| No-pressure cooking
When a group of co-workers gathers for an "Iron Chef" event, you'd think the foodies in the bunch would feel some competitive juices start to flow. Wouldn't at least a few of them aggressively plot their superior meal? It would seem inevitable that at least one loser might throw some food. Not so. As it turns out, the cooking competitions hosted at Chicago area cooking schools are pleasant affairs. Co-workers at one recent event seemed downright cooperative, sipping wine and nibbling on appetizers such as Italian sausage-stuffed mushroom caps. Companies and organizations say they sign up for such private events to encourage bonding and networking. .
Entree into the kitchen
The question is a hot topic in certain food circles: Why are outsiders being hired to open certain top-drawer Washington restaurants? Isn't the reputation or education of home-grown talent good enough?
Celebrity chefs Eric Ripert and Wolfgang Puck are scheduled to head up two first-class eateries in the District next year, following others who have come to the region from other large cities.
It's not the quality of local cooking schools that is in question, suggest District chefs Jeff Tunks of Passion Food Hospitality, a restaurant group that includes Ceiba, DC Coast and TenPehn, and Vikram Garg of Indebleu, but the high stakes of being successful in an extremely competitive field where problems include keeping young chefs who often think moving from job to job builds a more impressive resume.
Meal tickets
Ever since a trip to Vietnam two years ago, during which I toured the exotic food markets of Nha Trang with the hotel chef at the Ana Mandara resort and learned how to make my own rice paper for spring rolls at cooking schools in Hoi An, I have been convinced that there is no better way to get to the heart of any city than through its cuisine. .
Notes on Religion
To have your information included, e-mail it each week by noon on Tuesday to faith@dailyherald.com, fax it to (847) 680-0189 or mail to Religion listings, 1795 N. Butterfield Road, Suite 100, Libertyville, IL 60048. Bethel Lutheran Church: The church at 5110 Grand Ave., Gurnee, has worship services Sundays at 8 and 10:45 a.m.; Sunday school and Bible class at 9:30 a.m. The Rev. Lee Clark is pastor. Call (847) 244-9647 for information. Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church: The church, at 43 W. Grass Lake Road, Lake Villa, starts new service times beginning Sept. 9. Services will be 8-9 a.m., 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-noon Sundays. Nursery for newborns through 24 months will be offered at all services. HarvestLand, for kindergarten through senior high will be from 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Chef raises home ec class to new level
You can smell David Ross' classroom before you arrive at the door. Down a hallway at North Gwinnett High wafts an aroma of baking bread, mixed with the fragrance of basil and Parmesan cheese. It smells like lunch, the kind of lunch that tastes like more. And it is, for 30 lucky people. .
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