FOODSERVICE MONTHLY'S Sauce on the Side

FOOD WINE DRINK 14

Champagne, the perfect beverage ...let's have a toast to the king of the bubbly Lawrence Welk and to the man who made him the polka master -- Myron Floren

Happy New Year!

Gingerbread Dream House

OK, it's true: I'm a sucker for a gingerbread house ... a real one. For a hotel pastry team, The Fairmont Hotel Washington DC village that I featured last week is a special one ... but outside the production capability of most of us. Today, I was visiting one of my top advertisers for Foodservice Monthly -- Solutions Sales, a leading food broker headquartered in Glen Burnie, Md. In their lobby I found the gingerbread creation of my dreams -- something that on a good weekend (like the upcoming one) I could actually try to recreate with my own personal touches. It's my inspiration as a wannabee gingerbread architect.

Barb Fleishell from Solutions Sales is the architect/construction guru.

I know what I'll be doing Saturday ... and it won't be shopping.

Ocean City's 'Steel Magnolias'

The Eastern Shore and in particular Ocean City is a strong readership area for Foodservice Monthly – one that delivers a higher response for advertisers and to our editorial than its size would suggest. The annual Spring Trade Expo in March is a popular foodservice show that signals an awakening of the resort town as winter draws to a close and the summer plan for vacation tourism unfolds.

One of the particularly cool aspects of the OC hospitality story is the role played by women in its growth … and indeed the beach front town was first known widely as the “Ladies’ Resort to the Ocean.” Some of their extraordinary role makes sense in that they took the initiative to open their homes to visitors while the men concentrated on the fishing industry.

In 1997, the Ocean City Hotel Motel Restaurant Association honored the women of hospitality who by this time were now known as the “Steel Magnolia’s.” The first honorees into this local hall of fame were Thelma Conner, Kathleen Harman, Lois Harrison, Eleanor Kelly, Ann Showell and Dorothy Taylor. Ten years later 250 OCHMRA members and guests at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel recognized the next six Steel Magnolias: three in attendance were Rose Brous (Flamingo Motel), Susan Cropper (Empress Motel, Misty Harbor Motel, Kings Arms Motel), Eunice Sorin (Nassau Motel) and three who were honored posthumously, Carol Alfonsi (Chalet Motel), Kate Bunting (Belmont-Hearne Hotel) and Betty Frame (Lankford Hotel).

The stories of these incredible women as told by themselves and their relatives had the audience smiling, laughing and at time in tears. The humor in their lives helped them to persevere against all odds … as they supported each other when no one else came to their aid. To those of us who have worked this crazy hospitality business all our lives know that our history has many great stories – most nowhere near the politically correct versions we have to tell in “mixed” company.

Susan Cropper emceed the ceremony not knowing in advance that she was the sixth inductee of the evening. With a keen wit, a beautiful smile and a youthful exuberance that defies time she had one of the common traits of these women – telling it like it is. The “official” press release places the women who built Ocean City as a resort in three categories: “(1) widows with children to support; (2) women with husbands in businesses, such as commercial fishing merchants, watermen, etc. and (3) women with inadequate husbands.” Cropper cut to the chase and digressed from the program script by using her own words: “failed marriages, deceased spouses and shiftless men.”

I’m marking December 2017 on my calendar … that’s when the next six Steel Magnolias will be announced.

Downloadable fotos from the evening can be found at the FSM GALLERY.

once when I dreamed of opening a bar, I didn't have any problem with the name: The Spanish Moon is a Lowell George song that Robert Palmer covered early on ... Bukowski would have been welcome.

The Fairmont Washington's Gingerbread Village

I have a real affection for gingerbread houses. I don't think anything adds as much with the look and smell of the season. I plan to make mine this weekend (I need a boost to get in the holiday spirit).

The Fairmont Washington, D.C.'s Gingerbread Village is one of the best around.

The chief architect is The Fairmont’s executive pastry chef Aron Weber.

The Village took 80 hours of Labor

100 pounds of Sugar

200 Pounds of Flour

400 Eggs

20 pounds of Molasses

5 pounds of Spices

100 pounds of Royal Icing

Good Citizenship: Jury Duty

It was really the last thing I needed ... jury duty. Is anyone really thrilled to get that legal document in the mail ... with its "court language" naturally intimidating. It's got those key components for angst: 7:30 a.m., shuttle bus, trial, criminal penalties, failing to appear, spandex (no, don't wear it), Upper Marlboro (I live in P.G. County), 200 people in tight quarters who would really rather be somewhere else.

But when you get down to it, even though on deadline, it's not where the editor/publisher should be ... hey, it's our civic duty.

I didn't get selected for a jury and that's another story -- you know that old "rest of the story" for another time and place, but what I was impressed with was the team at the Jury Division from the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court Peggy Magee. It was about service and that's what we in the restaurant world like to think we excel in on a daily basis. The emcee/facilitator on this day was Lynette (I hope I got that spelling right) and she kept us in the loop, happy, organized and ready to assemble and leave when the bailiff came to collect a panel for the judge. Everything Lynette did soothed the attitude and helped to divert our attention from the long waits, the boredom and time away from something more pressing in our lives. "Are we having fun yet?"

Lynette had answers for everything that came from the gallery ... from legitimate questions to a smartass heckler who was our "class clown" at 60-something. She probably said thank you 150 times to all of us collectively and individually ... she certainly made us feel appreciated. So, let me say thank you to Lynette -- the woman who could be a flight attendant for Southwest, but instead works a thankless job in the public sector.

FOOD WINE DRINK 11

from Shirley Temple to Kate Bush ... how can you not love that transition ... this FOOD WINE DRINK 11 takes you lots of different places ... with an emphasis on different ... but surely entertaining.

Jose Andres Presents First Iberico Ham in the U.S.

At a press conference at Jaleo Thursday afternoon, Jose Andres with the help of Santiago Martin of Embutidos Fermin and Spanish Ambassador to the United States Carlos Westendorp, carved the first "legal" Iberico ham in the United States. Well marbled with a luxurious aroma and melt-on-your-tongue decadence, the slices were passed around the Jaleo dining room with glasses of Spanish sparkling wines and the room filled with silly smiles on happy recipients. Since the famous black hoofed pigs of the Iberian peninsula roam freely in the dehesa (cork forests) and dine on a diet rich with acorns, the fat is akin to olive oil in its monosaturate quality.

It is not clear when the first ham will be ready for retail sale, but Dean & Deluca Georgetown is on the initial list of retail outlets passed out at the event. Tienda.com will be an online source. Besides Jaleo, Andres told the group that Taberna del Alabardero would also be receiving the Iberico ham. Initial prices per pound are expected to be close to $70.

Chilean Annual Dinner: Honoring Gabriela Mistral and Doris Atkinson

fotos: Ambassador Mariano Fernandez, Doris Atkinson and Minister of Culture of Chile Paulina Urrutia

María (Keka) Angélica Morales enjoys the moment of warm applause after her song.

As you've probably figured out by now, I don't think the world is only about food and wine ... but they are never too far away. And not everything I am invited to has a strict tie back to my magazine Foodservice Monthly or this Web log. That said, I had a splendid time at the 2007 Chilean Annual Dinner sponsored by the Embassy, the Mission of Chile to the Organization of the American States and the Chilean-American Foundation.

It is their second year of honoring an American who has had an positive impact on Chile -- this year it was given to Doris Atkinson who was the executrix of the legacy of the 1945 Nobel Prize winning poet Gabriela Mistral. I am convinced that it was a much more fascinating time to be an intellectual in the world in the first half of the 20th century. We have evolved into a time that via the Internet and cable television people can just declare themselves brilliant and they have an immediate forum and I guess credibility. There is little mystery anymore that adds intrigue and imagination to a person's life. Gabriela Mistral is a woman of beautiful words and a life of brilliance that requires effort to understand -- but it is in the challenge that the reward to those that make the plunge is immense.

As my friend in the Economic Development department Marta Bonet said to me at the end, "This was a really Chilean event. I hope you weren't bored." Absolutely not: the mix of culture, hospitality, business, politics, food and wine is much more exciting than trying to keep it all in separate compartments. Ambassador Mariano Fernandez and his wife María Angélica Morales (we all call her Keka) are wonderful hosts. From the stage, Keka was asked to come up in an impromptu moment to sing a song in honor of Gabriela Mistral. Within moments she had gone onto the stage with the guitarist and a beautiful song emerged.

Press attache Andrea Lagos made sure I had a great seat -- one next to a Chilean reporter on deadline to get her story on the night to her editor by 9 p.m. our time. She finished her story in her MacBook, downloaded a photo she took and sent it all on the way. I am sending this along without that kind of deadline pressure.

Foodservice Monthly, December 2007, vol 6 #12

Foodservice Monthly asked Dawn Sweeney all the tough questions for the first woman president of the National Restaurant Association in an exclusive interview. Sweeney didn't flinch as she moved through the "full plate" of issues for the 12.8 million workers in the restaurant industry. You don't have to read too far into the news to find that the restaurant appears to be an easy target to begin the job of regulating all the ills of society -- the only one that hasn't been blamed on foodservice yet is the nuclear role of Iran. The online copy of the interview is here in our cover story

For those who read Sauce on the Side and don't know FSM , the magazine is a regional trade publication for the hospitality industry and is mailed to 18,000 foodservice professionals in Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and Delaware.