summer of 20<strong>13</strong> Gale was the guest chef for 2 weeks on A-Rosa’s Rhone River Cruise through the south of France. This summer she will sail to Tahiti to take a group to a vanilla plantation. She also does Food Innovation with The Hyde Park Group in Chicago for large and small food companies. March 24-26, <strong>2017</strong> Celebrity Chef <strong>LIVE</strong>MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE by Juli Ragsdale Gale Gand Returns to the Desert Even in a large format magazine like <strong>LIVE</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> it would be a daunting task to outline in entirety the achievements of celebrity Chef Gale Gand. She is a nationally acclaimed pastry chef, restaurateur,cookbook author, television personality, teacher, entrepreneur, and mother. Chef Gand has been recognized as Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by The James Beard Foundation and by Bon Appetit <strong>Magazine</strong> and has been inducted into the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame. In March of <strong>2017</strong> we will have the pleasure of a returning visit when Gale Gand kicks off the Palm Desert Food & Wine <strong>2017</strong> festival, presented by Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa from March 24-26, <strong>2017</strong>. First, Gale will hold “Pie Camp” on Saturday giving us Pie Baking tips. She will demonstrate again on Sunday at 1pm (VIP Tent 1). For 8 years, Gale hosted the Food Network series “Sweet Dreams,” the first nationally televised all-dessert show anywhere. Gale has made appearances on “The Martha Stewart Show,” “Oprah,” “The Dr. Oz Show,” “Baking With Julia” (Child), “Good Morning America,” “The Rachael Ray Show” and “The Today Show.” She competed on “Iron Chef America” and has been featured as a celebrity judge on “Food Network Challenge,” “Last Cake Standing,” “Top Chef” and “Top Chef Just Desserts.” Gale is the founding pastry chef and partner of the beloved Chicago restaurant Tru, opened with long-time culinary partner Chef Rick Tramonto and restaurateur Rich Melman in 1999. Tru quickly became a sensation among Chicago’s fine dining community and has earned ecstatic praise from reviewers, receiving accolades from the James Beard Foundation; the Michelin, Mobil and AAA guides; Relais Gourmand; Wine Spectator magazine; and was named Chicago’s Best Restaurant by Chicago <strong>Magazine</strong>. Prior to opening Tru, Gand and Tramonto earned increasing acclaim at their Chicago area restaurants Trio and Brasserie T, and at Stapleford Park, an historic country house hotel near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, where in 1991 Tramonto and Gand became the first American chefs to earn a Michelin Red M. Gale is a prolific cookbook author with eight titles to her credit, including her most recent “Gale Gand’s Lunch!,” released in April 2014. Earlier titles (written with Rick Tramonto) include: American Brasserie (1997); Butter Sugar Flour Eggs (1999); and Tru: A Cookbook from the Legendary Chicago Restaurant (2004). On her own Gand authored Just a Bite (2001); Short and Sweet (2004); Chocolate and Vanilla (2006) and Gale Gand’s Brunch (2009), in it’s fifth printing. Gale also produces her own artisan root beer, “Gale’s Root Beer,” which is available nationally. And each year in the spring months, Gale and her son Gio supply local restaurants with wild ramps foraged from wooded areas near their suburban Chicago home. Gale was the Chef in Residence in 2011 and 2012 at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, Illinois, a beautifully preserved and restored early 20th century “gentleman’s farm” that is now home to an organic community garden, an ecological learning center, and a meeting space for community activities and private events. Gale hosts a series of events and cooking classes in the Elawa farm kitchen. In addition, Chef Gand frequently teaches cooking classes at such places as Eataly Chicago, Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, King Arthur Flour in Vermont and Zingerman’s in Michigan, to name a few. Gale has 2 classes on Craftsy. com available, one on Meringues which won an IACP award in 2016, and one on Custards. She also does public speaking, cooking demonstrations and book signings. Gale also appears frequently at national and international Food and Wine festivals such as The Epcot Food and Wine festival at Disney World, The Aspen Food and Wine Classic, The World Gourmet Festival in Bangkok, The San Diego Food and Wine Festival, Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival, etc. In the In the summer of 2008, two of Gale’s desserts were featured at the USA House at the Beijing Olympics. In 2011 Chef Gand was chosen by Mayor Daley to create the desserts for Chicago’s welcome dinner for China’s President Hu in 2011. Gale participates in many national and local charities. In 2010 and 2011, she was a mentor in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Chefs Move to Schools initiative, which helps fight childhood obesity through nutritional education. Gale holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, majoring in silver and gold smithing, and attended culinary school at La Varenne in Paris. She resides in Riverwoods, Illinois with her husband, Jimmy Seidita, son Gio (19), twin daughters Ella and Ruby (11). For even more information about Chef Gale Gand, visit www.galegand.com. Juli Ragsdale: You are known for your great desserts as well as your many entrees. What kind of exciting things do you have planned for your demonstrations this year? Gale Gand: I’m making one of the earlier courses in the meal so I am doing an appetizer course. Usually I wait to see what the other dishes are to pick what works with them. But I’m thinking Sweet peppers stuffed with shrimp, wrapped in bacon. I’ll also be leading Pie Camp where I teach you how to make the perfect pie crust, and then doing a talk on vanilla after going to Tahiti this year to lead tours at a vanilla plantation through Paul Gauguin Cruises. JR: Because your brother Gary and his wife Joan winter in Palm Springs, we know you have been coming to the Desert for many years now. Have you acquired any favorite venues or activities? GG: I always go for a date shake at Shields...I’m actually drinking tea out of a mug from there right now! I love the Shrimp and Linguine at trio with a glass of chilled rose, And last time I was in town cooking for Desert Trip (Though I like to think of it as Dessert Trip!) Gary, Joan, my sous chef Kathy and I went to eight4nine for fish tacos and their Ahi Tuna Poke, and there’s an apricot Danish at Peninsula Pastries that makes me weak in the knees. JR: There is nothing like a night with a bottle of wine and no cork screw to bring out the appreciation for the simple things in life. I love tools! Could you name your favorite high-tech and low-tech gadget in the kitchen? Any outstanding favorites? Low tech would probably be the current lemon squeezer, the hinged kind with a dome shaped body that has holes in it and handles coming from it that you put 1/2 a lemon or lime in to press out the juice. GG: For high tech probably my hand blender for pureeing thing right in their container. Not sure that’s really high tech but I definitely can’t live without it! JR: I see that you were a judge this month for the 5th annual South Side Pie Challenge, a fundraiser for the Hyde Park HungerPrograms (Chicago). Any stand out pies? GG: There was a delicious Mixed Nut Pie with a chocolate ganache layer on the top. Very professional looking too. I think we ended up giving that one first place out of over 100 pies. When I asked who made it, it was the same woman that had won last year. She’s got a gift! JR: What are your favorite charities? GG: We sponsored the bathrooms at the Architecture and Design Museum in Palm Springs. Look for the sign that says “Gand Rest Stop” above the entrance (though we call it “The Gand Cans”). I do fund raising through cooking (dessert for large multi coursed sit down dinners) and then just give on my own to a place called Lydia House. It is a foster home in Chicago for 40 children whose home life is just not conducive to thriving, though they have programs to help the parents change that with the hopes of the kids returning to the home. We sponsored an 8 year old girl this year for Christmas, buying her needs and wants from her wish list. It was simple things like she needed a winter coat, boots, hat, gloves, scarf, and an Easy Bake Oven! My kinda girl! I have my kids shop with me for all her gifts. We are doing a cooking workshop with the kids at the home too. There’s also an organization called Selah Freedom which helps end sex trafficking and brings freedom to the exploited providing safe houses for them. I donate personal items to them to help women restart their lives once they’ve been extricated from their captors. They are based in Florida but have safe houses in the Midwest. JR: Any current private obsessions you are willing to reveal? GG: Well, my son Gio is doing his junior year of college abroad at the London School of Economics and so London is one of my new obsessions, though I lived there in the 90’s for a year. And I’ve started reading. I know that sounds funny but up until this year my husband would kid me that I’ve written more books (8) than I’ve read. I have dyslexia and so reading is a challenge. But something just switched on in my brain this year (I guess you can still learn and grow in your 60’s!) and I’m enjoying reading! Which is great since I find myself on planes a lot for work. I mostly read historic fiction and mostly stories that take place during WW2 involving Nazi’s, occupied France and Germany, from the Jewish and non- Jewish perspective. JR: Thanks for your time. We will see you soon at the Festival! Palm Desert Food & Wine <strong>2017</strong> SAVE THE DATE! March 24-26, <strong>2017</strong> The seventh annual Palm Desert Food & Wine presented by Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa, takes place March 24-26, <strong>2017</strong> in Palm Desert, CA. www.palmdesertfoodandwine.com
WHERE PALM SPRINGS EATS, DRINKS AND MEETS THE THE BEST BEST HAPPY HAPPY HOUR HOUR IN IN TOWN TOWN at our bar or patio...11a-7p...EVERY DAY! at our bar or patio...11a-7p...EVERY DAY! $3 WELL $5 CALL $8 PREMIUM $3 WELL $5 CALL $8 PREMIUM $5 BAR BITES $5 BAR BITES 3 COURSE PRIX FIXE prix fixe 3 delicious and affordable courses! Available 11a-6p, daily! PRIME RIB RIB TUESDAY! Slow Slow Roasted, Herb Herb Crusted, Juicy Juicy and and Tenderwith Delicious Sides Sides 707 N PALM CANYON DR 760.864.TRIO (8746) WWW.TRIOPALMSPRINGS.COM