Dads for Dads compete in Ultimate Chef 2012

by Katrina Simmons

The students and staff at Liaison College are thrilled to be part of the Bay Area Dads for Dads Ultimate Chef 2012 Event. They are bringing soup and focaccia bread to the party, but the real stars of the evening will be the home chefs. Dads from the Hamilton and Burlington area will don their aprons and roll up their sleeves for this light-hearted competition to support the work of Bereaved Families of Ontario. Guests can meet local celebrities, swap recipes, and help the judges decide on winners as they sample appetizers, mains and gourmet soups. 

Anticipation is my amuse-bouche

by Katrina Simmons

Cooler doors yawn as the rattle of pots drifts over the half wall of my makeshift office. Voices from the kitchen are muffled as I try to discern what’s cooking today. The delicate scent of rice meets me at the kitchen door. Chef Bill makes a creamy risotto look effortless while students huddle around one of the stoves for his demonstration. 

I was hoping to catch a preview of the next Chef’s Table, coming up on Thursday (March 1), but even hanging out in the kitchen doesn’t give me an insider’s edge. The Advanced students collaborate on the planning here at school, but they do most of their recipe development and fine tuning at home. I will have to wait a few days for the real thing. Meanwhile those tantalizing aromas will drive me crazy as I try to concentrate on the computer in this empty classroom.

The main course, I know, will be veal, but how will it be prepared? Blackened? Broiled? Stewed? And what of the high notes and low - the other seven courses that will work in harmony with it? Anticipation will have to be my muse. 

Chef's Table at Liaison

by Katrina Simmons

After years of writing about food, chefs and farmers in Hamilton, I finally get my first taste of a Chef’s Table. I have the privilege of witnessing the event unfold from mid-afternoon, watching the advanced students at Liaison College learn the stylized dance that will soon be second nature to them. In the kitchen here, they are not usually set to a group task where they must move to the same rhythm. Some of the students are already indoctrinated to the ebb and flow of kitchen life. The ones who are only dreaming of that day are still learning to bob, dip and weave between seven other cooks.