My New Orleans by John Besh Wins 2010 IACP Award

Chef John Besh and the Besh Restaurant Group are proud to announce that My New Orleans was been chosen as the winner of the 2010 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Award for Best American cookbook. The winning cookbook amongst 3 other most impressive contenders— two from New Orleans—the southern gent of desserts, David Guas, native of New Orleans who resides in Washington, DC, brought to the table DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style and Donald Link, the Cajun Maverick of New Orleans, and Swedish toque, Marcus Samuelsson.

The IACP Awards are among the most prestigious in the cookbook writing profession and publishing industry. Over 500 books that “focus on specific foods, cooking methods, techniques or appliances” were submitted for the competition.

My New Orleans is Besh’s first solo-authored cookbook with 16 chapters that bring his native New Orleanian culture, history, recipes and techniques into the kitchens of home cooks everywhere. My New Orleans has also been nominated for a 2010 James Beard Award in the category of “American Cooking”, and the final winners will be announced May 2, 2010.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling -- at The White House!

Early on Easter Monday morning, the Easter Bunny found Kemp, Spencer, and yes, yours truly, on the South Lawn of The White House rolling eggs with thousands of enthusiastic fellow Americans.  Although the ticket lottery was open to all, we were there thanks to chef Cliff Wharton of TenPenh, whom White House Chef Cristeta Comerford had invited to participate in one of the day’s events called “Play With Your Food” – part of the First Lady’s initiative to combat our nation’s epidemic of childhood obesity. 

Cliff demonstrated a dish that parents can prepare in under 15 minutes – and that kids will love [including this big kid, herself – it’s one of my favs on the TenPenh appetizer menu…]:  Filipino Summer Rolls with rice noodles, chicken, and shrimp. 

Other local chefs included Robert Wiedemaier and Art Smith [Oprah’s former personal chef and a favorite of the First Couple, fairly new to Washington from Chicago].  But among many celebrities [culinary, political, and otherwise!] the undisputed star was the Easter Bunny. 

On one side of the TenPenh team [which also included chef owner, Jeff Tunks] was Art Smith, and on the other side was the White House culinary team which in addition to chef Cris included another familiar face: chef Tefari Campbell. I met Tefari 2 years ago when I was assisting in the PR for the Great American Seafood Cookoff where famed competitors like Paula Deen  and John Besh in 2004 going at it spatula to sauce pan! Tefari was one of the leading contenders in 2008. He made Maryland proud.  Now I am even more proud to see that he is pursuing his passion in cooking and has landed a plum position working with an extremely talented chef, Cris Comeford. I got to know Cris when she came and proudly executed a wonderful meal and cooking class at TenPenh restaurant with Cliff Wharton, highlighting the Philippines and its culture.  And of course they would being both Cliff and Chris were born in the Philippines.

Come one, Come all to The Point!

I’ve been representing The Point for more than ten years now, and the weekend before last I experienced something there for the very first time: children!

Not mine, mind you, but four lively and charming and – yes – very well-behaved youngsters who were the first to break the exclusive Relais & Châteaux property’s longstanding ban on guests below the age of eighteen [except when the entire resort is bought-out by a single party.] The rule makes good sense when you consider that in the traditional house-party atmosphere, dinners are lengthy, lingering, multi-course, grown-up affairs, where guests dress up [black tie on Wednesdays and Saturdays!] and enjoy in-depth conversation and fine wines with fellow guests.

But children are a natural addition to the Great Camp environment in the Adirondack wilderness, and on the last weekend of March, when there was still ice on Upper Saranac Lake but most of the snow was melted away, children were invited to join their parents at The Point for its inaugural Children’s Weekend. And what fun was had by all! General Manager Megan Torrance and her staff planned activities for the youngsters that immersed them in nature and wholesome old-fashioned activities that are the opposite of today’s electronic amusements.

On Friday, they hiked the Orange Trail and created gingerbread houses with Charlene, the very patient pastry chef. They joined their parents for “Cocktails and Mocktails” in the Great Hall for a taste of the grown-up life, before setting out for a rustic dinner at nearby Camp David. Saturday featured a morning and picnic lunch at the Wild Center, for supervised encounters with all sorts of creatures native to the Adirondack region. While parents enjoyed their black tie dinner that night, the children feasted in The Pub with entertainment by a real live magician – who even taught them a few tricks of the trade. Families were re-united at the Bonfire, where the kids were busy making their own gourmet s’mores.

After breakfast on Sunday, families were treated to a visit with some fine feathered friends: a local falconer brought a falcon and an owl to The Great Hall, and the kids got to don a heavy leather gauntlet and let the birds perch on their arms. The afternoon was filled with lively games of Twister inside; and croquet and kickball in the great outdoors. On Monday before everyone had to get back to work and school, they squeezed in one last hike up Panther Mountain.

Much as I have always loved The Point just the way it is, I think they’ve really hit upon an improvement here. It was great to have the energy, spirit and natural curiosity of kids around – and still get to sit down to our elegant dinner in peace! Thanks to the great kids who made this first Children’s Weekend experiment such a success, I’m sure there will be more to come. I hope so – because Kemp and Spencer would just love it…