The Wonderful World of Balsamics

at The Olive and The Grape in Mentor Ohio 
By Cynthia Schuster-Eakin, with additions by Shara Bohach

Cleveland Dames discovered “The Wonderful World of Balsamics” at their March membership meeting, hosted by Dame Candice Berthold, owner of The Olive and The Grape.

Berthold led Northeast Ohio chapter members on a tour of the flavored balsamics she sells at her shops in Mentor, Kamm’s Corner and in the West Side Market. The hour-long tasting and class at the Mentor location began with an appetizer of assorted olives and peppers marinated in The Olive and The Grape’s Liquid Gold aged balsamic vinegar.

Dame Jean Mackenzie of Mackenzie’s Creamery provided a three-week-old boucheron of goat cheese, which was drizzled with fig balsamic. A mini caprese salad of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese was seasoned with lemongrass basil oil and sun-dried tomato balsamic. Sautéed vegetables were marinated in carrot ginger balsamic vinegar. A dessert of decadent brownies laced with red raspberry chocolate balsamic vinegar was a unique and delicious finale. After the dinner, chapter members sampled four additional balsamics.

Recently accredited as a Certified Health Coach, Candice Berthold, CHC, AADP, engaged members in a discussion about the health benefits of balsamics and olive oils, and cautioned members about inferior products found at the grocery store. This transpired into a lively discussion about the worst toxic GMO foods we consume, and what we should all try to avoid.

Guest Ilona Simon, owner of Budapest Blonde Cocktail Mixes, concocted a “Balsama-Mama” mocktail flavored with bergamot orange lime barrel-aged balsamic vinegar to accompany the meal. Members noted how her mix was so much less sweet than the usual cocktail mixes. This is because her ingredients are not chemical-laden, and have a significantly lower sodium, sugar and calorie count per serving. They were delish!

Cleveland Dames ended the meeting by browsing the shelves at The Olive and The Grape, selecting one-of-a-kind products to take home to flavor their own recipes.

Dame du Jour: Carol Hacker

By Maria Isabella, Interview by Ruth Levine

When Carol Hacker was just a little girl, she got her very first Easy-Bake Oven. The moment she first tried the oven out was when she decided, right then and there, what she wanted more than anything else in the world was to work in the Betty Crocker kitchens. Don’t laugh. She was so serious that she had her mother take her to the bank the very next day and open her first bank account in order to save money for the airfare to go tour their kitchens.

Even though Carol never did get to work for Betty Crocker Kitchens in Golden Valley, Minnesota, she did make food her life’s work. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in science, Carol worked in a number of food-related positions. The most rewarding accomplishment during her 35-year tenure? “Turning around Kerr’s TK and Consumer Affairs Department and making it professional with at least a four-fold increase in accomplishment and productivity,” she says with pride.

As a freelance home economist – and the Cleveland chapter’s current Vice President, Carol still continues to enjoy all things food.

“My earliest childhood memory of food is eating prime rib bones in the backyard,” says Carol. “Then again, my grandma’s Hungarian cooking and my mom’s macaroni and cheese were to-die-for as well!”

Today, when it comes to entertaining, Carol likes to host sit-down dinners instead. “I have to use all my mother’s china and sterling – but in a casual atmosphere,” she explains.

And if she could invite only one chef over for dinner, who would it be? “Definitely Julia Child,” admits Carol. “Because I think she would be fun. But I would really have to have it catered!” she adds with a laugh.

How did Carol first hear of Les Dames? “From Laura Taxel and IACP in 2006,” she explains. “I joined that summer.” She goes on to add, “Meeting and becoming friends with a great group of accomplished women is what I have enjoyed most about being a member of LDEI.”

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

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten?
Pig testicles. I used to can them and send them to my boss when I was really ticked off!

What is your favorite cookbook? Joy of Cooking – the older version.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Anything high fat.

Any favorite indulgences?
Starbucks’ Java Chip Frappuccino Ice Cream.

What’s your go-to, quick-and-easy dinner? Cheese and crackers.

What’s your favorite dessert to prepare? Apple pie.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made?
Probably not the biggest, but early on, one mistake that stands out is when I used two heads of garlic in a recipe that called for two cloves of garlic!

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


Name 3 things that are always in your refrigerator? Wine, half-and-half, and diet pop.

Name 3 kitchen gadgets you can’t live without.
Rubber spatula, can opener, and a sharp chef’s knife.

Dame du Jour: Ruth Levine

By Maria Isabella, Interview by Carol Hacker
 
When Ruth Levine was looking for a job 25 years ago, she only wanted one thing: a flexible schedule. She had young kids at the time, and the ability to set her own schedule was essential to her. So she began catering for a wine store in Hudson.

Fast-forward to today when she owns her own hugely popular and highly successful restaurant: Bistro 185. And that didn’t happen by luck.

When advising someone just starting out in a culinary career, Ruth shares, “Get as much experience as you can. Start at the bottom and work up.” Which is exactly what she did herself.
Growing up, Ruth would watch intently as her mom cooked. Her favorite food was chicken soup with matzo balls and noodles.

In college, she would cook for her roommates and they would pass off Ruth’s food as their own to their boyfriends. After college, she worked – without pay – for a French chef for a year just to gain the experience. Then she worked yet another year – again without pay – this time for a Chinese chef.

Her combined experience and passion for food led her to eventually open her bistro, which is her proudest professional accomplishment to date.

When it comes to entertaining in her own home, Ruth likes to keep it very casual. “I’ll put a lot of food out on the kitchen island and just let my guests help themselves, especially in the summertime while we’re all out on the deck.”

How did Ruth first hear of Les Dames? “From Laura Taxel and Shara (Foldi) Bohach about three years ago,” she explains. “And the thing I have enjoyed most about being a member of this group,” she goes on to say, “is meeting other women in the food business.”

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

Of all the places you’ve traveled, where did you have the best food?On Corfu in Greece at a restaurant that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. You got to choose your own just-caught fish, and it was cooked sublimely simply.

Describe your perfect meal.
Perfectly roasted chicken, roasted red potatoes, and nice wine.

What’s your favorite comfort food?
A good glazed donut and a good kosher hot dog.

What’s your favorite snack?Potato chips and Tootsie Rolls.

What’s your go-to, quick-and-easy dinner?
Fish made as a simple sauté with butter, capers, lemon juice, and white wine.

What’s your favorite dessert to prepare?Anything with apples, year-round.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made?
Overcooked Beef Wellingtons for 30. I had to re-do all of them!

Name 3 things that are always in your refrigerator.
Eggs, butter, and milk.

Name 3 kitchen gadgets you can’t live without.
Food processor, coffee maker, and mixer.

What would people be surprised to find in your kitchen pantry?
Canned baked beans.

Dame du Jour: Shara Bohach

By Maria Isabella, Interview by Marty Nagele

When one is able to mesh personal passion with professional talents, that’s nirvana. And that’s exactly what Shara Bohach has found in her position as a graphic designer for the food industry.
“I’ve been interested in the creative side of food since college,” Shara confesses, “and somehow everything I did always came back to it.” A graphic design major at Kent State University, all of her design projects inevitably revolved around food.  So it was quite natural that she would eventually go on to form her own firm, Unity Design, which specializes in design for the culinary industry. In fact, Unity Design’s very first client was a restaurant. That was 12 years ago – and they're now busier than ever.

“Food has always been comfortable and intriguing for me,” she adds. “I'm so fortunate to merge that love with my profession.”

“I’m constantly eating out and trying new restaurants, both from a foodie perspective and from a business perspective – keeping an eye on trends in the industry” she explains.

When asked where she has experienced her best meal, Shara quickly responds it was at La Truffe, a small restaurant in Paris that specialized in mushrooms. Another favorite was Pimlico Tandoori, an Indian restaurant in London that served as her introduction to Indian cuisine, which she cites as a palate-changing experience. In the States, one of her favorites is (Dame Ruth Levine's) Bistro 185 “with their unbelievably delicious vegan nights.”

Her perfect meal? Vegan “chicken” Marsala with roasted asparagus, paired with a red Zin from Lodi, California.

As for the most unusual thing she’s ever eaten, Shara admits it was actually a drink…an earthy Greek wine made with pine resin, called Retsina. She served this as part of a theme menu at a recent book club meeting after reading “The Gargoyle” by Andrew Davidson.

When it comes to entertaining, she loves to be out on her deck serving simple, fresh guacamole or bruschetta and wine. The view of the woods from there is magnificent.

Shara first became aware of Les Dames from Laura Taxel and Crickett Karson at the Feast for Amelia fundraiser at Lucky’s Café in 2007. She joined right after that.

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

What is your favorite cookbook? “Vegan with a Vengeance” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Garlic mashed potatoes!

What’s your favorite snack? Hummus and veggie sticks, or cheese.

Do you have a signature dish? Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna. And guacamole, both traditional and creative variations.

What’s your go-to, quick-and-easy dinner? Veggie and tofu stir fry.

What’s your favorite dessert to prepare? I don't make many desserts, but I do make a lot of muffins and really enjoy making them.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made? I'm always looking for ways to incorporate more nutrition into recipes, and therefore make a lot of substitutions. I once tried substituting millet flour for most of the wheat flour in a recipe for pumpkin bread. The results were disastrous, terrible tasting, and dense as a brick. Fortunately, my dog liked it, so she ate pumpkin bread treats for quite a while!

What’s one ingredient you can’t live without? Garlic. There was this garlic soup that I had once at Max's Deli (a restaurant that used to be in Rocky River). I went back so many times in search of it, and they never had it. Some day I will have to try making it.


Name 3 things that are always in your refrigerator.  Fresh veggies, tofu, and ground flax seed.

Name 3 kitchen gadgets you can’t live without. My rice cooker, small prep bowls, and Microplane's Herb Mill (which I learned about from Dame Bev Shaffer’s blog!).

Holiday Happy Hour

By Cynthia Schuster Eakin

Chef Nolan Konkoski’s SoHo Kitchen and Bar in Ohio City had just the right ingredient to spice up Les Dames d’Escoffier Cleveland Chapter’s Holiday Happy Hour on December 12.

Chapter members gathered to raise a toast to Les Dames’ 2012 accomplishments. The opportunity to sample Konkoski’s southern cuisine provided added incentive for the festive meeting.

Cleveland Dames dined on appetizers of Carolina peanut soup with sweet potatoes and apples, and duck gumbo, made with six different components of duck and topped with crispy duck cracklings. The culinary highlight of the evening was the chef’s weekly “Chicken Scratch” menu, featuring all-natural, Ohio-raised birds, southern-fried to order. Side dishes like smoky macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, jalapeno hushpuppies, mashed potatoes with bourbon gravy and cornbread waffles with Ohio maple syrup, wrapped up the perfect Les Dames holiday treat.

Year-End Meeting at La Campagna

By Shara Bohach


At our year-end meeting, we were treated to a discussion and book signing of Maria Isabella's new book, "In the Kitchen with Cleveland's Favorite Chefs" over a wonderful dinner at Carmella Fragassi's La Campagna in Westlake. After our brief business meeting, we had a lively discussion on topics from book publishing, to Dames helping Dames, to corrections officering (sorry, if you weren't there, you'll have to ask someone who was!) There was also a surprise mini-bridal-shower thrown for me (Shara) - which was such a touching surprise (thank you!

More photos from the evening can be seen on our facebook page...

Dames Demo! at The Fabulous Food Show

By Shara Bohach

Cleveland Dames were well represented at The Fabulous Food Show 2012. Whether they were demoing, presenting, or book signing, here's who took the stage!

Candice Berthold
Bev Shaffer
Maria Isabella
Stefanie Paganini
Ruth Levine
Marilou Suszko
Laura Taxel