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Archive for the ‘Dole California Cook-Off’ Category

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Food Noise: Kathy Patalsky of The Lunchbox Bunch

In Cooking, Dole California Cook-Off, Etc., Food Noise, Food: Vegetarian/Vegan, Media, New York: New York City on July 8, 2010 at 3:55 PM

I recently had the gratifying honor of cooking with bright-eyed lifestyle personality Kathy Patalsky at the inaugural Dole Foods California Cook-Off this past June. As a team, I was sous chef to Patalsky’s recipe and direction. In the process however, I made a friend. An established blogger and entrepreneur, NYC-based Patalsky is the founding, creative spirit behind growing website and healthy living force The Lunchbox Bunch. Haven’t heard of it yet? You will.

With a blog streaming of vegan-friendly recipes, healthful living tips and gravitating photography⎯she can make tofu look like a porterhouse⎯Patalsky has managed to parlay her love of a satisfying, responsible and meat-free existence into a flourishing brand. From self-published books to themed merchandise available for sale on her website, she is clearly creating something impressive.

 

Kathy's Green Soy Burger.

 

 

Kathy's baked garden lasagna.

 

Loosely inspired by the popular last-page “Feedback” questionnaire inside every Bon Appetit issue, where simple food-related questions are posed to various tastemakers, Food Noise will be a new regular feature on my blog intended to shed extra light on the foodly inclinations of interesting people we all should know more about. Patalsky, you get inaugural dibs…

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Wrap-Up: Dole California Cook-Off 2010

In California: Los Angeles, Cooking, Dole California Cook-Off, Etc., Media, Personal Ramblings on July 7, 2010 at 7:57 AM

And the winner is? Though close, not us.

Not knowing what to expect of Dole Foods’ inaugural California Cook-Off event, I tried to prep myself mentally for anything slung my direction. What blindsided me? How much fun I had.

When I first opened the e-mail last April (first announced HERE), the one including an invite to be a participating food blogger at the freshman cooking event, I will be the first to admit I considered it spam. (I get a lot of PR spam.) It took a subsequent week of dedicated back-and-forth correspondence before finally accepting that not only the invite was legit, but, that the invite was for me. Four days, three nights in Los Angeles, paid-for? Transportation arrangements and discretionary income supplemented? Wow⎯why not.

The competition presented six recipe finalists (of 4,000 such submissions nationwide) who traveled to Los Angeles, CA, and prepared their respective recipes (utilizing at least one Dole Foods’ product) in a live cook-off that was judged by lovable, well-known chef Ben Ford. Each recipe contestant was also paired with a “sous chef,” in food blogger form⎯someone who not only assisted them in the actual cooking of their dishes, but also someone who helped cover the experience via our own blogs and social networks.

Chef Ben Ford and Kathy Patalsky.

Leading up to the event, all recipe finalists and bloggers were kept in the dark about possible pairing designations. Knowing only a list of names and some basic information, we were each left to ponder curiously about who might be our team member. There was a finalist with a chicken burger recipe; one with a recipe that included stuffed bell peppers; one with a quinoa and bacon-wrapped scallops recipe; another finalist with a tofu-anchored recipe, with candied cashews over a mandarin-ginger rice; and, a finalist with a Thai-inspired chicken recipe with a fruit and avocado salsa. Of all the selected recipes, I must be frank: I feared the dish utilizing tofu most. Having countless friends who adhere to vegetarian or vegan eating habits, I knew well that unless deftly prepared, tofu can swing abruptly from delicious to, well, something completely opposite. I didn’t want to screw anything up…

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Coming Up: Dole California Cook-Off

In California: Los Angeles, Cooking, Dole California Cook-Off, Etc., Media, Personal Ramblings on June 3, 2010 at 4:52 AM

Recently, yours truly was selected to be one of several guest bloggers invited to help cover the Dole California Cook-Off later this month in Los Angeles.

As a food blogger, requests for product reviews, kind offers of free meals and event invites of varying quality inevitably spill my direction. Most of the time however, I decline. Being that this silly website of mine is more ‘labor of love’ at this point, accepting such sponsored solicitations has never been my prerogative.

Despite Dole Foods not exactly being a mom-and-pop outfit (I lean less corporate, it’s true), I accepted this particular invitation because of its generous scope. Plainly, it promises to be a fun, diverting experience. Besides being graciously accommodated by Dole Foods, I will also have an opportunity to meet scores of talented, interesting and like-minded people along the way–fellow bloggers, chefs, home cooks, you name it.

The premise of Dole’s California Cook-Off is simple. Everyday home cooks submitted their tried-and-true recipes utilizing particular Dole products, and the chosen finalists will then be shuttled to Los Angeles for a competitive, live cook-off event at the Epicurean School of Culinary Arts. The ultimate winners will be ranked by a panel of local food industry notables, including chef Ben Ford (as in actor Harrison Ford’s offspring) of Ford’s Filing Station. The ultimate winner takes home, among other things, a $1,000 cash prize, and the printing of their recipe on selected Dole canned food labels.

Myself and the other selected bloggers come into play in the form of kitchen assistance. Each of us are being coupled with a recipe finalist, acting as de facto sous-chef, helping to prepare their submitted dishes for said judging. We will also be reporting about the event via our respective blogs.

Ironically, among the diverse list of guest bloggers chosen nationwide, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Erin Forney, the personality behind Food Tramp Diaries, will joining me as well. Always nice to share such an experience with a familiar face.

Stay tuned.

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