Return to Newsletter Index The Culinary Connection- November 2004 A Sad Farewell Culinary Arts said a sad farewell to senior CA major Andrew Lepicier.  Andrew is a member of the CA 400 Prep III class among other classes this semester but received his call back to active duty with the Mississippi National Guard before the semester was complete.  He will leave for active service on November 5th.   Andrew was an active member of the culinary arts society and a frequent volunteer among our many culinary catering excursions.  He will be greatly missed by his classmates, faculty and staff.  We wish him a safe return to the W campus when his service to the nation is completed. Other culinary arts majors are on active duty. Jeff Robinson, a junior, was recently called back into service as part of his obligation to the National Guard.  This is the second tour for Jeff during his time at MUW.  We also wish him a safe and speedy return to Columbus.  John Rodriguez (2001) recently completed a tour of duty in Iraq and Kuwait.  He has returned safely this past May, and he and Brandy are living in Memphis, Tennessee. Student Culinary Club Elects Officers New officers were elected by their peers to serve for 2004 through spring of 2005.  The officers are Shannon Henderson- President, Scott Madison - Vice-President, Elizabeth Bryant- Secretary, and Alison Smith Walker- Treasurer.  The club plans a number of community and fund raising events this year.  In October, the society participated in the annual Oktoberfest on the campus.  Food for sale included soft pretzels, peanut clusters and smores on a stick; of course everything made from scratch.   November brings with it participation in the first MUW Chili Cook-Off competition (see other story about this event in this issue of newsletter).   In December, society members will prepare gift baskets for the monthly Town and Tower Club.  These food-laden goodie baskets will be given away as door prizes to members and guests attending the meeting. Lunch and Learns Chef Kevin Dorr was the inaugural guest chef of the fall 2004 Lunch and Learn series.   Chef Kevin as an Executive Chef for Sodexho Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee.  He mentored students as a guest lecturer in both the CA 400 and CA 300 prep classes, and then supervised the classes for the execution of a unique luncheon menu for ticketed guests.  The menu and highlights of the first event can be viewed online.   Our next guest was Stafford DeCambra from Pearl River Resorts in Philadelphia, MS.  Chef Stafford worked with the students November 5th, executing an outstanding menu with a Hawaiian theme.  You can revisit the luncheon and view the creative menu right here.    Our third and final guest chef for the semester will be Eric Ogle.  Eric is a graduate of our program with the class of 1999.  He is currently the Executive Chef at the Hotel Chester in Starkville.  Chef Eric will do his luncheon on December 3rd.   Thanks to Chef Instructor Scott McKenzie for working to put together the Guest Chef Program for the fall semester.  It has been valuable to the education of the students and enjoyable for all the guests. ServSafe Graduates The dining world can breathe a little easier thanks to Assistant Professor Rebecca Kelly.  Dr. Kelly, who teaches nutrition as a member of the CAI faculty, also taught the ServSafe training class this fall.  Fifteen of our culinary students took the one credit hour class and all of them passed the exam for a 100% success rate.   Students are now certified in food safety and sanitation.   This 15 hour training course is administered by the Education Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.  More information about ServSafe can be found at www.nraefe.org. Student Scholarship Awards Congratulations to Christian Camp, Mel Howard, Alison Walker and Chantea Williams!  Christian and Mel were awarded a Marietta Eichelberger Scholarship for culinary arts.  The award paid expenses of $11,000 in addition to two other grant awards.  Both of these students will receive this award for the length of their academic careers at The W.    Awards are based upon academic excellence at MUW.   Both Alison and Chantea received $200 scholarships from the Mississippi Restaurant Association.  Alison and Chantea wrote an essay in a competitive contest about their culinary goals and were named award recipients.  Congratulations again to all of the scholarship winners! Sharp Grad Misty Prather, a graduate of the culinary arts program in 2003, is employed by Sharp Electronics in Memphis, Tennessee.  Misty’s first project has just come online.  It was developmental testing of the Sharp Insight.  The Sharp Insight is the first range with a pull-out microwave drawer.  Misty worked on optimizing the settings for the range as part of the development program.  She also was involved in some of the food styling for the photography shoot.  To learn more about Sharp and the Insight, you can visit their website. Misty is off on a new assignment with Sharp and enjoys her career.  She also just welcomed the newest addition to her family, a nephew, Christopher James-Edward.   A Taste of Home Michelle “Red” Roberts is busy as a Home Economist with Taste of Home Cooking School.  Michelle graduated from the CAI with the class of 2001.  She does cooking demonstration over a wide region of the southern states.  You might catch her in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida or the Carolinas.  The schedule of shows and locations, as well as how to purchase tickets can be found at www.tasteofhomescshools.com.  Michelle purchased a new home in Calera, Alabama just south of Birmingham.  She lives with her two cats Simon and Madeline. By the way, if you remember the kitten Shattuck, she is doing well.  Shattuck lives with Michelle’s mom in Mississippi. More Stylin’ Rashanda Pruitt is completing her internship at Southern Progress in Birmingham, Alabama and is making a splash.  Rashanda completed a styling and photo shoot for an upcoming article.  Take a peek at the finished product. This shoot will appear in the favorites issue of the Southern Living Magazine in 2005.  Rashanda is a graduate of the CAI with the class of 2004.  She will complete her internship in December of 2004 and is looking toward a career in the test kitchen field. Live at Five Elizabeth Holman, a senior culinary arts major, recently appeared on WCBI’s Live at Five television show.  The program is seen each and every Friday as part of the five o’clock news.  Live at Five highlights various people in the Columbus community centered about Mississippi Cooks.   On November 1, Elizabeth did a hands-on live demo of Potato Chip Cookies.   The cookies are a featured recipe from Southern Grace, a cookbook from W alums.   A number of  students and faculty from CAI have been guests of the show.  The CAI offers a course in Demonstration Techniques, CA 315 as part of the Food Arts minor concentration.  Students can supplement the course and get valuable experience by appearing on such venues as Live at Five.  Programs such as  Live at Five are also an excellent opportunity to show case the very high talent of the students from The W and the CAI. MUW Chili Cook-Off Michelle DuFour, a current student in culinary arts and member of the Student Programming Board, has been busy with a new food event on campus.  Michelle proposed and is coordinating the first (and possibly annual) MUW Chili Cook-Off to be held Saturday, November 13.  Up to 25 contestants can compete with their best chili recipe for a mere $25 dollar entry fee.  The event is free to MUW students by the way and word on the street is that the Culinary Society (and a number of rogue culinarians) intends to compete.  Michelle has worked diligently to put together a very professional event.  She has secured the support of the Mississippi Beef Council and the Lowndes County Cattlemen Association.  Awards will be given for Best Booth (People’s Choice Award) and Best Chili.    The contest rules state that beef is main ingredient and that the chili is cooked from scratch, no premixes.  The event will include a chili tasting, music, entertainment, games and community fun.  This great opportunity for the Columbus community and The W to interact, and we congratulate Michelle for her hard work to bring it together. Annual Atlanta Pilgrimage Students from CA 400 Prep III made the annual class field trip to the Atlanta International Market.  Associated with the market trip was dinner at one of Atlanta’s up and coming restaurants.  The market basket shopping allows the students the experience of seeing and tasting a variety of new ingredients.  Students are given a class budget and must shop for ingredients sufficient to do a multi-course upscale menu.  Both day and night sections of Prep III this year had a good time harvesting their food items and bringing the raw ingredients back to the CAI for menu execution.  Following the days shopping at the Market and after safely storing the food away, the class dined as a group in a festive, but educational evening.  This year the students experienced Rathbun’s, the newest creation of Chef Kevin Rathbun.  Students also were joined at dinner by Atlanta Food Critic Christiane Lauterbach.  Christiane had recommended the restaurant as an example of the best and brightest restaurant on the contemporary scene.  Everyone enjoyed grazing and sharing some wonderful cuisine.  You can experience a night at Rathbun's by visiting this link. The course CA 400 has focused upon menu development and hands-on execution in a student-centric environment.  The experiences of dining at such places as Rathbun's helps round out the student training toward the final goal of CA 400, execution of a multi-course menu as the final practical examination for the class.   Cookies and Kids at MUW Thirty five little budding pastry chefs visited the culinary arts department on October 5th.  The students were third-graders from Union Academy School in Columbus.  Union Academy teachers Mildred Ford and Elaine Humphries brought the students to CAI as part of the fall semester field trip experience sponsored by the school.  Chef Sarah and culinary arts students Chantea Williams, Shannon Henderson and Michelle DuFour led groups of students in cooking making and baking techniques.  Students prepared Mexican Wedding Cookies, Hershey’s Kiss Thumbprint Drops and Rainbow Sprinkle Sugar Cookies.  You can see the class in action and the delicious results here.   WTVA Noon Day Cafe at the CAI Still Going Strong WTVA television from Tupelo films weekly Monday Noon Day Cafe shows from Shattuck Hall on The W campus.  Students from the CAI volunteer to do food cooking demos along with TV celebrity hosts Christy and Ed.  Those who have done a program this semester include Elizabeth Holman, Michelle Summers and Chef Scott McKenzie.  The filming has been ongoing at The W since fall 2002.  It can be seen each Monday during the noontime WTVA news. Culinary Catering Bites The Culinary Arts Institute continues the tradition of student training through hands-on catering events in the greater Columbus community.  On Wednesday, September 29 Chef Scott and Chef Sarah catered the Brickyard Dinner for local businessmen.  A menu and pictures can be perused here.  The annual Southern Floodways Symposium was held in Oxford October 8-10.  Culinary Arts was responsible for the side dishes at this years “Fried Chicken Throw-Down.”  Guests dined on a menu of Martha’s Snap Beans Tossed with Tomatoes and Roasted Corn, Peacock’s Cole Slaw, Gingered Carrots, ChowChow, Ms Edna’s Macaroni and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Country and Tomato Gravy, Peacock’s Assembly of Southern Greens, Martha’s Squash Casserole, Angel Biscuits and Mama Dip’s Sunday Cornbread.  Needless to say the food event was a real crowd pleaser and one that the culinary students gained valuable experiences.           More Grad News:  Where are They Now? Jill Ashley (2002) is continuing her pursuit of a JD degree at Ole Miss Law School in Oxford.     Katie Baumann (2004) is working in Research and Development as a budding Research Chef with K-Paul’s in NOLA.  She is furthering her education by taking the Wilton Method Cake Class and immersing herself in rolled fondant. Holly Beeman (2003) completed her professional bartending training in Cincinnati and is now working at the Holiday Inn Lounge in Columbus, MS.   Amanda Fant (2002) is a Personal Chef for a family in Starkville, MS. Heather Harris (2003) is now a Marketing Manager with Panera Bread in Cary, North Carolina.     Hayden Hall, still completing his degree credits, is a Sales Rep and Manager for U.S. Food Services, Memphis, Tennessee.  Hayden covers the downtown Memphis area. Erich Ogle (2000) now “cheffing” at the Hotel Chester in Starkville, MS, also has taught two Saturday certificate courses for the CAI this fall.   He and Tracee Watkins (2001) were married in May, 2004 and are eagerly anticipating their first child in April of 2005. Everett Presley (2002) is an Assistant Manager of a Whole Foods Market in the Big Apple. Jill Rhodes Smith (2002) works for SQM North America and lives with her husband in Atlanta.  Jill previously worked as an assistant manager with McAlister’s Deli in Southhaven.  She is enjoying her new job and life in Atlanta. David Stutts (2004) is the Executive Chef at the Old Post Restaurant in Baldwyn, MS.    The restaurant is located north of Tupelo about 15 miles and David looks forward to all the culinary grads visiting his kitchen.