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.

Mousse Parade

My Baking and pastry Cohort of 4 students just finished their custard class. Here are some pictures of their mousse cakes, part of their final practical. In the pictures are Megan King, Jan Tramposch, Karrie Lay and Maricel Arroyo. Megan King's parents barely made it after over 6 hours of long driving from Michigan and Karrie's mom is here from Texas.

Sweet Table with Chef Toni Leahy and John Montanile

Chef John Montanile and Chef Toni Leahy and I had sweet table classes this term, Chefs Montanile and Leahy had the cuisine class and I had a very small Baking & Patisserie class of 6. We d ecided that cuisine will do their sweet table on Thursday and B&P will do it Friday night. Both nights had a big turn out, families and friends showed up to support the students. For the cuisine part, Paul Young stayed late on behalf of administration to welcome the guests and also honor Diana Rodriguez for her role with the Blood donation Drive for Lifesource.

On Friday, Ruth Raynard, Director of Faculty Srvices for CEC, so graciously responded to our invite and stopped by with her family to say hello to the students and see their progress first hand.

Cable TV Photo Shoot with Ron Bilaro

Ron Bilaro and his TV Crew came to my house to do a shoot for his Life...Pinoy Style Cable TV Show aired in a few countries. I was asked to demo a few Filipino desserts like Ube Jam, Cassava Cake, Hopia, and of course Pan De Sal. It was a blast, we decided to do al fresco, out in the backyard where we set up a makeshift kitchen. The weather was in the high 70s, it was a perfect day, the butterflies were a fluttering, the birds basking in the sun.

The show will air August 17, and if you have TFC you can watch it at about 12:55 PM.

Lynfred Winery Tour and Tasting: June 22, 2008

I have lived in DuPage County for almost 25 years now, and I am very familiar with this award winning winery on Roselle Rd, but it took an Anthony McPhee, Hotel and Restaurant Management Instructor at CHIC to do a tour and a wine tasting, together with a few students, parents and other guests. Opened by Fred Koehler and his wife Lynn in 1979, the business had grown from a hobby to a 24,000 square foot facility that includes a tasting room, a retail shop and a B&B.

The historic house formerly owned by Colonel Roselle Hough, from whom the village was named after reminds me so much of a Tuscan Villa. Covered with ivy and rich in stained glass, you can stroll the gardens with a glass of wine. There are also bistro sets on the veranda were you can have bread and cheese with your wine.

Christine and Sue offered our group a free tour and wine tasting. We tasted the 2005 Fume Blanc, 2006 Chardonnay, 2003 Chardonnel, 2001 Syrah, 2005 Cabernet Franc, 2004 Cabernet Grenache, 1996 Cabernet and lastly, the Strawberry wine. Their grapes come from all over the US, mostlybrought in by refrigerated trucks from Michigan, New York, Oregon and Southern Illinois. The barrels are from France but lately, they are experimenting on hungarian oaks. Not much of a wine drinker, I can only tell you that most of the group enjoyed the Chardonelle and the Grenache. And I can also tell you that we had a very lovely time and no better way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon than sit and relax amidst beautifully landscaped gardens.

This tour is higly recommeded.

Patisfrance demo Monday June 16 at CHIC

Patisfrance/Puratos/Belcolade Corporate Pastry Chef Jonathan Moguel and his assistant Martin did a 3 hour demo at school today with Karl Helfrich from European Imports and Thibault de Selorges, US Area Manager to showcase their complete line of pastry ingredients. Interesting in today's demo is a macaron mix....just add water, mix for a few minutes, in the oven right away at 135 degrees for 20 minutes/ Also interesting is a nice green pistacio powder and a line of fruit pulps