President's Blog

The 2010 Scholarship and Grant Application is now posted on the chapters website on the Download Forms Page. Many scholarships will be given out to Minnesota Culinary Students. Deadline is October 15th. Don't wait do it today.

ACF national president Michael Ty, CEC, AAC, invites students and apprentices to enter the Be Like “Mike” contest for the chance to shadow him at the 2010 ACF National Convention in Anaheim, Calif. Airfare, accommodations and full registration will be provided.

To enter, applicants must submit a photo, letter of recommendation from their department chair and an essay describing how shadowing Ty during the national convention will help them attain their goal of being a culinary leader in the future. Applications must be mailed to ACF, postmarked by May 28. The winner will be announced June 21. Complete information and the application is available at www.acfchefs.org/Content/NavigationMenu2/About/Overview/President/Contest/default.htm.

We have now added a facebook Fan Page. The previous facebook page was a group page with everyone able to post to it. This appears more professional. If you have a facebook account please join.

In April we will be having a special event for Junior & Student Culinarians with an acclaimed author as our guest speaker. This event will highlight the many membership benefits that joining the ACF can offer young culinarians as they start out their fantastic careers. Education, Certification, Competitions, Networking & Seminars. We will also have food, refreshments and door prizes. 

The night of the event we will have a drawing for 5 FREE Junior/Student Culinarian memberships into the ACF/MCC. But you must register in advance to be eligible. Stay tuned.

For those of you on the social networking site Facebook. We now have a page there for those that want to become a FAN.

The website has been updated with several new items. On the main page you will see scrolling images of our Supporting Associate Members with links to their websites. (working on getting all the images the same size) Some interesting shared items from Google Reader & new job postings. I also added a page on the website for taking Polls. Some will be for fun and some will be for feedback on the chapter. Please go to the website and take the poll or go to http://www.polldaddy.com/p/1568352/ If you have any ideas or suggestions for Polls, email them to me. Looking forward to announcing the results at this months meeting.

If you have registered for this months meeting, thank you. If you are registered and can not make it please let me know because we are full. Chef Dan has limited space for 50 people.

We are currently looking for hosting sites for 2010.  If you have never hosted a meeting we always enjoy going to a new location. Of if you haven't hosted a meeting in a few years now is the time to sign up. Our goal is to have meeting sites around the entire metro area at locations that can accommodate at least 80 members. If you would like to host a meeting next year contact Vice President Pat Conway or me. Remember the St. Paul Chefs Association has disbanded and many of their members will be joining our chapter. It would be great if each Culinary School could host one meeting each year. What a great way to introduce the students to the ACF. We only meet 10 times a year and with 6 Culinary Schools that would leave only 4 other meeting sites and 1 of those is the Awards Dinner.

The subject of molecular gastronomy has been ever increasing the last few years.

Molecular gastronomy is a scientific discipline involving the study of physical and chemical processes that occur in cooking.^[3] It pertains to the mechanisms behind the transformation of ingredients in cooking and the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general (from a scientific point of view).

The ACF Minneapolis Chefs Chapter is planning on holding an informative seminar on this subject. We are currently looking for chefs with experience and knowledge with molecular gastronomy. If you or you know some one  interested have them contact a member of the board.

Also as a member of the ACF MCC what do you want to learn about molecular gastronomy?

Do you have any other ideas for cooking seminars?

Welcome to the new website. We have a new url- www.acfmcc.com. The existing website will still be up for some time. www.acfmplschefs.com. As the new the new president elect of the chapter I look forward to many advances and exciting events over the next couple of years.

Some of the highlights of this new website are-

• Member Directory (member access only)
• Monthly Minuets (member access only)
• Presidents Blog
• Discussion Forum for Members
• Registration for Monthly Meetings and Special Events
• Email Blasts and Reminders for Events
• 2 New Local Membership Levels (Non-ACF Memberships)
  • Friend of the ACF / MCC
  • Supporting Associate Membership (1 fee / multiple membership)
• Improved Links Page (Advertising for Supporting Members)

I believe this website will help us grow through better communication and support.

We can only become as strong as our membership is. We all know of the 80/20 rule. That 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. If you have always wanted to be more involved or have ideas for improving the chapter now is the time to step up and get involved.

Please contact me if you would like to serve on any chapter committees.

Jim Lund, CEC, ACE