Recently back from a small vacation in San Francisco, I was off to Vancouver for a Culinary Team Canada practice.  As a coach, it was great to see the Team once again (I missed the last practice) and to see the development of both the hot and cold programs.  This was the second practice of both programs and from what I tasted and saw, they are in good shape for Luxembourg – just over 2 months away.  Naturally there are some refinements in both programs but the ideas, the workmanship, the flavours and the ingredients are all there.

While in Vancouver, I took the opportunity to meet with some of the organizing committee for the 2011 national conference.  Over the span of 4 hours, we managed to rough out the details which include two WACS competitions, our national competitions, educational programming and the usual annual meetings (with some improvements).  I expect that the 2011 conference will be great and encourage all members to stay up on the news as things develop – information will no doubt be regular and focussed on making the conference excellent for all members.

This is no doubt a busy time of year as we wrap up the summer, get kids back to school, ramp up in our jobs for a busy fall and resume programming at the local branches.  There are many things going on at the national level to maintain the momentum from our conference in Windsor – please take the time to read the distributed minutes and follow up on items as they relate to you.  Also, when we send out requests be it for the newsletter or national initiatives, please respond...we are working for you and for the improvement of our association.

We finished up in Anaheim at the ACF Convention and then spent a couple of nights in LA – went to a Dodgers game...very neat.  Next, Lisa and I sent the boys home and we traveled to Carmel-by-the-Sea for one night and then on to San Francisco for four.  It was while in Carmel-by-the-Sea that I suspect I caught more than just shrimp in my pasta dinner.  I have been suffering the past three days now, however, with a call to my family Dr. this morning, I feel that I may have things under control.  The sad news is that I had to cancel reservations at Gary Danko and Alice Waters over the next two days – my stomach has to ease back into food gently.

The weather here in San Fran is surprisingly cold – the coldest summer they have had in 40 years we are told.  That has not deterred us from having a good time and a little rest to boot.

Without incident, except for a lengthy delay (typical), we arrived in Los Angeles.  Lisa is attending the ACF conference with me while two of our sons (the bookends – youngest and oldest) take in the sites at Disney, Universal Studio and Newport Beach.

Once transported to Anaheim, we scurried off to the ice breaker reception – a lively and loud casual reception giving delegates an opportunity to re-connect over some tasty treats.  On Monday, we took in a few educational seminars and I attended a meeting in preparation to judge the Chef of the Year competition on Wednesday.  Perhaps the highlight of this day was the induction ceremony of American Academy of Chefs (AAC) members (our equivalent to the Honour Society).  This year, our own Claude Buzon (Edmonton) was being inducted as an Honorary member, as was Gissur Gudmundsson (WACS President).

On Tuesday, I attended the Board of Governors meeting (our AGM equivalent), a seminar on platted desserts and the trade show.  Tonight is the AAC gala dinner where all of the 2010 inductees will be introduced once again.

Tomorrow, I will be judging the Chef of the Year competition and then spending a free night at Disney.  Thursday is the general session including keynote speakers and a cooking demonstration by ACF President Michael Ty and the President’s Gala in the evening.

Also attending the ACF convention from the CCFCC are Donald Gyurkovits (Vancouver) and John Kukucka (Windsor).

Friday, we are off to LA for two nights and then we send the boys back to Canada while Lisa and I drive up to San Francisco for a little vacation.

When back, I will be travelling to Vancouver for a CTC practice and a planning meeting with the 2011 Vancouver conference committee.

More to follow as this busy summer draws to a close.

Time certainly has been marching on – it has been a busy start to the summer with a variety of activities.

Directly after our national conference in Windsor, I travelled to the WACS Continental meeting in Havana, Cuba with Claude Buzon.  This was the second meeting of its kind with the first held last year in Guatemala.  Great progress was made this year with more than ten Latin American countries in attendance.  Canada has much to offer to these countries as they work hard to advance their techniques in cuisine.  I will no doubt be contacting some of our members in the coming months as initiatives develop.

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Not long after I returned, I received an invitation to attend the inaugural presentation of the Governor General’s Award in Celebration of the Nation’s Table.  This award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding efforts of Canadians in improving the quality, variety and sustainability of all elements and ingredients of our nation’s table.  Awards were given for creativity and innovation, education and awareness, leadership, mentorship and inspiration, stewardship and sustainability and youth.  Once the awards were presented, a delightful reception was prepared for all by Rideau Hall Executive Chef Louis Charest.

It was while I was at the GG’s event that I spoke briefly to Michael Stadtlander about the upcoming Canadian Chefs’ Congress which will take place on Vancouver Island in September.  This will be the second such event and will attract up to 500 Chefs.  Taking place on a farm in Duncan, BC over a weekend, many opportunities will exists to discuss sustainable seafood, sample local food, ale and wines and listen to keynote speaker Dr. David Suzuki.  It’s shaping up to be quite interesting and engaging.

Although a very different approach than the CCFCC for celebrating and developing culinary arts in Canada, it has tremendous value and we should show our support for this very worthwhile initiative.  To date, many of our members have indicated that they will attend the Congress – I look forward to hearing all about it.

Just this past weekend, Lisa and I were invited to visit with Marcel and Nicole Kretz. 

What a memorable visit it was.  They are both truly genuine, warm, welcoming and easy-going.  It was a great opportunity to share stories and some laughs with such an accomplished Chef.  Chef Kretz is passionate about the land and speaks of ingredients and cooking with such passion.  We visited the farmer’s market and picked chanterelles

– an experience not soon to be forgotten.  And the meals….well, it is safe to say that Chef Kretz is not rusty – he is a great Chef without a doubt ! Soon off to Anaheim, California for the ACF conference.

We held our annual national conference in Windsor, Ontario from May 31 to June 4.  The week-long conference was filled with educational seminars, competitions and celebrations of culinary excellence.  Some of the highlights included – 

Junior Chefs Ice Breaker reception.  A group of more than thirty junior chefs converged on Essex Golf & Country Club to officially mark the start of the conference by preparing regional delicacies.  Items included PEI oysters, Quebec Caribou, smoked Ontario trout on hemp crisps, Manitoba pork belly, Alberta beef sliders and cheese from all regions of the country.  To emphasize the camaraderie in culinary arts, a group of junior and Mentor Chefs from the American Culinary Federation Michigan chapter joined the celebration and prepared fresh water pickerel.

Honour Society.  A group of distinguished Chef members were inducted as Founding Members of the Honour Society during the conference.  This society was established to honour and recognize leadership, professional excellence, lifetime commitment and significant contributions to our profession and the CCFCC.  To mark the occasion, an elaborate seven course dinner was prepared under the direction of Honour Society Chair, Bruno Marti from Vancouver.

Education Seminars.  A dynamic series of educational presentations were available including cheese education, growing coffee culture, USA rice education, restaurant design, ocean wise, modern gastronomy, gourmet cocktails and a special keynote address by Jon Taffer of Taffer Dynamics.

Additionally, the conference made a noticeable change in the way material is delivered to the members in an effort to “go green”.  All reports were presented electronically.  Each delegate was provided with a flash drive which contained all reports and otherwise printed material.

Competitions and Awards.  Several culinary competitions were held at St. Clair College which included;

·         Youth Team Canada selection.  This competition was to select a junior team to represent Canada at the IKA (World Culinary Olympics) in Erfurt, Germany in 2012.  Four colleges competed (Culinary Institute of Canada - Holland College in PEI, Nova Scotia Community College – Akerley Campus in Halifax, Jacques-Rousseau Culinary Institute in Montreal and Vancouver Community College in Vancouver) with the winner being Vancouver Community College.

·         National Chefs Challenge.  Regional Chefs (Clement Chan, Vancouver; Philip Leach, Muskoka; Mark Steele, Ottawa and Todd Smith, St. John’s) competed at this national final with the winner being Clement Chan,  Vancouver.

·         Junior Culinary Challenge.  Nine provincial finalists (Steve Kuan, BC; Matthew Parker, ON; Taszia Fenton, PEI; Brenan Madill, NS; Chantel Vance, SK; Martine Donaghy, QC; Tara Nicholls, NL; Joseph Rainer Cruz Regalado, MB and Colleen Erker AB) with the winner being Steve Kuan, Vancouver.

·         Chef of the Year.  Not a competition but an award to recognize outstanding contributions to the CCFCC.  The regional finalists included; Allan Williams, PEI; Luc Boissy, Montreal; Roary Golden, Muskoka and John-Carlo Felicella, Vancouver.  The 2010 National Chef of Year was awarded to John-Carlo Felicella, Vancouver.

Several international and special guests joined the conference and actively participated in the agenda. Guests included –

·         Gissur Gudmundsson – President, World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS)

·         Michael Ty – President, American Culinary Federation (ACF)

·         Louis Perrotte – Continental Director, WACS – Americas

·         Michael Smith – Food Network Chef Celebrity

By the end of the conference there was an increased level of enthusiasm and commitment.  Next year we will gather in Vancouver from June 14 to 19...mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss it !

I was reminded today (thanks Bob) just how long it has been since my last entry.  Yes, it has been a long time…for that, I apologize.

Time has a habit of running away from me especially when I’m working very long days at work.  What ends up happening is that I prioritize Federation business (and there’s no shortage of that) into very limited hours during the week and try and catch up on weekends.  The consequence, my blog/journal get’s shelved for a while.

The National Conference is coming on very strong and needs the support of the members to make it successful.  Ahron Goldman and his Team of worker bees have been challenged to put together a dynamic conference paralleling that of Kelowna – not an easy task.  To date, the program looks very impressive with some key industry leaders attending – Jon Taffer, Michael Smith, Jeremy Parsons to name but a few.  We will also welcome international guests – Michael Ty, ACF National President, Louis Perrotte, WACS Continental Director – Americas and Gissur Gudmundsson, WACS President.

There is a strong and varied education component at this conference.  In addition we will run the National Chefs Challenge, the National Junior Culinary Challenge and Youth Team Canada selection competition.  Regrettably the Pastry Chef of the Year competition was cancelled this year due to lack of interest.

We will also be holding the first Honour Society dinner with many of the “Founding Fathers” in attendance.  The Honour Society has been a work in progress for as long as I can remember – I’m delighted that we are able to finally make it a reality.

The news out of Vancouver these days is very exciting – 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze at the Olympics and certainly more to come.  It would be interesting to know how many of our members are in Vancouver or Whistler serving up great Canadian eats to the world.  I know of a few for sure…Jon Garratt is one of them.  Jon is the Western region Junior Board Representative and he is out in Vancouver cooking up a storm (perhaps not now that he has torn his meniscus) with notable TV Chef Michael Smith.  Michael and his Team of able young and every energetic Chefs is responsible for feeding the Canadian athletes – a huge undertaking for sure.

News today from Jon is that Michael has agreed to join us during our convention and hang with the Junior Chefs.  This is shaping up to be quite an event with Juniors expected from Canada, South Africa and USA.  Michael will no doubt inspire the Juniors…and a few of the old guard as well.

In addition to this very exciting news, there is more WACS news for our Juniors.  WACS has now sent out an application for WACS Junior Ambassador positions.  From my understanding there will only be one per country so interested Juniors must complete the application and send it to their respective regional Vice President for National Board discussion and approval.

It has no doubt been a busy week for all the delegates attending the WACS Congress.  Simon has kept me updated with the competition results - here they are…

Global Chefs Challenge – 1^st Indonesia, 2^nd Holland and 3^rd Australia.  Although Chris Thomson did not finish in the top three, he still managed tremendous success as the competitor for the Americas.

Hans Bueschkens Junior Chef Challenge – 1^st Canada, Trevor Ritchie !! 2^nd Malaysia and 3^rd New Zealand.  I have not had a chance to get many details but some pictures coming back from Trevor’s Mentor Chef James Olberg show a beaming Trevor holding a winners trophy.  Please take a moment over the next week or two to send your congratulations to Trevor for this significant and wonderful accomplishment.

The other news item was the vote for Continental Director.  Unfortunately Claude Buzon was not successful in his attempt for this position.  He was overtaken in the second ballot by Louis Perotte from USA.

I'm sure that over the next week more news will come forward as the Canadian delegates return home.  I wish them all safe travels and thank them for representing us so well.

2010 started with a flurry – Culinary Team Canada (CTC) try outs, Haiti disaster and the WACS Congress and we’re still in January.

CTC had trials in Edmonton on January 8 – 10.  There were several Chefs from the western region and two from Atlantic region.  By the end of the weekend, a core Team with alternates had been selected for EXPOGAST 2010.  Over the next 10 months, the Team will practice and raise the funds required to compete.  Fortunately, one major partner, Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) has already come on board but others are needed to make our budgets.

Sadly, just 10 days ago, disaster struck Haiti - a massive earthquake that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.  In Ottawa, local Chefs have organized a dinner next week to raise money for the rebuilding of this depressed region.  How will your city/Branch respond?  Please let us know what is happening so we can post it on our site.

The WACS Congress in Santiago, Chile officially gets underway on Sunday.  Originally, I was to attend, however, due to some recent health problems, I have been advised by my Doctors to refrain from travelling.  Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed not to be there to support Chris Thomson and Myles in the Global Chefs Challenge, Trevor Ritchie in the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge, Claude Buzon in his run for the WACS Continental Director and to enjoy the varied activities with other CCFCC colleagues.  Here is a list of who’s there (at least those that advised me of their participation) and the events to watch -

 Delegates 

·         Simon Smotkowicz (Edmonton), National Secretary, CTC Manager, Branch President – acting on my behalf

·         Claude Buzon (Edmonton), Canada’s candidate for WACS Continental Director – Americas

·         Chris Thomson (Banff), America’s competitor for the WACS Global Challenge·         Myles Fedun (Edmonton), Junior Chef supporting Chris

·         Trevor Ritchie (Niagara), Canada’s competitor in the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge

·         James Olberg (Niagara), Trevor’s Chef and Mentor

·         Christophe Luzeux (Halifax), Trade Centre Executive Chef and 2004 CTC member

·         Sara Harrel (Toronto), WACS Education Committee Member

·         Melissa Hryb (Winnipeg), Junior Chef

·         Ashley Stenabaugh (Muskoka), Junior Chef

·         Brooke Winters (Victoria), Junior Chef

·         Mitch Kostuch, President, Kostuch Publications Ltd.

Events

·         Wednesday January 27 – Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge

·         Thursday January 28 – Global Chefs Challenge

·         Thursday January 28 – Vote for Continental Directors

Stay tuned - I will report on these and other activities as I learn of them !

The holidays are just a few days away and yet there is still much more to do before the year runs out – isn’t that always the case !

We have managed to get the rules out for the National Chefs Challenge and the National Junior Culinary Challenge.  Still to be distributed are the rules for the selection of Youth Team Canada and the Pastry Chef of the Year competition.  I expect to have those out before I leave for the WACS Congress at the end of January.

The start of the New Year will be no less exciting and busy than the end of ’09.  The selection has been made for the Juniors for the World Junior Culinary Exchange – they will be advised shortly by their respective regional VP’s.  This agreement will be finalized with the South African Chefs Association while in Santiago, Chile attending the WACS Congress.  While speaking of the WACS Congress, our own Chris Thomson and Trevor Ritchie will compete in the Global Chefs Challenge and Hans Bueschkens Junior Culinary Competition respectively.  Also, Claude Buzon will also be busy campaigning for the WACS Continental Director – Americas.  Before all of that, CTC trials will take place in Edmonton and preparations will begin for ExpoGast in Luxembourg 2010.  Once back from the Congress, work ramps up as we prepare for our convention in Windsor.  Plan now to attend – it’s shaping up to be quite a convention.

As this will likely be my last post until after Christmas, I would like to express my very best to all during this holiday season.  I hope that the New Year brings you all much happiness and good health.  Take some time to enjoy the more relaxed pace and the magic of the season.