2008
PANELISTS OR
SPEAKER
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BIOS
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SALON
ROLE
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Rob
Valencia
Chocolate Maker and Chef
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Robert Valencia has spent his culinary years devoted to
artisan chocolate making across the country, from his native Texas to
San Francisco to the East Coast. Robert’s work has been featured in Art
Culinaire, Time Out NY, the New York Times, the San Francisco
Chronicle, and most recently, Chocolate French and Sweet New York. Rob
also worked at Zero Degrees, now known as Myth Cafe. |
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Chocolate
Demonstration /
Salon Tasting Panel |
Kara Walsh
CEO
Metromix.com
(Tribune Interactive - Gannett)
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Kara
Walsh is CEO of Metromix, a rapidly expanding network of local
entertainment websites that help you decide where to go and what to do
in your city. Metromix gives you the inside scoop and best bets for
restaurants, bars/clubs, events, music, movies, TV and style. Kara
makes a point of finding unique and wonderful chocolate in every city
that she visits.
http://chicago.metromix.com/
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Bernard Pacyniak
Editor-in-Chief
Candy Industry Magazine
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As
editor of Candy Industry magazine, a b-to-b monthly magazine covering
the global confectionery industry, Bernard Pacyniak has seen many of
the world’s leading chocolate manufacturers produce some of the finest
theobroma in the world. He’s also had the opportunity to interview not
only multinational chief executives, but extremely passionate artisanal
chocolatiers, all focused on delivering that magical experience only
chocolate can bring.
www.candyindustry.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Amanda Barrett
Features Editor
Chicago Sun-Times
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Bio
Coming soon
SunTimes.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Anthony Todd
Food and Drink
Chicagoist.com
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Anthony’s a native Iowan, but fled the state’s limited cuisine of corn
syrup and pork products at the age of 18. After moving to Chicago in
2004, he became one of the city’s most avid boosters, especially when
it comes to restaurants. A grad student in history at the University of
Chicago, he will enthusiastically talk about Chicago’s sordid past
until long after you’ve given him a strange look and sidled away
quietly. As an avid nerd-of-all-trades, Anthony is probably the only
person in the metropolitan area (and possibly in the entire world) to
have eaten illegal Foie Gras while playing Dungeons and Dragons. When
he isn’t locked in the Regenstein Library, Anthony lives in the South
Loop.
Chicagoist.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Erielle Bakkum
Fancy Toast Blog
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Erielle
Bakkum combines her loves of food and photography on her Chicago-based
blog, Fancy Toast, which has been featured in the Chicago Tribune. In
2006, Fancy Toast was nominated for the Well Fed Network´s Food
Blog Awards. Erielle’s food photography has been published in Chef
Magazine.
http://fancytoast.blogspot.com/
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Mandy Burrell Booth
Gapers Block's Drive Thru Blog
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Mandy Burrell
Booth is a writer who has lived in Chicago for seven years. Her love of
eating and cooking was instilled in her by her mother, grandmother and
four aunts, whose annual all-day Polish cookie-baking extravaganza can
only be described as raucous. Her favorite time of year is market
season, when local fresh food is available everywhere but her local
supermarket.
http://gapersblock.com/
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Laura Stolpman
Food and Drink
Chicagoist.com
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Laura
Stolpman is an attorney by day but a foodie by night (and at heart).
She is a contributing food and drink writer for Chicagoist.com and
recently took a five country tour across Europe, trying every food on
the table or put before her. Her stop included a few days in
Switzerland where she enjoyed some excellent chocolates and she is
looking forward to seeing some creative combinations of spice, heat,
and salt with chocolate. When not working, she can be found trying new
restaurants or recipes, snapping pictures the entire way through.
Chicagoist.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Jacy Wojcik
Chicagoist.com
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Bio
Coming soon
Chicagoist.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Gemma Petrie
Pro Bono Baker blog
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Bio
Coming soon
http://www.probonobaker.typepad.com/
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Robert Luce
Entertainment Editor
Chicago-Scene.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Laura Hansen
Best of the Best Dining in Chicago
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Laura
Hansen is the publisher of “Best of the Best Dining Chicago” –
designated by the Chicago Tribune as one of the best food and dining
blogs in Chicago. Laura’s had a passion for cooking and writing for
several years. As Chicago has evolved into one of the most important
culinary cities in the U.S., the need to profile and expose the
restaurant scene, chefs and the emersion of Chicago’s food community
has taken a higher note.
The essence of her blog is to focus on “best in class” dishes that
Chicago has to offer from hamburgers to sushi. Laura also writes about
food for the IPA Business Magazine and The Examiner – an online
localized portal.
www.bestofthebestdiningchicago.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Krystal Moench
The Daily Journal
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Krystal Moench is a writer with the Daily Journal newspaper of
Kankakee, Ill., an hour south of Chicago. She spends her time writing
local pieces on food, faces and events. Krystal has studied in Germany,
where her parents used to reside six years until 2004. While there, she
and her friends relished Germany’s famous Milka bars, something like
Hershey, but better. In college, she studied with scholars in Oxford,
England, where she combined Shakespeare, theology and theobroma in the
form of Cadbury’s.
http://daily-journal.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
Gloria Henllan-Jones
Chicago-splash.com
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Bio
Coming soon
Chicago-splash.com
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Salon
Awards Tasting Panel |
A.K. Crump
TasteTV and ChocolateTelevision
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Salon
Tasting Panel /
Book Author
Signing |
