Using Local/Sustainable Foods for Every Day Meals - A Green Tables Wrap-up from the Annual LDEI National Conference

By Molly Reams Thompson (Cleveland)
and Heather Hunter (San Antonio)

What if one conversation could literally change the course of a community environmentally, socially, and economically? The Green Tables team set out to do just that by serving up a generous helping of interesting conversation at the annual Saturday morning breakfast on October 26, 2013.

Five extraordinary women representing the perspectives of policy and community, producer/retail, restaurant/chef and community service/nutrition perspectives.  Whether  born and/or raised in the food community, some thing or event - or series of events - led each of the participants down the path to making a difference and participating in a vibrant local food system.

Four different regions within Texas were represented in this lively presentation.

Three common threads emerged from the conversation as ways to strengthen and change the conversation about local food: Communication; collaboration; and education.

Two simple words, Green Tables, convey an important mission within the LDEI community.

Finally, while each panel expert revealed a distinct journey of food, they all converged into One shared commitment to change the way that people think about, relate to, and consume food.

This year's theme, "Serving Local Foods for Everyday Meals," was established by  committee members Wendy Taggert (Dallas-Ft. Worth), Shubhra Ramenini (Houston), Julia Rosenfeld (San Antonio), Heather Hunter (San Antonio), Molly Kaminski (Houston), Drew Faulkner (Washington, DC), and Molly Thompson (Cleveland), local foods advocate who also served as the morning's moderator.  Others who were integral but worked behind the scenes included GT Chairs Linda Geren and Lynn Fredericks, as well as Ashley James (creator of the GT blog and Pinterest sites).

The panel featured four stars of Texas—one shining example from each of the Texas chapters and included:

• Wendy Taggert, Dallas-Fort Worth Dame and co-founder of Burgundy Pasture Beef, demonstrated not only the power of producing a dry-aged beef but also networking with other local producers to offer a range of superior products for everyday meals. 
• San Antonio Dame Heather Hunter, founder of Cowgirl Granola and the Quarry Farmers Market, and Silbia Esparza, executive director of Time Dollar, shared the impact of their unique partnership whereby surplus produce and other fine edibles are donated to the food pantry each week.
• Houston chef, Monica Pope, shared how her commitment to real food brings together people in her local community as well as celebrities from around the world.
• Ronda Rutledge, executive director of Austin’s Sustainable Food Center (also the organization that hosted the Day of Service on Food Day on October 24) enlightened the audience about the importance of access to local food in any community.

One of the biggest barriers to getting people to shift their perspective on what local food provides is that they don’t immediately see the connection between eating locally and the bottom line. This panel helped to shed a light on different ways that local food impacts our communities.  With growers, producers, and educators all seated at the table, attendees were treated to a well-rounded discussion of a topic that is impacting communities all around the globe.  Each speaker each gave her own unique perspective from all across the farm to table continuum on the value of local foods and what it provides for their own communities.

Following the panel, there was an outpouring of interest and support.  One Dame was so moved she wrote a check on the spot to support Silbia Esparza's Time Dollar Community Connections program in San Antonio.

As arbiters of excellence in fine food, beverage and hospitality, it is incumbent upon us as Dames to be champions of change in the food communities in which we live.  Not sure how you can make a difference in your own back yard?  Here are a few ideas to plant the seeds of change regarding food in your community:

• Consider one thing you would change about the current conversation people in your community have about local food.
• Be unapologetically present when it comes to your food.
• Contemplate one food discovery you'd like your community to make and share about it with your friends, family and neighbors.

Hungry for more? Please visit the Green Tables page on the LDEI website as well as the new blog!

Dame du Jour: Gloria Cipri-Kemer

by Maria Isabella

With a paternal family that owned a deli and pizza parlor in Connecticut and a maternal family that owned a neighborhood café in Colorado, it’s no wonder Gloria Cipri-Kemer is in the hospitality business today.

“Hospitality is my main concentration,” says Gloria. “Making people feel comfortable and feeding them is what I love to do.”

Clevelanders are certainly very lucky to have her. In fact, they’ve been flocking to her ever-popular establishment, the Emerald Necklace Bed-and-Breakfast Inn in Fairview Park, Ohio, ever since it opened in 1999. But make no mistake. This is no ordinary inn; it’s also a tea room, a spa, a beauty salon (Gloria is a licensed cosmetologist), and a gift shop.

“I was developing children’s beauty salons in Southern California and designing hair products and styling equipment before I moved to Cleveland. Once here, I decided to open up my own inn/beauty salon, and the rest, as they say, is history!” explains this award-winning entrepreneur.

As a child, she loved helping her Italian mother and grandmother in the kitchen. She particularly remembers Sundays, when she would savor the aroma of meatballs cooking. No wonder, of all the places she’s traveled, she loves the food of Northern and Southern Italy the best.

“The sauces were garden fresh,” she reminisces, “and the bread was a meal in itself.”

As for how she likes to entertain herself these days, Gloria says it’s all about making it special. “I love taking the time to carefully set my table, the time to cook home-style food, and the time to eat leisurely with family and friends.”

Gloria has been a member of LDEI’s Cleveland chapter from the very beginning. “I joined after I saw a small ad in the Plain Dealer,” she explains.

As for what she enjoys most about being a member? “Besides all the great food,” she reflects, “I enjoy meeting very interesting women and learning about different styles of restaurants.”

Learn more about Gloria as she shares some fun and interesting insights about herself.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you usually order there? Pier W. I really enjoy all their fish meals.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten? In Colorado, I ordered an appetizer called “Rocky Mountain Oysters.” Turned out, it wasn’t fish.

Which one chef would you want to invite over for dinner and what would you serve? I would love to meet Martha Stewart and hang out with her. I would fix her my grandmother’s home-made tacos.

Describe your perfect meal (including wine if desired). I love steak and seafood. I’m not a wine drinker.

What’s your favorite comfort food? My husband’s pork and sauerkraut over mashed potatoes. I’d never heard of this dish until I moved to Cleveland. He’s Irish and German.

Any favorite indulgences? Fresh strawberries and pound cake topped with real whipped cream.

What’s your favorite snack? Any hot drink with any creamy dessert. Then I’m in heaven.


What’s your go-to, quick-and-easy dinner? My quick-and-easy signature dish is chicken cutlets.

What’s one ingredient you can’t live without? It’s a toss-up between tomatoes and garlic.

Name 3 kitchen gadgets you can’t live without. A good knife, zester, and hand whip.

Inspirational Keynote Address at the Conference

By Shara Bohach

Much was inspirational at the Les Dames d'Escoffier conference this October in Austin, Texas. Each session offered valuable insight into running the chapter and/or running one's business. The keynote address by Roz Mallet, "Texas Roots to National Stage" was particularly energizing.

Rosalyn (Roz) Mallet offered inspiring words about actively managing your career and moving it forward through instinct, innovation, mentoring, and values-based leadership. Overcoming odds as a double minority, Roz states that you never know what you cannot do until you try. She spoke with passion about opportunities in the restaurant industry, asserting that if you work hard, develop and believe in your instincts, and proceed with confidence, you can do anything.

In her ten tips for outstanding leadership, she includes “seek mentors and seek to mentor.” The giving back is equally, if not more important. With the help of mentors at every step of her career path, Roz has gone from working summers in college as a restaurant cashier to high-level positions with restaurant brands we all know, to becoming the first African-American woman to lead the National Restaurant Association (only the third woman to be chair of the board in their 96 year history).

Always a well-prepared risk-taker, Roz left a highly successful corporate career to start an entrepreneurial business, at the start of a recession, no less. She succeeded in building PhaseNext Hospitality, a multi-brand franchise operating company, in non-traditional foodservice locations such as airports and military bases. She consistently seeks out unique opportunities, and creates business from them.

Roz encouraged Dames to "learn the bad lessons very, very well, because those are the most important," and to "allow someone to ask you what could you have done better." These are the insights that will guide you toward your next success.

Annual Meeting at Lucky’s Cafe

By Shara Bohach

22 Cleveland Dames were in attendance at the 2013 Annual Meeting at Lucky’s Cafe in Tremont. After the chapter meeting's business including a "Year in Review," Dame Heather Haviland and her fabulous staff dished up an amazing, as-local-as-it-gets menu. She detailed out the ingredients which came predominantly from Ohio farms, and as close as the garden next to the restaurant.

Dinner started with the savory and sweet Butternut Squash Maple Soup followed by a Mixed Green Salad with warm blue cheese dressing and candied pecans. Dames had their choice of House-made Pesto-Ricotta Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce or the Pan-Fried Breaded Chicken Breast with Wild Mushroom Gravy, Roasted, Herbed Fingerling Potatoes, and Sautéed Vegetables. The chicken breast was such a large portion, that every Dame who had it took home lunch for the next day! Dessert, a Chocolate Mousse Bombe made by Heather's pastry chef (pictured here), was as beautiful as it was decadent.

Dames brought their own wine to share over this truly delectable dinner. The table, decked out in a beautiful fall theme with candelabras and fresh flowers, added to the cozy ambiance. A big thanks to Lucky's Cafe for such a great evening! See more photos...

Dame du Jour: Marilou Suszko

By Maria Isabella

What highly successful, veteran magazine editor in her right mind would leave it all behind for a budding new career in the food arts? Marilou Suszko, that’s who.

“Fat paychecks are very nice,” she says, “but loving what you’re doing more than makes up for what doesn’t appear in your bank account.”

After working for more than 25 years for a variety of magazines in the restaurant industry with both the venerable Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Advanstar Communications, Marilou decided to strike it out on her own — first as a journalist and food writer, then as a culinary instructor and, eventually, author.

It seems Marilou has come full circle to her earliest love: food and family.

“Family gatherings always revolved around food and drink,” explains Marilou. “I had lard-and-butter–using grandmothers who knew how to feed a crowd. In fact, the one food that always reminds me of home is good old-fashioned meatloaf.”

Marilou doesn’t even hesitate when asked who has influenced her love of food the most. “Every single person who introduces me to a new ingredient, flavor, food, or recipe is a significant influence,” she beams.

That influence is most clearly evident in the people Marilou has come to know and respect during her writing of three popular books:  Farms and Foods of Ohio,  The Locavore’s Kitchen, and her latest (co-written with  pal, Laura Taxel), Cleveland’s West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking, which is, not surprisingly, her biggest professional pride to-date.

“I would like to think that at some point [Cleveland’s West Side Market] will be looked at as the definitive reference for the first 100 years,” reflects Marilou.

When not traveling, Marilou loves to entertain either around her dining room table or in her backyard. “We set up a ton of tables and invite just as many people. I love the buzz and seeing the tables full of friends,” she says.

Marilou is a charter member of LDEI and has served in just about every capacity since the Cleveland chapter formed.

As for what she enjoys most about being a member? “Certainly my fellow members,” she admits readily. “The diversity is inspiring.”

Learn more about Marilou as she shares some fun and interesting insights about herself.

What is your favorite cookbook? I’m really loving Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty right now. But my go-to book and the one that I give all the young people just starting out in life is Mark Bittman’s  How to Cook Everything. I look at that as the new-age Betty Crocker or BHG.

What is your favorite food blog? I like to read Russ Parsons (of the LA Times) plus any other food blog that catches my eye.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Poached eggs in tomato sauce and a ton of cookies.

Any favorite indulgences? Cookies and red wine.

What’s one ingredient you can’t live without? Salt.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made? Like, a million. But how else could you possibly learn? As a young bride, I made my first corned beef by throwing the cryovacked brisket (still in the plastic) into the water and boiled it to a gray finish. I was thick in the boil-in-a-bag era. The price tag floated to the top of the water.

Name 3 things that are always in your refrigerator. Homemade yogurt, yeast, and maple syrup.


Name 3 gadgets you can’t live without. My immersion blender, KitchenAid mixer, and set of knives.

What would people be surprised to find in your kitchen? I always have a ton of pomegranate seeds stashed in the freezer. Can’t get enough of them.

What is the one thing you like best about your kitchen? I have five windows that look out into the yard…and when it snows, it feels like being inside a snow globe. Stand in my kitchen and you can see the seasons change, the redbuds fill the room with pink, the sun shine in, and even the rain soak the yard.

MacKenzie Creamery Tour & Chapter Meeting

By Shara Bohach, Photo by Beth Segal

On July 22, 2013, Cleveland Dames and guests met at Mackenzie Creamery for a tour, tasting, and chapter meeting. The evening began with a meeting in Dame Jean Mackenzie's beautiful farmstead home. While enjoying the fresh buffet of appetizers and wine that members brought, we were treated to some history of how Jean found the property, added to the home while maintaining the wonderful farmhouse architecture and design, and started her creamery business.

We then visited the creamery, amid the beautiful, expansive country setting. We donned the requisite hairnets and booties, and camped it up for photos taken by Dame Beth Segal. Jean shared the history, challenges, successes, and future of Mackenzie Creamery with us. We saw the equipment, the packaging area, and the already-spoken-for product ready to ship from the cooler. Having tried several cheeses on the appetizer buffet, including the delightful Apricot-Ginger, we tried some fresh Ricotta in the creamery, which had so much more flavor than the regular Ricotta you find in stores. Delish!

Next, it was on to visit the goats. Four goats live at Mackenzie Creamery, but they are moreso Jean's pets than goats that provide the milk for the cheese. Actually, they proudly purchase their milk from two local goat dairies.

We had planned a hayride for the end of the evening, but the rain had other plans. So we called it an evening after visiting with the goats. It really was another great evening with good friends, great food and wine, and a wonderful education on goat cheese. Thank you Dame Jean!

To see more photos, please visit our facebook page.

Dame du Jour: Terry Frick

By Maria Isabella, Interview by Linda Fletcher

As owner of the highly popular Frickaccio’s Pizza Market, Terry Frick enjoys hard-earned success with not one, but two locations: at the West Side Market (Stand A8) and in Fairview Park. And although her original, world-famous pizza bagel has garnered plenty of national recognition and even attracted presidential attention (her stand was asked to be the only food vendor for President Obama’s most recent visit to Cleveland), what she’s most proud of is her certified organic dough balls.

In the food business for nine years, Terry says it was mostly her family who influenced her early love of food. “Pork chops on the grill remind me most of my mom,” says Terry. “But my earliest memory of food was, believe it or not, lobster!”

When she entertains now, Terry likes to create new menus and food for friends. As for her go-to, quick-and-easy dinner? “Chicken breast and veggie sides,” she shares.

Her favorite restaurant?  Wild Mango, where she frequently orders the Shrimp with Spinach.

And when it comes to her favorite global destination, Terry doesn’t even hesitate. “Paris!” she replies. “I love everything about it!”

Terry says she learned of LDEI through a member. What does she enjoy most about her membership? “I really enjoy supporting and helping people to grow a business,” she exclaims.

Learn more about Terry as she shares some fun and interesting insights about herself.

Which one chef would you want to invite over for dinner and what would you serve? Chef Gordon Ramsey. Linguine with clam sauce.

What is your favorite cookbook? Gourmet magazine’s annual “Best of” hardcovers.

Describe your perfect meal. French bread, Dijon mustard, capers, Brie, Beef Bourguignon, and French Beaujolais wine.

What is your favorite comfort food? Meatloaf.

Any favorite indulgences? Dark chocolate.

What’s your favorite snack? Cheese.

Do you have a signature dish? Linguine with clam sauce.


What’s your favorite dessert to prepare? Chocolate angel food cake.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made? Figuring out that a clove of garlic is not a bulb!

What would people be surprised to find in your kitchen? A smoker.