The CHIC World of Petit Four

Cross Training with LCB International: Christian Faure

Two or three times a year, the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago , Baking and Patisserie, gets an official visit from LCB International. This week and next, we are happy to have Chef Christian Faure of Ottawa. Chef Christian is a Meuilleur Ouvier du France (MOF) from Lyon and has worked all over Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Chef Christian has not only shared his expertise on sugar and petit four, but also his stories of his travels as pastry chef, his family and his lifelong experiences. He is an amazingly nice man, is all we can say.

with Chef Nancy Carey and myself
the Baking and Pastry Department minus the photographer, Tom Beckman and Karyn, who was sick
at the Osteria Via Stato for lunch
Chef Nancy and myself teamed up to do this showpiece

CHIC Welcomes FENI

With gracious hospitality, passion for culinary education and a chance and desire to show what the LeCordon Bleu North America is about, CHIC faculty and staff welcomed FENI attendees from all over the US. Several classes were held in both the South and North Campuses, some full hands- on Master classes, some demo only, and truthfully, quite a few more interesting than the others. Some classes were lacking in content and organization, but overall it was four days of learning, sharing, getting to know colleagues from every culinary school imaginable. Here are some pictures:

Cooking and Hospitality Istitute of Chicago SupportsFor the Love Of Chocolate-Chicago

CHIC faculty and students created a sweet table, participated in the fashion show and entered in the Student Chocolate Wedding Cake Competition in the French Pastry School sponsored "For the Love of Chocolate" to benefit C-CAP.

The students' wedding cakes were in strict adherence of rules that included specific height and girth measurements, and at least 50% chocolate. To top it all off, students used tempered chocolate for the entire chocolate with scratch-made chocolate rolled fondant. We think they all did a wonderful job, considering they are in an intensive cohort requiring them to be at school most of the day for their regular classes.

Sugar Baskets from February 2006 Start

Congratulations and Good Luck February Start

PB1160 August Start