Why Be Famous When You Can Be Almost Famous?

YumSugar — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:13:31 -0800

Before you can be famous, you need to be almost famous. The folks at S.Pellegrino understand this concept and are giving more than 60 culinary students the opportunity to claim their fame. In the 6th Annual S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Competition, students work their way to the finals by competing in regional contests. More than 30 top culinary schools in the US and Canada are participating and students will be given the opportunity to go head-to-head against each other in front of a panel of judges.

Once they've excelled in their region, they are able to proceed to the final event at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley. The event takes place March 7–10 and consists of three categories: Harvest Mystery Basket, Signature Dish, and People's Choice. This year the event will be hosted by Top Chef season-one-winner Harold Dieterle and Sopranos star Lorraine Bracco.

When asked about the competition Harold said:

"The restaurant industry has all the qualities of a real-life competition. Almost Famous sets up these young
chefs to feel comfortable and thrive in these high-pressure situations, which is why so many of the students leave the competition and go on to work for some of the best restaurants in the country."

This indeed may be true. Last year's winner, Ranbir Batra, was able to experience work opportunities he never would have had otherwise, including working alongside Sara Moulton. In addition to new culinary adventures, the overall winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize.

Source

Announcing Our American Idol Cooking Event!

YumSugar — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:17:32 -0700

I recently met up with a few other food bloggers and during the meet-up, Catherine of Food Musings mentioned an article that she read about how there weren't many things in America that most Americans could talk about. In fact, according to the article there were two things: Harry Potter and the Sopranos. We discussed that for a while and decided that American Idol should probably be added to that list too. I mean, I haven't even watched the show in several years and yet I find myself talking about it at least once or twice a week.

At any rate, it got me thinking - there had to be a better reason for a bunch of food bloggers to end up talking about American Idol. So I figured, why not host an American Idol themed food challenge. I know, it's a little bit hokey (okay, maybe a lot hokey), but you know you are secretly excited over this one. And the rules are pretty simple, all you have to do is come up with a dish inspired by American Idol. It can be a loose interpretation of the words (something red white and blue perhaps?), but if you want to make a cake shaped like Simon Cowell, that would be more than awesome.

Here's what you need to do to participate:

Write about your creation by ~~May 8~~ May 15 (be sure to include a link to this here post). If you don't have a blog, you can always sign up for a TeamSugar account and post it there.
Send me an email by ~~May 8~~ May 15 (the roundup will be posted on ~~May 11~~ May 18) with the following information:
- Your name & location
- Your blog name
- Permalink for your post
- What you made and why
- A 100x100 pixel image of your creation (optional)

Send the emails to yumsugar[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject "American Idol Creation" - I can't wait to see what you guys come up with! I'll post the full roundup on ~~May 11th~~ May 18th.

YumSugar Out!
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Oh and if you're wondering, that Sanjaya cookie came from the crazy folks over at Milk Fat.