conference promises to inspire & energize dames · 9summer 2 oo conference promises to inspire...

L e s Dames D ’ e scoff i er internat ionaL

s u m m e r 2 o o 9

ConferenCe Promises to

insPire & energize Dames

President suzanne J Brown Brown Marketing Communications, LLC 5415 Northland Drive NE #203Atlanta, GA 30342770-377-3488 (W)[email protected]

First V P/President Electteresa farneyThe Gazette7220 Delmonico DriveColorado Springs, CO 80919719/636-0271 (W)719/636-0202 (W/FAX) [email protected]

Second V P/Quarterlysusan sLack116 Hurlingham DriveColumbia, SC 29223803-736-7103 (W/H)[email protected]

Third V P/PRwenDy tayLorPlanit Network Event Planning Ltd.1410 Jefferson AvenueWest Vancouver, BC V7T 2B4Canada604/926-9071 (W/H)604/926-1255 (FAX)[email protected]

Secretarymarie keLLeyKelley Productions International2047 Caminito CapaLa Jolla, CA 92037858/456-6609 (W)858/459-5876 (FAX)[email protected]

Treasurermary mooreThe Cook’s Warehouse1095 Zonolite Road, NE, #104Atlanta, GA 30306404-492-9018 (W)404-921-0524 (FAX)[email protected]

Director-at-LargeaLice Gautsch foremanGautsch & Associates, Inc.2450 Canterbury Lane East, 2ASeattle, WA 98112-2500206/325-1780 (W/H/FAX)[email protected]

Director-at-LargesanDy huSandy Hu Food Marketing LLC380 Roosevelt WaySan Francisco, CA 94114415-626-1765 (W) [email protected]

Director-at-LargezoLa nichoLsDesert Wine, Spirits and Gifts611 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 1Palm Springs, CA 92264760-327-7701 (W)760-327-0337 (H/FAX) 760 327-7702 (W/FAX)[email protected]

Immediate Past Presidentkatherine neweLL smithKNS Promotion, Inc.5525 Devon RoadBethesda, MD 20814301/907-7590 (W)301-907-7594 (FAX) [email protected]

Executive DirectorGreG JeweLLAEC Management ResourcesP.O. Box 4961Louisville, KY 40204502-456-1851 (W)502/456-1821 (FAX)[email protected]

Eight extraordinary Dames – one unique voice! The 2009 Grande Dame nominees are women of renown: leaders in the fields of food, wine and hospitality. They made a pro-found difference through their life’s work, of-ten moving beyond boundaries and traveling uncharted territories. They work to enhance the connection of women in the culinary in-dustry and promote their advancement. The nominees wear many different hats: they are scientists, authors, chefs, vintners, fundrais-ers, philanthropists, artists, restaurateurs, aca-demics and consumer activists. Each one has become a stellar example of greatness in her respective field.

The first Grand Dame award was created and bestowed upon Dame Julia Child by LDEI’s New York Chapter in 1977. To be touched by the accomplishments of the 2009 nominees, you need only to visit a library, watch televi-sion, wander into a movie, shop at a farmer’s market, enjoy a glass of wine, dine in a res-taurant, read a blog, sign up for a course or prepare a recipe. Their influence is boundless. Read about the “dynamic eight” in this issue then share their stories as tools for innovation and imagination. Celebrate their achieve-ments and be inspired!

Speaking of inspiration – it will be in abun-dant supply at the Philadelphia conference this year. Throughout the course of three days, Keynote Speaker Marion Nestle and five noted presenters will provide six powerful op-portunities to learn and grow. The conference will be an all-in-one source of knowledge and motivation with common sense solutions for many issues we face in business today. There will be opportunities for cultural enrichment and great dining. Connect with your sister Dames, re-energize and expand your horizons while having fun!

See you in Philadelphia!Susan Fuller Slack, Editor

4-6 Grande Dame Nominees

8-9 Wente Vineyards

10-11 Green Tables: Looking Foward. Looking Back

12-13 Scholarships

14 Highlight of Conference Dine-Around

15 -17 Conference Enrichment Sessions, Places to See, Things to Do

18-19 Conference Speakers

28 Philadelphia and LDEI Trivia

3 President’s Message

20-22 Chapter News

22 -23 Member Milestone

26 Submission Guidelines

ON THE COVER:ToP PhoTo: 2009 Philadelphia Conference Co-Chairs Dottie Koteski and Anita Pignataro

BoTTom PhoTo: Conference Planning Committee (L-R)

STAnDIng, FRom LEFT: nancy miller, Sandy Dych, Eileen Talanian, Aliza green, Louise Ceccarelli. Seated, from left: Vicky Pohl, michelle Leff, Lynn Buono and Irene Silver. missing from the photo are Jennifer Linder mcglinn, Deanna Seagrave-Daly and manette Richardson.

S U M M E R • 2 o o 9

2 0 0 9 L D e i B oa rD o f D i r eC to rs

Speaking of the conference, …… have you booked your flight to Philadelphia? You won’t want to miss this year’s gathering, INSPIRE AND ENERGIZE: LDEI PHILADELPHIA, October 1-4, at the Sofitel Hotel.

Plan to arrive at the conference early ……because co-chairs, Dottie Koteski and Anita Pigatoro and their com-mittee have planned four full days packed with education, cultural enrich-ment, and a Dine Around to Philadelphia Dames’ restaurants. This issue of the LDEI Quarterly presents an overview of what you will experience in Philly. There is no better place or time for networking with sister Dames than to actually “be” with them. Oh, and one more personal tip…bring comfortable shoes.

Warm regards,

Suzanne J Brown

LDEI BRANDING EFFORT Gains momentum Dear Dames,

Exhilarating and accelerating! That’s the pace of Les Dames’ branding effort. The LDEI brand has grown stronger this year with every chapter program, event, award and communication tool. Dames are connecting and articulating the factors that make us unique -- different from other culinary organizations.

Our LDEI cookbook ……is probably the biggest branding effort, while both our public and mem-bers-only Web areas continue to evolve as more applications are added to keep the information timely.

Chapter scholarship recipients ……are increasing as interest from culinary schools and local chapters aggres-sively approach qualified culinary students.

Legacy Awards……strengthen our mission to mentor women in the culinary professions. LDEI has implemented the Legacy Awards, which extend the level of men-toring by Dames. These awards are a lasting legacy for the winners who, it is hoped, will grow and mentor other women in culinary careers.

The awards offer a week of high-energy workplace experience to non-Dame women in the U.S. and Canada. Candidates must have at least two years of experience and must be currently working in the food, beverage or hospitality industries. The Legacy Awards are under the leadership of Lila Gault (NY) and her committee -- Alice Gautsch (Seattle), Abigail Kirsch (NY) and To-ria Emas (Chicago). You can read more about the winners on page 13.

BRANDING IN PHILADELPHIADuring our annual conference, Green Tables extends its program to rec-ognize Dames who are farmers and Dames who are playing principle roles in businesses with efforts that support local production, marketing, and distribution of sustainable foods. Also at the conference, we will introduce the Global Culinary Initiative, which is focused on broadening chapter horizons to embrace other food cultures and involve ethnic traditions, ritu-als and foods to promote community involvement at the chapter level.

The Grande Dame Award …… is perhaps the most symbolic demonstration of the LDEI brand. In odd-numbered years, chapters nominate and vote for a woman to be named Grande Dame of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, and 2009 is one of those years. This honor is presented at the conference in recognition of extraordinary and unusual contributions to the professions encompassed by LDEI. Just reading the bios of the nominees on pages 4 to 6 conveys the level of incomparable accomplishments achieved by these women.

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 O O 9 3

The mission of the LDEI board is to foster the growth and success of the organization by supporting the development of new and existing chapters. It provides guidance, education, connectivity and effective communication

among LDEI members.

4 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

A n a C o s ta(nominated by The Boston Chapter)Born in 1919 to immigrant parents, Ana Stor-lazzi Costa has become a Boston icon. As a child she helped those less fortunate by gathering chil-dren from East Boston neighborhoods and tak-ing them by ferry to the local swimming pool, using her own pocket money. Her parents en-couraged her to become self-sufficient in an era when many women did not seek careers outside the home.

Ana met the love of her life, Manual Costa, in the early 1940’s, and he established a thriving produce business, Costa Fruit & Produce. When a fire destroyed the first building of the company, Ana invested her life savings to help him buy a new building and resume business. She claims it was her best ever investment and they married in 1950. As the company became more successful, Ana continued her childhood passion of helping those less fortunate. She is Treasurer/Owner of Costa Fruit & Produce, which has been servic-ing the food service industry throughout New England for over 50 years. Ana and Manual’s son Manual Jr. now run the company.

For over 50 years, Ana has held or contribut-ed to grand raffles and glorious events that have raised tremendous amounts of money for Car-roll Center for the Blind, The Speech and Hear-ing Foundation, The Emerson Cutler Majestic Theater, the Buddy Dog Humane Society, The Orphans of Italy, and The Civic Symphony. Les Dames d’Escoffier Boston became the focus of her culinary fund-raising efforts. Silently, she has assisted and sponsored many well-known New England chefs in their culinary education and training. Generous and unassuming, Ana is the definition of a philanthropic woman.

Ana has been an active member as one of the founders of the Boston Chapter of LDEI. She served as president (2008), and has been the chapter’s Fund-raising Auction Chair for about 20 years. She is one of the Boston Chapter’s Dames of Distinction.


granDe DameOn alternating years, Les Dames d’ Escoffier International honors a wom-an voted by its chapters to be LDEI Grande Dame. This honorary title is given in recognition of extraordinary and unusual contribution to the fields of food, wine, other fine beverages, nu-trition, the arts of the table, and other fields that relate to these disciplines. The title Grande Dame may be award-ed to both non-members and members of LDEI. Grande Dame Committee Chairs, Renie Steves and Dorene Mc-Tigue said, “Our Grande Dame com-mittee was fabulous in encouraging the chapters to make nominations. We only wish that all eight of these out-standing nominees could win.” LDEI President Suzanne Brown agrees. “The list of nominees this year was so very impressive. Each nominee is truly a Grande Dame in her own right. Just reading the accomplishments of each nominee is truly awe-inspiring and makes one proud of being a member of Les Dames d’ Escoffier International.”

Do lo re s Ca k e b re a d (nominated by the San Francisco Chapter)Dolores Cakebread never thought that she would become one of the most respected wom-en in the California food and wine industries. Originally from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, she mar-ried high school sweetheart Jack Cakebread, and became part of a family who owned a successful auto repair business. Dolores and Jack, who was a noted photographer, purchased a ranch north of Oakland, where she planted a garden. In the eve-nings, they planted grapes in the ranch fields that would eventually become the world-renowned Cakebread Cellars.

Dolores began taking numerous culinary classes including the professional cooking cur-riculum at Le Cordon Rouge in San Rafael, CA. She embraced the Mediterranean diet long before it became popular, coining a phrase that became the winery’s motto: “Eat less, but eat better.” She calls herself Cakebread’s “Director of Ambiance” and is energetically involved in running one of the most active culinary programs in the Napa Valley. Today, the family winery is a small vil-lage with immense winery productions from vast vineyards, dining facilities, five kitchens, guest quarters and of course, gardens (Dolores’ “veg-etable patch”).

Dolores is a member of the San Francisco Chapter of LDEI, actively supporting the Green Tables Initiative. She and her husband established the Dolores Cakebread Endowed Chair in honor of Philip Starr, MD, for Neurological Service Re-search for Essential Tremors & Parkinson Disease at the University of California, San Francisco. Dolores Cakebread is a visionary for wine, local ingredients, gardening, healthy cooking, youth outreach, and an international pioneer promoter of how America ought to show off its food, wine and agriculture products.


Je a n A n d rew s(nominated by the Austin Chapter)Jean Andrews, now an octogenarian, “reinvented herself ” in her mid-40s, earned a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in art at age 50 and was named a Distinguished Alumna in 1991. She has since become known as “The Pepper Lady,” an internationally respected authority on hot pep-pers, conducting years of thorough research. She has gathered seeds from around the world, grown peppers, tasted and eaten them and painted them in stunning vivid botanical watercolor illustra-tions. Her 1984 book on the subject, Peppers: the Domestic Capsicum, is a trailblazing work that includes results of her research, with recipes and illustrations. It has become a classic in the field and she has become a noted speaker on the topic. She has written three other books on the subject, most recently The Peppers Cookbook: 200 Recipes From The Pepper Lady’s Kitchen. (Great American Cooking, 2005).

Jean Andrews is more than just “The Pepper Lady.” She is a widely respected artist, educator, humanitarian and philanthropist. The donation of her pepper paintings has funded a scholarship for art students at the University of North Texas. She has helped a village in Costa Rica establish an artisan cooperative (CASEM) to design and develop clothing that can be sold to aid the vil-lage economy. She still travels the world over and is never done learning.


Ju d i t h Jo n e s (nominated by the Chicago chapter)Clearly one of the most prolific editors and writ-ers of her time, Judith Jones has been editor, advisor and mentor to some of the most impor-tant names in gastronomy and literature. That she was the “editor extraordinaire” behind Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking is well-documented.

From private schools in New York to Paris where she fell in love with food, wine, and a young editor named Evan Jones, Judith joined the editorial staff at Knopf in 1952, translating French manuscripts into English. The unprec-edented popularity of Mastering the Art… led to a lifetime association with “The French Chef”, and Judith edited all 12 of Julia’s books. Add to that, her reputation as the editor of many, many of America’s finest cookbooks.

Judith received the Kitchen Aid Book Award, the D’Artagnan Who’s Who of Food and Bever-age in America, a James Beard Lifetime Achieve-ment Award (2006) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the IACP (2007). She has written several cookbooks including three with her late husband Evan Jones. A recent memoir, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food is a first-hand account of the notables who contributed to the American food revolution. It is both for her own “one of a kind” cookbooks, and for her contribution to the high-quality of culinary writing that Judith leaves a legacy.

At 85, Judith works with a full roster of au-thors at Knopf. Her community activities spread to Vermont where she funds a grass-fed beef proj-ect and where she and her husband encouraged eating locally and sustainable farming.

Marion Nestle, ph.d., m.p.h. (nominated by New York Chapter)Marion Nestle is one of the most prominent women in the field of nutrition, health and pub-lic policy in America. She is Paulette Goddard Professor of New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health since 1988. Marion was Senior Nutrition Policy Advisor for the Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health and holds degrees in mo-lecular biology and public health nutrition. Her prize-winning books include Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, and What To Eat. Her books have changed the way nutritionists and health professionals deal with problems of obesity. Through her column “Food Matters” in the San Francisco Chronicle, Marion continues to promote food safety and foster healthy relationships to food for the public. She holds appointments as Professor of Sociology at NYU, and as Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.

Influential at many levels, Marion Nestle developed the first academic undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs in Food Studies at New York University – bringing this course of study into the mainstream both nationally and internationally. She spearheaded the creation of the impressive food studies collection at NYU Fales Library, now at 20,000 volumes. The recip-ient of multitudinous awards, she is consultant to the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Ministry of Health, Havana and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Her ideas have influenced thousands of students and her scholarship is transformative in the public debate about nutrition and health. The mother of two grown children, she divides her time be-tween Manhattan and Ithaca, where she com-mutes to a rural life and a serious garden.

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Nora Pouillon (nominated by Washington D.C. and Seattle, Washington chapters)Nora Pouillon has been nominated for Grande Dame by two chapters -- which is testimony to her impressive career as an award-winning chef and restaurateur. She is a pioneer in the organic food movement. Long before it was fashionable, Nora supported a strong relationship between farmers and restaurants as well as a relationship between diet and health. A champion of environ-mentally conscious cuisine, in 1979 she opened Restaurant Nora, which became the nation’s first certified organic restaurant in 1999. Only four other restaurants have since achieved this goal. Nora was instrumental in creating the organic certification standards for restaurants.

Born in Austria, Nora attended the French School of Vienna and moved to Washington D.C. with her husband. She created a cooking school and catering business, and in 1976 ran a restaurant at the Tabard Inn where she intro-duced organic ingredients and Mediterranean cuisine. Later she opened Restaurant Nora, and in 1994, opened another restaurant named Asia Nora focusing on fresh, local ingredients.

The Washington Post named Nora one of the dozen “Power Chefs” in the city. She was a founding member of Chefs Collaborative 2000, and helped found the city’s first producer-only farmers’ markets. As a board member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, she established an or-ganic internship program and as a community activist supports fund-raising projects for women and children. She worked on the USDA School Lunch Program, and was instrumental in the ini-tiation of Frontline, teaching low-income families how to cook. Nora lectures at the Smithsonian Institution. She is the author of two cookbooks and mother of four children.

Ruthie Grahm (nominated by the Los Angeles chapter)Ruthie Grahm is the embodiment of what Les Dames is all about – education, advocacy, and philanthropy – and is at the forefront of teaching and mentoring others. Her acknowledged fields of expertise revolve around the family businesses of Bonny Doon Vineyard and Compartes Choc-olates. She is a frequent speaker at Robert Law-rence Balzer’s wine classes and at fund-raising events. A well-respected community activist , she is an advocate for battered women, children, the arts, Planned Parenthood, and Meals on Wheels.

Born in Philadelphia to a family in the arts (her father founded ASCAP), Ruthie became a member of the Screen Actors Guild at the age of 11. She has appeared in over 235 movies; more than 100 of her songs have been published or featured in movies. For more than 35 years she ran an import business with her husband, Alan Grahm. Since 1984, when Ruthie co-founded Bonny Doon with her son Randall, she has mar-keted and represented Bonny Doon wines all over the world from the International Wine Trade Fair in London to the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. In 1998, she co-founded Compartes Chocolate with her “chocolatier” grandson, Jonathan.

Ruthie has three grown children and five grandchildren and continues to work 24/7 in the food and wine industry. She is a founding member of the Los Angeles Les Dames chapter and has served on the board several times. She is loved and respected by all because of her ‘can-do’ attitude. She strives to make a difference as an educator, advocate and active participant in charitable giving.

Shirley Corriher (nominated by the Atlanta Chapter and the Charleston Chapter)Shirley Corriher, one of the culinary world’s icons, is a truly unique woman. She is a noted food scientist, culinary authority, chef, cookbook author, and problem solver.

A well-respected biological chemist, Shirley has a B.A. in chemistry from Vanderbilt Univer-sity in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was also a biochemist at the University Medical School. She is classically trained in the French culinary traditions

Shirley is well-known for appearances on the Food Network, PBS, NPR, network and cable television (including with Alton Brown, Sarah Moulton and Nathalie Dupree) and even the campy Dinner & A Movie. She has written for all the culinary magazines.

An active educator most of her adult life, Shirley was co-founder of the Brandon Hall School, where she did everything from planning meals and cooking for up to 140 students to cut-ting acres and acres of grass.

Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed, published in 1997, received a James Beard Award for Best Reference and Technique Book in 1998 and is considered a cookbook classic. Bakewise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Baking was pub-lished in 2008 and won a James Beard Award in 2009. Shirley received Bon Appétit’s “Best of the Best” Annual Food and Entertaining Awards, for Best Cooking Teacher of the Year in 2001.

Well-known for the generosity of her time, Shirley answers all inquiries regarding culinary problem solving. She has donated cooking classes and television appearances to benefit Les Dames d’Escoffier of Atlanta, the Food Bank, organic programs, church and Jewish charities.

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“Think globally, act locally” is an environmental and political mantra that has been invoked by a diversity of interests for decades. At Wente Vine-yards, the country’s oldest continuously operated family owned winery, it’s a guiding principal that has quietly been at work for more than 125 years. Since 1883, five generations of the Wente fam-ily have planted, grown and harvested fruit from their Estate vineyards. Today, the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family lead the way in protecting the legacy and ecological health of the family’s 3,000 acres of vineyards. To bring this commitment to life with its diversity of guests, this summer, Wente Vineyards will launch a sustainable walking tour program that highlights the estate’s

sustainable practices and principals, a regimen the Wente family calls “Farming for the Future.”

Codified in the early 1990s with the health and well-being of its employees, the local community and environment in mind, Farming for the Future is a system of practices that enhances the vitality of the soils, creates a balanced, sustainable ecol-ogy, minimizes water use and reduces non-organic wastes. The program extends throughout the or-ganization, including three Estate wineries, The Course at Wente Vineyards, The Restaurant, The Concerts, and every other aspect of the operation.

“The tours are a natural extension of the hospi-tality experience we offer our guests,” said Caro-lyn Wente, Fourth Generation Winegrower and

a founding member of the San Francisco LDEI Chapter. “We entertain, educate, and share the bounty of the region while raising awareness of the processes that go into creating sustainable wines and a sustainable legacy.” Carolyn currently serves on the Wine Institute’s Sustainable Practices Certification Committee, helping steer the transi-tion from the current self-assessment program to a formal certification program. During separate ten-ures as President of the California Wine Institute, Fourth Generation Winegrowers Phil and Eric Wente played a significant role in the development of the non-profit trade organization’s Code of Sus-tainable Winegrowing Practices.

The VineyardsOne of the most important aspects of the Wente Vineyards grape growing operation is its adher-ence to the tenets of sustainable agriculture. These practices are sensitive to the environment, respon-sive to the needs and interest of society at large, and are economically feasible to implement and maintain. The innovative programs include cover crops, which are recycled into an organic fertilizer used to create living soils-soils that renew them-selves. Creative farming practices minimize the need for pesticides by encouraging bio-diversity in the vineyards. These practices minimize water pollution from synthetic chemical runoff, conserve water and energy, and help control erosion in the

vineyards. In 2000, Wente Vineyards was awarded the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Innovator Award for its Integrated Pest Manage-ment practices.

Oak Lands Restoration and Open Range Man-agementLed by Eric Wente, the Estate has undertaken a major oak lands restoration. Native acorns gath-ered on the estate are planted to grow seedlings, which are protected from grazing animals until established. The Wente family manages 1,600 acres of sustainable open range land not planted to vineyard, with 100 head of cattle providing grass management and soil fertilization.

Since opening in 1986, the philosophy of The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards’ has been to use the best sustainably and organically grown local ingredients to create sublime wine country

fare. much of the produce on the menu is grown in The Restaurant’s organic garden.

A Sustainable Wine Country Legacy


Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards is the source clone for the majority of Chardonnay grapes grown in the United States. The Course at Wente Vineyards, designed by golfing great greg norman, is a championship 18-hole public golf course that traverses three distinct ecosystems—native woodlands, mature vineyards and rolling hills of natural grasslands. managed according to sustainable principles, The Course will earn Audubon International Certification by the end of 2009.

“Think globally, act locally” is an environmental and political mantra that has been invoked by a diversity of interests for decades. At Wente Vine-yards, the country’s oldest continuously operated family owned winery, it’s a guiding principal that has quietly been at work for more than 125 years. Since 1883, five generations of the Wente fam-ily have planted, grown and harvested fruit from their Estate vineyards. Today, the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family lead the way in protecting the legacy and ecological health of the family’s 3,000 acres of vineyards. To bring this commitment to life with its diversity of guests, this summer, Wente Vineyards will launch a sustainable walking tour program that highlights the estate’s

sustainable practices and principals, a regimen the Wente family calls “Farming for the Future.”

Codified in the early 1990s with the health and well-being of its employees, the local community and environment in mind, Farming for the Future is a system of practices that enhances the vitality of the soils, creates a balanced, sustainable ecol-ogy, minimizes water use and reduces non-organic wastes. The program extends throughout the or-ganization, including three Estate wineries, The Course at Wente Vineyards, The Restaurant, The Concerts, and every other aspect of the operation.

“The tours are a natural extension of the hospi-tality experience we offer our guests,” said Caro-lyn Wente, Fourth Generation Winegrower and

a founding member of the San Francisco LDEI Chapter. “We entertain, educate, and share the bounty of the region while raising awareness of the processes that go into creating sustainable wines and a sustainable legacy.” Carolyn currently serves on the Wine Institute’s Sustainable Practices Certification Committee, helping steer the transi-tion from the current self-assessment program to a formal certification program. During separate ten-ures as President of the California Wine Institute, Fourth Generation Winegrowers Phil and Eric Wente played a significant role in the development of the non-profit trade organization’s Code of Sus-tainable Winegrowing Practices.

The VineyardsOne of the most important aspects of the Wente Vineyards grape growing operation is its adher-ence to the tenets of sustainable agriculture. These practices are sensitive to the environment, respon-sive to the needs and interest of society at large, and are economically feasible to implement and maintain. The innovative programs include cover crops, which are recycled into an organic fertilizer used to create living soils-soils that renew them-selves. Creative farming practices minimize the need for pesticides by encouraging bio-diversity in the vineyards. These practices minimize water pollution from synthetic chemical runoff, conserve water and energy, and help control erosion in the

vineyards. In 2000, Wente Vineyards was awarded the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Innovator Award for its Integrated Pest Manage-ment practices.

Oak Lands Restoration and Open Range Man-agementLed by Eric Wente, the Estate has undertaken a major oak lands restoration. Native acorns gath-ered on the estate are planted to grow seedlings, which are protected from grazing animals until established. The Wente family manages 1,600 acres of sustainable open range land not planted to vineyard, with 100 head of cattle providing grass management and soil fertilization.

Carolyn Wente (far right) offers a toast with the Wente family at The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards, located in an idyllic wine country setting, surrounded by tree-shaded terraces. The restaurant uses extra-virgin olive oil made from century-old trees on the estate. The

award-winning menu has its foundation in classic American foods, but it is influenced by French and Italian provincial cuisine.

Photos courtesy of Wente Vineyards.

The new tours highlight sus-tainable winegrowing and estate management initiatives, includ-ing: The Vineyards; the Oak Lands Restoration and Open Range Management; The Course; The Restaurant and Organic Kitch-en Gardens. The tours are self-guided and free to visitors. They start at The Vineyards Tasting Room at 5050 Arroyo Road, Liv-ermore Valley, California. More information is available at www.wentevineyards.com.


This article, written by Dame Ann Harvey Yon-kers, is the second in a continuing series featuring the voices of Dames in the farming community. Future articles will continue to showcase our Dame farmers and we encourage you to join the conversa-tion (see sidebar for details).

I keep coming back to this question: what role will Les Dames d’Escoffier International play in the new revolutions coming to the world of food?

LDEI is a product of the first American culi-nary revolution. Founded in 1973, our growth was concurrent with the feminist movement and women’s drive to gain an equal place in the kitch-ens and boardrooms of their chosen profession. Now, 36 years later, it is clear we have achieved many of the early goals, while launching new generations of women culinary professionals who are at the top of their game.

So the question arises: what will LDEI’s mis-sion be for the next 36 years?

What I see from the front lines of the farm-ers’ market world and the world of farmers are so many possibilities in the world of sustainable food. Things are developing so fast and with such diversity. All over the country – and the world – people are experimenting with ways to raise, pro-cess, distribute and preserve food, from farming reindeer to convincing a state legislature to fund a pilot program in raw milk cheese to showing board of education why and how local food in the school cafeteria makes sense. It’s a field liter-ally bursting with energy.

There is a clear role for culinary professionals, but the discipline of sustainability is also a society with broader engagement. Environmentalists, health professionals, city planners, nutritionists, animal activists, economists and a new genera-tion of passionate and committed young people are coalescing under this banner. It’s a movement that encompasses the journey from the farm to the fork, from the sea to table and from the field to the kitchen. It acknowledges the basic inter-connection of where we live and how we eat. My own journey to this passionate pursuit began on a farm we bought on the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Learning to grow food and tend to our laying hens has taught me Mother Nature is a heartless taskmaster and that farmers and producers know and can do many important and underappreciated things. That’s why I am proud of our eggs, our happy hens and our beautiful garden produce.When I got involved in a production farm, I was fully immersed in LDEI leadership. I feared the farm would take me away from my culinary and professional work. Now I realize it led me to new work, new perspectives and the work I do today. I am the co-director of FRESHFARM Markets, a network of eight producer-only farmers’ mar-kets in the Chesapeake Bay region, working with

Michela Beggins holds a Pot Pie Farm laying hen.

Looking Forward. Looking BackBy Dame Ann Harvey Yonkers

(Washington D.C. Chapter)


TOP: Penn Quarter, a FRESHFARM Market, is located in a bustling east end neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

BOTTOM: Dame Ann Harvey Yonkers (DC), is Co-Director of FRESHFARM Markets and the owner of Pot Pie Farm.

farmers and artisanal producers to create a sus-tainable and alternative food system.

And the sustainable and local food movement is expanding dramatically. I see only parts of it. So I ask: is there a new role for LDEI in that world beyond Green Tables and will LDEI par-ticipate in yet unseen new revolutions?

Dame Ann Harvey Yonkers (Washington D.C.) is co-director of FRESHFARM Markets, a non-profit or-ganization comprised of Washington D.C. Metro area, producer-only farmers markets. She is the owner of Pot Pie Farm, a nine-acre farm in Whitman, MD. and past president of LDEI and the Washington D.C. Chapter. She can be reached at [email protected].

This Green Tables article continues the conversation that began in the Spring Quarterly, expressing opinions from our Dames in the farming com-munity. In the previous article, Joan Green (South Florida) and Laurie Moore (Atlanta) presented two dif-ferent viewpoints on the definition of “locally grown” foods. ann Yonkers (Washington D.C.) asks us to ponder the future of LDEI’s role in the sus-tainable and local food movement. Ann has also wondered if the profes-sional category options in the mem-bership directory need to be updated to reflect the careers of many Dames in agriculture, farming and the like. The Green Tables Steering Committee invites you to join the conversation. Comment on this particular topic or suggest an entirely new Green Tables topic for consideration. We’ve planted the seeds of conversation and we in-vite you to nurture it. Do you know a fellow Dame farmer or producer you’d like to see featured in an upcoming Quarterly issue? Send an email to Greg Jewell at [email protected].

If you haven’t already, please take a look at our new Green Tables section on the redesigned LDEI website. We have lots of information about Chap-ter activities and tools and resourc-es for you to use in your community. We encourage all Chapters to submit updates and photos of Green Tables projects. Send your updates to Greg at [email protected].

How to contact tHe green taBLessteering committee:

Co-chair Hilary [email protected]

Co-chair Barbara [email protected]


SAN DIEGO CHAPTER Janet Burgess, President

Tracey Sturgis was the first woman to receive a scholarship from the San Diego chapter in 2006. Many of you may have read about our incredible scholarship recipient in a previous article in the Quarterly. Our Chapter was char-tered in June 2003 and received funds from several of our first fundraisers, such as “Din-ner with the Chefs” and our Macy’s Cooking School event, “Holiday Food Gifts in a Jar.”

The San Diego scholarship committee is made up of four members of the Chapter. Our scholarship application is six pages long; the committee carefully reviews each application.

The current scholarship application is due by June 30th and awarded by September 1st of that year. In the beginning, we planned to award a scholarship every year, but it has worked out differently. We gave a scholarship in 2008 and we are currently reviewing appli-cations for 2009. For the San Diego Chapter members, one of the highlights of awarding a scholarship is mentoring the recipient. We make sure she knows we are completely sup-portive of her educational goals and dreams.

Tracey continues to amaze us with her work ethic and goals. Currently she is enrolled in college pursuing a degree in nutrition, her first love. She is a graduate of the Culinary Arts Program at St. Vincent de Paul Village in San Diego. In the last six months, Tracey has be-come a member of St. Vincent de Paul’s board of directors. Tracey and her family were also filmed on Channel 10 ABC TV for a television commercial for St. Vincent de Paul. The com-mercial appears on local television every week. Tracey has great admiration for the help and support she received while living at the facility. She is truly giving back to her community and we are thrilled for her. One of Tracey’s future goals is to become a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier in San Diego.

If any Chapter would like to request a copy of the paperwork for our scholarship appli-cation, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

BOSTON SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Nancy MillerDame Meg Votta opened a New American style Bistro restaurant called Sycamore in July this year. She received a scholarship from the Boston Chapter of Les Dames in 1997 after writing an essay about women changing careers into the culinary field. Thank you Boston, for recogniz-ing Meg Votta as a future force to be reckoned with in the culinary world! Meg has told me that the highlight of winning the scholarship was that Julia Child attended the dinner and presented the scholarship winners with their awards. She was on cloud nine as she spent time sitting with Julia, chatting about her cooking, her goals and the struggles that women still had in the culinary field in gaining as much recognition as their male counterparts. When Meg enrolled in the CIA, she was an interior designer in NYC. She had been involved in the food industry since the age of 15, working in a country club through high school

Attending the Abbondanza Scholarship Reception at Felidia (L-R): Dame Rita Jammet, scholarship recipient Theresa Gwizdaloski, Dame Lidia Bastianich, scholarship recipient Elizabeth Ubinas, Dame Roberta Morrell

and college. She cooked for a fraternity house in college and then did catering for extra money once she moved to NYC. Meg has won numer-ous awards through her career and is heavily in-volved in charity events and fundraisers. She has done cooking demos, TV appearances and food articles. Opening a restaurant was the only thing she had left undone to this point, so it makes sense that it would be her next avenue explored. Meg has been pastry chef at City Tavern, Execu-tive Chef of Simon Pearce, Executive Chef of Jo-seph Ambler Inn and Executive Chef of our own Dame Lynn Buono’s, Feast Your Eyes Catering. Her scholarship from Les Dames d’ Escoffier and her contacts with members of our group have truly made a difference to Meg in her career. She credits our group with helping her get where she is today. I’m sure everyone in Les Dames joins me in congratulating Meg on the recent opening of her new restaurant and for being an ongoing inspiration to all of us who have the good fortune to know her personally.Congratulations Meg!

Scholarships!Les Dames D’escoffier Interntional


CHICAGO CHAPTER SCHOLARSHIPSSuzanne Florek

The Chicago Chapter is very proud of its culi-nary scholarship program. Over the years Wash-burne, a division of Kennedy King City College has been the main recipient of our funds. With the recent explosion of culinary schools, we have added several other culinary institutions to our list. Kendall College, Lexington College, The Illinois Institute of Art and The Culinary and Hospitality Institute of Chicago are now among the schools whose students are considered for Les Dames scholarships.

To be considered for a scholarship, students must fill out an application, write an essay and provide two letters of recommendation. Ap-plicants must also be currently enrolled in an accredited culinary school in the city of Chi-cago. Our scholarships are awarded to female students.

The scholarship chairman, assisted by mem-bers of the chapter, heads the process of review. Reading the applications and interviewing the candidates has been described by chapter mem-bers as “inspirational.” It has been an excellent way to keep our chapter in touch with the many culinary institutions that feed our culinary community.

Under better economic times the chapter has given $10,000 to $20,000 a year. This year we gave $5,000 divided among three students; two from Washburne, Arianne Kendrick and Tania Merlos Ruiz, who will each receive $1,250 and one from Kendall College, Jia Mei, who will re-ceive $2,500.

We are very pleased with our three scholar-ship recipients. Arianne Kendrick is devoted to her chosen field. She has a strong belief in herself to succeed, is very candid and is grateful to all of the people who have helped her along the way. She wants to learn everything about the culinary industry.

Tania Merlos Ruiz is the fourth child of Gua-temalan immigrants and was first exposed to the food industry at her parent’s taco stand. Her desire is to work in the catering sector of the industry. She is hard working, industrious and passionate about her chosen field.

Jia Mei immigrated to this country from China at the age of two. She has strong ties to Chinese culture and food as evidenced by the fact that she has been cooking Chinese dishes for her family since age twelve. Upon gradua-tion she would like to travel and eventually own her own restaurant.

The Chicago Chapter is in the process of more clearly defining the ways in which we mentor our scholarship recipients. In the past we have invited them to educational programs and have tried to provide them with internships. It is our hope that we can do even more for these talent-ed young women. Their success in the culinary industry is our goal.

NEW YORK CLASSIC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Alison AwerbuchThe Les Dames d’Escoffier New York Scholarship Program has flourished and grown over the years. Since 2005, over $50,000 in scholarships have been awarded on an annual basis. The recipients are com-prised of extremely talented and passionate women who are pursuing careers in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. LDNY has impacted a diverse group of women, helping them to achieve their ca-reer goals and enabling them to succeed in their ar-eas of focus. In 2008, over 65 women applied for scholarships from twelve participating schools.

Typically between 12 and 16 scholarships are given annually. Criteria for the scholarships include grade point average, industry experience, profes-sional and personal references and a written essay describing the student’s career goals and why she feels she should be awarded a scholarship. Once the recipients are selected, a grand reception and award ceremony is held. At the event the recipients get to meet and network with the members of Les Dames d’Escoffier New York, as well as the past years’ recip-ients who participated in our mentoring program.

Over the past few years, we have added some new scholarship opportunities to the program. The scholarship committee has successfully solicited partnerships with publications and institutions that provide in-kind scholarships. These include Bon Ap-petit, the Culinary Institute of America, the French Culinary Institute, the Institute of Culinary Edu-cation and the International Wine Center. We also have a thriving naming scholarship program, which enables Dames and non-Dames to create a specific scholarship in their name or in honor or memory of someone else. These scholarships can then be ear-marked by the person, shaping the scholarship to specify a particular discipline or career path. Make a Difference Scholarship Program

In addition to our classic scholarship program, the Les Dames d’Escoffier New York Make a Differ-ence Scholarships were initiated in 2008. The fund-ing for these scholarships came from a major gala benefit, Abbondanza!, which honored Dame Lidia Bastianich in 2007. We were able to net $120,000, which is being awarded in $20,000 increments to 6 students over a 3-year period. The goal of these awards is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of extremely deserving women who don’t have the financial means to pursue higher education in their desired fields. Three of the awards are given to C-CAP high school students towards a full four-year tuition at New York City Technical College. The other three awards vary annually. In 2008, $20,000 was awarded enabling a student to attend the professional Italian immersion program at the International Culinary Center. The ICC matched our award so the full $40,000 tuition was paid for. In 2009, $20,000 will be awarded to a bachelor’s student at the Culinary Institute of America, going towards their junior and senior tuition. The Make a Difference Scholarship has been an incredibly grati-fying way for Les Dames to truly make a difference in the lives of women who are so passionate in pur-suing their education and careers.

LDEI Legacy Award

Winners Chosen In

Culinary & Wine A caterer from suburban Vancouver BC and culinary career counselor from Aus-tin TX have won the 2009 LDEI Legacy Awards in Culinary and Wine. These one-week internships were created to give young women, who are not Dames, a first-hand opportunity to learn more about the culinary and wine professions from some of our most accomplished Dames.

Rebecca Troelstra, Executive Chef at Mi-zuna Culinary in Langley, BC will spend a week with Dames Alison Awerbuch and Abigail Kirsch at Abigail Kirsch Culinary Productions in New York.

Erin Taylor, Director of Career Ser-vices at Texas Culinary Academy in Aus-tin, will travel to the Columbia Valley in Washington State and work with Dames Kay Simon of Chinook Vineyards and Trish Gelles of Klipsun Vineyards, for a hands-on experience in winemaking and viticulture.

“Working hand-in-hand with Dames in the industries represented by our mem-bership, our hope is to imbue a lasting legacy of knowledge and expertise to the lucky winners so that they will continue to grow and mentor other women in culinary careers,” said Suzanne Brown, president, LDEI. “In other words, a ‘last-ing legacy in perpetuity’.

Serving on the Legacy Awards Commit-tee were Lila Gault, chair, Toria Emas and Abigail Kirsch with Alice Gautsch Foreman serving as LDEI Board Liai-son. “ We had two truly outstanding candidates among the applicants”, Lila explains. “It is very exciting to launch the Legacy Awards with such deserving recipients”.

Rebecca and Erin will be writing about their experiences for The Quarterly.Anyone interested in spon-soring these awards in 2010 or joining the Awards Com-mittee, please contact Lila at (212) 242-5644 or [email protected]

Scholarships!


HigHligHt of AnnuAl ConferenCe Dine-ArounD, tHursDAy, oCtober 1stDames Manette Richardson and Sandy Dych, Co-Chairs, Dine-AroundWe have planned a variety of restaurants for conference attendees to select for their Thursday Evening Optional Dinner. Truthfully, we had to limit the list, because the restaurant scene in Philadelphia is extensive and far-reaching. The LDEI logo signifies that the restaurant is Dame-owned or a Dame/chef is on the staff. Spouses, family members, traveling companions and friends are welcome.

The price listed, unless, otherwise stated, is for a three-course meal, with one glass of wine, and includes tax and gratuity. As you can see, some of the restaurants include a little extra entertainment.

Philadelphia is a walking city, so we have a brief note about distance from the Sofitel. Navigating in the city is quite easy; numerical streets are north-south directions and alphabetical streets have an east-west orientation. Broad Street is actually, 14th Street – but it is never referred to as such. Short taxi rides are recommended for a few of the restaurants on the list.

(1) Bindi

www.bindibyob.com Owned by Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran. Bindi is a modern Indian BYOB restaurant, which offers a twist on Indian regional cooking. Chefs use the flavors and spices of Indian and seasonal, local ingredients. The food has been described by Philadelphia Weekly as “out of this world.” $48. Distance: 10 minute ride, 15 minute walk.

(2) Fork

www.forkrestaurant.com Owned by Ellen Yin, who continues to set the standard for new American bistro dining. The open kitchen at Fork produces food that is “‘slick, fresh and satisfying” says Philadelphia Magazine. Craig LaBan, Philadelphia Inquirer food critic, recently reported that few restaurants in town can match it for fine dining. $65; four-course meal. Can accommodate 25 patrons. Distance: 20-minute walk, 10-15 minute ride.

(3) The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College 4207 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA., 19104 www.walnuthillcollege.edu Contemporary dining meets old world charm in all four bistros at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College. Dishes are designed by the students under the tutelage of the finest chef instructors – including Pastry Chef/Instructor Marie Stecher. Come join the culinary students as they put their real-life gastronomic experience into practice with a three-course meal paired with a wine flight for $60. Distance: 10 minute ride.

(4) Le Bec-Fin

www.lebecfin.com World-renowned Chef-Proprietor George Per-rier transcends the 39 year-old legendary history of his iconic French dining establishment with a fresh, elegant, modern atmosphere and innova-tive menu. Perrier’s newest culinary creations are served alongside his classics in a stunning din-ing room with service that is incomparable. Most recently, Perrier received France’s prestigious Le-gion of Honour Award. $70. Distance: two block walk from Sofitel.

(5) London Grill

www.londongrill.comOwned by Terry McNally and located in the scenic Art Museum Area. It is a great place to “guzzle” ale or sip fine wine and is committed to bringing their customers the very best ingredients in a comfortable, relaxed setting. Includes a special beer reception held before dinner, featuring beer from Stoudt Brewing Company, whose President is Carol Stoudt. The company is one of America’s foremost micro-breweries. $55. Distance: 10 minute ride.

(6) Lacroix

219 West Rittenhouse Squarewww.lacroixrestaurant.comAmerican cuisine, skillfully and creatively present-ed under chef de cuisine, Jason Cichonski. Dame Rema Giordano is Director of Catering at the Rit-tenhouse Hotel home of this upscale restaurant with contemporary menu, décor and elegance. $65. Two and a half block walk from Sofitel.

i n s p i r e & energize :i n s p i r e & energize :

(7) Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar

www.pennerestaurant.com Join Chef Roberta Adamo as she demonstrates handcrafted, unique pasta before your eyes, which will be included in the meal. This restau-rant, located in lively University City, features regional Italian cuisine prepared with local and seasonal ingredients. Regional Italian wines will be selected to compliment each course. $64. Limited to 15. Distance: 10 to 15 minute ride.

(8) Ristorante Panorama

www.pennsviewhotel.com Located in Old City. This restaurant offers over 120 wines by the glass and was named “Wine Restaurant of the Year” by Sante Magazine and given the “Award of Unique Distinction” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Don’t overlook the pastas, including triangles of saffron-scented pasta, nor the veal and seafood specialties. $65. Distance: 15 minute ride.

(9) Tequila’swww.tequilasphilly.com This elegant hacienda-style restaurant knows their stuff. Restaurateur, David Suro, grew up the near the agave fields and tequila producers in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The restaurant is known for their Authentic Mexican Cuisine and serves over 100 types of tequilas. Executive Chef Claudio Soto will prepare a 3-course menu paired with 5 tequilas chosen by mixologist, Ju-nior Merino. Can accommodate 25 patrons. $65. Distance: three blocks from Sofitel.


ConCurrent fun AnD CulturAl enriCHment sessions Louise Ceccarelli, Co-Chair, Tours and Fun and Cultural Enrichment Conference Session These sessions, which are included in the conference registration price, allow conference attendees to venture out of the hotel to experience some of the fun, culture and history of Philadelphia. They are scheduled for Friday, October 2 from 3 to 6 pm. The conference registration form includes a place for registrants to select which session they wish to attend. Philadelphia Dames will escort each group to and from their respective session; three are within walking distance of the Sofitel.

(1) Bartram’s Garden: Home of John

Bartram, Naturalist, Botanist and Explorer Just minutes from the Sofitel is America’s oldest living botanical garden, a pastoral 18th century homestead surrounded by the urban bustle of Philadelphia. You won’t believe you are in the city when you see the wildflower meadow, majestic trees, river trail, wetland, stone house and farm buildings overlooking the Schuylkill River. The garden contains American native plants, as well as, vines and trees, which are the oldest specimens in America. The tour will be highlighted by a private lecture by the Head Curator, who will speak about the passion of Quaker, John Bartram, and how the specimens he worked with have influenced modern day botany and gardens. www.bartramsgarden.org/index.html Maximum:35. Tour begins at 3:30.

(2) Franklin Fountain: A Treatise on Ice

Cream

Enjoy a visit to Old City Philadelphia with its 18th century architecture and history, including a treatise on ice cream including, Ben Franklin’s crème froid creation in 1787 and the origins of the first ice cream soda in 1874. This ice cream saloon, created by brothers, Ryan and Eric Berley, is a meticulous replica of 1905 Art Nouveau Par-lor. HEAR the history of the city and ice cream, LEARN that art of making ice cream; SEE ice cream memorabilia gathered from around the country; DISCOVER forgotten flavors from America’s past, and; TASTE fresh homemade ice cream. www.franklinfountain.com Maximum: 35. Tour begins at 3:30. Walking distance 20 -25 minutes.

(3) Tour of Japanese House and Garden and

Japanese Tea Ceremony with Tea Master

The Japanese House and Garden (Shofuso) is one of the most notable and unusual attractions in Philadelphia. The house, built in 16th century style, is located on the grounds of the Horticul-tural Center in Fairmount Park Its style would have been appropriate for an educate member of the upper class, such as a government offi-cial, high-ranking priest or wealthy scholar. The House is enhanced by an ornamental garden and picturesque pond. The tea master will give a brief history of Chanoyu (the Way of Tea) and a demonstration. Guests will be included in the ceremony and receive a bowl of green tea and seasonal sweet. In keeping with Japanese custom, guests must remove their shoes before entering and must wear or bring socks. www.fairmount-park.org/JapaneseGarden.asp Maximum 20. Tour begins at 3:30.

(4) Cooking with Uncommon Spices and

Herbs at La Cucina in the Reading Terminal

Market

Philadelphia Dame, Aliza Green, will present a lively hands-on learning, smelling and tasting program about cooking with uncommon spices and herbs. Ingredients will include: fennel pol-len, rue, lovage, asafetida, nigella seed, mastic, epazote, black cumin, Australian wattleseed, lemon myrtle, and grains of paradise. Aliza is a charter member of the Philadelphia Chapter and currently serves as First Vice President. She is the author of nine cookbooks, including Field Guide to Herbs and Spices, Starting with Ingredients: Baking. Maximum number: 35. Class begins at 3:30. Walking distance 10 to 15 minutes.

(5) The Art of Wine at the Pennsylvania

Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA)

Presented by Dame Shawn Dore, Sommelier, AIWS / DWS, and Judite Morais, Wine Event Director PAFA. Sponsored by Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Capital Wine & Spirits / The Charmer Sunbelt Group. Enjoy the pairing of Fine Wine and Rare Art in the home of PAFA. We will have the rare opportunity to be among the great works of Art in PAFA’s galleries and taste fine wines. The tasting of six wines, includ-ing one wine from each of the LDEI Partners, will be paired with their extraordinary works of art to exemplify the art of wine. The tasting will be lead by Wine Educator & Sommelier, Shawn Dore and the gallery tour will be presented by Ju-dite Morais Art Historian and Wine Event Direc-tor for PAFA. www.pafa.org Maximum number 30. Program begins at 3:30. Walking distance 10 -15 minutes.



PlACes to see AnD tHings to Do WHile in PHilADelPHiADeanna Seagrave-Daly, Co-Chair, Tours and Fun and Enriching Cultural Sessions

Foodie Favorites:Reading Terminal Market

Here is what you will see and experience: “The Best, Freshest and Liveliest Public Market since 1893;” mouth-watering aromas; produce fresh from the field; Amish specialties; fresh meats, seafood, and poultry. Unique, hand-made pot-tery, jewelry and crafts from around the world; and the hustle and bustle of a multitude of di-verse people. It’s all here in Philadelphia’s historic farmers market, Reading Terminal Market. An exhilarating selection of baked goods, meats, poultry, seafood, produce, flowers, ethnic foods, cookware and eclectic restaurants are peppered throughout the Market. Don’t miss the oppor-tunity to explore this unique and extraordinary historic farmers market in Center City. Dame owned and/or affiliated establishments are: The Pennsylvania General Store (Dame Julie Hola-han); 12th Street Catina (Dame Michelle Leff); The Fair Food Farmstand (Dame Ann Karlen); Reading Terminal Tours (Dame Betty Kaplan); and (Reading Terminal Caterers) Dame Stormy Lundy. Located at 12th and Arch Streets. www.readingterminalmarket.org

DiBruno Bros. - Rittenhouse Square

Originally started as small cheese and Italian specialty shop in South Philadelphia, DiBru-no Brothers has long and strong ties with our city’s food scene. Their latest location is a food lover’s shopping mecca. Discover an array of lo-cal ingredients, the unbelievable cheese selection (complete with cheese caves for storage) and the upstairs café and coffee/espresso bar to sit down and linger over food purchases and ready-made meals. At 1730 Chestnut Street www.dibruno.com

Capogiro Gelato

Some of the best tasting gelato this side of Flor-ence! In fact, owners John and Stephanie Reitano honed their gelato making skills in Italy. Prepared in small batches each morning from fresh and lo-cal ingredients, Capogiro was recently named by Bon Appétit magazine as best choice for gelato. Choose from over 25 varieties including seasonal flavors and exotic tastes such as olive oil, avocado or mojito. Visit their Website for the daily flavor list. Closest sites are at: 117 S. 20th St, corner of

20th& Sansom Sts.; and 119 S. 13th St, corner of 13th& Sansom Sts. www.capogirogelato.com

Italian Market

Originated in the early 1900s by Italian immi-grants, this large outdoor/indoor year-round market features specialty butchers, top notch cheeses, fresh produce, mouthwatering pastries and fine cookware among other foodie items. The backdrop of row homes (with storefronts be-low and residences above) was made famous in the movie Rocky as part of the character’s train-ing runs.Located at S. Ninth Street between Fitz-water & Wharton Sts.

Historic Sites:National Constitution Center

Touted as America’s most interactive history museum, the National Constitution Center is the only museum devoted to the U.S. Constitu-tion and the story of We, The People. Located just two blocks from the Liberty Bell and Inde-pendence Hall, it’s an important stop during a historic tour of Philadelphia. Check out the Web site for current exhibits.At 525 Arch Street. www.constitutioncenter.org

Independence National Historic Park

Perhaps the two most famous symbols of the birth of our country are located here. Come see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell and learn important insights about the struggles and vic-tories of our Founding Fathers. Note: you must reserve a ticket for a timed tour of Independence Hall prior (which can be done online.)Located at 520 Chestnut Street. www.nps.gov/inde/

Franklin Court

Visit the site of Ben Franklin’s home and be in-spired by one of our most famous Americans. Tour the first official post office in the United States along with the Franklin Print Shop and the Franklin Museum. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch Ben Franklin in person to discuss his inventions and contributions the birth of our nation.Located at 318 Chestnut Street. www.nps.gov/inde/franklin-court.htm

Elfreth’s Alley

Popularly know as “Our Nation’s Oldest Residen-tial Street”, Elfreth’s Alley has been home to more than 3,000 people since the early eighteenth cen-tury. Today, thirty-two houses form one of the last intact early American streetscapes in the na-tion. Elfreth’s Alley is a National Historic Land-mark District, one of the first districts that cel-ebrate the lives of everyday Americans. Tours are available through the Elfreth’s Alley Museum.Located at 124-125 Elfreth’s Alley. www.elfreth-salley.org

Philly Landmarks Including

Family Centered Excursions:Mural Tour

Did you know that Philadelphia is considered the Mural Capital of the World? Over 2,800 murals have been painted throughout the city by way of the Mural Arts Program. Sign up for a tour to discover the “behind the scenes” of how murals are made. Filled with anecdotes and rich with history, this tour will leave you with an un-derstanding of the complexities of mural-making and an appreciation of Philadelphia as the world’s largest outdoor art gallery. Depart from Indepen-dence Visitors Center at 6th& Market Sts. www.muralarts.org/getinvolved/tours/

South Street

An east-west street located just blocks south of Market Street, the stretch of South Street be-tween Front and Seventh Street is known for its bohemian atmosphere and its diverse and urban mix of shops, bars and eateries. Stroll down one of Philadelphia’s largest tourist attractions. www.southstreet.com

Rittenhouse Square

One of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn for Philadelphia, Rittenhouse Square today is a tree-filled square block area surrounded by high rise residences, luxury apart-ments, popular restaurants, upscale shops and five-star hotels. A favorite meeting spot for local residents and families, the square is a popular lo-cation for community festivals and hosts a year-roundFarmers’ Market from 9:30 am – 3 pm on Saturdays. At 18th& Chestnut Sts. www.ritten-houserow.org


We HAve A messAge for you on tHe “LOVE ” Post CArD beloWDottie koteski anD anita PiGnataro

2009 ConferenCe Co-Chairs

Philadelphia Museum of Art

As one of the largest museums in the United States, the Philadelphia Museum of Art invites visitors from around the world to explore its renowned collections, acclaimed special exhibi-tions, and enriching programs, both in person and online. Walking up the steps (made famous by the movie Rocky) boasts some of the best views of Philadelphia looking down Ben Frank-lin Parkway and upon Boathouse Row and the Schuylkill River.. Ben Franklin Parkway at 26th St. www.philamuseum.org

Franklin Institute

Founded in honor of Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest and premier centers of science education and development. Enjoyed by both young and old, the Franklin has bothpermanent and visiting exhibits, an IMAX theater, a planetarium and a cinema style theater. Check out their Website for current features.At 222 N. 20th Street. www2.fi.edu/

Philadelphia Zoo

As America’s first zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo is cel-ebrating its 150th birthday this year with much fanfare. One of the premier zoos in the world for breeding animals that have difficultly doing so in captivity, the zoo also works with many interna-tional groups to protect the natural habitats of animals in their care. Home to more than 1,300 animals on 42 acres, the zoo features a children’s zoo, a balloon ride, a paddleboat lake and many interactive and educational exhibits. Visit their Website for the latest attractions.At 3300 Fairmount Avenuewww.philadelphiazoo.org

Please Touch Museum

Memorial Hall, constructed to be the Art Gal-lery of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and first home to the renowned Philadelphia Museum of Art, is the new home of Please Touch Museum, the nation’s first museum for children ages seven and under. Please Touch is a hands-on “first mu-seum experience” for kids, with child-friendly exhibits that are both educational and fun. At Fairmount Park, 4231 Avenue of the Republic (formerly North Concourse Drive). www.please-touchmuseum.com

Dear Dame -

Everything that you want in a conference and a city awaits you at the 2009 Conference.

A boutique place to stay - the Sofitel - a gem in down town Philadelphia...they don’t even use

the word “hotel’ which gives you an idea of its philosophy and service.

•Our welcoming and hospitable Philadelphia dames who are your hosts.

•An educationally filled program to inspire your mind and get you energized.

•Choice of one offsite fun and educational enrichment session at a P

hiladelphia site,

included in registration fee.

•Optional pre and post conference tours/events, which meet your interests and

time,

whether it is a full day, partial day or just a few hours.

•A thoughtful and passionate Keynote Speaker, Dr. Marion Nestle.

•Intimate small group dine-a-round options for Thursday evening.

•A Friday evening grazing style dinner, ala Philadelphia.

•The Gala Dinner, Grand Dame Reception and Award on Saturday night.

•Ample time to network and learn, but also relax and enjoy.

•An array of delicious and eclectic food and fine beverages, served with style.

•Celebratory Big Cake to recognize milestones for resp

ective Chapters.

•A beautiful setting to explore the city near Rittenhouse Square, which is only one

of the many green space squares planned by William Penn.

The word ‘LOVE’ is a traditional and often used theme in Philadelphia. Everyone rec-

ognizes the city as the City of Brotherly Love. However, we have LOVE Park, LOVE

Sculpture and tourist promotions, such as, Philadelphia. The Place That Loves You Back.

Come, see, engage, experience and participate, not only at the conference but P

hiladelphia,

itself. You will love it! See you here.

Dame2009 Conferenc

XOXO- Dottie & Anita

WelCome to PHilADelPHiA AnD tHe 2009 ConferenCe!We and all of the Philadelphia Dames look forward to hosting our sister Dames and chapters. Our members are anxious to meet you and show you our city to share our rich educational, cultural, scientific, hospitality and entertainment venues.

- Anita and Dottie



Food 2020 - The Consumer as CEO

Linda W. Eatherton

Ketchum

Today’s consumer is demanding more control over their world! What would the food industry look like if consumers were in charge? What are their chief food concerns today and how do they expect those concerns to change over the next decade? To answer these questions and find out what consumers want from food manufactur-ers in the year 2020, Ketchum’s Global Food & Nutrition Practice surveyed consumers in five countries: the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Argentina and China. Join Linda Eatherton for this session as she reveals the results of the ground-breaking survey. Find out what tomor-row’s shoppers will demand from food agricul-ture, manufacturing and retailing leaders. These are the most powerful and vocal shoppers ever! These insights will shape the future success of the food world. Linda says, “ the consumer as CEO will be the driver for growth in all seg-ments – food service; industrial food and ingre-dient sales; consumer commodities and branded food products. The question is whether you are prepared to sit in the front or back seat.”

Linda Eatherton is a partner and Director of Global Food & Nutrition Practice for Ketchum, a leading public relations firm. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism degree and is a member of PRSA, is president of the Society for Nutrition Education Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Our Aging Senses and Cuisine

Marci Levin Pelchat, Ph.D.,

Monell Chemical Senses Center

Sensory loss is a hallmark of the aging process. Taste, smell and chemical irritation are the sens-es responsible for the perception of flavor and aroma. The largest declines are in olfaction (the sense of smell). According to Dr. Marci Pelchat, the olfactory component of flavor is arguably the most informative and allows us to experi-ence the difference between peach and mango, or beef and lamb. Oral irritation (e.g. the burn of chili pepper) is another component of flavor and does not decline very much with maturity. Dr. Pelchat investigates food preferences in the elderly and will speak about sensory loss, “changing tastebuds” and the need for recipe modification for an aging population. There is good news on the horizon; it may be that using your sense of smell can help you maintain it!

Dr. Pelchat is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received her Ph.D. from Penn’s Department of Psychology. She is an Associate Member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an independent nonprofit basic research institute in Philadelphia. She is on the editorial board of the journal, Appetite and is an Honorary Professor of Gastronomy at the Restaurant School in Philadelphia.

Colony Collapse Disorder in Bees

Dennis van Engelsdorp,

Penn State University

In 2006, commercial migratory beekeepers along the East Coast of the United States re-ported unprecedented sharp declines in honey bee colonies. Dennis van Engelsdorp, Penn-sylvania’s Acting State Apiarist, says a beehive — home to tens of thousands of bees — is an almost entirely female society, and honeybees are fiercely maternal. “It is extremely uncharac-teristic for these bees to leave their young and never return to their hives.” Scientists have named this phenomenon, Colony Collapse Dis-order (CCD); symptons have been reported by more than thirty-five states in other countries. Honeybees are the most economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops worldwide. In the U. S., the estimated value for the pollinator services of honeybees for food crops is $15 bil-lion annually. At the Philadelphia conference, Mr. van En-gelsdorp will discuss the importance of bee pollination to agricultural crops and share the latest news on the health of commercial honey bee colonies. In 2008, the Häagen-Dazs® brand partnered with Penn State, donating funds for research, education and outreach. The dona-tions are part of a “Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees” consumer education campaign aimed at generating awareness among ice cream lov-ers about the dire situation and what can be done. Penn State’s entomology department has emerged as a leader in honey bee and CCD re-search nationwide.

Dennis van Engelsdorp has a master’s degree in apiculture and worked at Cornell University as an extensionist where he helped develop a master beekeeping program. A Penn State senior extension associate and researcher for Penn State University, Dennis is a founding member of the Colony Col-lapse Working Group and spends considerable time investigating this latest threat to honey bee popula-tions.

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After the Downturn Turns Around: Preparing for Change

Michael Whiteman

Michael Whiteman is considered to be this country’s leading food and restaurant consultant. With his partners of 37 years (which include his wife, New York Dame Rozanne Gold), he has forged a “world view” of an ever-changing in-dustry. He is respected for a keen sense of archi-tecture, design, social dynamics and consumer taste trends. Mr. Whiteman was founding edi-tor of Nation’s Restaurant News, propelling the industry’s first newspaper into a powerful trade publication, and giving shape to an indus-try that was just entering its years of booming growth. His talk will address how the current economic crisis has caused long-term changes in consumer behavior, which ultimately affect the food industry. Conservative consumers will look to us, the food, beverage and hospitality experts, to provide reassurance. How to deliver and implement these changes in our businesses are tough problems. Mr. Whiteman will offer insight that may help us find the answers.

Michael Whiteman is president of the renowned Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Company. He is a permanent member of the Corporation of the Culinary Institute of America, sits on the board of directors of the Project for Public Spaces, is advisor to the Board of American Institute of Wine & Food and is on the board of directors of the Greystone Foundation.

Low-Risk Entrepreneurship

in Troubled Times

Jim Beach

As a successful entrepreneur, Jim Beach was practicing “bootstrap marketing” before it be-came a business buzz-word. As co-founder and CEO of American Computer Experience of At-lanta (1993-2000), he grew the company from no capital infusion to $12 million, becoming the world’s largest technology training com-pany for children. He enjoyed corporate tie-ins including Microsoft, Intel, Lego, and NASA. He has appeared on NPR, MBNBC, CNN and other major news sources as an expert on technology and education, and has spoken in Japan, Korea, India, and other countries on international trade. Mr. Beach believes in low risk start-ups, using bootstrapping to start, and thereby reducing risk. Known for his energy and enthusiasm, he joined the faculties of Georgia State University and the University of Tennes-see, where he teaches International Entrepre-neurship and International Business. Mr. Beach has taught countless numbers of people how to become entrepreneurs; many have started their own firms.

Jim Beach holds Masters degrees from the Univer-sity of Hawaii and Tokyo’s Japan-America Institute of Management Science. He specialized in Japanese Financial Systems and was selected to receive the Fujitsu Foundation for International Education Scholarship. Among many other accomplishments, Mr. Beach is Executive Director of www.Inter-nationalEntrepreneurship.com, the web’s largest source on entrepreneurship for over 100 countries.


and has formed a strong partnership by working together toward bringing local, sustainable food to Georgians. Georgia Organics, in turn, helps our chapter by volunteering at our annual fund-raiser in November - Afternoon in the Country at Serenbe Farms. This year we were able to par-ticipate in the Georgia Organics trade show by selling the LDEI cookbook - Cooking With Les Dames d’Escoffier and networking with many of the attendees. Gena Berry and Cathy Conway contributed to the culinary success of the con-ference by organizing and catering the meals.

LDEI Atlanta’s annual Dinner & A Movie was another successful event this year. Two films were shown to a group of 45 Dames and their guests including some potential new members. Money raised from the event goes into our scholarship fund. A raffle was also held to benefit Dames going to the annual conference in Philadelphia. The films were: Buttermilk: It Can Help and Feeding the Soul at Jones Valley Urban Farm - a Farm in Birmingham, Alabama. Both films are from the Southern Foodways Alliance. It was another celebration of southern food and culture.

The local, organic food was prepared at Avalon Catering by Barb Pires and Cathy Conway: buttermilk panna cotta with strawberries, garden salad with herbed buttermilk dressing, meatloaf with fresh tomato sauce, roasted root veg-etables, biscuits and buttermilk chicken. A highlight of the evening was a “shot” of fresh buttermilk served right before the showing of the film on buttermilk!

Compiled byKaren Levin (Chicago)

ATL ANTA Barb Pires, President Barb Pires presented a $14,000 check to Alice Rolls, the executive director of Georgia Organ-ics at their annual conference on March 21st. Since 2003 the Atlanta chapter has donated $67,000 to Georgia Organics. In so doing, LDEI is a sponsor of their annual conference

AUSTIN Mary Margaret PackAs part of the Austin Dames’ Green Tables initiative, the Dames donated a chef ’s dinner for eight to The Green Corn Project’s annual fundraiser auction. The Green Corn Project is a non-profit volunteer-driven organization that edu-cates and assists Central Texans in building gardens and growing organic food. Since 1998, the volunteer-driven group has built more than 130 gardens in Aus-tin’s underserved neighborhoods, teaching effective techniques for growing food at home naturally while making maximum use of land, water, and energy.

On May 3, 2009, at the home of Tracy Claros, Austin Dames prepared and served the donated chef ’s dinner to the auction winner and friends. The evening included cocktails, passed appetizers, and a three-course dinner with paired wines. Contributing Dames were Laura Kelso, Mary Margaret Pack, Gina Burchenal, Quincy Erickson, Jane King, Tracy Claros, Kristie Sasser, Kristine Kittrell, Denice Woods, Paula Angerstein, Karen Farnsworth, Pa-mela Nevarez, Karen Johnson, and Aimee Olson.The chapter’s spring business meeting and potluck dinner took place on May 4th at Mercury Hall. Hosted by Beth Pav, the event was attended by chapter members and the four 2009 nominees for membership in the Austin chapter.

At the meeting, the Austin chapter received a very exciting surprise presenta-tion by Bill Hyatt of the outreach ministries at University United Methodist Church (UUMC). He presented the chapter with a State of Texas certificate from Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, commending the Austin Dames “in recognition of their faithful contribution and generous service volunteering weekly to provide nutritious items to enhance the menu of the UUMC Out-reach Program.”

Every Saturday morning for the past four years, two Austin Dames show up at Whole Foods Market to sort and load the donated produce, breads, and bak-ery goods, and take them to the Caritas Lunch Program and UUMC Outreach Program. As a result of the Dames’ assistance, the UUMC Outreach Program now feeds as many as 600 people weekly (up from 100). The program now serves breakfasts as well as lunches, UUMC volunteers make jams and jellies from leftover fruits, and they compost all kitchen scraps.

The Dames’ weekly participation in feeding Austin’s hungry was the brain-child of Cathy Cochran-Lewis and Pamela Nevarez, and many of the Austin Dames take turns doing the Saturday food runs. In addition, for the past three years the Dames have prepared Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts for the cli-ents at the Saturday Outreach Program.

AVOBE: (L-R) Alice Rolls, executive director of georgia organics and Barb Pires, President of LDEI.

RIGHT, TOP-BOTTOM:(L-R) Andrea Case and Barb Pires at the georgia organics Conference at Agnes Scott College march 2009.

Junior League of Atlanta - Tour of Kitchens in march, 2009. (L-R) gloria Smiley and Andrea Case seated; Rebecca Lang and Barb Pires standing.

(L-R) Dames Cathy Conway of Avalon Catering and Janice Reece of the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

(L-R): Dames Cathy Strange, Bev Pav, Karen Farnsworth and gina Burchenal at the Austin Dames’

Easter Cakewalk at the Downtown Farmers’ market.

(L-R): Dames Karen Farnsworth, maribel Rivero, Beth Pav, gina

Burchenal, Kristing Kittrell at the Austin Dames’ Easter Cakewalk at

the Downtown Farmer’s market.


Member Carolyn Collins gave us a compelling insight into the world of caviar and the allure of Great Lakes Whitefish caviar. A caviar tasting allowed everyone to experience the fresh, clean, buttery tasting golden whitefish caviar where exquisite taste meets sustainability without pretense.

Education and indulgence were perfectly paired at this event. The lavish Collins Caviar tasting set the tone for the dining experience. Member Rita Gutekanst’s Limelight catering company meticulously and beautifully served us appetizers and a buffet with seafood provided by Plitt and cooked to order by Chefs Carrie and Sarah. Everyone left with a little better understanding of the world’s waterways and the importance of preserving natural habitats. by-catch, which accidentally captures unwanted fish, is not an unfortunate necessity but something that can be avoided with sustainable practices. Our guides for the evening enlightened us on the two sides of aquaculture where sustainability may not always be where you expect to find it. Open ocean aquaculture, for example, can cause far more damage than on land ponds where more environmental controls can be exercised.

In the search for sustainable seafood, there is no need to hunt the world or compromise on fresh taste. Whether it is caviar from the Great Lakes or Alaskan fish that can be in Chicago within 24 hours, American fisheries are a good news story.

HAWAIIDorothy Colby The Hawaii Chapter held its 2009 annual meeting on May 27th. Twenty-three members were wel-comed by Carol Nardello at Sub Zero/Wolf Hono-lulu showroom. The eve-ning was a celebration of the accomplishments of the past year and the very successful LDEI national conference. The gavel was passed from Kel-lie Learmont to Hayley Matson-Mathes. An ele-gant dinner was provided though a members’ prod-uct showcase put togeth-er by Shawn “Possie” Badham of Gourmet Foods Hawaii, Kaiulani Cowell of Kaiulani Spices, Holly El Hajji of Ohana Motion Picture Services, Sharon Kobayashi of Akamai Foods, Cheryl To of PacifiKool, Jeanne Vanna of North Shore Farms and Joan Namkoong, freelance food writer.

DALL ASMaxine Levy At the invitation of Grande Dame Caroline Rose Hunt, the Dallas Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier participated in a May 14th evening fundraiser at Dal-las’ Rosewood Crescent Hotel benefitting the Big Thought. A charitable orga-nization, Big Thought partners with Dallas-area community agencies including school districts, library systems, child care centers, recreation centers and juvenile detention facilities, to support the success and education of the arts. The Big Thought fundraiser earned about $50,000 for that charity.

About 20 chapter volunteers worked at the Dallas chapter’s cork-pull table where a $20 donation bought a chance to choose a numbered wine-bottle cork that corresponded to a wine bottle bearing the identical number. In all, Les Dames members and purveyors donated about 200 bottles of wines, each valued at $20 or more. Chapter Founder Dolores Snyder donated a bottle of Cham-pagne. The cork-pull netted about $2,500 for LDEI.

CLOCKWISE: new chapter president haley matson-mathes.

Lori Wong with the member products showcase.hawaii chapter members at their annual 2009 meeting.

On April 11, 2009, Austin Dames staged their second cakewalk and cook-book sale at the Downtown Farmer’s Market. The musical cakewalk again proved quite popular with market shoppers, and the chapter made approxi-mately $300 in sales of cookbooks and cakewalk tickets for Dames-prepared cakes and baked goods. The Dames working at the event (Beth Pav, Karen Farnsworth, Gina Burchenal, Kristine Kittrell, Maribel Rivera, Edna Lynn Porter, Mary Mahaffey, and Cathy Strange) took the opportunity to raise the public’s awareness of the chapter’s mission and activities.

BOSTONLucille Giovino On a typically cool New England spring evening, it was heartening for Dame members and guests to enjoy a wine dinner hosted by Leslie Lamb, Catering Director at Gordon’s Fine Wines Culinary Center. Denise Baron, Executive Chef of four Burtons Grilles and Joseph Carr, the Napa Valley vintner worked as a team. Denise prepared a 4-course tasting menu and Joseph regaled us with stories of his wine-making experiences.

The young, ambitious, talented Chef Denise outdid herself with a menu of mango, avocado, tomato salad with pea tendrils and baby spinach; seared tuna with a warmed artichoke, tomato and peppadew salsa; roasted tenderloin and chimichurri sauce and a lovely St. Andre cheese, wildflower honey, apricot chut-ney and toasted baguette. Each course was paired with a perfect wine. Voilà – a culinary delight!

CHICAGOSharon OlsonD e M Y s t i f Y i n Gs u s t a i n a b i L i t YProgram chair Jill Van Cleave organized a think tank in a fish tank on “Sustainable Sea-food” on Monday, April 20, at the Shedd Aquarium, where she gathered experts among Chicago Dames and the com-munity to share their personal experience, insight, and anec-dotes that will long be remem-bered relating to the seafood we choose.

Michelle Jost, Director of Sustainable Practices and Kassia Perpich, Sustain-able Seafood Coordinator for the Shedd Aquarium welcomed us to this memo-rable evening. They shared insight on sustainability worldwide and some enter-taining stories about the seafood diets among the Shedd’s population. For those who attended the program, it is safe to say their next visit to the Shedd will most certainly include a visit to the otters at feeding time to experience how they now indulge their discriminating taste. Michelle shared a story about changing their diet from inexpensive imported shrimp to sustainable American shrimp when she first arrived at the Shedd. She was warned about the food tantrums they might throw if they did not like the new shrimp. Her perfect description of watching the otters luxuriating in their new diet of sustainable shrimp was “otter porn.” In addition to the gastronomically delighted otters, the Shedd found that the cost of the sustainable shrimp was comparable to the imported because of lower shipping costs and virtually no waste. The Shedds’ Right Bite program de-mystified sustainability for the average consumer and the food expert. For those who missed the event, the details can be found at www.sheddaquarium.org

New Les Dames member, Mary Smith, from the Plitt Company, shared some of the realities of what is happening in the very complicated world of seafood sustainability. She served as the guide on an Alaskan adventure with members Carrie Nahabedian and Sarah Stegner, who shared stories that made us understand why chefs are the modern day heroes of sustainability. They ven-tured to Kodiak Island, Alaska, where there are more bears than people, for some fishing and unconventional beachcombing. Decidedly beyond their ex-pectations for this fishing trip, they spent a day in hazard gear collecting global garbage from formerly pristine cold-water beaches.

Dame Carolyn Collins enjoys dessert at a sustainable seafood event.


SOUTH FLORIDACarole Kotkin The South Florida Chapter enjoyed a Tropical Brunch in the Redland at Sch-nebly Winery in Homestead, Florida on April 19. The event drew 250 guests who enjoyed an alfresco brunch featuring a selection of farm-fresh salads, om-elets, quiches, authentic Mexican tamales, fruit breads and local tropical ice creams. Everyone sipped Schnebly’s passion fruit sparkling wine and still wines from around the world as they enjoyed island music and a lavish silent auction. We manned a booth selling LDEI cookbooks. The proceeds of this fun-filled event will benefit a host of community projects that help preserve our area’s rich agricultural heritage. The event was chaired by Lucila Jimenez and Anne Marie Porturas-Coral and assisted by Ariana Kumpis.

SAN ANTONIOBonnie Walker oLé! WeLCoMe a branD neW oLive festivaL in texas Nothing succeeds like success, and this was the best word to describe the first Olives Olé, Texas International Olive Oil Festival south of San An-tonio in March.

The San Antonio chapter was geared up and ready for an anticipated 200 guests to this premiere event, only to be surprised (pleasantly, of course) by an outstanding turnout of 2,000 people and a profit of $35,000. Some 94 percent of the membership pitched in to help with the event, says Di-Anna Arias, chapter president. Discussions are already underway for the 2010 event, which these Dames expect will be even more spectacular.

One big draw to Olives Olé was Saundra Winokur’s impressive orchard of more than 10,000 olive trees, from which she is producing cured olives, olive oil and other products. Tours around the orchard on this bright but cool day were eagerly attended. Guests crowded the food enclosure where they stood in line for lamb chops, grilled whole quail, veggie pitas, olive oil brownies, olive oil cake, koofta wraps and more.Lectures about olives, their health as well as nutritional values, pulled in audi-ences, and people walked away with baby olive trees in pots to plant. The invest-ment of time, imagination, skill and just plain muscle were what pulled off this event -- and the kind of teamwork this chapter is known for.

TOP ROW(L-R)(L-R): San Antonio Chapter new member Lainey Berkus; new transfer member Lauren Browning; new members melissa guerra and Cora Lamar

(L-R): San Antonio Chapter new members, Leslie horne, nichole Bendele and marie hejl-Saba; Chapter President Di-Anna Arias.

BOTTOM ROW(L-R)(L-R) Dame June hayes and San Antonio Chapter President Di-Anna Arias. notice Di-Anna’s olive necklace.

(L-R) Volunteer Sherra with Co-event Planner Dame Sandra Winokur, Dame Rollie Blackwell and Co-event Planner Dame Cathy Tarasovic.

RIGHT:A large unexpected crowd sampling a variety of olives, plain and stuffed, green to ripe.

TOP: Event Co-chair Lucila Jimenez (standing in the middle) with a group of guests at the Tropical Brunch in the Redland.

BoTTom: (L-R) Jamie Futscher, Lucila Jimenez, Denisse Schnebly and Co-chair Ariana Kumpis at the Wine Pairing Dinner.

Historical Simpson Park in downtown Miami was the site on March 13 for the South Florida Chapter’s Wine Pairing Dinner. Co-chairs Dorothee Rubin and Ariana Kumpis prepared an elegant four-course Italian-themed sit-down dinner for 60 guests. Michael Bittel of Sunset Corners Fine Wines and Spirits and Simone Diament donated wines that were matched with luscious lobster ravioli, farm-fresh salad, fabulous osso bucco with polenta and tiramisu for des-sert. The highlight of the evening was the wine lecture given by wine expert Jamie Futscher. The proceeds from this educational event will benefit our local agricultural scholarship fund. LDEI Cookbooks were sold at the event.

SEAT TLE Susy Davidson, International Liaison On March 24, Seattle Dames hosted “Passion: The Key Ingredient”, the chap-ter’s fundraising auction, chaired by Beverly Gruber. Kathy Casey, who served as auctioneer, created a signature cocktail and designed the dinner menu based on Seattle Dames’ culinary passions. Silent and live auctions raised more than $78,000. The evening’s finale, the “Dessert Dash” – in which tables bid on chances for their appointed runners to claim desserts prepared by Seattle Dames – contributed $10,000. During its twenty years, the Seattle Chapter has made charitable gifts totaling over $275,000 and helping more than 50 women with their culinary studies.

Kathy gold is at work judging cakes during the Philadelphia event, “Let Them Eat Cake.” The contest theme was ethnic cakes. The cake shown is from Amy Beth Edelman’s night Kitchen Bakery and tied with miel for Best Tasting Cake. The beautifully conceived and decorated cake has a moroccan look and was created by her Pastry Chefs, Peri Anderson, Jenny Low and maureen Kehner. Submitted by Aliza Green.

PHIL ADELPHIA


AUSTIN Mary Margaret Pack (writ-ing as MM Pack) was named one of three finalists for a 2009 IACP Bert Greene Award for culinary journal-ism. The nominated piece, ti-tled “An Avocado Story,” was a cover feature in The Austin Chronicle.

BOSTON Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV’s “Ciao Italia” enters its 20th year of production as the longest running cooking series on television. Her latest cookbook, Ciao Italia Five Ingredient Family Favorites from an Italian Kitchen, will be released in September and is a Good Cook Book Club’s main se-lection. In May, she was presented the Sons of Italy Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award at the foundation’s annual gala in Washington, D.C.

CHARLESTON Nathalie Dupree led a week-long culinary vacation in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a historic UNESCO World Heritage Site. The week was filled with gourmet cooking classes, special market tours, dinners and more. For more in-formation, visit www.artadventuresanmiguel.com.

Pam Fischette participated in a South Carolina local grower and food arti-san summit, sponsored by Charleston Whole Foods Market and held in Co-lumbia, South Carolina on June 2nd. She conducted a segment of the market-ing class that focused on store level promotions of local products through the use of established media relationships, events, local profiles and store specific local signage. Pam is Director of Marketing for Whole Foods Market in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

CHICAGONina Barrett’s interview with Nancy Brussat aired on April 13 on WBEZ 91.5 Public Radio. It was a whimsical presentation of polenta, its background and its appeal during recession times. The interview included recipes and serving pos-sibilities devised by Convito’s chef Noe Sanchez.

JeanMarie Brownson announced a new episode of “The Entrepreneurs” on CNBC, featuring Chef Rick Bayless, Manny Valdes and their partners in Frontera Foods, including Deann Bayless. The show provided a peek inside the company, and was featured on CNBC on April 2.

Gale Gand on the publication of her new cookbook, Brunch. Promoting the book, Gale has demonstrated at various New York City shops, and she appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” April 15th, where she prepared two brunch dishes from her new cookbook. Gale’s new Web site is www.galegand.com

En-Ming Hsu was interviewed in the March 1st issue of Modern Baking. She spoke about her career as a pastry chef, her place in the first pastry program of-fered by the CIA in Hyde Park, and her international competition efforts.

Carrie Nahabedian hosted a cocktail reception for host designer, artist, and fellow Armenian Michael Aram to showcase his home entertaining collection at Neiman-Marcus on April 17.

ST. LOUISLori WIllis On Monday, March 16, the St. Louis Dames and invited guests were treated to a lesson in cooking with chocolate hosted by Master Chocolatier Patrice Bruchec, Executive Pastry Chef of The Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis.

Bruchec themed his presentation, “Chocolat a Paris,” and set out to teach the art of creating chocolate butterflies, foliage and remarkably curled garnishes at home using practical and sometimes, unusual methods! The select recipe he created was, “Blood Orange pâté a Bombe” that included a blood orange and gianduja mousse. Gianduja is a sweet chocolate with hazelnuts.

After class, Chapter Co-president Beth Huch exclaimed, “Chef Bruchec made this recipe look so incredibly easy that many of us couldn’t wait to go to the grocery store and pick up the gianduja and then hit the hardware store for a few new kitchen instruments!” Katherine Rule agreed, “I am hoping to go buy the big box of chocolate, perhaps split it with others and try some things!”

Chef Bruchec’s finished dessert was a masterpiece to the eye and to the taste. Despite the use of at least five different chocolate applications and half a dozen tools, he offered tips for cooking like the world’s finest chocolatiers that were both practical and very, very, very Parisian!

This is an excerpt of an informative article you can read in its entirety at www.ldei.org. The recipe for the Blood Orange pâté a Bombe is included.

Compiled by CiCi Williamson (Washington D.C.)

Past LDEI President

Katherine Rule and guest Shirley Frost admire the finished dessert before digging in! Photo by Lori Willis.

GEORGIA ORGANICS

honor s BARBARA

PETITAtlanta Dame and LDEI Green Tables Co-chair Barbara Petit was presented with the very first Barbara Petit Pollinator Award at the Georgia Organics 12th Annual Conference and Trade Show at Agnes Scott University, in Decatur, Alabama on Saturday, March 21.

The presentation was made during Georgia Organics’ Farmers’ Feast held in a big tent on the university campus. More than 1000 participants were in attendance, including Michael Pollan, who gave the keynote address, and Josh Viertel and Erica Lesser from Slow Food USA.

Named after Barbara, the award pays tribute to an individual or organization for outstanding community leadership in Georgia’s sus-tainable farming and food movement.

A highlight of the award presentation was a special video honoring Barbara’s tremendous gift of time toward organizing and building the foundation of Georgia Organics. Her service extended far beyond volunteering to actually pioneering the way for the future of the as-sociation.

Barbara served as the president of Georgia Organics from 2003-2009. She is a committed leader, and continues to serve the good food movement through her involvement in the Atlanta Local Food Initia-tive, the Georgia Organics’ Farm to School Program and through Les Dames d’Escoffier.

mary margaret Pack mary Ann Esposito


Ina Pinkney’s restaurant INA’s was featured in Intelligent Life magazine, published quarterly by The Economist in Europe, in a two page spread as THE power breakfast spot in the USA.

Nancy Siler is taping her seventh season of the Wilton Food Products’ Public Television Show Bake Decorate Celebrate! The show airs in 46 countries and features recipes plus cake decorating techniques and projects. www.bakedeco-ratecelebrate.com.

CLEVEL AND Laura Taxel’s eighth edition of Cleveland Ethnic Eats was released this spring, and she’s launched a blog at www.clevelandethniceats.com to go with it. Laura has just been named a Contributing Editor to Santé Magazine. Her second fea-ture story for The National Culinary Review will appear this summer.

DALL AS Dolores Snyder had book signings for her book Tea Time Entertaining in San Francisco at Lovejoy’s Tea Room and Crown & Crumpet Tea Room in June.

Renie Steves recently judged the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, an Inter-national wine competition, in Valencia, Spain. Four American men and Renie were among the 250 judges from 41 countries who judged 6,289 wines. Renie’s grandson Jonathan Burk, who is teaching English in Spain, translated for her.

HAWAII Martina Hildorfer, Kauai Com-munity College culinary instructor, has been chosen for the prestigious Wo Learning Champions initiative. The initiative focuses on profes-sional and leadership development for faculty and staff in Hawai‘i’s two-year institutions.

Jean Hull, CCE, AAC, helped children learn the benefits of eating a green salad on Saturday, April 18,

at the Waimea Keiki Fest, hosted by the ACF Chef and Child program. This is the third year Jean has organized this station for her Kona Kohala Chapter. Chefs gathered the local salad greens and vegetables donated from Kekela Farms.

Satomi Goo, Sales Manager, The Tea Chest & Indulge! Hawaii Inc., reports that Plantation Iced Tea by Indulge! Hawaii was awarded the 2009 Beverage Artisan Local Hero Award from Edible Hawaiian Islands Magazine for its use of local agriculture and support of sustainable farm practices. It contains organic fair-trade tea, organic pineapple juice and Maui natural cane sugar. www.in-dulgehawaii.com KANSAS CIT YKay Benjamin’s company, Take the Cake, recently received a fabulous award from “The Knot Best of Weddings 2009.” As such, the Kansas City Chapter is proud to announce that Take the Cake has been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2008/2009 Pick.

Amanda Frederickson launched a new company dedicated to luxury culi-nary travel. Her new company, Gourmet Nomads, specializes in culinary travel to boutique dining destinations in the United States such as Kansas City, Santa Fe, Charleston, Austin, Philadelphia, etc. To learn more about Gourmet No-mads check out the website at www.gourmetnomads.com.

LOS ANGELES Susan Johnson received one of the five Orange County Business Journal’s 2009 Women in Business Awards in May. There were 159 nominees. She is also a finalist in the Ernst & Young Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Awards to be presented in June. Her Xan Con-fections were approved for Whole Foods throughout California.

Melinda Morgan Kartsonis, president and found-er of Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC, a full-service marketing and public relations firm in

Irvine, Calif., was recently selected as the marketing blogger for OCMETRO.com, which is OC METRO magazine’s online venue for producing “daily news, monthly perspective” for the Orange County market.

Amelia Saltsman reports that The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook (Blenheim Press, 2007) has been selected by the Library of Congress to be translated into Braille. Amelia recently returned from an inspiring week at the Greenbrier food writers’ symposium, where she led a panel on self-publishing.

Diana von Welanetz Wentworth announces her new blog “Divine Fudge” at divinefudge.blogspot.com/. In it she reveals her most sought-after recipe for Diana’s Divine Fudge. Diana is the author of seven award-winning cookbooks including Chicken Soup for the Soul Cookbook (written with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen), seller of nearly one million copies.

MIAMI Carole Kotkin and Simone Dia-ment celebrate four years of hosting the weekly radio show “FOOD & WINE TALK.” The Show features interviews with food and wine indus-try giants in the United States and abroad. Food & Wine Talk is heard on www.southfloridagourmet.com/newsite/talkradio.html and as a pod-cast on feeds2.feedburner.com/Foo-dAndWineTalkRadio

Elizabeth Smith, associate publisher of WINE NEWS, reports publication of its 25th anniversary issue, a milestone celebrated May 8 at Coco Plum Woman’s Club in Miami. The wine party aided two Miami-based charities: Educate To-morrow and Medical Students in Action. Elizabeth is a founding member of the South Florida LDEI chapter.

MONTEREY BAY Marta Kraftzeck passed the Certified Sommelier test in December 2008. She has moved to Scheid Vineyards as Cellar Operations Supervisor.

NEW YORK Lynn Fredericks has been nomi-nated for the Excellence in Dietary Guidance Award and the Ann Cow-ell Award for nutrition education by the American Public Health Asso-ciation (APHA). The awardees will be announced in November. Lynn’s FamilyCook Productions was se-lected by the Connecticut State De-partment of Public Health to pro-vide curriculum for a pilot nutrition education program and study in se-lect Connecticut schools in 2009.

Dana Jacobi has joined the blogopshere. She posts “Dana’s Market Basket” featuring ingredients, alluring recipes, information, and good writing, three times a week at www.prevention.com/danasmarketbasket.

Corinne Trang prepared hot weather fare on Atlanta’s Fox TV. The cold noo-dle dishes featuring local seasonal ingredients are from her book Noodles Every Day. Corinne is an Asian cuisine expert known as the Julia Child of Asian Cui-sine whose recipes represent the staple of meals big and small, simple and fancy.

PALM SPRINGS Jacqueline Bachar is producing and hosting a lo-cal radio show “The Jacqueline Bachar Show” on Progressive Radio 1340 AM KPTR, beginning June 13th. She will feature “Authors, The Arts; Design, and Food.” Among her first guests are award-winning author Joseph Wambaugh, a former Los Angeles po-liceman, and Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt and The Food of a Younger Land.

PHIL ADELPHIA Barbara Chappetta conducted a session titled “The Neighborhood Kitchen Where Residents Meet and Eat” at the annual Pennsylvania Dietetic Association meeting recently held in King of Prussia. The presentation provided attendees with an overview and direction on how to transform the ambiance of meal ser-vice in a nursing-home environment to one of home.

melinda morgan Kartsonis

Simone Diament and Carole Kotkin

Supporting Daniel Thiebaut (2nd from L) and Dame hull (4th from L) at the green Salad Station is Chef Tom Woods, Pastry Chef Susan higgens, and Annette horie from Daniel Thiebaut’s restaurant.

new York Dame Rachel hirschfeld (right) and her dog Swizzle, at a wine pouring with her client, Serena Friedman, owner of Four Sisters Ranch, a 150 acre vineyard and winery in Paso Robles, California, pouring their 2005 Syrah.

Jacqueline Bachar


Aliza Green will be doing a meat work-shop spon-sored by the Pennsylvania (or PA) As-sociation for Su s t a i n a b l e Agriculture.

Alison Bar-shak opened her new restaurant Alison Two in Fort Washington, Penn.

Amy Edelman, owner of The Night Kitchen Bakery, created a birthday cake for Philadelphia’s beloved Diva Patti LaBelle, who celebrated her 65th birthday May 24. The completely edible cake was a series of designer shoe boxes topped with a chic high heeled shoe made of fondant icing. Amy’s bakery became a “Green Certified Restaurant.”

Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD, LDN, has launched Teaspoon Communications with two other culinary-minded dietitians. Teaspoon is a food-first, nutrition communications group providing a variety of spicy services. Deanna appears regularly on FOX’s “Good Day Philadelphia” morning program, highlighting healthy foods and quick culinary tips to consumers on seasonal topics. Visit www.teaspooncomm.com.

PHOENIX A recent Arizona Republic article named several Phoenix Dames and their busi-nesses “Stars of Arizona’s Food World.” Included in the list of 50 people and businesses: Barbara Fenzl, owner of Les Gourmettes Cooking School; Maya Dailey, local farmer and a new member; Eileen Spitalny owner of Fairytale Brownies; and another new member Cindy Gentry, CEO of the Downtown Phoenix Public Market.

ST. LOUIS Suzanne Corbett, writer, author, teacher and food historian, was among eight distinguished communicators to receive in April the Virginia Betts White Quest Awards from the Missouri Professional Communicators, an affiliate of the Na-tional Federation of Press Women. The awards recognize individuals whose work reflects an enduring quest for the highest standards of professional ethics and excellence.

SAN ANTONIO Ana Martinez, born in Mexico City, became a chef from the Univer-sidad Iberoamericana and is now the chef at a women’s treatment center for alcohol and drugs in Boerne, Tex-as. Women come to the center in very bad shape, and she must carefully balance the spices, proteins and fats because their bodies don’t work normally.

Rebecca Rather, owner of Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe in Fredericks-burg, Texas, prepared dessert for the James Beard Awards post-gala recep-tion and dinner. The theme was “Women in Food.” Her dessert was Silken Bittersweet Tart, using Green and Black organic chocolate, Mexican vanilla ice cream with white chipotle praline, and a Jack Daniels whiskey sauce.

Naylene Dillingham’s restaurant Mac and Ernie’s in Tarpley, Texas, has been getting good publicity. Bonnie Walker wrote an article that was re-cently published in the San Antonio Current. Found at www.sacurrent.com/dining/story.asp?idp119. Another piece ran on the Travel Channel on An-drew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Food.”

SAN DIEGO Carole Bloom announces the publication in April of her latest book, Bite-Size Desserts (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). Carole was a guest on Martha Stewart Living Radio on April 28 and taught a class based on recipes from her new book at Phyllis Vaccarel-li’s school, Let’s Get Cookin’ in Westlake Village, Calif. Carole is a soundBites contributor to A Mil-lion Cooks Web site.

SAN FRANCISCO Karen Cakebread is launching her new Napa Valley wine, Ziata, named for her mother, Mary Annunziata. She focused on Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir for their food-friendly versatility. The wines are made by winemaker Anne Vawter. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc will be released in May 2009, available only through the Web site.

Elizabeth Falkner is competing in Top Chef Masters that premiered on June 10 on Bravo-TV. She will be competing with 24 chefs from around the country. For a complete list of chefs and information, visit www.bravotv.com. Go Elizabeth!

Joanne Weir has just released her new cocktail and recipe book TEQUILA, A guide to Types, Flights, Cocktails and Bites (Ten Speed Press). The book has 38 cocktails from the top tequila bartenders in the US and 28 recipes for food made with tequila. Photo credit: Greg Habiby.

SEAT TLE Lisa Dupar has been named one of the top 25 trendsetters by Modern Bride. Each year the magazine awards 25 talented, creative individuals in the wedding industry who inspire and push the envelope with trends and styles. Lisa accepted the award in New York on May 12. Another winner is jewelry designer Ivanka Trump

Cynthia Nims announces the release of her latest cookbook project, Memo-rable Recipes to Share with Family and Friends, co-authored with Sur La Table’s president emeritus, Renée Behnke. NPR contributor Susan Chang chose it as one of the best summer cookbooks for 2009. Cynthia’s next cookbook project is a collection of gourmet “game night” recipes scheduled for 2010 release.

Norma Rosenthal became a partner in ShinShinChez, LLC, a newly formed business with a collaborative approach to publishing, marketing and business, and community development. Upcoming in 2009 is the joint release of the book, Tender: Farmers, Chefs and Eaters by James Beard award-winning chef and Seattle restaurateur Tamara Murphy in partnership with ShinShinChez.

WASHINGTON, D.C.Nancy Baggett’s new cookbook, Kneadlessly Simple--Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads, recently resid-ed on the Amazon.com cookbook bestseller list more than 110 consecutive days. The book is garnering great reviews from both home cooks and critics.

Kate Jansen’s restaurant, Willow, which she co-owns with Tracy O’Grady, was name the best restau-rant in the “Best of Arlington” (Virginia). Kate is the

restaurant’s pastry chef and is a past recipient of a D.C. Chapter scholarship award to attend LeNotre in Paris. Kate won the 2009 Pastry Chef of the Year “RAMMY” Award from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington in June.

Karen Cakebread Elizabeth Falkner Joanne Weir

Carole BloomDeanna Seagrave-Daly

Patti LaBelle’s birthday cake reflected her love of stylish footwear. made of fondant icing, the shoe was also edible.

Ana martinez Rebecca Rather,

Lisa Dupar Cynthia nims norma Rosenthal

Amy Riolo


ProfiLe Your sChoLarshiP WinnerLDEI is widely recognized for philanthropic endeavors and for raising scholarship funds for young women entering the culinary profession. many Dames are extraordinarily proud of the progress their scholarship recipients have made. Showcase your chapter’s scholarship program and share the story of onE successful recipient in an upcoming Quarterly. Does she participate in a chapter mentoring program? Contact Susan Slack, [email protected] with your story and for more information.

DeaDLinesWInTER QUARTERLY, 2009................. oCToBER 26, 2009 SPRIng QUARTERLY, 2010.................. JAnUARY 15, 2010

PhotograPhY/imagesPhotos must be in color, have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, and be of good quality. Do not send photos taken off the Internet, PDF files, or photos embedded with text in Word files. Identify individuals in photos from left to right in the message of your e-mail. Include photographer credits if required. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS MUST COME WITH CAPTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED. E-mail as file attachments to Susan Slack at [email protected].

memBer miLestonesDAME’S NAME (XX CHAPTER) Each Dame may submit 25-50 words about honors or important business-related activities as preferred to appear in print. You may e-mail a high-resolution, color photo to accompany your news. Press releases and cookbook covers are not accepted. (Cookbook covers are accepted for the LDEI website.) E-mail to CiCi Williamson at [email protected] by October 26, 2009 for the Winter Quarterly. Entries received after this date will appear in the following issue.

ChaPter neWsCHAPTER & TITLE OF EVENT (By your name, officer or title if any)Each Dame may submit 50-100 words per event as you would like to see it in print. We regret we do not have space for menus. List the photos at the end of the description. Include IDs and credits. Submissions not conforming to this format may not be printed due to deadlines and volunteer’s lack of time. E-mail to Chandra Ram at [email protected] by October 26, 2009 for the Winter Quarterly. Entries received after this date will appear in the following issue.

e-neWsLetterA bi-monthly publication to keep you informed about events in other chapters and to encourage networking. The “Traveling Dames” section lists professional conferences or events where you may find other Dames for networking. Do not send press releases. Include an email contact, date, time, cost for chapter events. Lack of space prevents member milestones, product news, listing of cooking classes or tours. You will receive a reminder “call for e-news” email. Respond to Emily Schwab at [email protected].

360 Vodka Gold 1/4 page Ad | Job # 48-2307

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HoustonKansas City/Heart of America

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October 1 – 4, 2009 Some Philadelphia and LDEI Trivia!1. Where was the first LDEI Conference held? 2. Which recent LDEI President played Betsy Ross as a youngster and has a collection

of flags? 3. Which current Delegate at Large worked in Philadelphia for seven years? 4. Which Colorado Chapter dame was a former member of the Philadelphia Chapter? 5. Which Chapter was founded in the same year as the Philadelphia Chapter? 6. Who is the South Florida Chapter Dame who grew up in South Philadelphia?7. What are the two main, intersecting streets in Philadelphia? And what is located

where they intersect?8. What Philadelphia Dame and restaurateur drives around the city in her baby

blue Vespa?9. Which Minneapolis/St Paul Chapter member lived in West Philadelphia while her

husband attended the University of Pennsylvania?10. What are the names of the two rivers on either side of Center City Philadelphia?11. What do these Dames have in common: Claire Boasi, Barbara Samson, Pat Ward

(all Philadelphia Dames); Alice Gautsch Foreman (Seattle) and Marianne Langan (South Florida)?

12. Which Chapter is celebrating their golden anniversary in 2009?13. Which Chapters are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year?14. Which Chapters are celebrating their silver anniversaries this year?15. Which Chapter was founded five years ago, and is celebrating their 5th anniversary?

ANSWERS:(1) 1984(2) Toria Emas(3) Alice Gautsch Foreman(4) Joan Zach,(5) Dallas(6) Marianne Langan(7) Broad and Market Streets; City Hall(8) Terry Berch McNally

(9) Colleen Miner(10) Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers(11) They all worked together at Campbell’s Soup Company(12) Boston(13) San Francisco and Seattle(14) Dallas and Philadelphia(15) Cleveland

conference promises to inspire & energize dames · 9summer 2 oo conference promises to inspire...

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