Hot Chefs, Cool Heroes by mary elizabeth

I keep reading pieces about how high school and college aged kids, when asked to name their heroes, used to list such bastions of heroism as MLK, jr. and Gandhi, but now tend to just list off celebrities. I’m not surprised. We, as a collective consciousness, have become so cynical it’s no wonder our children find their safety and comfort in fads and fashion. There’s nothing to be done about it. When our kids are ready for heroes, they’ll find them and in the mean time we grown-ups have to try and live heroically. We have to try and be kind and respectful and honorable so that although their larger-than-life roll models may be consumerized plastic cut-outs, their local ones are real and true.

The staff here at Living Light has been pretty heroic these past few days. The Chef Showcase ended last night and it was  super fun and filled with yummy treats, but  also a ton of work. Vinnette Thompson is here for the Chef Showcase and she is definitely one of my heroes. First of all, she specializes in desserts while she’s here and I love desserts. (I swear I ate a third of a mudslide pie the other afternoon.) For the showcase, she presented a Coconut Custard Pie and Chantilly Lemon Bars. Both were absolutely delectable. That woman is a genius with textures. She’s definitely a celebrity, too. Besides being a guest instructor here at Living Light, she has her own raw business – Raw Food Underground (cool name, huh?) and she used to be the chef at the Hippocrates Institute. How cool is that? Check out her demos on-line as part of our encore package.

Of course, Living Light’s all the time heroe Cherie Soria did a fantastic job as hostess of the showcase. She was warm and engaging – she really kept things rolling and makes a fabulous television personality. She makes a fabulous heirloom tomato tart, too – another recipe you can check out on-line as part of our encore package.  You can still sign up for it and see all these hot chefs do their thing. Heroes or celebrities? You decide.

(And locals – while your thinking about it, come into our cafe – we have dessert platters on sale for $2.95!)