French food, French wine to greet all to fundraiser
With the Hoffman Estates French Night celebration kicking off the Valentine weekend, the culinary event is a fine way to celebrate both occasions.
Perhaps a touch of red and a sprinkling of hearts and flowers are in the celebratory picture for guests who attend "Soiree Culinaire: Discovering French Delicacies," the 11th French evening sponsored by the Hoffman Estates Sister Cities Commission in partnership with Harper College.
The event will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 in Building A of the Harper College Student Center, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine.
The event celebrates the partnership of Hoffman Estates with its sister city of Angouleme, a walled city near Bordeaux in the Charentes region of France. The relationship of the two cities began in 1991 with a friendship pact, official visits and exchanges.
Usually held in the village hall, the French night venue was changed due to remodeling. Event chairwoman Lillian Mosier, also the chair of the sister cities commission, promises culinary delights, fine wine tasting and a silent auction with hotel overnights, restaurant outings and tickets plus parking passes for a Chicago Cubs game.
The people of Angouleme favor pineau, properly called Pineau des Charentes, a hefty blend of grape juices and cognac, Mosier said the night would feature a special aperitif tasting.
"We will have reps from A. Hardy USA Importers who will let us taste Brillet Pineau and Belle de Brillet Pineau," Mosier said. "Belle de Brillet is considered one of their finest offerings in their line of imports. Both are from the region where our sister city is located."
Mosier, who shares committee duties with Marcia Frank, Terry Riesterer-Heinrichs, Michael Heinrichs, Sharon Kimble, Dennis Nadon, Jean-Marc Bartsch, Rhonda Cady and Kathy Cochrane-Eckhart, said the entire community is invited for the festivities, reminding guests that there is a tradition of a "French Porcelain Mystery Raffle."
Patrick Guat will be the guest chef as he instructs along with Patrick Beach, head of the Culinary Department of Harper College.
Guat, who teaches at l'Ecole l'Amandier in St. Yrieix, France, will pass on some of his techniques to Harper students and eight of his own students, who along with two instructors accompanied him from the school near Angouleme. Guat and Beach will teach five different culinary themes and present the results at the fundraiser.
Among those themes: "Aperitif Prestige," incorporating glazed fruit compote flavored in cognac, vegetable tartar and farmer's lamb with basil emulsion and mushroom ravioli with garlic cream; "Kitchen of Algae," starring fish in saffroned bouillon with scallop St. James wakame and glazed vegetable cakes, and oven roasted apples in their cracked skin with brown sugar and mint.
Other themes include: "The Kitchen of the Seas," featuring pickled cabbage and shellfish in ginger and chives cream sauce, grilled bass back on dried tomatoes with buttered potatoes and green salad; "The Kitchen Around Fowl and Poultry," which calls for pot au feu of pigeon with buttered white cabbage, chestnuts and gravy and ends with delicate apple tart topped with butter caramels.
Finally, the students will try their hands on the foods of the fifth theme "The Kitchen Around One Meat," which includes lentil charlotte, a variety of smoked fish served on light and frothy cream. They also will prepare loin of lamb in a crust of wild herbs with vegetables barigoule.
Committee members will move the commission's replica of the Arc de Triomphe to the Harper locale, so guests may pass under it at the fundraiser. Tickets cost $30. Call Suzanne Lessen at (847) 781-2606 to R.S.V.P.
Mosier says that tickets will be mailed along with detailed information about parking at Harper.
School information night: St. Hubert Catholic School Principal Vito DeFrisco and Assistant Principal Allison O'Connor will speak at an information night for parents with children entering the school for the first time.
Held at 7 p.m. Thursday in the school library, 255 Flagstaff Lane, Hoffman Estates. The gathering will include a guided tour of the facilities.
DeFrisco said the school's goal is to impart knowledge, foster faith and develop community. He pointed out that St. Hubert has a preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds, and a junior high with "a curriculum designed to develop students spiritually, academically, physically and socially.
For more information, call the school office at (847) 885-7702.