Dear Sister Dames,
Here's wishing you a happy, productive and healthy 2018!
We are off to a terrific start to the second half of our chapter year with some interesting programs on the horizon and, of course, organizing our WIG symposium in March. Please volunteer and participate in some way with WIG. It is terrific way to get to know your sister Dames and ensure the smooth running of our biggest public program...and moneymaker....of the year.
Also, if you have an idea for a program and are willing to organize it, please call or email Second V.P. Bonnie Benwick at benwickb@gmail.com. She would be delighted to help you bring it to fruition. Please remember that we rely on our public programs to help support our chapter activities. Each non-Dame ticket price includes a small fee that goes to support our grants and scholarships. So, get creative and plan something educational, delicious, fascinating and fun!
Also, if you know of worthy non-profit organizations that help girls or women prepare to enter or re-enter our industries, please pass any contacts along to grants committee chair, Jessica Botta, jessica.botta@gmail.com. In addition, remember that we will be hosting our first annual brunch for DC Central Kitchen's Culinary Job Training Class on Friday, April 6 at 9:30 a.m. to honor our Marianne Ali. You will be getting a SignUpGenius registration opportunity in a month or so, but you may wish to begin thinking about your contribution to the table.
Thank you for all you do to help achieve LDE-DC's mission.
Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions or concerns.
Tel: (301) 537-8822
Yours truly,
Janet Yu
President Les Dames d'Escoffier International, Washington, D.C. Chapter |
Nongkran Daks was featured in The Washington Post Magazine's story on December 31 about pandan, the trending tropical plant whose leaves are a traditional ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking.
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The 2018 New Member Drive opens a bit early to coordinate with our Woman In Gastronomy symposium in March. Please consider nominating qualified colleagues and acquaintances who will bring their enthusiasm, talent, and ideas as active members of Les Dames d 'Escoffier's DC chapter. Requirements for membership include, but are not limited to, a minimum of FIVE years as a distinguished professional in the food, beverage or hospitality industry. If you have a candidate you would like to nominate or sponsor, please send her name, title, email address, and phone number to Julia Rutland atjuliarutland@me.com by February 2, 2018.
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Do your holiday shopping through LDEI's generous Affinity Program where you will find discounts on a wide range of Dames' and partner products including travel, professional services, appliances and cookware. Log in to the Members Only section on the LDEI website, www.ldei.org. then click on the Affinity Program tab at the top of the page. Happy shopping!
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Les Dames' 11th biennial Salute to Women in Gastronomy on Saturday, March 10, 2018, is coming soon and it is time to line up volunteers. To volunteer, please call Marie Steffany at ( 202) 298-6366 or send an email: msteff216@verizon.net. PLEASE NOTE: if you volunteer minimum of at least 2.5 hours, you qualify for a 50% reduction of the symposium fee. WIG participation is one of the really great ways to benefit our chapter, get acquainted with other members and derive personal rewards as well. Some volunteer jobs include helping:
- at a session that you would like to attend;
- at the EXPO (Cookbook Jumble, etc.);
- with set-up and/or monitoring the food and beverage events; and,
- at the registration and information desk.
Pati Jinich is our keynote speaker.
Clear your shelves for the Holidays. We will (once again) stage the ever-popular Cookbook Jumble during the Expo at WIG. Les Dames can issue a 501 (c) (3) donation confirmation for tax purposes. Please contact me at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, in downtown DC, to drop them off there--or you can drop them at my home in Silver Spring if that is more convenient. I can give location details when/if you phone (202)486-4850. The NPC is at the corner of 14th and F streets, about two blocks from the White House on the 13th floor. If you would like to phone ahead, chef office is (202) 662-7514. Collection will begin after the holidays.
Culinary Garage Sale, chair, Katherine Newell Smith kns4pr@erols.com. Please begin to sort through your closets and cupboards for new, unused, and gently used culinary items to donate. Kindly email, text or call (703) 475-1833 or call (301) 907-7590 ahead to arrange a time to drop off your donations at Katherine's home at 5525 Devon Road, Bethesda, MD (just off Bradley, south of Wilson Lane)
Dames and non-Dames can participate in offering their goods, whether it is simply info about a restaurant with or without tastings, selling their cookbooks directly to the attendees or promoting a product. Please think about people you know who may want to exhibit. There will be a modest charge for a table at the Expo to cover costs.
Please consider offering product, gift cards, etc, to fill conference attendee goody bags. We also encourage anyone with a business to donate business cards to be included so conference attendees can learn about all the amazing businesses Dames have to offer. Items from non-Dame businesses are also welcome.
More info to come in the next Entre News!
Also, Julia Rutland is updating the Dames' Restaurant guide for the symposium, so please send her the name of your restaurant to include on our list at juliarutland@me.com. Also, please consider contributing to the conference goody bags.
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SAVE THE DATE! PROSPECTIVE NEW MEMBER RECEPTION
Please join sister Dames and meet prospective candidates for 2018-2019 membership
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 2018
TIME and PLACE: To be determined
PRICE: Nominal for current Dames and no cost to our prospective members
DINE WITH FREDERICK DOUGLASS: Curator-led Tour of Cedar Hill, Fredrick Douglass' home in celebration his Bicentennial Birthday with lunch following by Chef Shaw Lightfoot at the ARTdrenline Café
DATE: February 23, 2018 TIME: 9:45 a.m. PLACE: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site,1411 W Street SE, Washington, DC 20020 PRICE: Dames Members: $25; Non-Members: $35 (includes a $10 tax deductible donation to the Les Dames Scholarship Fund)
RSVP: Registration information coming soon by email
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE: VIP Curator-led Tour of Foodways Exhibits with Dutch-treat brunch following at the Sweet Home Café DATE: April 20, 2018 TIME: 8:45 a.m. PLACE: National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20560 PRICE: Dames Members $10 (for tax deductible donation to the Les Dames Scholarship Fund), Non-Members: $15 (includes tax deductible donation to the Les Dames Scholarship Fund) RSVP: Registration information coming soon
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ENTRE NEWS is published on the first and third Wednesday of each month. It is on hiatus during the month of August. Deadline for HURRAH! and other news is the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Please send a BRIEF paragraph with your professional and personal news that you would like your sister Dames to know about in HURRAH!
HURRAH! is not meant as an advertising opportunity for a cooking class or event, rather it offers a shout out to members for recent accomplishments and honors. Please submit your HURRAH to kns4pr@erols.com in a succinct 75 words of less.
OF INTEREST offers Dames a chance to let their sister chapter members know about events they are involved in that might be of interest to a majority of the membership. Its function is not to promote products, cooking classes, culinary trips, etc., rather to alert members to public programs that might be of professional interest, especially if Dames are featured. We request OF INTEREST entries to be no longer than 150 words. Less is always better.
JOB OPPS can open Dames networks to employment opportunities.
Thank you for you continued interest and participation.
Katherine Newell Smith
Founding Editor, Entre News
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Social Media Connections
Connect with Sister Dames
LesDamesDC
@LesDamesDC
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We need ALL members who have FB, Twitter and Instagram accounts to follow and actively re-tweet our members' tweets to spread the great news about our activities and programs!
Connect with Les Dames d'Escoffier International
Please share news, events and updates. Join the LDEI members-only LinkedIn Group to stay connected with other Dames.
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Join a Committee.... You were invited to join Dames because of your talents and achievements and you promised to be part of our chapter's committee work; so, now it is time to Get Involved!
Our committees offer the perfect opportunity to get to know your sister Dames, share your skills and to give back to the community through service. Every committee needs dedicated participants. Please contact the committee chairs and offer your time and skills, now.
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Suzanne DeGalan
Financial Officer Eileen Dykes
Communications Officer
Kristen Hartke
Directors
Polly Wiedmaier (Social Media)
Summer Whitford (Public Relations)
Laurie Bell (Programs)
Alternate:
Susan Lutz (Green Tables)
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Please submit your Entre News information in a brief, concise statement to Katherine Newell Smith at kns4pr@erols.com.
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To view the latest approved board meeting minutes, go to www.lesdamesdc.org and
click on the Members Only tab and enter the password. Click on the dropdown menu for LDE-DC Board and you will see a link to the board meeting minutes. During each monthly board meeting, the board approves the previous month's minutes and they are then posted to our website.
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It is easy to find chapter documents and resources, our event archives and past editions of Entre News.
We now have a single password that all Dames must use to access the Members Only section of the website. The password is ldedc2014. Please do not share this password with anyone outside of the Chapter.
If you are having trouble logging into the website please contact our Communications Officer, Kristen Hartke, at lesdamesdc.list@gmail.com
Once you log in under Members Only, you will see a revised menu where you can find:
- past and current Entre News issues posted under the Entre News Archives tab.
- archives of past chapter activities in the LDE-DC Dame Only Events menu along with upcoming events.
- helpful files including chapter letterhead, name tag template, LDEI logos and tax-exempt certificates under Documents and Forms.
- our chapter's standing rules, bylaws and membership roster under Bylaws, Roster & Minutes.
- A roster of Dames that can be printed out.
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Member Milestones - Share your professional news with Dames in all Chapters in our LDEI Quarterly. Shout, don't whisper, about your accomplishments. We all want a chance to say "Bravo!"
Submit your news to:
The deadline for sending in Member Milestones and Chapter News for the SPRING issue of the LDEI Quarterly is January 15, 2018. Archived Quarterly magazines are available online. If you are not receiving hard copies of Quarterly, please check your online contact information at www.ldei.org If it is correct, please contact Greg Jewell to make sure you are on the mailing list.
PROVIDE DAME'S NAME and CHAPTER. Submit up to 50 words about honors or important business-related activities to appear in the LDEI Quarterly. You may email a quality headshot to accompany your news. Press releases and cookbook covers are not accepted. Entries received after the deadline may appear in a following issue.
Quarterly Guidelines:
Photography/Images-Electronic images must be properly focused, in color with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (TIFF or JPEG). Cell phone photos are acceptable if they meet resolution requirements. Do not send photos taken off the internet or embedded with text in Word files or PDF files. Identify individuals in photos from left to right in the message of your email. Include photo credits, if required. CAPTIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR PUBLICATION.
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