​Wendy Bazil reports that the garden writer for the Washington Post wrote an article about the front yard "farmette" that is cultivated by her colleague at the Montgomery County Food Council. Wendy did a plant-based cooking demonstration at the colleague's open house which featured produce from that garden. Read about it and Wendy in the article.
 
Janis McLean, executive chef of the Sound Bites Café at National Public Radio, and Nancy Baggett, author of The Art of Cooking with Lavender, recently teamed up to present a lavender demo and menu for the NPR staff. Said Janis, "Everyone who came in to the cafe was wowed! And the recipes were beyond outstanding!" 
 
The highest "hurrah" to our own Nora Pouillon, named as Les Dames d'Escoffier International's 2019 Grande Dame. She will officially receive this recognition at the LDEI National Conference in Nashville later this month. The owner of this country's first certified-organic restaurant, Restaurant Nora, she has been a member of our Chapter since 1991. Her support of DC Les Dames has been unwavering. Over the years she's hosted many events and meetings in her restaurant space. In fact, Restaurant Nora was where we held our annual meeting in June 2017, the very month she closed the restaurant after its unparalleled 38-year run. 

​Nancy Baggett presented a well-received workshop, "Successful Lavender Culinary Products," to more than 100 attendees on January 25 at the bi-annual U.S. Lavender Growers Convention in Charleston. She provided tastings samples of a dozen potential gift shop products ranging from Lavender-Infused Balsamic Vinegar and Lavender-Pear Preserves to Lavender-Herb Popcorn and Pineapple-Red Sweet Pepper Chutney with Lavender. All were a hit.
 
Amy Brandwein will open Piccolina (little one in Italian) market and café next summer across Palmer Alley from her award-winning Centrolina restaurant. She plans to serve omelets, breakfast crepes, crostatas and eggplant lasagna at Piccolina which also will be outfitted with a wood-fired oven for a new bread program. Centrolina's market will move over to Piccolina to give the mother restaurant more dining and event space.

LDE-DC is a culinary sponsor of the 2018 Metro Cooking DC that takes place December 1 and 2 at the Washington Convention Center. Come out to support our local Dames! See Amy Brandwein and Carla Hall on the James Beard Cooking Stage! Sample Susan Soorenko's marvelous Moorenko's ice cream in the Grand Tasting Pavilion. Visit Katharine Mardirosian at her 100 Bowls of Soup booth, Maria Kopsidas at Cookology, and Debra Moser at Meatcrafters. Listen to Amy Riolo's presentation during her Taste Talk. See and taste LOTS more!  Get tickets at www.metrocookingdc.com.   

Sheila Crye directed five week-long, half-day youth cooking camps this summer at her Silver Spring home and led many to compete in the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on August 10. There her Young Chefs bakers won two grand champion ribbons, six blue ribbons, four red ribbons, three white ribbons and one yellow ribbon.
 
Johanna Mendelsohn Forman gave a keynote speech at the World Food Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 30, sponsored by the Danish Ministry of Food and Agriculture. She spoke about Gastrodiplomacy in Times of Uncertainty.  Johanna also conducted workshop on global food heritage. On September 11 she will be a speaker at the Museum of Modern Art's Salon series in New York on Gastrodiplomacy as way to build community.
 
Debra Moser's and Mitch Berliner's MeatCrafters was featured on WJLA's Kidd Around Town on Friday August 24.  Host Kidd O'Shea toured MeatCrafters USDA plant and joined in the making its popular Skinny Salamis.
Click here to view: www.facebook.com/kiddoshea/videos/322050235020983/.
MeatCrafters and Central Farm Markets also was featured on Nycci Nellis' Industry Night show August 27. http://industrynight.fullserviceradio.org/

Vickie Reh's book, The Wine Table: Recipes and Pairings from Winemakers' Kitchens, (Skyhorse Publishing 2018), released September 4, details her experiences visiting and cooking with 18 winemakers in France and Italy, exploring their food and wine cultures and celebrating their understanding of the best dishes to accompany their vineyards' offerings. https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510730830/the-wine-table/  

​Susan Soorenko's Moorenko's was listed in Visit Montgomery as one of the best ice cream spots in Montgomery County, Maryland.  https://visitmontgomery.com/eat-drink/best-ice-cream-spots/

Tambra Raye Stevenson, will lead a healthy kids cooking demo and story time of her "Where's WANDA" book series at  DC Veg Fest's Kids Zone, Saturday, September 15 at the Yards Park; appear on News Channel 8 Saturday, September 8 at 11:30 a.m. and lead a breakfast session during Chesapeake Food Summit on September 25 at Union Market.

Check out the fresh herb Kuku (a traditional Persian egg dish) that DC Dame Najmieh  Batmanglij made for the White House Nowruz lunch featured in the New York Times.  Click here for the recipe.  

It's Friday and boy do we have photos!  Last night was our fabulous first Urban Kitchen Holiday Pop Up.  A very special event to help you entertain in small spaces and on a budget!  What fun was had as cocktails were sipped, food was savored and a good time by all was enjoyed.  Well.... The photos say it all!

Adapting Japanese Cuisine from a Traditionally Chinese Cuisine Background” was the talk given by Dame Christiana Chiang and Rock Fu, Proprietor of Kizuna Sushi and Ramen, Chris' newest restaurant, located in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Attendees enjoyed a lavish assortment of pan-Asian creations including a "dragon" of sushi varieties (see photo), fabulous dumplings, appetizers, and bowls of ramen with pork belly and egg in a pork-veal broth that takes 18 hours to prepare from fresh bones. 

Janet Yu of Hollywood East Cafe; Eileen Dykes, Second Vice President; Amy Riolo, Chair of the chapter's Global Culinary Initiative (GCI); and Sheilah Kaufman and CiCi Williamson of the Program Committee, met for lunch at the Taiwanese Cafe in Rockville, Maryland, on August 20, to plan an upcoming GCI event on Taiwanese cuisine. After lunch, they toured the Taiwan Cultural Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Photo credit: Amy Riolo.