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President's Message May 2005
The ECB's April meeting was held at the Four Points Sheraton
Hotel, where ECB members and guest were greeted with passed appetizers
and a cheese and fruit display. After the business portion of
our meeting was completed, we were treated to a wonderful buffet
dinner.
I would like to thank our Host Chef, Executive Chef George Kelley,
Sous Chef Charlton Becker, Catering Manager Gina Guange, the
Four Points Sheraton Hotel and the staff.
The May meeting of the ECB will be held on Monday, May 16th at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Our Host Chef for the
meeting is Executive Chef David Gauvin, who is also an ECB member.
Chef Gauvin has also arranged to have a guest speaker at our
meeting, and an added bonus will be CEH awarded to those in attendance.
The ACF's annual Northeast Regional Conference was held in April,
in Columbus, Ohio As in years past the ECB was well represented
this year. The following members were at the conference: Anthony
Graffeo, CEC, AAC, Des Makredes, CCE, Karen Moran, Carolynn Parmenter,
Chris Eiseman, CEC, J. Desmond Keefe and myself. I was very pleased
to see a large presence of members at the conference, especially
to witness the ECB receiving a Gold Plate from the ACF for its
work during the past year. This honor placed us in the running
for Northeast Chapter of the Year, which I am proud to say we
were also awarded! This was a sweet moment, as we had not obtained
this award for the past few years, even though we had been in
the running. I'd like to congratulate all of you on your outstanding
work and commend you on your unwavering support of the ECB. Once
again I will say, if not for your continued hard work and dedication,
we would not have received this outstanding honor, and others
before it. I also would like to acknowledge that Chef Anthony
Graffeo was again nominated for The Herman Rush Life Time Achievement
Award. Even though Anthony did not receive this award, we congratulate
him for being one of a very few select Chefs worthy of consideration
for this most prestigious award.
During the general session of this year's conference, Anthony
Graffeo and I made a few presentations. First, we presented to
ACF Northeast Vice President James Taylor, CEC, AAC and ACF National
President Edward Leonard, CMC, AAC two ECB 110th anniversary
plates, as a token of our appreciation for their four years of
dedication and hard work. Our second presentation was made to
following seven Junior Culinary Teams from the Northeast that
were competing at this years conference: Southern New Hampshire
Culinary Team, Suny Dehi Culinary Team, Hocking College Culinary
Team, HCAT Institute At Anne Arundel Community College Culinary
Team, ACF PCA South Jersey Chapter Culinary Team, ACF Pittsburgh
Chapter Culinary Team, and ACF West Virginia Chapter Culinary
Team. The ECB presented each of these teams a check for $500
to help support their team. As you know, we had held a fundraiser
in January for our Junior Culinary Team, but we were unable to
put together a team to compete. Since these fund were specifically
raised for a junior culinary team, the Board of Directors voted
to present these fund to these teams to help them offset some
of their expenses incurred in Columbus. This gesture by our club
was appreciated by all, and this sentiment was expressed to me
numerous times at the convention. Our final presentation was
at the American Academy of Chefs (AAC) meeting. Where we presented
to AAC Chair John Minniti, CCE, AAC and Vice Chair Thomas Macrina,
CEC, AAC two additional ECB 110th anniversary plates as a token
of our appreciation for their efforts on behalf of the AAC and
retired chefs.
This month all ECB Active, Retired and Junior member in
good standing will be receiving their ACF National Election Ballots.
Please note that this is a very important election year for the
ACF and for the ECB, so I urge you all to vote. Also AAC members
will be receiving an additional ballot to elect the AAC Chair
and Vice Chair. Though these two chefs are running unopposed,
I still urge you to support these two gentlemen by returning
your ballots, and I thank you in advance.
On a sad note, when I was reading my April copy of the ACF "Center
of The Plate" a few days ago, I saw that retired ECB member
Albert Giannino had passed away. After contacting the ACF, I
was informed that Albert had pasted away in November. I apologize
for not informing you sooner, but unfortunately, I had no previous
knowledge of it. Our thoughts and prayers are with Albert's family.
We send our sincere congratulations to Everett High School's
Culinary Team, who at a resent culinary competition at Newbury
College won first place honors in both the Hot Food and Pastry
competitions. Along with their first place finish, they also
received the "Best of the Show" award! I would like
to commend the three culinary instructors at Everett High School
for their outstanding training and for sharing valuable knowledge
with their students. These proud instructors are Karen Moran,
Carolynn Parmenter and Des Makredes. I would also like to congratulate
J. Desmond Keefe for co-authoring and publishing "The Principles
of Food, Beverage, and Labor Cost Controls Package, Eighth Edition".
Also Congratulations to Norm Myerow and his baking/pastry students
at Minuteman Tech. Norm's students took home 2 gold medals (post-secondary
and secondary) and a bronze medal at the Vocational Industrial
clubs of America's (VICA) competition. The State competition
will be held on April 29th .We wish Minuteman Tech the best of
luck!
In closing, please make a note that our "Children's
Charity Golf Tournament" will take place on June 27th. Golf
Committee Chair Jim DiMarzio is in need of prizes, hole sponsors
& foursomes. Please contact the committee if you would like
to lend a hand, and thanks in advance.
I look forward to seeing at our next meeting in May.
Warmest regards,
Rico DiFronzo, CEC, AAC
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