Deciding To Go To Chef School by Andy West

If you enjoy cooking and want a job that doesn't seem so much like work, perhaps a chef school can give you the skills and experience you need to cook in top notch restaurants around the country or even the world. Every restaurant has several cooks on staff, but the curriculum at a chef school will elevate you and your paycheck well beyond the level of any common short-order cook. Also, a quality chef school can prepare you for a number of prestigious positions in the food service industry.

Many chef school campuses also teach the business side of the culinary arts. Many graduates of chef school go on to own their own restaurant, which gives them the freedom to prepare whatever cuisine they desire. It can also allow you to go into food service management with an intimate knowledge of food preparation that will make you very marketable to employers.

Although some chef schools develop their own independent programs, many of the more desirable institutes follow guidelines provided by the American Culinary Federation Accrediting Commission. These guidelines ensure that graduates of chef school have a well-rounded culinary background, as well as practical skills that will make them valuable employees and put their success in their hands.

A true chef school will teach you far more than just how to cook, although it will definitely teach you how to master that art. It will also teach you much about the role food plays in the modern world, as well as in the past. You will become well versed in social and cultural customs and how these traditions affect the preparation of food from different areas of the world. Each region of the world has its own type of food, and many countries have diets and dishes that are exclusive. You will learn many of these foods, how to prepare them, and why they are so popular in those countries.

A chef school will also teach you the basics about nearly every kind of food, which will unlock many cooking secrets. Although many kinds of meats can be cooked in the same way with the same marinades, different meats, like beef and pork, possess different properties that, once learned, can be taken advantage of to easily produce world-class meals. After you have learned these secrets about meat, as well as fruits and vegetables, and how to use marinades, broths, and other flavoring sauces, you will be ready to create your own custom dishes and meals. Many people try to improvise and invent new dishes and meals, but with the knowledge you gain at a chef school, the question with your customized dishes won't be if it's good, but how good.

Because the costs of gaining additional education and training are a concern for nearly everyone, many chef schools offer financial aid for those that qualify. Most people are eligible for some kind of grants, and loans if necessary. Those who receive a grant, or scholarship, do not have to pay that money back, and educational loans are typically extremely low interest and payments do not start until after graduation. Many chef schools also provide mentoring and help students prepare an effective resume, as well as attract the attention of employers who may grant students jobs before graduation.

If a chef school sounds like something you would like to know more about, there are many across the country that provide quality programs that can give you comprehensive training and experience in your area of interest. Mastering a skill like the culinary arts will separate you from the masses of people that are considered unskilled workers and your paycheck will be sure to reflect the difference.

About the Author

Andy West is a freelance writer for The Culinary Institute of Virginia College. Culinard offers two outstanding chef school programs. For information on one of the most prestigious chef schools, please visit http://www.culinard.com .

A Culture of Benidorm by Philip Spires

A Culture of Benidorm by Philip Spires

Mention Benidorm and with it, by implication, the concepts of package tourism, hotel buffets, British bars with one euro a pint lager, northern English Working Men's Club turns imitating something neither themselves nor their audience have ever been, lobster-impersonating spit-burnt sunbathers and fried English breakfasts with the bacon already coated in tomato sauce, and I would bet that very few punters would auto-associate the phrase "cultural experience". More likely, perhaps, might be the image of over-revelled revellers spewing out from the industrial-sized, garish and scruffy discos along the strip at nine in the morning, seated wavering by the roadside amidst the split, cracked and squashed plastic waste which these no doubt environmentally aware individuals seem to generate by the ton.

Benidorm, certainly, is not Spain. Like many other popular mass tourism resorts around the world, it has an identity which is quite apart from its host country or hinterland. Benidorm is not Spain in the same way, perhaps, that Kuta is not Bali, Nice not France, nor Acapulco Mexico. On the same scale, Blackpool is Britain! In effect these places are melting pots of imported identity, usually with a strong flavour of the largest group of visitors. In the case of Benidorm, of course, it's the Brits. A fortnight in Benidorm can offer about as much exposure to Spanish culture as the experience of September lights in Blackpool informed the visitor of the Lancashire cotton industry. (The past tense is highly relevant here.) Equally, Benidorm juxtaposed with the word "culture" might vie for a definition of "oxymoron", alongside German with humour, Ireland with culinary and British with honest. (I may borrow here and there from our working Men's Club humour tradition, but perhaps employing a consistently different skin colour!)

Benidorm is known for its seven kilometres of perfectly kept, clean beaches, its year round tourism, its millions of visitors. It has fine places to eat in its old town and environs. It has nightlife, theme parks and five star golf resorts. It is surrounded by mountains, has an island nature reserve. And in a European sense, the area as a whole is truly cosmopolitan and increasingly sophisticated.

So when my wife and I came here about five years ago to claim a November base while we examined the possibility of a life-changing shift from work-a-day pressures, our prime goal was to investigate whether, near this tourism megalith, there might be space for a small rental business, aimed at those who might crave proximity to the iniquitous den whilst also wanting to retain a suburban distance from the rasping motorbikes, the hen and stag parties, the beachfront Harley Davidson pubs, the plastic glass discos and even the line dancing. Well we found our place and took the plunge. What we had not bargained for was "the culture".

In that first month, as late-booking package tourists ourselves, we were making our first visit to mainland Spain for 24 years and we were pleased to find an odd festivity or two. Having lived here for a few years we now know, of course, that it's actually quite hard to avoid them! The Benidorm town band - symphonic bands are the Valencian tradition, we now know - did a free concert in the salubrious Benidorm Palace, a place whose usual show apes the Folies Bergeres. The local choral society did the Venusburg music from Tannhauser alongside original compositions for the band and some populist offerings. We sought and found a sub-set of the band doing a jazz and Latino evening at the CAM Bank auditorium where, another night, there was a chamber music recital. Just along the road at the Cultural Centre in Alfaz del Pi there was an American pianist who had studied in Barcelona playing Montsalvatge. Similarly, we found a soprano giving opera arias in Calpe.

And so we bought the place and we were owners of a house with two apartments, a beautiful Mediterranean garden, proximity to the tourist hub, but still very much a part of its own town, a place with outstanding local services. Our aim was limited, pragmatic and clear. After some fifty-six years of unbroken professional employment between us, we decided that a change was potentially better than a rest. We had already lived and worked in five countries and had extended experience of several others, but we had also concluded that pounds of flesh weigh the same the world over. Though we had gained a few of these over the years, having them occasionally demanded and extracted ran the risk of their being ripped from critical areas. Over the years the pay had been good, the pressure significant and, overall, the rewards worth the pain. But times change, lives change, priorities change and people reach fifty.

This was the time to do something different, to trade income for quality. We bought a house in La Nucia, just five kilometres from Benidorm's beaches, the town's skyscraper hotels visible from our front balcony. Our aim was to establish our own niche business renting the two bedroom garden apartment while we lived a modest if sometimes indulgent life on the first floor. We have now been doing this for more than four years, have an established clientele and basically have achieved what we wanted to achieve. We will not get rich from the trade. That was never our goal. From the start we wanted to offer simple, clean, affordable accommodation at a reasonable price, modelling our pitch on the kind of place middle class backpackers like ourselves would find both satisfying and a little surprising at the price. And it has worked well. What we had not bargained for was the "culture".

For some sixteen of our thirty or so post-graduation years we had lived in London. We were vultures of the cultural type whenever energy levels ran to it. We were friends of the English National Opera during its 'power house' years. I was a teacher and, during school holidays, used to walk from Balham to central London for the lunchtime concerts, St James's in Piccadilly being my favourite venue. Then we moved to Brunei and then to the United Arab Emirates. In Brunei we were members of the Music Society and helped to organise concerts. In Abu Dhabi, cultural events were very much in the purview of the diplomatic and private sector people, and there was and remains a vibrant cultural life in the city which, after all, is the nation's capital. So we were able to attend good quality cultural events, comprising mainly music, theatre and visual arts, in both places. And then we came to Spain.

Our initial visit had suggested that there was more going on in this sphere than a browse through the package tour brochures might suggest. But if I was to relate that in the last eight months we have been to four operas, four full orchestral concerts, ten chamber music recitals, five local festivities, an international film festival, uncountable art exhibitions and goodness knows what else - and furthermore if I were to qualify this by saying that not once did we have to travel more than ten kilometres from home, would you associate this with Benidorm and the Costa Blanca? And, if you are mildly surprised by what I have just claimed, it would probably further surprise you to learn that in addition to this, Benidorm itself is building a new cultural centre, that ten kilometres down the road the new Villajoyosa Cultural Centre is about to open and that this year La Nucia, our home town, itself opened a 600-seat concert hall and a 3000-seat outside auditorium.

Perhaps I need to re-state how local is my claim. About thirty kilometres down the road from Benidorm is Alicante, a regional centre with a nineteenth century theatre presenting a full programme of ballet, drama and opera. About a hundred and forty kilometres north is Valencia, where the programme of the spectacular new Reina Sofia opera house is coordinated with those of New York's Met and London's Covent Garden. What I have described excludes those venues and only includes what can be found within ten kilometres of where we live, within ten kilometres of Benidorm, a cultural paradise.

You may have guessed that we are very keen on music, my wife and I. But we are also keen on theatre, dance, painting and the arts in general. We don't tend to go to pop festivals, but if we did we have those locally as well.

Why not check out the listings for La Nucia, Altea, Benidorm, Alfaz del Pi, Villajoyosa and Finestrat? Choose your time of year and you could attend a superb musical event every night of your stay and I guarantee that the performance standard will be as good as anywhere. And if you can also take in Joachim Palomares and his ensemble playing their arrangements of Piazzolla tangos, or Altea's April opera week or La Nucia's Les Nits festival, you are in for a real treat. And when Benidorm's new cultural centre is open, imagine glossy package tour brochures offering deals inclusive of stalls seats for Puccini or a performance of Steve Reich's Drumming! Followed, of course, by a one euro pint of lager, bacon and eggs and a northern comic, perhaps.

Saturday, 11 August 2007
About the Author

Philip Spires, born in 1952 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spent his first ten years in Sharlston, then a mining village, followed by eight in Crofton, a mile nearer Wakefield. He went to London University, where he obtained a BSc from Imperial College and a PGCE from King's. After two years as a VSO in Kenya, he taught in London for 16 years and devoted much of his spare time to assisting an NGO concerned with development and human rights. After

Becoming a chef - Culinary School or On the Job Training? by Ralph Serpe

So you are interested in the possibility of becoming a chef? You probably have many questions and are probably wondering what route to take. Are there any requirements for becoming a chef? What education is needed for becoming a chef?

As the title of this article suggests, you basically have two options toward becoming a chef and learning the fundamentals of cooking. There are actually three options, but we will discuss the third later in this article. You can either go straight to Culinary School and learn the art of cooking under the close supervision of educated Chefs, or you can head out into the real world and learn hands on cooking techniques in a fast paced restaurant setting. We will now discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

ON THE JOB LEARNING

The Advantages

The traditional method for becoming a chef was quite different years ago. One did not attend a Culinary School first before they began working. Instead, a person learned by working from the bottom up. This gave the cook hands-on real world experience, something not readily available in cooking schools today. This real world experience is more respected then a student fresh out of Culinary School, and I am sure you can understand why. A restaurant owner is not going to be impressed by a resume filled with all of the classes you took in cooking school. He or she will be more interested in whether or not you can perform in a busy and stressful kitchen environment, and you will only gain that experience by living and doing it on the job.

The Disadvantages

Working on the job also has its disadvantages. In a restaurant environment there is one main objective and that is to prepare quality dishes in a timely manner so that the customer is satisfied. Your head chef and co-workers do not have time to explain how a dish is made, or the history and culture behind the food that is prepared. It is simply too busy. So you will have to seek out your education on your own, unless of course someone is willing to take the time and teach you, but this is rarely the case.

CULINARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

The advantages of Attending a Cooking School

Culinary school can be a truly rewarding experience if you keep your eyes and ears open and apply yourself. There is much to be learned and exposed to. This is where the history, culture and techniques regarding the preparation of the food comes into play.

You can learn where the dish came from and the variety of ways to create certain dishes. You can learn how to purchase and store your ingredients. You get to work together with other students as a team, which is a very important factor in the success of your career. You may never see or prepare these dishes again, but the techniques that you pick up in Culinary School can be applied to many of the dishes that you create in the future.

Depending on the school you attend, your curriculum may include topics like pastry, nutrition, management, butchery and more. You can also receive job placement assistance. You will learn more about the various culinary organizations out there, scholarships and other programs that may be useful.

The Disadvantages of Cooking School

For the most part, a Culinary school education is theoretical learning. Cooking school is not going to prepare you for the busy and stressful environment of a real world kitchen, and this lack of preparation may present a problem when you start looking for a job.

Culinary Students have also acquired a bad reputation over the years unfortunately. The popular opinion is that graduates from cooking schools are in no way prepared to handle the stress of a busy kitchen. Why have Culinary Students been given such a bad reputation? It is because many have tried and quit when the going got rough. So the only way to overcome this is to prove yourself. You will have to dedicate yourself no matter how hard things get.

Lastly there is the cost associated with a Culinary School Education. It can be very expensive. Not only do you have to pay tuition, but you also have to pay for your books, tools and other accessories. Things can really add up. If you decide that it is not the right career path for you, you will have lost a lot of money.

GOING TO SCHOOL + ON THE JOB TRAINING

Now on to the third option that I told you we would cover later in this article: working on the job while you are attending cooking school. The advantage to this option is that you will be practicing what you are learning in school. You get to truly experience it and not just read about it in some textbook.

This is by far the best option of course but not for everyone. There will be many sacrifices when taking this route toward becoming a chef. Holding a job while going to school will be very difficult. You will be exhausted both physically and mentally, and if you do not work extra hard, your grades will suffer. If your grades suffer, then you may get less attention from your instructors. On the flip side, you may impress your instructors with your hard work and interest.

So whatever path you choose, remember the most important thing is perseverance. Without staying power and patience you will have a difficult time making it as a chef. I wish you all the best and God Bless.

About the Author

Ralph Serpe is a passionate cook and writer for http://www.chef-ability.com. Visit today to learn more about becoming a chef.

La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School in Oaxaca by Alvin Starkman

If visitors to Oaxacan cooking school La Casa de los Sabores came away with nothing more than great recipes and a gastronomic meal rich in unique herb- and spice-accented flavor combinations that are the hallmark of Oaxacan cuisine, they would leave fully satisfied. But a visit with owner and chef extraordinaire Pilar Cabrera also inspires and sates travelers with a sensual day-long immersion into sights, sounds, smells and, yes, tastes and time-tested recipes of southern Mexico.

As always, a recent culinary odyssey with Pili, as she is known, began at La Casa de los Sabores first thing in the morning - at 9:30 a.m. Over the next few hours, she introduced me and the others in the class to the wisdom and experience of her great matriarchal culinary tradition. Pili learned the basics and the subtleties, including the mysteries of the famed seven moles, from her grandmother, who learned from her grandmother before her. She is a Oaxaca-born master of southern Mexico cookery as well as international epicurean trends, capable of sharing the secrets of preparing the most multifarious meal with novice and expert alike - in English and in Spanish.

Our day began with Pili's informal talk about the menu and the foods she was going to introduce us to in one of Oaxaca's colorful markets. The extra attention to the key ingredients of Oaxacan cuisine kept us spellbound. "What we will achieve today with the chilis," she told us, "is hot and tropical ... with the Chile de agua, you will see we use it not only for flavor but color as well, and I will teach you how we keep this beautiful, brilliant green."

Once prepared with this knowledge, we all embarked on a shopping trip to the well-known marketplace, Mercado de La Merced, armed with multhued bolsas - market bags - to carry the compras - purchases. Pili had readied a partial shopping list, but, she advised us, she always adds "surprises," such as fresh foodstuffs which peasant women from the mountains sometimes bring down.

"When you have a chance to find something real special or unusual, you buy and incorporate into the comida," she explained. "Today, for instance, we look for mushrooms, because they grow so beautifully in the rainy season. Also, we will see what kind of fresh fruit we can use for the dessert."

Her insights into the unique stores and small factories enriched the short walk to the market. A rich bouquet drew us into a mill that was making chocolate from scratch. As Pilar told us about the ingredients - cacao, cinnamon, almonds and sugar - the owner welcomed us with, "do you want to taste?"

The lesson began in earnest when Pilar began methodically searching through the indoor and outdoor portions of the marketplace and exchanging pesos for its plethora of fresh produce.

"Look at that lady sitting there, what she has in those bowls," she said. "She just brought those raspberries and blackberries from the Sierra Juarez. We can use them for the dessert. Notice how fresh and beautiful. The mushrooms beside them, see the size, how big and the bright orange color ... this is the time of year, but not for our recipe today ... Over here, we don't buy the big green tomatillos. I prefer the little ones grown locally because they are not acidy like the others, and they have much more flavor, perfect for the salsa we are preparing today."

She encouraged us to smell the herbs as she explained their use in particular Oaxacan dishes. "Today we use this yierba santa for the mole," she said as she was examining samples of the fragrant leaf until she'd found the best and freshest for storage in one of our bolsas. "But we also use it to wrap fish and make tamales."

Andrea who had been in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast for six months, expressed the wish of many as she lamented, "I wish I'd been in this class at the beginning of our trip."

Our enthusiasm and our appetites grew once we returned to Doña Pili's well-equipped, spacious kitchen. Its wide counters, food preparation island and eight-burner gas stove opening onto the lush courtyard dining area made this cocina into an ideal classroom.

While we were reviewing printed recipe sheets for the dishes we were about to prepare, she displayed our purchases in baskets filled with the components of each recipe to help us learn why we bought what. Then we spent the next two hours preparing a sumptuous four-course meal.

Mary, her sous-chef, did preparatory work such as halving limes, slicing chilies and preparing chicken stock and poultry for the mole, freeing Pili to teach us the rituals and secrets of Oaxacan culinary seduction. Sparks from Pilar's hearth of experience ignited even the most learned in the class as she pointed, touched, and passed around each item we purchased, telling us how it would be incorporated into the meal.

Once the actual cooking began, she put her bilingualism to good use, giving instructions and asking questions in one language, then repeating it in the other, as required by some of her visitors. "Necesito otro ayudante para quesillo, I need another helper for the cheese." Pilar might as well be a Maestra de Español, a Spanish teacher to boot.

Everyone learned each task and participated in the preparation of virtually all menu items. And as the group peeled, diced and sautéd, Pili's gems of information flowed on. We learned much more than how to achieve flavor. Pilar taught us techniques on how to attain desired tones and textures: "A lot of people ask me about cleaning mushrooms," she said at one point, demonstrating the correct technique. "Now watch to see how we clean and seed this kind of chili," she pointed out while preparing chile guajillo for the mole. "Once we start cooking these chile de agua, we need to remember to always check them and turn them constantly." "Look for the hot part of the comal ... now this is when you know when to turn it over," she said while demonstrating the art and science of making tortillas.

Every once in a while a new recipe rolled off the tip of her tongue as we worked ... other dishes we could prepare with this particular mole; different fillings for the quesadillas such as potato, chorizo or huitlacoche, the exotic corn mold ... the texture we would want for the corn masa if we were making tamales rather than tortillas.

Soon, aprons removed, we were ready to feast. But first - "now before we sit down, remember in the market I told you there were two types of gusano worm? Here they are, so who wants to try?" she asked. "Now know about mezcal. Taste this one Alvin brought, and tell us how it seems to you. Here's another kind. What do you think is different about this one?"

We sat down at a table exquisitely set with local hand-made linens, dishes and stemware. Bottles of Mexican and Chilean red wine were already breathing. The fine music of Oaxacan songstress Lila Downs serenaded us in the background.

Pilar reminded us that her grandmother and other relatives usually prepare their comidas with meat and all vegetables mixed together in the mole, a plate of rice on the side, and a bowl of broth. But our meal, like all the recipes she prepares with visitors at La Casa de los Sabores, would be her modern take on all the elements and flavor combinations of the best that contemporary Oaxacan cookery has to offer.

It was a celebration of every ingredient. We began with wild mushroom, onion, tomato, chili and cheese stuffing in the quesadillas de champiñones (mushroom quesadillas), complemented perfectly by smoky salsa verde asada (green sauce from the grill) served in its molcajete. Then it was time to calm our palates with bright yellow crema de flor de calabaza (cream of squash blossom soup), garnished with a drizzle of real cream, toasted calabaza seeds and indeed fresh squash blossoms. The main course or plato fuerte was mole amarillo - tender slices of chicken breast atop a sea of aromatic deep saffron-colored mole, accompanied by a medley of crunchy-fresh steamed vegetables. To conclude, arroz con leche (rice pudding), speared with a length of wild vanilla bean and crowned with berries that had been picked only the day before.

I left convinced that the grandest chefs at the most trendy Manhattan beaneries would be hard-pressed to compete with this petite Oaxaqueña's ability to marry the region's complex cooking with post-modern attention to color, texture and flare. For Pilar Cabrera, it comes naturally. For the rest of us, it comes with a visit to her home.

La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School is located at Libres 205, in downtown Oaxaca. Maximum class size is 8, with private lessons available upon request. You can register for Pilar's classes by calling (951) 516-5704 or e-mailing her at: bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx. ( Websites: http://www.laolla.com.mx ; http://www.bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx )

About the Author

Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life

Hello From Toronto: A First Hand Look At Casa Loma (Part I) by Susanne Pacher

Casa Loma, Toronto's castle and the city's second most important tourist attraction, has an extremely interesting history. It was the life dream and brainchild of Sir Henry Pellatt, one of Canada's most successful industrialists and financiers in the early 20th century. After learning about the fascinating background of this unique structure in my meeting with Lou Seiler, Casa Loma's Director of Marketing, it was time to explore these fascinating buildings first hand. Lou explained that Casa Loma actually is a complex that includes several buildings: the Stables and the Hunting Lodge (construction started in 1906), and Casa Loma itself (built between 1911 and 1913). The architect was E.J. Lennox, one of Toronto's foremost architects who also built Toronto's Old City Hall, the West Wing of the Ontario Legislature - Queens Park, and the King Edward Hotel. Pellatt loved medieval architecture and drew sketches of architectural details during his trips to Europe which he passed on to his architect for inclusion in the plans of his dream castle.

After leaving the basement cafeteria, Sir Henry Pellatt's state-of-the art exercise room, Lou showed me the roughed-in swimming pool in the basement that was never finished due to lack of funds. It was supposed to be a lavish feature, clad in marble and decorated with gold swans. Then we had a quick peek into the castle's Gift Shop, whose three arches were laneways for Sir Henry's proposed bowling alley. We stayed with the underground theme and walked through an 800 foot long and 18 foot deep Tunnel past original furnace facilities that could burn the 800 tons of coal necessary to heat the entire complex over the winter. On the other side of the Tunnel we reached the Potting Shed, used to propagate the large number of plants on display around the estate. Pellatt was an avid lover of horticulture, had an extensive garden with exotic birds and animals and won several prizes for his orchids and chrysanthemums.

Our next stop was the Garage. Although these were the early days of vehicle ownership, Sir Henry Pallett owned four vehicles, and as a real pioneer of his times, he owned the first electric car in Toronto. Our underground explorations continued to several rooms that were used for growing mushrooms, part of the horticultural and culinary efforts at Casa Loma that would feed the many guests at the frequent social functions at the castle.

Back on the main floor our next destination was the Horse Stables. Sir Henry Pellatt owned several horses and Prince was the name of his favourite horse. When Prince started to lose his teeth in old age, Sir Henry had a set of false teeth made for him so his favourite horse would still be able to chew his food. Horses in general lived a great life at the Pellatt Estate: they enjoyed stalls built of mahogany, and floors of Spanish tile laid in a herringbone pattern to prevent them from slipping. Windows in the stables were hinged to open at the top so the horses would not experience any draft. Next to the Horse Stables is the Carriage Room, an impressive high-ceilinged space with a hammer beamed ceiling and decorative artwork with a wooden floor that is a foot thick.

As we walked back through the Tunnel to visit the main castle, Lou explained that members of the "Society for Creative Anachronisms" (SCA) performs medieval battle demonstrations every Sunday. The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe and has more than 30,000 members all around the world. Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, attend events which may feature tournaments, arts exhibits, classes, workshops, dancing, feasts, and more. They are also available for school visits and bring medieval culture to life.

Back in the main castle I was impressed by the Great Hall, a grand interior space 60 feet high, featuring a hammer beam roof. A 40 foot (12 m) high leaded glass window with 738 individual panes generously lets in natural light into this imposing space and gargoyles adorn the supporting columns. From here we turned into the Oak Room, whose original name was the Napoleon Drawing Room. This was indeed Sir Henry Pellatt's drawing room whose walls feature solid oak panels carved in the style of Grinling Gibbons, a famous Renaissance carver. This room was featured in the movie "Chicago" as Richard Gere's law office.

Then we went all the way up to the 3rd floor past the Queens Own Rifles Museum and started climbing up to the Scottish Tower. There are two towers at Casa Loma that can be accessed by the public. The Scottish Tower is enclosed, and can be accessed through 3 sets of narrow staircases above the third floor. Casa Loma is a castle that you can explore from top to bottom, including the rafters and open spaces under the roof! The Norman Tower features an open-air platform and is currently closed to the public. I was amazed that all these different areas are accessible to visitors, you can literally explore all the various nooks and crannies of this historic structure.

Despite the drizzly weather, the view from the Scottish tower was phenomenal. Casa Loma sits on a hill overlooking downtown Toronto, with views as far as Hamilton and Niagara Falls on a clear day. I had to line up at the winding staircases for people to file upstairs and downstairs before it was my turn to get to the highest point of the castle.

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our FREE ebooks about travel.

Learning Thai Massage in Koh Samui. by alisterbredee

Marloas is nineteen years old and she comes from Rotterdam in Holland. She is in gap year from school and has taken the time to travel in Asia. She has been on the road for four months and as the trip winds to a close she has come to the Health Oasis Resort in Koh Samui to learn Thai massage.

"This is one of the best things I did on my trip,' she enthuses. "While I was travelling I had massages. It felt so nice that I decided I would like to learn how to do it!" "It's just for fun. I have learned it for myself and to help my friends and family." No, she does not want to become a massage therapist. Her goal is to train as a medical doctor, and this preparation in massage could well help her in her aspiration to study western medicine.

Her twenty-hour course stretched over a leisurely five and a half days. So she has plenty of time for rest and relaxation in the swimming pool and on the beach beside. She laughs when she says, "I enjoyed the rest!" "I also really liked the Course with Thai instructor Nan." Nan, by the way started her studies at the prestigious Wat Pho in Bangkok which serves as the premier massage teaching facility in Thailand. "She really gets the students to practice a lot. She's very kind and supportive, too and that helped a whole lot!" Says the young Dutch student. "She taught me to apply my whole body in making the massage strokes." Marloas explains she was always afraid that her hands would become tired whilst massaging, but she was surprised to find that instead she felt energised. "I now know the pressure points and understand how to make people relax."

The course that Marloas attended is not designed to turn out professional therapists. It is certificated but is designed for self-development and general interest. For those eager to learn Thai massage for professional use, Health Oasis Resort offers a more intensive fifty hour period of instruction, and this too comes with a certificate.

Massage is one of several subjects that visitors can learn at the Bang Po beachside resort. Other topics include Thai Cookery, Reiki, Meditation and EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique. The Thai cooking is interesting because it is geared very much to the visitor to the Kingdom. Many people have enjoyed eating Thai food in restaurants worldwide and on coming to Thailand have taken the experience to another dimension. What Health Oasis encourages is to teach visitors how to cook their favourite dishes. Naturally this requires a little notice because the instructors have to go to the market and buy the freshest ingredients possible so the 'trainee chef' can prepare that favourite meal. Once you have cooked it, all you then have is the pleasure of sitting down and eating your creation and hopefully you have invited some friends or loved ones to share this unique experience with you.

Like the Massage training that Marloas underwent you can also take the recipe and knowledge of your newly acquired Thai culinary art back home with you as a very practical souvenir of your visit to Thailand. Surely that will add to the overall enjoyment of your holiday in "the land of smiles"

About the Author

Alister Bredee is a freelance author specialising in articles on health related topics. He is also a health care practitioner and trainer. He is the "Behaviour Change Therapist" at www.healthoasisresort.org He currently lives in Koh Samui and can be contacted via his website: www.healthambit.com

Hello From Sicily - Italian Studies, A Pottery Lesson And A Hike Up Mount Etna by Susanne Pacher

On a gorgeous morning following a good sleep after last night's cooking lesson I woke up at about 6 am and stepped out on the balcony of my hotel room. The sun was just coming up, and the sky was filled with shades of purple and pink. Far away I could see the outline of a strip of land: the Italian mainland, more precisely the Region of Calabria, was visible on this clear day for the first time. The aerial distance between Taormina and the southern tip of Italy is about 40 kilometres, and this sunrise view across the Ionian Sea was simply gorgeous.

I decided to get up early and take a stroll through beautiful Taormina, before the hustle and bustle of the day would kick in. My hotel, Hotel Villa Nettuno, is located on the north side of town on Via Pirandello, outside of the city's gates. I really enjoyed the location since it was quieter and yet just steps away from the amazingly busy Corso Humberto, Taormina's main street in a pedestrian area.

Having strolled through the northeastern Porta di Messina I reached a still quiet piazza in front of the Palazzo Corvaja, seat of the first Sicilian Parliament and today the location of Taormina's tourist office. A few of the locals were already up, taxi drivers were getting ready for their first fares, while the pedestrian street of Corso Humberto was still almost completely devoid of people. I reached Taormina's main square: Piazza IX Aprile which features a large panoramic terrace facing the Mediterranean and Mount Etna. Two churches, San Giorgio and San Giuseppe, adorn this square, and the famous Torre dell' Orologio ("clock tower"), featuring the Porta di Mezzo gate, and the famous Wünderbar Café anchor this public space on its western side. I could even see most of the volcano today on this relatively clear day. There are not many views that compare with the beautiful vista that spread out in front of me from this lookout point.

My walk on the Corso Umberto continued to the western edge of town where I passed through the Porta di Catania, the western city gate featuring the coat of arms of the Municipality of Taormina. From there I walked to a small park which features another beautiful lookout point that faces straight towards Mount Etna. After absorbing this gorgeous picture and trying to burn it permanently into my retina I started to make my way back, this time along the Via Roma, the picturesque road on the southern edge of town high above the coastline of the Ionian Sea. No wonder Taormina is such a popular tourist destination, the physical beauty of this town and the surrounding area is stunning.

Well, after this hour long walk I definitely deserved my breakfast and reviewed a bit of Italian grammar on the gorgeous terrace of the Hotel Villa Nettuno before I made my way to the Babilonia Language School. Punctually at 9:30 our lesson started and our grammar teacher Carlo familiarized us with the "preposizioni semplici" - the contracted Italian prepositions that are formed from a combination of the actual preposition together with the article. Prepositions are always complicated topics in any language, and Carlo patiently and succinctly explained to us the usage of "in" or "per" to express time in different contexts. We continued with a variety of games to help us remember the use of Italian prepositions, a fun and effective way to learn and retain complicated linguistic concepts.

Just before noon I had an opportunity to complete another interview: Alessandro, Babilonia's director, connected me with Donatella Rapisardi, a local Taormina based artist, who provides some of the Pottery Decorating Classes for Babilonia students. For millennia, Sicily has been at the confluence of cultures: the Phonecians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swebians, Spanish and French have all left their imprint in this culturally rich area, and pottery has been an important craft in Sicily for many centuries.

I met Donatella at the local Hotel del Corso, right on Corso Umberto, where she offers pottery decorating classes on the rooftop terrace with a perfect view of the Palazzo del Duca Santo Stefano with Mount Etna as a backdrop. The weather was gorgeous, the sky was blue: I cannot imagine a more scenic location for pottery painting than Donatella's rooftop retreat.

Donatella Rapisardi is a gifted local artists who works in a variety of media. She also heads an organization called the "Grupo Artistico de Perseo" which organizes various exhibitions and art projects throughout town and the entire region. The group consists of five permanent artist members and a number of other affiliated artists that are coordinated by Donatella and her team. In addition to ceramics, Donatella also creates mosaics using marble and different types of stone) and handles wood restoration.

She explained that the pottery decorating lesson starts with plain terracotta pieces such as vases or tiles on which students apply the design they wish to paint. Two different types of processes are used for pottery painting, Donatella explained in her machine gun Italian: "lavorare a freddo" means that the pieces are painted without firing them, and "lavorare a caldo" refers to painted pottery pieces that are fired in a kiln to preserve the painting.

Traditional Sicilian colours such as blue, yellow and green are often used in the ceramics decorating process, although the students are completely free to create their own design and colour choices. Donatella guides them, makes suggestions and gives the students advice when they need it. She also explained that the tiles offer an advantage since they are easy to handle and transport and they offer a great surface for landscape images.

The course includes three lessons per week, and is particularly popular with Babilonia language students from Japan and the United States. Donatella added that Japanese students in particular are extremely precise and detail-oriented and very gifted when it comes to applying decorative painting to pottery. This may have something today with their exposure to the popular Japanese tradition of calligraphy.

Often Donatella's students become her friends and she invites them into her home and does a culinary exchange: Donatella will create a variety of Sicilian specialties while her students prepare various tasty treats from their home country. She indicated that to this day she receives emails from some of her Japanese students from years ago, and she enjoys it every time when she receives international correspondence from her previous students.

After having lived in Umbria, another beautiful region of Italy, Donatella moved back to Taormina several years ago which she really enjoys and which inspires her creativity. She also teaches children's art courses and volunteers for some local schools. She showed me a couple of pieces that had been completed by students and three of her own works of art. I mentioned I would have loved to see her studio to see more of her own art. Maybe next time.

Following this interesting side trip another excursion was waiting for me: punctually at 2:30 pm eleven people were assembled in front of the Babilonia Language School, ready to go hiking on Mount Etna whose summit is located at an altitude of over 3200 m. Peppe Celano, Babilonia's social activities coordinator and one of the language teachers, was ready to introduce us first-hand to Sicily's highest mountain and an active volcano.

As a matter of fact, Mount Etna had just erupted a few days ago on April 30, but unfortunately I did not see it. The eruption was only a few hours long, and one of my co-students saw the red lava stream at night! So today we would see Europe's largest volcano up close.

Peppe had rented a small van and a small passenger car to carry all the participants. Our drive to the parking lot on the southern flanks of Mount Etna took about an hour and twenty minutes. We drove through local towns such as Giarre and Zafferana Etna where Peppe explained that near this area the Arabs used to cultivate saffron, hence the name.

The day was overcast and rather cool, a windproof jacket and a nice sweater were definitely in order. We parked our vehicles on a rather isolated parking lot and got ready for our climb. The lower part of our climb took us through a forested area where the leafs were just starting to come out. Not surprisingly, at almost 2000 m of altitude, the plant growing cycle is a little slower, even on a subtropical island such as Sicily.

Peppe explained that the local fauna includes chestnut, oak and birch trees which have all existed here since before the last ice age. We walked single file along a steep narrow path that was punctuated with many roots and stones, right along a precipice with many lookouts towards the famous "Valle del Bove" (Valley of the Ox), site of layers upon layers of lava flows.

Our steep hike continued for about an hour and took us from 2000 m in altitude to 2400 m to an area with a perfect view, facing the recent lava flows in the Valle del Bove. The summit area of the volcano stretched out right in front of us. Our area was a side summit designated by a cross and a broad natural ledge that our group used as a perfect posing area for our group shots of our conquest of Mount Etna. We spent about half an hour at the top of this side summit, chatting, snapping pictures and generally enjoying our mountain adventure.

On the way down three ladies, one from Switzerland, one from Germany and one from Austria (me) raced down the mountain in about 20 minutes. Coming down was a heck of a lot easier than going up, and almost sprinting down this steep mountainous pathway was rather exhilarating in itself. Once all the other mountaineers arrived we set off to visit a local winery. The "Murgo" vineyards were just about 15 minutes away, located in the fertile foothills of Mount Etna and many people in our group bought red, white and sparkling wines. An animated discussion followed in the van and by 7 pm we had arrived back in the school.

After a brief refreshment back at the hotel, a group of us met at a local pizzeria called "Trocadero", right next to the Porta di Messina, where we were going to have a nice dinner. For some of us this Thursday evening was our last night in Taormina; I was going to leave tomorrow night to go to Milazzo while another person was going on an excursion to the Eolian Islands. Most of our group members were leaving Taormina this weekend, and we were all commenting how much we have been enjoying our experience.

Everyone around the table was a German speaker: we had three folks from Germany, two from Switzerland and myself, originally from Austria. Given the linguistic differences throughout the German-speaking countries, we all mentioned that each one of us has to speak "Hochdeutsch" (Standard German) in order to be understood by the rest of the group. All of us speak fairly strong dialects that would essentially be incomprehensible to German-speakers from other regions, so we get by, speaking the standard version of our language. For me this exposure to other Europeans was really enjoyable. Having lived more than 20 years in Canada, I hardly ever come in contact with German speakers, so this experience of enjoying a nice meal, speaking in my mother tongue, was a definite treat.

By 9:30 pm I started to get really tired since I had already gone on a one-hour walk through Taormina before breakfast, followed by another walk through town to meet Donatella, the pottery decoration artist, capped off by a short yet strenuous hike up Mount Etna. And tomorrow was after all going to be my last day in Taormina, so it was time to rest.

One thing is for sure, when you come to Taormina for language studies you definitely don't get bored.

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel.

5 Things You'll Learn In Culinary School by Andy West Many people consider attending a culinary school, either because they want to pursue a culinary career or because they just want to learn to cook for their own enjoyment. Sometimes, though, people can be skeptical about whether a specialized culinary education, or even a few cooking classes, is really necessary. If you are among the latter group, here is a list of five important things you will learn in culinary school. Basic Nutrition: Nutrition is about more than what the label on the back of a package tells you. In fact, food labels can be appallingly misleading. Your body needs a host of vitamins and minerals every day in order to maintain its good health, as well as other things such as calories and fiber. Unfortunately, food labels are usually geared to sell, and can sometimes confuse and mislead consumers. Think, for example, about the subcategories listed under the total carbohydrates: sugar and fiber. Often, however, these amounts don't add up to the total carbohydrates. What does this mean? How do sugar and carbohydrates differ? In addition to confusing packaging labels, you have to worry about how to ensure that your family is getting the necessary amounts of nutrients, even though many of the vitamins and minerals we need aren't listed on most food labels. How do you make sure that a meal is nutritionally sound, yet still delicious and satisfying? These are the kinds of nutritional questions that an education from a culinary school can answer. Chemistry: A cooking education will also teach you about chemistry. However, we're not talking about beakers and smelly chemicals, like in high school. At a culinary school, you will learn about applied chemistry. Every time you cook something, whether it is meat, vegetables, or pastries, a chemical reaction happens. That chemical reaction can change or enhance the flavor and texture of the food. For instance, the chemical reaction can be as simple as the softening of tough vegetables when you boil them in water, or as exotic as lighting the top of a pie or an alcoholic drink on fire. Being able to control these chemical reactions is an important part of being a good cook. A culinary school will teach you different ways of cooking foods, and how each method can affect the taste and texture of the food. Spices: Spices are a mystery for most people. Indeed, many people never venture beyond salt, pepper, and maybe some basil and parsley. Cooking with spices is an art, however, and can be used to change and enhance the flavor of food in any number of ways. There are dozens of different spices to choose from, though, so how do you know what spices go best with what foods, let alone with each other? An education from a culinary school will teach you how to use spices to the food's best advantage, enabling you to enhance flavors in ways you never dreamed were possible. Visual Arrangement: You've probably heard it said before that cooking is an art. Well, the culinary art is about more than simply preparing the food. It is also about how you arrange it. The visual presentation of a dish can make a difference between your basic restaurant food and an exquisite dining experience. Visual arrangement is a vital skill for professional chefs. A culinary school can teach you how to arrange food to look the most pleasing and artistic, delighting your guests and enhancing their enjoyment beyond mere taste sensations. Even if you aren't going to pursue a career as a chef, however, food arrangement can be a valuable skill. Just think about how you could impress your friends and family, perhaps even coaxing a picky child into eating his or her vegetables. Wine: Connoisseurs know that the ability to match the perfect wine to an exquisite meal is one of the finest culinary arts. Choosing wine is a study in subtlety, as every wine has a slightly different taste. The minor variance can make all the difference in whether a wine goes better with fish or pasta, steak or chicken. It is vital for anyone in the culinary industry to be knowledgeable about wine, but many people are interested in wine regardless of their cooking skills. Wine has always been a symbol of culture, with connoisseurs attending wine tastings and collecting exotic wines in their own homes. Taking classes from a culinary school is the best way to learn all about wine, its subtleties and how to match it successfully with different foods. As you can see, an education from a culinary school has value for many people, whether you intend to pursue a culinary career, cook for your own pleasure, or provide delicious and balanced meals for your family. You can sign up for just a few cooking classes, or for the specialized degree, but either way you are bound to learn things you never knew before. About the Author Andy West is a freelance writer for The Culinary Institute of Virginia College. Culinard offers two outstanding Culinary School programs. Please visit http://www.culinard.com .

Hello From Ottawa: An Authentic Aboriginal Dining Experience At Sweetgrass Bistro by Susanne Pacher

As always, I like to focus on unconventional travel ideas and experiences, and food is part of this experience. So before I left for Ottawa I called up the ByWard Market Business Improvement Association to find out about any interesting dining establishments. Sure enough, they had a creative suggestion for me: an establishment named Sweetgrass Bistro that specializes in aboriginal cuisine.

So after my arrival in Ottawa and my initial explorations I made my way to the ByWard Market, Ottawa's largest and most dynamic entertainment and restaurant area. Sweetgrass Bistro is located in a former private home on 108 Murray Street at the north end of the market area.

You walk inside and the place has a bar area with an open concept kitchen on the left and a dining room to the right. The atmosphere is calm and understated and aboriginal art is adorning the walls. I had a chance to sit down with Phoebe Sutherland, one of the co-owners of Sweetgrass. She and husband Warren opened this dining establishment in late 2003.

Phoebe has an interesting story to tell: she is of Cree origin and grew up in Northern Quebec in the James Bay area. She lived on the reserve until age 10 and spent her childhood camping, enjoying nature, snaring rabbits, and from a culinary point of view she got exposed to a lot of game meats including rabbit and moose.

At 10 years of age she moved and went to a private school in Quebec near the Vermont Border. She later attended Grenville Christian College in Brockville and after high school she enrolled at Algonquin College in Ottawa to complete a program in hotel and restaurant management. Following her graduation she wanted to expand her education in culinary arts and decided to pursue a degree program in this discipline. Since no Canadian university offered a degree in culinary arts she went on to attend the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont where she honed her practical experience in two internship programs. Her first internship was at a four star French establishment named Hammersly's Bistro in Boston and her second one was at the Asticou Inn in North East Harbour, Maine. The cuisine at this historic inn focused on seafood which was a great learning opportunity for Phoebe.

She met her husband Warren in her second year of school where he was studying a year behind her. Warren had given up his studies in electrical engineering to pursue a career in creative culinary arts. After graduation, both Phoebe and Warren moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she studied transcontinental cuisine, a mixture of South-Western cooking and world fusion. Phoebe went on to say that she was the only female in an all Mexican kitchen crew and through the interaction with her co-workers she learned a lot about traditional Mexican foods as well. That also explained why Sweetgrass has a Mexican Tortilla soup on its spring menu.

After this experience Phoebe and Warren moved back to Canada and decided to get married. Less than a year later, at the young age of 27, they started their restaurant business with funding assistance for Young Aboriginal Entrepreneurs. I asked Phoebe about the name of their restaurant and she explained that at the time they were considering two names: "Sweetgrass" and "Smoke Signal". Sweetgrass, the final choice, is a tall perfumy grass that grows mostly in marshy areas and it has a long tradition in aboriginal culture. It is used in prayers, woven into braids and baskets and also used as a tea by a variety of aboriginal tribes.

"Sweetgrass" is the only aboriginal restaurant in Ottawa and only the second restaurant specializing in native cuisine in all of Canada. Phoebe explained that they integrate foods from different aboriginal tribes from all over Canada, the United States and Mexico and they use a lot of herbs, grains and different types of meat such as elk, buffalo, duck, pheasant, rabbit and various types of fish. The menu changes seasonally to reflect the availability of specialized ingredients.

I had a chance to sample Sweetgrass' unique cuisine and started off with "Wabush Dumplings" which are pan-fried rabbit dumplings in a honey mustard sauce with Bryson greens in a citrus vinaigrette. I am usually not a big meat eater, but the subtle flavour of these rabbit dumplings complemented by the savoury sauce was very pleasant to my palate. As a main dish I chose the "Rustic Mahnoomin Siipai", a purely vegetarian dish consisting of wild rice dumplings filled with great northern beans, topped with wild greens and a spring vegetable sauce, a multi-flavoured, yet surprisingly filling dish. To cap off this exotic dining experience I had "Mom's Indian Buudin", a beautifully presented dense, dark-coloured cake, reminiscent of Christmas cake.

Phoebe had joined me for dinner and told me a bit about her childhood, growing up on a reserve and then moving away to small towns in Quebec and Ontario. She says she enjoyed the simple life on the reserve and as children they would always play outside. One of her favourite activities was to search for wild strawberries. Today the lodge in her village has been turned into a conference centre and although 8 or 9 hours northeast of Ottawa, the area where she was born attracts a lot more tourists.

Phoebe and her husband Warren, originally from Jamaica, share a passion for food. Every year they participate in the ByWard Market Stew Cookoff and this year they won the People's Choice Award for best stew. They also regularly participate in a local food show in a small town outside of Ottawa which is a true collaboration between farmers, who provide local produce and meats, and chefs, who turn these precious ingredients into mouthwatering delicacies. Last year about 600 to 800 people attended the food festival.

Phoebe and Warren Sutherland's creation "Sweetgrass" is a unique addition to Ottawa's food scene and testimony to two young, talented and hardworking people who share an absolute passion for food.

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel.

Culinary Training Isn't A Cakewalk by Andy West

A career as a chef can be fulfilling and challenging, and if you have a passion for food culinary training may be a perfect fit. However, it isn't easy. Anyone who has attended a culinary institute can tell you that the education you receive goes far beyond simply learning how to throw together a few meals. In fact, you learn much more than just cooking.

Being a successful chef also involves being able to manage your kitchen properly, work well with your staff and understand nutrition, food purchasing and plenty of other things that go beyond the stove or oven. Culinary training can be an eye-opening experience for many students as they prepare for their career in the food and restaurant industry.

Training to be a chef may be challenging, but it's also incredibly rewarding. There are few careers that so perfectly blend creativity and a love of food with a practical skill to yield a job that can propel you onto a successful career path in any number of areas. With the proper culinary training you can work at resorts, restaurants and clubs almost anywhere in the world. You may even find yourself working on a cruise ship.

Choose Culinary Training That's Comprehensive

If you want the best training possible, look at the curriculum offered at each school you are considering. If the focus is just cooking, you will be missing some important components that will make your culinary degree marketable when you graduate. The most comprehensive programs will have six distinct areas, each of which will break down further into specific units, some with basic, intermediate and advanced courses.

Food Service and Sanitation This is the foundation of everything a chef or food service worker must know. If food is improperly handled, nothing else matters. Unsanitary conditions are absolutely unacceptable at any establishment no matter how talented you are.

Culinary Arts and Cooking The core of most programs, these courses will have a variety of names, but will usually focus on a variety of cooking styles and procedures, usually focusing on savory dishes. Food Science and Nutrition Understanding the make-up and nutritional content, taste and value of ingredients and foods. In today's health-conscious society these courses are more important than ever, particularly if you would like to go on to work in a setting such as a spa or luxury resort. Understanding the way various flavors and textures interact and react is also a part of food science.

Purchasing Learning cost analysis, how to evaluate and purchase individual ingredients, and knowing how much you will need along with where to shop. All of these are elements of purchasing that are central to being a successful chef. You can't cook well if you don't know where to get the right ingredients and how to work within a budget.

Mixology This is sometimes called beverage service or viniculture, and is the art of understanding how wines, alcohols and liqueurs complement and interact with foods. No fine meal is complete without the proper accompaniment of wine or alcoholic beverage, and being knowledgeable enough to select the proper accompaniment is essential.

Pastries and Baking Some culinary training programs will offer pastry and baking education as a part of the culinary arts, while others will offer a complete curriculum specializing in this as a separate discipline (some offer both options). Baking science is much different than cooking and has different rules and methods, so it requires separate attention to some degree. Because there are so many types of breads and pastries, many schools offer a complete course in this for those wishing to become specialized pastry chefs.

Some schools that offer culinary training will allow you to download their curriculum to review. This is a great way to see if they cover the basics, how much time they dedicate to each topic and what you will be covering in each class. Choosing a school without seeing the complete curriculum is like purchasing a car without a test drive, so be sure to know what you'll be learning and how many hours you'll be spending learning each technique or topic during your culinary training.

About the Author

Andy West is a freelance writer for The Culinary Institute of Virginia College. Culinard offers two outstanding culinary programs. For more information on one of the most prestigious culinary institutes in the U.S., please visit http://www.culinard.com .

How to Become a Chef by Vincent Pham

Everyone in the world loves food. There is sooner or later a difference of opinion between eating homemade food and the food that you will get in a five star eating place or any other high quality dining establishment. The main difference between homemade and eating house food will be the cook. For homemade food the homeowner is the Godhead of any meals that you will eat. In a eating place it is a chef who prepares those meals. For anyone who aspires to become a chef there are certain educational goals that must be fulfilled. First off, the aspiring chef must be fain to spend long hours standing on their feet and they must get put-upon to workings at any time of the day or the night. So if you are not ready for this passing gruelling modus vivendi then it is very reasoned to change the course of your career.

For those people who still desire to become a chef the main element that is required is hands-on experience. This experience coupled with an education in the culinary arts has the potential to give you an opening in the culinary art business. You should make this experience as early as possible, perhaps by working in a restaurant while you are in high school.

Even if you are not cooking food, you still have the chance to observe and understand what is needed for the preparation of meals for a large number of people. From this starting point you can decide whether you want to become a chef or if you will become frustrated after a duo of years of cooking food for faceless people who will never know that you made their meals.

As an educational backdrop you should see if there are any first-class culinary schools that you can enrol in. Here you will be presumption the fundamentals of cuisine. Besides scholarship how to prepare and cook food, you will also receive teaching in presenting the food to the client artistically. This preliminary educational breeding period can last for about four years.

At this point you should hopefully have some real experience in a eating place in addition to your culinary education to employ for a position in the cordial reception trade. While you are workings here for the first time you will first be precondition tasks like sloughing and cutting assorted vegetables and meats.

In addition you may have the task of laundry the plates, pans and other utensils that are needed for the preparation of meals. These tasks, while you might consider them menial, are in fact the grounding upon which you will become a chef.

After you have spent some years learning the ropes you can move on to the actual clientele of decorous a chef. The main thing that you must remember is that to become a chef takes perseverance, hard work, and a little luck.

About the Author

Vincent Pham will give you some more guidelines to walk you through all the cooking processes, from the begining to the end, for more advices and tips by visiting become a chef or homemade food website.

The Excalibur Hotel And Casino Is A Grand Las Vegas Hotel by Mary Hanna

There are many New Orleans Hotels but for a Boutique Hotel in the very heart of New Orleans there is one that holds a higher standard, The Bienville House on the edge of the French Quarter. It is a very distinctive property with style and grace.

The Bienville House has all of the unique elegance of a French Quarter Manor. A crystal blue pool is surrounded by a flagstone courtyard and is overlooked by many of the room's wrought iron balconies. There are four sundecks for you to relax and savor the ambience.

This lovely hotel started as a grain warehouse but it has gone through many manifestations since then to become the boutique hotel it is today.

In the beginning it was Planter's Rice Mill, then Thompson's Rice Mill and Southern Syrup Manufacturing. Then, in 1985, the building was completely transformed into the North American Hotel. The original advertising stated it was a delightful summer residence for Ladies and Gentlemen. Unfortunately the hotels owners went their separate ways and the building was divided into a boarder's hotel and a fire house. Then it was converted to 20 luxury apartments and started the rival of Decatur Street. In 1972, after surviving a fire from across the street, it was purchased by the Monteleone Family.

The location of the Bienville hotel on Decatur Street mixes the old and new of the charming French Quarter. With its lovely wrought iron balconies this intimate property is the closest to the French Quarter and therefore many attractions are close by. Some of them include Aquarium of the Americas, Canal Place Shopping Center (including Saks Fifth Avenue and Brooks Brothers), Woldenberg Park, IMAX Theater and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. From this New Orleans hotel you can be spellbound by the stars at the Hard Rock Café while still enjoying the historic French quarter with it's many famous eateries and scenery.

From this splendid location you can find antique shops, New Orleans's signature Jazz Clubs, famous restaurants, beautiful historic buildings, voodoo shops, museums, the wharf and more. Just blocks from the exciting 24 hour Bourbon Street, you can find spectacular antiques and art galleries on Royal Street.

AAA has awarded it the coveted Three Diamond title and the Bienville is a member of the Historic Hotels of America. This boutique hotel consistently works hard to go beyond the standards that are demanded of that title.

They have a restaurant, the Louisiana Heritage Café that also serves as a school of cooking. In its casual setting it offers seafood, pasta, soup and salads in the New Orleans tradition. Some of Chef Faroldi's dishes include Seafood Beignets with Remoulade Sauce, Blackened Catfish topped with Crawfish Etouffée and the famous "Rajun Cajun" Omelets. It is located on the first floor of the hotel and serves three meals a day.

The culinary lessons at the Louisiana Heritage Café can be for individuals or groups. Anyone can attend these lessons. The delicious fare is typically Cajun and Creole and while the chef is preparing the dishes he offers historic stories that will compliment his presentation.

For the business person Bienville House Hotel has a charming space for small meetings or parties for up to 100 guests. In the board room, which will hold 12, you can see the historic roots of this New Orleans Hotel in the exposed brick from the 1800's. Within this board room you will find all of the amenities, like a wireless internet, and a wide range of AV equipment. The Vieux Carre room has 1,318 square feet available for larger meetings. All catering needs will be met by the staff at the Louisiana Heritage Café.

After your business meetings, the location of the Bienville House will delight your fellow attendees. With attractions like Bourbon Street, Jax Brewery, Jackson Square, the Mississippi Riverfront, Harrah's Casino and the Canal Street and St Charles Avenue Streetcar lines your peers will have plenty of things to occupy them. With it's proximity to New Orleans Central Business district the Bienville House Hotel's prestigious address it's a natural for any business person.

They have what they call The Corporate Executive Option to give all business travelers a satisfying experience. Then, after a successful day, the business traveler is mere steps from the city's greatest restaurants, jazz establishments and shops. This plan offers the best rates with superior accommodations and many amenities. In your room you will find plenty of space to work with large desks, phones with data ports and cable TV. Included in this option is express check-in and check-out. You can count on the staff's support to help arrange a small meeting or a corporate reception. You couldn't do better than these elegant surroundings with state of the art equipment.

When you are thinking of taking a trip to Las Vegas, consider the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. It has everything you would expect of any Las Vegas Hotel. There is world class dining, plenty of entertainment and lots of casino action.

In the rooms you will find warm comforting tones and hardwood furniture. They have all the amenities, high speed internet access, hair dryers, irons and cable TV. There is an amusing room called the Turret with a castle theme. In the other standard rooms they offer either a king size bed or two queen sized beds. The luxurious spa rooms have a spa built for two, which is not only relaxing but romantic to boot. In a parlor suite you will find a full living room, dining area, a guest bathroom, a refrigerator and a marble spa and shower.

In this Las Vegas Hotel you will find everything you want in a fun and friendly atmosphere. At this castle you can take pleasure in slots or table games, a poker room, race and sports book service and round the clock Keno. There are many slots and electronic games ranging from one cent to one hundred dollars. The table games are Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, Baccarat and Mini-Baccarat. In the Race and Sports room you can bet on horse races, dog races, or your favorite sports team. For Entertainment you can choose The Tournament Of Kings dinner show with jousting and dancing maidens. Or how about Thunder from Down Under with the hottest hunks from Australia. If you need a good laugh catch Louie Andersons show Larger Than Life.

In this Castle naturally the buffet is King. There enough entrees to please everyone. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and don't miss the Champagne Sunday Brunch. The Steakhouse At Camelot has won awards from Zagat for it's food and service. They offer the most tender beef and fresh seafood that is flown in everyday. You can arrange to have a private dining room.

At Sir Galahads, order their prime aged beef that has been seasoned in rock salt and ground pepper. It is then slow roasted and sliced right at your table. Here too, there are private rooms available.

If you feel like Italian food, go to Regale Italian Eatery. They have all the usual food you would find in an Italian Restaurant. You will find, pizza, pasta and lasagna along with their specialties like shrimp scampi, chicken and veal. Try their famous Family Style Dinner while you are there.

Then there is the Sherwood Forest Grille and the Village Food Court both with more affordable prices. Perfect for when you just want a quick bite.

The Royal Treatment Spa is the place to be if you want to feel like a King or Queen. It has 13,000 square feet and overlooks the pool area. It is a world class spa and will pamper you with its wide variety of treatments. You can work out in the fitness center or get pampered in one of its eleven treatment rooms.

If you want a Fairy tale wedding, the Excalibur is the place to go. Their Canterbury Wedding Chapel will celebrate your wedding in a beautiful, traditional setting that you would expect at a castle. They have wedding coordinators that will help you with your photos, rehearsal dinner, flowers and the reception. It will create fond memories for you to cherish for a lifetime.

Excalibur's full-service catering staff can help you plan any kind of special event - from small meetings to grand galas.

For other activities other than gambling or eating, there are 17 shops on the Castle Walk, a gaming arcade, a gorgeous pool and plenty world class golf courses to choose from.

The Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a Las Vegas Hotel that will cater to all of your needs.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

About the Author

Mary Hanna has traveled the world by Air and Ship while writing eBooks, Software Reviews and Practical Articles on Internet Marketing, Cruising, Gardening and Travel. Visit her websites at: http://www.WorldHotelPortal.com and http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com You can read more of her articles at http://www.ArticleBazaar.net

When Looking For New Orleans Hotels Try The Bienville House by Mary Hanna

There are many New Orleans Hotels but for a Boutique Hotel in the very heart of New Orleans there is one that holds a higher standard, The Bienville House on the edge of the French Quarter. It is a very distinctive property with style and grace.

The Bienville House has all of the unique elegance of a French Quarter Manor. A crystal blue pool is surrounded by a flagstone courtyard and is overlooked by many of the room's wrought iron balconies. There are four sundecks for you to relax and savor the ambience.

This lovely hotel started as a grain warehouse but it has gone through many manifestations since then to become the boutique hotel it is today.

In the beginning it was Planter's Rice Mill, then Thompson's Rice Mill and Southern Syrup Manufacturing. Then, in 1985, the building was completely transformed into the North American Hotel. The original advertising stated it was a delightful summer residence for Ladies and Gentlemen. Unfortunately the hotels owners went their separate ways and the building was divided into a boarder's hotel and a fire house. Then it was converted to 20 luxury apartments and started the rival of Decatur Street. In 1972, after surviving a fire from across the street, it was purchased by the Monteleone Family.

The location of the Bienville hotel on Decatur Street mixes the old and new of the charming French Quarter. With its lovely wrought iron balconies this intimate property is the closest to the French Quarter and therefore many attractions are close by. Some of them include Aquarium of the Americas, Canal Place Shopping Center (including Saks Fifth Avenue and Brooks Brothers), Woldenberg Park, IMAX Theater and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. From this New Orleans hotel you can be spellbound by the stars at the Hard Rock Café while still enjoying the historic French quarter with it's many famous eateries and scenery.

From this splendid location you can find antique shops, New Orleans's signature Jazz Clubs, famous restaurants, beautiful historic buildings, voodoo shops, museums, the wharf and more. Just blocks from the exciting 24 hour Bourbon Street, you can find spectacular antiques and art galleries on Royal Street.

AAA has awarded it the coveted Three Diamond title and the Bienville is a member of the Historic Hotels of America. This boutique hotel consistently works hard to go beyond the standards that are demanded of that title.

They have a restaurant, the Louisiana Heritage Café that also serves as a school of cooking. In its casual setting it offers seafood, pasta, soup and salads in the New Orleans tradition. Some of Chef Faroldi's dishes include Seafood Beignets with Remoulade Sauce, Blackened Catfish topped with Crawfish Etouffée and the famous "Rajun Cajun" Omelets. It is located on the first floor of the hotel and serves three meals a day.

The culinary lessons at the Louisiana Heritage Café can be for individuals or groups. Anyone can attend these lessons. The delicious fare is typically Cajun and Creole and while the chef is preparing the dishes he offers historic stories that will compliment his presentation.

For the business person Bienville House Hotel has a charming space for small meetings or parties for up to 100 guests. In the board room, which will hold 12, you can see the historic roots of this New Orleans Hotel in the exposed brick from the 1800's. Within this board room you will find all of the amenities, like a wireless internet, and a wide range of AV equipment. The Vieux Carre room has 1,318 square feet available for larger meetings. All catering needs will be met by the staff at the Louisiana Heritage Café.

After your business meetings, the location of the Bienville House will delight your fellow attendees. With attractions like Bourbon Street, Jax Brewery, Jackson Square, the Mississippi Riverfront, Harrah's Casino and the Canal Street and St Charles Avenue Streetcar lines your peers will have plenty of things to occupy them. With it's proximity to New Orleans Central Business district the Bienville House Hotel's prestigious address it's a natural for any business person.

They have what they call The Corporate Executive Option to give all business travelers a satisfying experience. Then, after a successful day, the business traveler is mere steps from the city's greatest restaurants, jazz establishments and shops. This plan offers the best rates with superior accommodations and many amenities. In your room you will find plenty of space to work with large desks, phones with data ports and cable TV. Included in this option is express check-in and check-out. You can count on the staff's support to help arrange a small meeting or a corporate reception. You couldn't do better than these elegant surroundings with state of the art equipment.

When you use the Corporate Executive option you have many benefits. Some of them include, valet parking, a USA Today paper each morning, complimentary faxing, same day laundry and dry cleaning and 500 miles per stay on their specified air partners.

With all of these benefits and a very Tony address, give the Bienville House Hotel a try when you are thinking of booking into one of New Orleans Hotels.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna has traveled the world by Air and Ship while writing eBooks, Software Reviews and Practical Articles on Internet Marketing, Cruising, Gardening and Travel. Visit her websites at: http://www.WorldHotelPortal.com and http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com You can read more of her articles at http://www.ArticleBazaar.net

About the Author

Mary Hanna has traveled the world by Air and Ship while writing eBooks, Software Reviews and Practical Articles on Internet Marketing, Cruising, Gardening and Travel. Visit her websites at: http://www.WorldHotelPortal.com and http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com You can read more of her articles at http://www.ArticleBazaar.net

Online Schools Allow for Flexible Learning Environment by Michael Bustamante

Did you ever think you could get a college degree in your skivvies and bare feet? Perhaps not in any respectable campus classroom setting, but it is possible to earn a degree at home in front of your own computer through an online school. It's actually happening every day. Hundreds of thousands of students attend classes over the Internet daily, making it possible to earn a respectable degree in the convenience of their own homes. Online schools have gained in popularity and continue to grow in use as this flexible learning environment gains credence.

Degrees in practically any field - education, sciences, business, art, humanities - can be earned through online and distance learning venues. Technology is amazingly available and proficient, allowing "virtual schools" to provide virtual classroom experiences and allowing learning and interaction between students and instructors. Students often interact with professors and other students enrolled in the same classes through online discussion boards.

Vocational and technical schools also offer distance learning and online degrees. Enrollees can study culinary arts, carpentry, engineering, graphic design, health care, computer technology, and much more for diplomas and certificates and associate degrees. Other students may prefer non-credit courses for the pleasure of learning a new skill or for broadening their experience through educational programs or single classes. Online schools allow learning anytime from anywhere. Students without a personal computer can even attend an online school in a public library, if necessary.

There are so many advantages to online courses: Parents can earn a degree without sacrificing the emotional and mental wellbeing of their children by studying online while kids are in school or tucked in for the night. Working adults can prepare for advancement or job changes without sacrificing their regular jobs to attend classes on campus somewhere. And, high schoolers can get a jump on college studies before college admission officially begins.

There is a drawback: To be successful in an online school, you must be self-disciplined and focused on achieving your goals. No one is going to look you in the eye and apply pressure to complete assignments or remind you of deadlines with a schedule that you control. Do yourself a favor and give your character and ambitions an honest assessment before starting on the online college path.

Also, before enrollment commences, keep in mind that accreditation is key to a quality education. A school that is not accredited amounts to little more than a waste of time. Schools must be accredited by national associations and organizations to confer online degrees that hold merit. In addition to determining accreditation, you should do some research on institutions that specialize in the areas and fields of your particular interest. Also check out the employment potential of your particular field; marketable degrees that are in demand are certainly more worthy of your time and effort than an obscure, meaningless degree.

If you are interested in learning more about Online Schools and other programs of study, please search our site for more information and resources.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERAL OVERVIEW and may or may not reflect specific practices, courses and/or services associated with ANY ONE particular school(s) that is or is not advertised on SchoolsGalore.com.

Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved by SchoolsGalore.com, in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc.

Notice: Publishers are free to use this article on an ezine or website, provided the article is reprinted in its entirety, including copyright and disclaimer, and ALL links remain intact and active.

About the Author

Michael Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc., in association with SchoolsGalore.com. Visit our Distance Learning Directory and find Distance Learning Online Schools and other Schools, Colleges, Universities, and Trade Schools.

Hello From Toronto - Part 7 - Summer In T.O. Positively Rocks by Susanne Pacher

It's been a pretty amazing summer so far. The weather has been pretty good since as far back as April. Occasionally, we've had rain showers and thunderstorms, but much of the rain has actually fallen over night. The weather on the weekends has been great for the most part, perfect conditions to enjoy all the activities and festivals that the city has to offer. I decided earlier this year that I would be spending this summer in Toronto without any major travel assignments overseas. So this is my chance to focus on local explorations.

And the offerings are amazing: I already wrote detailed articles from my explorations at Toronto's Doors Open architectural festival, my exciting day at the Dragonboat Festival on Toronto's Islands, the Taste of Little Italy, Summerlicious - Toronto's restaurant festival, the Celebrate Toronto Street Festival and Afrofest. There are simply not enough hours in the week to cover all my explorations since I have decided to head out and discover as many places and activities as possible right here in Toronto. Here is a little summary of some of the other activities I have participated in that I haven't had a chance yet to talk about in detail.

On June 25, 2006 I headed out to Toronto's Pride Parade, one of the biggest parades in Toronto, and one of the largest of its kind in the world. This year's parade theme was "Fearless!" to indicate how far Toronto's queer community has come and how far they still have to go. From its original roots as a protest event, Toronto's Pride Parade today has become a real family affair with special events for families and children. The city has embraced this event and it has great support from the mayor, the police, various corporate sponsors and politicians from all political parties. The big events of Pride Week included the Flag Raising Ceremony at City Hall, Pride Awards and a Gala Dinner, the Dyke March as well as the dazzling Pride Parade. Seven entertainment stages provided entertainment with about 650 artists, the Community Fair included participants from a large variety of community groups, and the Marketplace enticed the crowd with merchandise, clothing, and various accessories and treats.

Then on July 14 and 15 not only did I attend a street festival, together with my team we actually participated in the Salsa on St. Clair Festival. This festival was held for the first time last year and attracted more than 200,000 participants in its first year. Telelatino, Canada's Latin broadcasting network, developed the idea for this festival and organized a huge street party. This year the crowd was even bigger than in the first year.

We had a table together with Skills for Change, a local immigrant settlement agency with whom we collaborate frequently. To jointly promote our two organizations we were holding a draw to give away a one-week adventure trip along the Inca Trail in Peru. The trip itself will be provided by G.A.P Adventures, the flagship sponsor of our Travel Story Contest, and a leader in environmentally sustainable and socially conscious travel. Over two days we spent almost 20 hours in the sweltering sun, interacting with the crowd, and many hundreds of people wanted to get to get a chance to explore the mysteries of Peru.

In between these special events I have also had a chance to explore the city by bike and on inline skates. A couple of weeks ago I cycled out to the Scarborough Bluffs and spent some time in one of my favourite Toronto spots: the Rosetta McClain Gardens. This is a beautiful public garden with gorgeous flower beds and serene sitting areas, perched high above Lake Ontario with great vistas of this peaceful expanse of water.

From there I cycled east through a variety of parks abutting the Scarborough Bluffs which are essentially cliffs formed from eroded packed clay soil. They stretch for about 14 km along Lake Ontario in the east end of Toronto, and at their highest point they rise 65 meters above the water. The most interesting formations can be found around Bluffer's Park, a large waterfront park featuring a sandy beach, picnic areas, walks, lookouts, and berths for over 500 boats.

Toronto, with its location right on Lake Ontario, is a haven for cyclists and water sports enthusiasts, and the waterfront has numerous extensive parks right on the shoreline that are ideal for picnics, sunbathing and relaxing by the water. The Martin Goodman Trail is a multi-purpose recreational trail with a length of about 22 km along Toronto's Waterfront and gives inline skaters and bicyclists a chance to exercise and soak up the sun right next to the water. Last weekend I strapped on my rollerblades and explored the Waterfront Trail along Toronto's West end in Etobicoke, and the nicely paved trail continues into Toronto's neighbouring cities Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington.

But serene nature experiences not only await at the waterfront, the City has several other spots that allow you to get away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Last week I spent a couple of hours exploring Riverdale Farm, Toronto's Necropolis and the surrounding Cabbagetown Neighbourhood. Riverdale Farm is actually an early 20th century farm that has been turned into a learning opportunity for urban dwellers that exposes them to farm animals and a rural environment. The peaceful park outside Riverdale Farm is a favourite destination for school groups and adults who relax under the shady trees and cool off in the public fountains.

Right next to Riverdale Farm is the Toronto Necropolis, one of Toronto's oldest and most historic cemeteries. Dating back to the 1850s, it houses a collection of Victorian buildings and sculptures and is one of the most picturesque locations in the city. The recently restored cemetery entrance, chapel and office are fine examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture and the Necropolis is a favourite destination for photographers year-round.

Both Riverdale Farm and the Toronto Necropolis are surrounded by Cabbagetown, a historic neighbourhood with a very interesting history. The name "Cabbagetown" dates back to the mid 19th century, when Irish immigrants decided to plant unusually large cabbage patches on their front lawn. Cabbagetown has one of the largest and most impressive concentrations of Victorian architecture in all of North America. Local residents take great pride in their properties and embellish their homes with well-tended front and back gardens and the area is a magnificent location for a relaxing stroll.

So many other neighbourhoods beckon to be explored: I have spent some time at Harbourfront and recently took a walk through Toronto's main Chinatown and the adjoining Kensington Market where exotic fruits and unusual foods can be purchased at reasonable prices. The sheer variety of Toronto's neighbourhoods is mind-boggling and it feels like you are doing a virtual trip around the world by just walking a few blocks or hopping on the subway. I have made several forays into the Victorian serenity of Riverdale and the adjoining hustle and bustle of the Danforth, one of my favourite neighbourhood hangouts.

These past few days have been busy too. On Friday, my entire crew at the office and I went to a local Pakistani restaurant in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park Neighbourhood. The entire neighbourhood is perched on a hill overlooking the Don Valley and was developed with numerous high-rise buildings in the 1950s and 1960s. Today Thorncliffe Park is one of the most densely populated and most multicultural neighbourhoods of Toronto with a large proportion of recent immigrants from Muslim countries. We had an absolutely delicious dinner with a selection of Pakistani dishes at Iqbal Restaurant. Several of my co-workers are from Pakistan and we have had a great introduction to Muslim foods and traditions. Toronto offers so many great opportunities for cross-cultural connections. We shared six different delicacies including chicken, lamb, beef and chick pea dishes and had a wonderful time sampling this varied cuisine.

After our truly delicious dinner all of us headed down to Queen Street East where the Beaches International Jazz Festival was being held. This festival is now in its 18th year, and has become a crowd favourite since its 1989 inception. We started at Woodbine and right away ran into our favourite: Dr. Draw, a highly energetic Moscow-born electric violinist surrounded by a team of dedicated musicians. This band produced a highly eclectic, unusual type of music with a diverse mixture of beats with modern and classical elements thrown in. In addition, Dr. Draw has a highly physical performance style and it makes you wonder how he plays the violin so well while jumping up and down. We saw several other rock and reggae bands, and a 3-person group named Johannes Linstead entertained us with virtuoso flamenco rhythms. Incidentally, this group won the Best World Album in 2004 and has top ten charting albums. In total the Beaches Jazz Festival featured over 30 performers in its StreetFest and ten headliners on the Main Stage.

I dropped by at the Beaches Jazz Festival again with two friends yesterday, and at the north end of Kew Gardens we saw Toronto's Mayor David Miller being photographed with members of the crowd. Mayor Miller makes appearances at many community events and is very approachable. So we decided that we too would get our picture taken with Toronto's mayor.

We then strolled over to the Main Stage and checked out some of the ecclectic clothing, jewellery and art on sale in the various booths that were located throughout Kew Gardens. People were getting henna tattoos, others were getting readings by psychics, and the majority of people were relaxing on the grass, enjoying the music. Some folks were also getting their surprisingly accurate portraits done...

On the Boardwalk we enjoyed the hot Spanish rhythms of Puente del Diablo before we checked out the action at the beach volleyball courts. One of my friends is a visitor from Austria, so this was her first introduction to Toronto while my other friend is a fairly recent immigrant who doesn't yet know the city very well either. I quite enjoy taking new arrivals around the city, introducing them to all my favourite spots. As a city on a lake that looks like an ocean, the waterfront is a great attraction, and it's a really cool place to hang out.

To explore more we then hopped into the car and decided to pay a visit to the Distillery District, a former distillery dating back to 1832. This complex encompasses more than 40 historic buildings that make up the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in all of North America. The Distillery District has been restored recently and has become one of Toronto's hottest entertainment areas with its restaurants, cafes, galleries and artists' studios, a brewery, theatres and retail outlets. Every Sunday the Distillery features a farmers market and numerous festivals draw huge crowds throughout the year.

Our "Introduction to Toronto" driving tour continued and I took my friends downtown on Front Street and showed them the Gooderham Building - Toronto's own triangular Flatiron Building. Then we admired Old and New City Hall, the classical splendour of Osgoode Hall, the imposing Richardson Romanesque structure of Queens Park - seat of Ontario's provincial government, and the Neo-Gothic splendour of the University of Toronto campus. After a brief tour through Chinatown we had a sneak peak at Little Italy and ended up for dinner in the picturesque Annex neighbourhood on Bloor Street West, just west of Spadina. Along the way we drove through Portuguese, Ethiopian and Korean neighbourhoods.

Finally we had a lovely dinner at the Country Style Hungarian Restaurant, a neighbourhood institution for decades, which impresses with its tasty authentic European meals, reasonable prices and huge portion sizes. All three of us enjoyed a Wiener Schnitzel and to top off a delicious meal we enjoyed "Palatschinken", a mouth-watering dessert featuring a crepe filled with apricot jam.

Each one of these experiences deserves its own article, but there are just so many things to see and do in Toronto, I just can't keep up with the stories. But I am hoping this little medley of stories will give you an idea of Toronto's diverse neighbourhoods, culinary offerings, exciting festivals and things to do during a great long hot summer.

For the entire article including photos please visit http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/toronto_hot_summer.htm

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.