We are pleased to welcome back into our kitchens Jeff Van Geest, Owner & Chef of the award winning Aurora Bistro!

Chef Jeff will present to the Foodies a locally inspired menu featuring the best of BC’s bounty, including a selection of delicious BC wines. 

As always, our classes are hands-on, so you will not only benefit from Chef Jeff’s extensive culinary experience, you will also have the opportunity to prepare & savour these dishes:

• Spot prawns on asparagus wrapped in Oyama’s proscuitto with ginger sabayon
• Roasted Polderside Farm duck breast with rhubarb compote & aged cheddar-potato perogies
• Agassiz hazelnut tart with maple creme fraiche

I know, my mouth is watering too!

There are only a few spots left, so book your seat now! 

Time:  Wednesday, June 11, 2008 – 6:15pm – 9:30pm 

Register:  You can register by phone 604.876.7653 with Visa or MasterCard, or in person with cash, local cheque or debit. 

Cost:  $98 + GST

Please bring:  Chef’s knife, paring knife, 2 tea towels, a pen, closed-toe/flat-heeled shoes & an elastic to tie back long hair if you have it.

Note: Menu subject to change at chef’s discretion.

As the days get longer, our thoughts drift to Spring and warmer evenings spent around the BBQ with friends and family.  To give you some new inspiration in that department, we are very pleased to offer two BBQ classes hosted by Brian Misko of the award winning House of Q. You may have seen Brian and his partner Glenn Erho on Global TV BC providing the BBQ Tip of the Week.  House of Q has also recently launched its own line of award winning bbq sauces & rubs.  Here’s the scoop on the classes:

May 3, 2008

• pulled pork
• cedar plank fish
• planked cheese with chutney
• cheese stuffed jalapenos
• grilled asparagus with lime & olive oil
• grilled fruit

June 7, 2008

• braised short ribs
• flank steak
• quesadillas
• grilled corn & cilantro salad
• spicy yam fries
• grilled tomato salsa

times: classes will run each day from 11:00am – 2:30pm

cost: $98 each day, plus GST

register: by calling 604.876.7653  – payment is due at the time of registration

please bring: your NWCAV apron if you have one, chef’s knife, paring knife, 2 hand/tea towels

Menus subject to change based upon Chef’s discretion.

Chef Ian Lai, instructor for our Professional Culinary program, has been receiving a lot of press lately.  As founder of the Terra Nova Schoolyard Society (http://myterranova.ca/), Chef Ian is very active in the Richmond community teaching young people from K-12 about the joys of organic farming, and connecting them to the earth & their food.  At the farm they grow everything from flowers to oats, and the students participate in the entire life cycle from planting to harvest.  They even learn how to prepare the food they grow, including winnowing & milling the grains to make their own bread.  The benefits of the project don’t stop there because the bounty produced at Terra Nova is donated to the Richmond Food Bank.  Visit the Terra Nova website for more information.

On May 8th Chef Ian was recognized for his tireless dedication with  a much deserved U-Roc Award.  Congratulations!

In other news, he has agreed to act as the new resident “Chef in the Market” at the Steveston Farmers & Artisans Market for 10 Sundays this summer.  Check out this article by Arlene Kroeker:

http://www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/richmondreview/entertainment/18744499.html

We are proud & honoured to have Chef Ian as part of our NWCAV family.

Kudos!

As many of you know, NWCAV is proud to support the Terra Nova Schoolyard Society farm project in Richmond, BC (www.myterranova.ca). Terra Nova was founded & is headed by Chef Ian Lai, one of the Professional Culinary instructors at the Academy.

Chef Ian is pleased to announce that Terra Nova now has it’s own custom tea blend, provided by renowned tea merchants “T”. It is an enlivening blend of Organic Rooibos with citrus notes of orange & lemon. The price is $15 per tin (yields 50 cups). All proceeds go toward the Terra Nova Schoolyard Project. I have tried this tea, and like it so much I ordered 6 boxes for myself & to give as gifts!

If you would like to order some of this delicious tea for yourself, please contact Ian at info@myterrnova.ca or 604-767-9264, or call the Academy at 604.876.7653. Payment by cash only at time of pickup.

Enjoy,

Marla (tea aficionado)

On the first day of class, within the first hour in fact, we put our students in groups and ask then to list the qualities that best define a professional cook versus a professional chef.  This is to eliminate any illusion that the focus of our school is not to create chefs, but cooks, and more specifically, students on their road to becoming professional cooks.  Amazingly, they do an accurate job of being quite real about this, eliminating any need for the school instructors to pontificate the reality of the industry (you know, that speech every industry chef believes no one has ever heard before).  So our students are asked to put into words what they feel they need to bring to the table AND what they feel a chef should bring to the table.  The following is a list of what they concluded, in no particular order:

Cook:  Hard-working, disciplined, hungry for knowledge and skills, consistent, persistent, team player, motivated, committed, organized, loyal, punctual, multi-tasker, stress management, good communicator, clean, humble.

Chef:  Leadership, passionate, good coach/teacher, respectful, disciplined, inspirational, graceful under pressure, loyal to cook’s development, organized, quality-conscious, open-minded, integrity, patient, available, professional at all times, humble.

Impressive, if you tell me.  It saves us 3-4 weeks of putting our students through a reality check.  They do it themselves…and nice to see the media hasn’t skewed their perspective and sensibilities. I only hope they can live to that standard.

Tony Minichiello

Humble Culinary Instructor who spilled clarified butter and split his beurre blanc today…a great day, nevertheless.