We hope you can join us for this delicious and informative session on March 24th. Tickets must be purchased in advance.  Details below. 
Join  Laurie Bell, owner, Great Falls Tea Garden,  Jodi Lehr, co-owner, Santa Lucia Coffee and  Nancy Baggett award-winning cookbook author, as they share the histories of our favorite caffeinated beverages and how these commodities' trade and consumption changed our societies and cultures.
With origins from around the globe, coffee, tea, and chocolate had colorful histories centuries before they were introduced to the European continent. Taste and enjoy examples of these luxury beverages, paired with creative confections and a variety of taste treats from  Ris Lacoste and her staff, as you learn about their fascinating evolutions.
DATE: Sunday, March 24
TIME: 1:30 to 4:00 p.m.
PLACE: Ris Restaurant, 2575 L street NW, Washington DC 20037
PRICE: Dames $40; non-Dames $50
RSVP: Click here to buy your tickets on Eventbrite

FOOD LOVERS, WOMEN CHEFS AND FOOD ENTREPRENEURS 
"PITCH FEST" SATURDAY, MARCH 9
Noon to 3 pm, Mission Navy Yard Restaurant

IT'S A "SHARK TANK" FOR FOODIES!
Don’t Miss Out!  Tickets Are Selling Fast.

Be part of the audience as a slate of ten women chefs, authors, culinarians, innovators and entrepreneurs will have a Shark Tank opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of professional experts as Les Dames d'Escoffier's DC Chapter presents Pitch Fest, Saturday, March 9.

Join the fun! Enjoy brunch, network with dynamic women in the food industry. Gain valuable feedback and access to resources to help you succeed and grow.  All participants will have an opportunity to build lasting connections and benefit from the give-and-take.

Aviva Goldfarb, marketing executive and founder of "The Six o' Clock Scramble" will moderate the panel that will include Stacey Adams, president and founder of Annapolis' Tastings Gourmet Market; Susan Callahan, chef and lecturer at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Jill Collins, founder of hospitality PR firm Jill Collins Public Relations Group.

The brunch and presentation experience will be held at Mission Navy Yard from noon until 3 pm. Tickets, at $35 including brunch, click here for your tickets. 
 
Please note, reservation and cancellation deadline is March 6, 2019.

Susan Barocas  is participating on a panel in Milan, Italy on December 5 discussing "Recipes Across Borders" as part of a two-day conference, organized by the University of Milan's Culinary Mind Network, European Network for the Philosophy of Food.  The conference theme is Framing Recipes:  Identity, Relationships, Norms. Susan will also present a workshop there on "Recipes for Cultural Integration" with Johanna Mendelson Forman.
 
Johanna Mendelson Forman is giving a plenary talk in Milan, Italy on December 5 entitled "Is Social Gastronomy a Recipe for Peace." The presentation is part of a two-day gathering, organized by the Culinary Mind Network, European Network for the Philosophy of Food at the University of Milan. The conference theme is Framing Recipes:  Identity, Relationships, Norms. She will also present a workshop with Susan Barocas on "Recipes for Cultural Integration."
 
Amy Riolo released her seventh book, Creating a Cookbook: How to Write, Publish, and Promote Your Culinary Philosophy, in October 2018. Amy demystifies the cookbook creation process for new and accomplished authors. So, whether you wish to preserve family recipes or create a best-selling cookbook, this volume will be a valuable guide. Sheilah Kaufman, Monica Bhide and Nancy Baggett are featured in the book. 
https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Cookbook-Publish-Culinary-Philosophy/dp/1720009414/ref=asc_df_1720009414/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312126476072&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16640364913235341285&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007795&hvtargid=pla-570969414141&psc=1
In October, Amy also completed successful boutique Italian cuisine and culture tour with Italian Sensory Experience.

Tambra Raye Stevenson will be the keynote speaker at the Institute of Current World Affairs'   https://www.icwa.org/event-semi-annual-dinner-and-keynote-speech dinner on December 7 at the Cosmos Club. In October, the board of trustees of the African Nutrition Society chose Tambra to serve as the first North American regional representative  http://www.ansnet.org/en/about/team/tambra-raye/  to the African Nutrition Epidemiology Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In addition, Tambra and her children, Elliott, 9, and Ruby, 8, did a Halloween segment on WJLA's Good Morning Washington making healthy treats for kids.

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.   

Dames gathered to hear Jose Andres and Alice Waters, with moderator Washington Post Food Anchor Mary Beth Albright, at The Washington Post's Food for Thought. Alice discussed the intersection of food and education. Jose, inspired by a revelatory Chez Panisse dessert of an unpeeled Kishu tangerine and Barhi dates spoke of his work at World Central Kitchen to bring good food to those in need. Both are exemplars of using the power of food to change the world "one plate at a time."   Click here for more information.  ​

​Mary Beth Albright will join The Washington Post as a host/editor, Food. She will be one of four on-camera host/editors who will be the "faces and voices of new dedicated coverage areas for video."
 
Jessica Botta serves on the board of CulinaryCorps, a national volunteer service organization. Earlier this month, Jessica returned from Houston and one of CulinaryCorps annual five-day volunteer experiences where she and other chef participants worked with Houston Food Bank, Camp for All, Plant it Forward Farms and the MD Anderson Cancer Center.  
 
Janet Cam was filmed for a CCTV (China Central TV) segment "Recipes for Life" to air later this year.  The segment features stories from Janet's life paired with her recipes for family meals using her quick-and-healthful cooking method. Janet credits Golnaz Feiz for introducing her to the program's producer. (CCTV broadcasts a 24-hour English channel as well as programs in five additional languages and reaches over 1 billion people in China, 40 million in the USA and 100 million on other parts of the world.  It exports over 10,000 programs to 77 foreign television stations.)

It wasn't exactly a Dames sanctioned event, but there were so many of us in one place, we had a meeting. Dames from DC, Philadelphia and Chicago joined Patti Ravenscroft on one of her Delicious Connections culinary adventures. This one was to indulge in truffles and foie gras in the Dordogne region of France for a week in late January. Here we are with our sweet truffle-hunting sow, Chippy (only girls have successful sniffers), and the only Perigord-pointing  porcine in the Dordogne. ​

Mary Beth Albright appeared on WTOP on Thanksgiving Day to share tips to make the gathering less stressful and more delicious and gracious.  
http://wtop.com/thanksgiving-news/2016/11/cooking-thanksgiving-10-tips-success-sanity/ 
 
Sheilah Kaufman is now an instructor in Montgomery College's Life Long Learning Institute. She will be teaching personal enrichment courses on culinary subjects including History of Chocolate; History of Jewish Food in America and History of Turkish Cuisine, among other topics.

Monica Bhide will speak at the National Press Club on Monday, December 12 about her book Karma and the Art of Butter Chicken.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/karma-and-the-art-of-butter-chicken-dinner-at-the-fourth-estate-restaurant-tickets-29416576773?aff=efbnreg