What’s going on with Les Dames d’Escoffier in Monterey
Welcome! It’s almost time for our Annual Meeting so it seems appropriate to review last year and bring you all up to date on what’s been going on behind the scenes of your local Les Dames Chapter.
First, please save the date September 24, 2024, for our Annual Meeting. Last year, on August 15, 2023, we held the meeting at St. Dunstan’s with a big pot luck and an amazing spread provided by all of you. This year we will be at LadySomm’s, and we will celebrate Mary Chamberlin as the founder and leader of our chapter since 2007. Mary turns 90 on August 24th, a birthday worthy of celebration and we all want to wish her the best. On July 30th Mary resigned as President of Les Dames and took on the title of Chairman Emeritus so that younger members can do the heavy lifting of running the chapter. Rachel Mueller was elected President, with Carol Hilburn as Treasurer and Charlyne Brown as Secretary. Other board members include Roxanne Langer, Tamara Carver and Sarda Desmond. We are currently seeking some additional board members and will report on those at our Annual Meeting. Do plan to come and join Mary’s Celebration.
In review, last year we had a number of events that were all successful and appealed to different parts of our membership. Starting in October 2023, four members, Roxanne Langer, Tamara Carver, Rachel Mueller and Genevieve James attended the National Conference held in Louisville, Kentucky. The group learned everything you need to know about Kentucky – it’s all about bourbon and horses with bourbon tastings at breakfast lunch, and dinner! They also made connections with our sister chapters in San Francisco, Sonoma and Sacramento. The National Conference this year will be October 17 to 20 in
Phoenix, Arizona. Consider going. It is great for networking and feeling the pulse on where the food and wine trends are headed in America today.
Then on November 18, 2023, we had great representation at the Culinary Classique, at the Portola Hotel and Spa benefiting Meals on Wheels. Dames and Chefs Wendy Brodie, Sarda Desmond and Crystal Birkmeier were asked to donate their talents cooking while Rachel Mueller and Analuisa Bejar supported Sarda and Crystal as wait staff. Dame Tamie Aceves and Dame Dorothy Maras worked behind the scenes on the d’Elegance Committee organizing and hosting the event.
During the holidays we held a Christmas Tea on the afternoon of December 3rd at Rachel Mueller’s home in Big Sur. Twenty members were able to attend, and we even managed to get a photo which we sent to National for the Quarterly.
Also in the holiday spirit was Gordon and Noel Hentschel’s Christmas Tribute to Gold Star Families and First Responders at their Stonepine Estate on December 17, 2023. Mary Chamberlin, Roxanne Langer, Tamara Carver, Rachel Mueller and Cheryle Pisto attended this beautiful Christmas celebration.
Our annual fundraiser, February 4th at The Club at Pasadera was cancelled due to a severe storm that knocked out al the power on the peninsula. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule the event for April 21st at the Sardine Factory where we successfully raised $10,000 for our scholarship fund. New dames that were inducted that night include Jennifer Sander, Genevieve James, Paula MacNab, Kate Nakfoor, Alix Lynn Bosch, Karin Stratton, Annee Martin, Helaine Tregenza, Taylor Schultz, Marilyn Schultz, Marci Bracco, Alyson de Guigne, Santana Rodriguez and Noel Hentschel. Check out the current issue of The Feast, the newsletter from National. On page 12 you will see a photo of the group. The French meal prepared by Bert Cutino’s kitchen was outstanding including duck confit with lentils and lamb chops with a pomegranate glaze.
Dames Roxanne Langer and Tamara Carver opened their Wine School and retail salon, LadySomm on March 21, 2024, in the Barnyard to some 185 guests. Les Dames sponsored the event by providing hors d’oeuvres. In exchange for our sponsorship LadySomm donated $500 to our scholarship fund. Mary Chamberlin, Sarda Desmond, Wendy Brodie, Charlyne Brown and Rachel Mueller provided the hors d’oeuvres. Dames Dawn Galante, Santana Rodriguez, Jennifer Sander, Marilyn Schultz, Alix Bosch, Kate Naktoor and Marci Bracco all participated by pouring wine, hosting and organizing the event. In
addition, Becca Bull, a Carmel artist and the daughter of Simon Bull, donated to us the painting she created for the opening celebration. Subsequently we sold the painting for $500 for our scholarship fund.
Some impromptu events last year included a spontaneous Pop-Up on Thursday, May 9th at Dame Analuisa Bejar’s Sunny Bakery Café in Carmel Valley. Fourteen dames showed up for coffee and conversation. It was a great connection. Watch for other Pop-Ups in the coming months!
The ACF (American Culinary Federation) annual dinner was June 9, 2024, at the Marriott. Les Dames had a table. Sarda Desmond, Wendy Brodie, Crystal Birkemeier, Judy Profeta, Tamara Carver, Rachel Mueller and Mary Chamberlin all participated.
On June 18, 2024, Dame Jennifer Sander introduced Dame Jane Bertch to us. Jane was in town from Paris to promote her new book “The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time.” LadySomm hosted the event with wine and cheese while Jane talked about her book. To our surprise we learned that Jane founded the Paris Chapter of Les Dames. We had such a fun evening we declared Monterey and Paris sister chapters. Maybe we need to plan a dinner in Paris – what do you think? If you haven’t read Jane’s book yet, it’s a good read all about an American opening a cooking school in Paris.
Milestones: Keep us up to date on your awards, promotions, accolades and good works. Remember Les Dames is all about investing in the power of women, so we want to recognize your achievements as we support each other and our community.
Dame Wendy Brodie took first place at the 2023 World Food Championships in Dallas with a lamb dish that co-starred chanterelle ravioli with portabellas and truffes. She then went on to a second round and placed 6th out of 80,000!
Dame Carol Hilburn was featured in the July 21, 2023, issue of The Carmel Pine Cone in the “Great Lives” series by Lisa Crawford Watson.
