FOODSERVICE MONTHLY'S Sauce on the Side

Chocolates Galore and More!

Tonight was the staging of the 21st annual YMCA Loudoun County’s Chocolates Galore & More ... this year held for the first time at West Belmont Place at the National Conference Center. It had to be one of the best ... with a fresh look in a new space and a lovely selection of chocolate delights. There were plenty of chef/restaurant tables offering the savory dishes to accompany the chocolate treasures ... but I was there for the chocolate. 

There were many great things to taste and I did get a few pictures ... but I was totally blown away by the new pastry chef at The Goodstone Inn ... Sheree McDowell. New in town and working under chef Tarver King ... Ms. McDowell made a grand entrance onto the local pastry scene with her tastefully splendid table of chocolates, sweets and whimsey. High on the delight meter were the whisper light, chocolate wafers (acting like a scoop) for dipping a peanut butter powder she made that transformed the bite of the crisp into a moist symphony of peanut butter, chocolate and texture.

Proceeds from the event are a vital source of funds for the YMCA Loudoun County Virginia's Building Bridges Program, enabling them to serve the needs of local families and children in need of assistance.

Yes, Sheree and The Goodstone Inn won the top prize for Chocolate Dessert Taste.

FOOD WINE DRINK 32

GOOD GRIEF! it's been nine days since my last post ... I've turned into another blogging slacker ... but I promise to do better, as long as you ignore my last plea for Net clemency.

So let's turn to music for a second ... always a favorite food thing of mine. Christine Lavin is one of those folky, funny singers that I've followed for years -- and a master at telling a musical story or two. In One Meat Ball, she asked her friends and found 19 songs about food. I bought it on iTunes and even gifted a couple of them to friends. What I just learned is that if you actually go into a store, the physical copy comes with a "cookbooklet" with recipes and all that kind of stuff. I have to go check into this later today. For now here are 10 plus one of One Meat Ball ... the others have been mixed into my recent FWD iMixes.

I'm over 290 songs now ... so FWD 33 will take me past 300. Keep those songs and e-mails coming in ... Once I hit 300 we'll do a listener survey and do a best of Mix ... Now on to FWD 32.

Gloucester High Wins Virginia ProStart Invitational

The Virginia ProStart Student Invitational (VPSI) was held Friday and Saturday at Holiday Inn Central in Richmond. The high school competition was organized by the Education Foundation of the Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association (VHTA) and featured a potential pool of over $500,000 in culinary scholarship money for the participants on 13 culinary and management teams from 10 high schools. VHTA’s education manager Rebecca Reamer coordinated and produced the event. The big awards went to the top three teams in the two competitions. VPSI once again provided students an opportunity to network with their career path peers from other schools as well as gather information from the  colleges participating in the college fair at the competition.

Schools donating scholarships included the Art Institute of Washington, Baltimore International College, Culinary Institute America, Culinary Institute of Virginia, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, JNA Institute of Culinary Arts, Johnson & Wales University, Stratford University and New England Culinary Institute.

Gloucester High School from the Chesapeake Bay Region won the culinary competition with their “smoked” oysters Rockefeller, Thai-style lobster tail and white chocolate cherry bread pudding. The team’s instructor is Dane Macan and included Patrick Stickney, Kody Middleton, Josephine Jimenez, Denton Brandy and Matthew Plewinski. The winning management team is from Manchester High School and is located in the Midlothian community of unincorporated Chesterfield County, Va. Instructor Pam Sloan coached the team of Ozzie Seshie, Casie Whorley, Alexa Smith, Sherrie Daniels, and Alissa  Ritchie.

Both winning teams qualified to participate in the National Prostart Student Invitational (NPSI) on April 24-26 in San Diego. ProStart from National Restaurant Association Solutions is the career-building program for high school students who are interested in culinary arts and foodservice management. Over two years, ProStart students experience classroom study, mentored work experiences, and local and national competitions.  

Christopher Savvides, chairman of VHTA and president of Black Angus Restaurant in Virginia Beach, participated in the awards ceremony.

Next up on the NPSI calendar is the Maryland competition (MPSI) on March 4 at the Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt. LaDeana Litchfield, Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation, has over twenty schools lined up for the culinary competition. The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington Education Foundation has their competition scheduled March 14 at Roosevelt High School in Washington.

Let me do my shout out to friends I saw yesterday ... Marisa Marcey is an admissions representative for Johnson & Wales and a passionate advocate for education and all things good in culinary and food ... always great to see John Maxwell chef extraordinaire from the Culinary Institute of Virginia and Tammy Brawley, chef/owner of The Green Kitchen and one of my fans from my food and wine demo at the Virginia Wine Festival in September. I thought it was particularly special to see LaDeana make the trip to Richmond to help her Virginia counterpart ... and like those who always have a tear or two of joy to shed at weddings, LaDeana couldn't help it when she lived the emotion of the moment at the awards ceremony with a few tears. It's that kind of celebration for the future of foodservice.

Check out all my fotos in my Gallery ... and you can always click on the pictures in the post to see a larger version.

Good Things Are Happening at SED

Yesterday, I attended the dedication of the Spanish Education Development Center (SED) in Petworth ... it's a non-profit educational organization that has provided child development and adult education programs in Washington for low income residents of Washington DC for over 37 years. I was asked by Jennifer Lehman of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) to visit their new facility on Kansas Ave.where she volunteers ... its' a three-story 24,000 square foot Art Deco former warehouse. It is also an amazing physical example of the collaboration of business, community, individuals and government and how they can come together for the good of the people of Washington.

OK, what's the food connection. There's always a food link ... I immediately ran into Gus DiMillo and David Wizenberg of Passion Food Hospitality who provided the food for the opening reception. I saw Greg Casten, principal of PROFISH and restaurateur, who is the current chairman of the Education Foundation of RAMW. There is the opportunity to bring foodservice training to SED for the adult community. I saw Michael Cucciardo who teaches hospitality in the Washington school system ... it's always about education.

We like to tell people restaurants are the cornerstone of the American community. Even better we like to act it out with our deeds.

I go to lots of ribbon cutting events ... hard core journalists won't cover them ... not edgy enough. I thought it was pretty cool to have the four-year-old's class lead the pledge of allegiance. I thought it was a strong statement from the business community with the presence of Raymond Ritchey of Boston Properties, the Clark Construction folks, Pillsbury and a 100 or more supporters on hand. Muriel Bowser the DC Councilmember for Ward 4 was there to represent her constituents. Mayor Fenty was supposed to speak but I guess he was trying to figure out why the Metro system was once again grinding to a halt. They say he did arrive after the program was over and they even retied the ribbon and let him play the game of cutting it in round two for his photo op.

What I thought was impressive was the presence of Michael Strautmanis from President Obama's Office of Public Liaison who wanted to remind us once again that the President is serious about being a member of our local community and that his commitment to community service is our commitment. I was thinking how proud I am to be a part of the restaurant world ... we are all about community service.

So that was yesterday ... tonight I'll be seeing many of my chef friends at The Ritz-Carlton Washington to "Turn Up the Heat!" for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Thursday night it will be the 18th Annual Chocolate Affair for Health Care for ther Homeless at the M&T Bank Stadium on Baltimore. We are the cornerstone of community involvement.

foto 1: Gus DiMillo, Jennifer Lehman, David Wizenberg
foto 2: Michael Strautmanis, from the Obama White House