The Chapter meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm with a Prayer, the Pledge of Allegience, and the reading of the Culinarians Code.

The food was prepared by Chef Mark Rubin and his staff of culinarians at Second Harvest, with great contributions by Chef Mike Osborne of MCCCC and Cathy Hoormann of Kickin' Coffee. The theme of the presentation was "A Bit of Central American Cooking". The menu included:  Click here for recipes

Hearts of Palm Salad (COSTA RICA)
Ceviche of Shrimp with Tostado
Pupusas from El Salvador
Chicharron for Pupusas (Pork Rind Filling)
Salsa Roja
Refried Beans
Curtido (El Salvadoran cabbage salad)
Baked Sweet Plantains
Menudo
Taquitos from Honduras

Costa Rican Coffee and Mango Iced Tea

The cooking demonstration included a hands on preparation of the pupusas (a thick filled tortilla). These are the signature dish of El Salvador, and when prepared fresh, they are supurb - served with Salsa Rojo and Curtido.
The Hearts of Palm had a light citrus dressing with sweet red peppers. The Curtido is a cole slaw like salad that is made like a vinegar slaw with red pepper. The baked sweet Plantains was a partial success, if you got some of the ripe ones, then the sweet baked dish was great, if you got some that were a bit under-ripe, then they were tough.
Menudo is a strange delicious dish made from beef stomach and calves or pork feet- it is said to cure a hangover.
The Ceviche was a citrus marinated shrimp with onions and scotch bonnet peppers, and the taquitos were delicious pork filled fried corn tortilla.
Cathy Hoormann gave a brief presentation of the coffee plantations of Costa Rica with pictures and samples of the rich flavorful coffee. She brought a delicious mango fruit iced tea as well as the coffee.

Februarys meeting is pre-empted by our 30th Anniversary Gala... information

March's meeting is being planned. See you soon