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Posts Tagged ‘Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts’

Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Competition – Recap

Posted in Cooking Competition, Culinary Events, Joyce, News, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last weekend, one young chef was crowned the winner of the inaugural Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Competition. The Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship program is a non-profit culinary foundation created to recognize and inspire young Canadian chefs, while promoting professionalism and culinary excellence within the hospitality industry. To be eligible, they must be Canadian chefs under 28, with a Red Seal certification, and are working full-time in a professional kitchen. 10 finalists across Canada were selected:

  • Mark Andrew Brown – Ayr, Ontario
  • Ross Derrick – Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • Arnie Mitchell Guieb – Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Talib Hubba – Sherwood Park, Alberta
  • Carmen Ingham – North Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Hayden Johnston – Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • John Ly – Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Brad Masciotra – London, Ontario
  • Paul Moran – Kelowna, British Columbia
  • Garrett Rotel – Calgary, Alberta

During Round 1 of the competition, these ten finalists competed against each other to create a main course dish for two within two hours, using provided ingredients. The top 3 finalists then moved on to Round 2, the black box challenge. They had two hours and fifteen minutes to cook a main course and dessert using mystery ingredients from the black box.

Welcome to Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Competition

My guest reporter Terence checked out Round 2 of the competition at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts and watched the following candidates compete for a chance to receive a $10,000 bursary, provided by the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, and a stage at a leading international restaurant.

From left: Carmen Ingham, Paul Moran & Brad Masciotra (Photo credit: Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Twitter feed @HawkScholarship)

Top 3 finalists

The black box ingredients were  (more…)

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2013 BC Healthy Chef Competition – Recap

Posted in Asian, Chinese, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dinner, Healthy Eating, Indian, Joyce, Lower Mainland, Meat, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 20, 2013| 1 Comment »

For the past 3 years, I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend the BC Healthy Chef Competition. Once again thanks to work, I joined a few other colleagues at this much sought after event. The purpose of the Healthy Chef Competition is to promote healthy eating while raising money for the Mix it Up! campaign, Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Chefs representing 9 units were competing against each other by cooking up some tasty entrees and desserts using fruit and vegetables. Here is the list of competing units this year:

  • The Art Institute of Vancouver
  • Copper Chimney
  • Dynasty Seafood
  • Grand Dynasty Seafood
  • The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
  • Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
  • Prestons
  • River Rock Casino Resort
  • Tivoli’s Restaurant
Guests waiting for the event to start

Guests waiting for the event to start

Besides cooking, the 9 restaurants also had to put together a creative display as they were being judged on that. Here are a few that caught my eyes:

“Display” by River Rock Casino Resort
Display by Art Institute of Vancouver
Display by Hyatt Regency

Before we went on separate ways to line up for our entrees and desserts, each of us was served the Al a Minute Warm Smoked Salmon prepared by the team at Hyatt Regency Vancouver. (more…)

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2012 Gingerbread Lane at Hyatt Regency Vancouver

Posted in Christmas Series, Cooking Competition, Culinary Events, Joyce, Special Occasion, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2012| 1 Comment »

In its 22nd year, the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Vancouver is adorned by more than 40 gingerbread houses built by amateur and professional bakers, as well as college and high school students enrolled in culinary arts programs.

I noticed that there are more non-traditional gingerbread houses this year. In particular, I was quite impressed by this coral reef display made by the David Thompson Secondary School Cafeteria. What a unique interpretation of a “house”:

Coral Reef

Coral Reef

Here is one on the story of the Nutcracker: (more…)

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2012 BC Healthy Chef Competition – A Recap

Posted in Chinese, Chocolate, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dinner, Indian, Joyce, Lower Mainland, News, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

Thanks to work, I was one of the lucky individuals who once again attended the BC Healthy Chef Competition that took place a couple of weeks ago. I might not have a popular blog to receive the fancy, golden media invite (I’m imagining that’s what it looked like) and sit at the VIP tables, but my coworkers and I had a lovely evening while supporting a great cause. Man, I know I said this before, but I do love my job 🙂

The purpose of this event is to help promote healthy eating while raising money for the Mix it Up! campaign, Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Chefs representing 10 units were competing against each other by cooking up some tasty entrees and desserts using fruit and vegetables. Here is the list of competing units:

  • Chinese Canadian Chef Association
  • Copper Chimney
  • Executive Plaza Hotel Coquitlam
  • The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
  • The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Vancouver
  • Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
  • Pier 7
  • River Rock Casino Resort
  • Vancouver Community College
  • Wah Wing Szachuan Restaurant

Before we could enjoy the entrees and desserts prepared by these 10 competing units, we each had our serving of Olive Oil Poached Wild Salmon as our starter plate.

Starter Plate

Starter Plate: Olive Oil Poached Wild Salmon, Pickled Mushroom and Potato Fondant

Then, each guest joined the line to pick up their own combination of entree and dessert, based on the envelope at each seat. The envelope contained a card that specified our entree and dessert selection randomly chosen among the ten competing units. No two guests at the same table would have the same combination of entree and dessert. There were four of us at the table, so we shared our plates to maximize the number of dishes we each got to try. In addition to that, we also picked up a few more dishes when each station was open for “seconds”. Frankly, we tried almost everything that was served that evening!

Food

Of everything I tried, I was the most impressed by these:

Copper Chimney Entree

Copper Chimney Entree: Lamb Popsicles with Mint Chutney & Potato Gobi

Copper Chimney Entree: This might not be the healthiest dish, but I really enjoyed the spice rub on the lamb chops. (more…)

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