 6, preferring to hang out in his mother’s kitchen than playing with the neighborhood kids.

Chef Christian started his apprenticeship at age 14, started competing at 18 and soon after earned his position as chef de station at the House of Dallayou.

Chef Christian’s list of accomplishment is staggering. He opened successful pastry shops Victorinne, Citronelle and Sesame in Paris. He managed the Centrale Patisserie for the Flo Prestige in Paris and later Flo, Nice.. He was also Executive Pastry Chef of the Grand Hotel of the Cape Ferrat and the Royal Hotel Riviera

Chef Christian has also has worked alongside many culinary giants including Alain Ducasse and Mario Muratore at Hotel de France in Monaco, where he also oversaw the events of the Palace of Prince Albert of Monaco. Chef also opened the Royal Hotel of Lebanon and was also Executive Corporate Pastry Chef of Circle Management of Lebanon.

In 1997, Chef Faure obtained the supreme title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, glacier, the best worker of France from then French president Jack Chirac.

Just a few days ago, Chef was honored by the Government of France and bestowed the title, Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit at a ceremony hosted by the Ambassador of France to Canada.

In 2006, after working for 30 years all over the world. Chef Faure accepted a position with Le Cordon Bleu International to inspire, to teach young talent, the long standing culinary excellence associated with The Le Cordon Bleu Schools and to help maintain and respect the traditions of French gastronomy.


Please welcome the Executive Pastry Chef of Le Cordon Bleu International and most importantly, a very good friend of Le Cordon Bleu Chicago, Sir Chef Knight Christian Faure, Meilleur Ouvrier De France, Glacier.

LCB Chicago Photo Shoot

For the launching of CHIC's new name, Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts, Chicago: a photo shoot was scheduled for wallscapes and catalogs. I was asked to produce a few plated desserts. Chef Mike Skufca helped out with a few croissants and danishes from his laminated dough class. My student Raylissa Morales came to help with my prep.

Baking for Culinary Students

One of the the toughest classes I have had in my 6 years at CHIC is this culinary cohort of 10 students. With tough economic times when even education funding is affected by the financial crisis, and retention is a major concern, my patience was tested to the max. I was so frustrated with the poor attendance of this group, but I could not give up. I knew that my main goal is education and teaching them to be the best they can be. I also wanted them to have respect for baking.

I think, in the long run, they came up to my challenge. They did an amazing job. Micahel O'Donell told me after the finals, Chef, you totally changed my perspective about baking.

These pictures are from their sweet table after a 3 week- term in baking

Who's Coming to Dinner

Gourmet Chicago 2008 at the Millenium Park

getting ready for my chocolate demo
The Bean

Chef Marshall and Mixologist Bridgit Albert
Stopped for a picture on our way home
The Pritzker Theater

The Mayor admiring the Cake

Before the cake was hand painted


Transported the cake from the parking lot via golf cart

The first ever Gourmet Chicago, a celebration of food and wine, organized by the City of Chicago and the Illinois Restaurant Association opened at the Millenium Park this past weekend, Sept 28 and 29. Our school, the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago had a tent and served perhaps a couple of thousand on Saturday and quite a bit less on Sunday. The culinary department, fresh from a lift of the ban on foie gras in Chicago, served foie gras mousse with veal gelee, potatoes with ratatouile and a spinach salad with orange vinagrette and a parmesan cheese cracker. The Baking and Patisserie department on the other hand, served an assortment of truffles that incleuded a caramel balsamic, a honey-ginger-sesame oil, a mango passionfruit, pistachio,etc,an assortment of macaroons, chocolate mousse cups, an assortment of pate de fruit, and an assortment of tartlets, oh, and some opera tortes. In addition, we had 5 full sheets of yellow chiffon with white chocolate mousse and raspberry. Lloyd Kirsch, school president, Kirk Bachmann, Le Cordon Bleu North America Executive Chef, Marshall Shafkowitz, Vice President of Academic Affairs forCHIC cut the cake to celebrate CHIC's 25th year.

I designed and created the 25th Anniversary cake out of fondant, pastillage and pulled and blown sugar. The cake which was really mostly of styrofoam was a stacked copper pot, a chef's hat, a saute pan, a copper saucepan, a colander and some kitchen tools: spoon, a rubber spatula, a fish spatula, a whisk, rolling spoon all made of pastillage. The bubbles are meant to suggest cooking or boiling and were made of blown sugar. Chef Nancy Carey helped me blow about 50 bubbles for this cake. She also made the pulled sugar ribbon.

It was a fun, but exhausting event, tremendous amount of preparation was involved and lots of help from great student volunteers who plated, served, cleaned up, all with smiles on their faces however much their feet hurt.