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Chinese New Year Tea at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
It was a lovely rainy afternoon on February 23 when seven New York Dames gathered at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to celebrate Chinese New Year with a Tea of Togetherness! Overlooking Central Park, the Lobby Lounge offered the perfect perch on such a dreary day. The festivities began with a toast to the Year of the Dragon with La Caravelle Champagne provided by another Dame Rita Jammet. Tea came in three courses starting with a bento box of assorted dim sum and superb turnip cake – who knew this could be so delicious? The second course was the hotel’s famous warm ginger scones, featured daily. We ended with delicious Chinese teacakes and washed it all down with Mandarin Blossom tea. Emily Snyder and Carrie De Marte co-hosted with Executive Chef Toni Robertson, in charge of overseeing the preparations.
All in all, it was a wonderful way to welcome in the year of the Tiger – take it by the tale!.
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Global Culinary Postcard - Chicago
On a mild Saturday in May, ten Chicago Dames and their guests boarded a coach bus for a lovely ride through the city to the historic Pilsen area of Chicago. Judith Dunbar Hines and Andres, her co-worker at the Chicago Cultural Center, took turns describing the architecture and history of each area we drove through. Our first stop was at the Sabina Tortillaria to watch the huge machines turning out hundreds of white corn tortillas
We arrived at the National Museum of Mexican Art and our guide gave us a tour of several exhibits and an overview of this exquisite museum. After the tour we headed upstairs for a sumptuous luncheon. The buffet lunch started with guacamole, salsa, tortilla chips and taquitos prepared by Maria Concannon. Our main dish was warm tamales from the local street vendors. Violeta Morales (a 2006 LDEI scholarship winner) prepared two beverages: a guava atole and champurrado, a chocolate drink. Elaine Gonzales brought a chocolate rice pudding for dessert accompanied by a warm chocolate beverage and samples of chocolate candy to complete the meal.
Judith led the panel discussion by asking our gracious hostesses to describe their backgrounds and how they came to America and their first food memories.
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Global Culinary Postcard - Hawaii
Sixteen Hawaii Dames and their guests enjoyed a fabulous tasting dinner and sake education experience at Morimoto Waikiki on February 15. Tish Uyehara coordinated the event. The Dames had an insider opportunity to hear from Mark Stone, President of Morimoto, New York. The menu included Toro Tartare, Bagna Cauda, Foie Gras Chawan Mushi (with duck breast and fresh wasabi) and Kabocha Souffle Cake with candied kabocha, Okinawan sweet potato ice cream. Each course was paired with a sake tasting.
by Hayley Matson-Mathes
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Global Culinary Postcard - Seattle
In late November, 21 Seattle Dames and 13 professional-women guests met at Thoa’s Restaurant & Lounge in downtown Seattle to enjoy the “Flavors of Vietnam.” Jerilyn Brusseau, Seattle Global Culinary Initiatives Chair, culinary consultant, and co-founder of PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTVN), which started in 1995, spearheaded the program. Jerilyn’s fellow speakers included four women who had accompanied her on PTVN culinary delegations to Vietnam in 2007 or 2010, including Seattle Dames Fran Bigelow and Catherine Hazen; Thoa Nguyen, owner of Thoa’s Restaurant; and Rae Cheney, Jerilyn’s mother. For each woman, the journey to Vietnam was in some way, “life-changing.”
Jerilyn described losing her 21-year-old helicopter pilot brother in Vietnam, which galvanized her to start a humanitarian effort in Vietnam to “honor all the losses on all the sides.” Rae Cheney confided that although she volunteered for PTVN for 15 years, not until 2010, when she reached the age of 90, could she bear to visit the country where her son had died. Once there, strong bonds were forged as she joined Vietnamese mothers in dedicating the Mother’s Peace Library, and helped to “build a bridge of friendship with the people of Vietnam.” Thoa’s menu comprised her mother’s cherished recipes for Citrus Beef-Mango Summer Rolls, Vietnamese Sweet-and-Sour Soup, Indo-China Five-Spice Duck Breast, and Sticky Rice & Mango. The inspired and inspiring dishes formed the perfect culinary complement to a heartfelt and educational evening.
By Braiden Rex-Johnson
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Global Pot Luck - San Francisco
The excellent and dedicated San Francisco Chapter Programs Committee kicked off the 2010 New Year with a themed program, “Global Pot Luck,” in conjunction with Les Dame d' Escoffier International's new Global Culinary Initiative. Members were asked to bring ancestral dishes from their own heritage to the potluck table and to share their memories and stories.
At the event, we all told stories about our dishes. Part show and tell, Toni Allegra brought the decades old human-length rolling pin her grandmother had brought over from Italy. (Priorities are obvious by what you choose to hide in your clothes upon passage to America.) Elaine Corn made chopped liver with real rendered chicken fat. Janet Griggs made a cooked celery root side dish with the taste of German potato salad. Jeanneatte Ferrary, with Gibraltan ancestry, brought a luscious dish of artichokes cooked with saffron.
Among the other delicious dishes was an escarole soup fragrant with garlic and spiced with hot red pepper flakes from Linda Carucci’s grandmother and a sumptuously silken Flan de Coco (coconut flan) from Laura Branin-Rodriguez’s Puerto Rican childhood. From Amy Myrdal Miller’s fascinating mix of Icelandic, Norwegian and German heritage we tasted an excellent Honey Walnut Whole Wheat Bread made with ingredients from the family’s farm including wheat berries ground in her mother’s grinder.
It was a memorable meeting of networking, laughing, sharing and simply getting to know each other better through our rich and diverse culinary histories.
By Elaine Corn and Jeannette Ferrary
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