Below are a list of the Newspaper and Magazine articles that have featured Cook Gourmet Inc.. Click on the title below to learn more about our featured media and events.

Toronto Star: Back To Cooking School
September, 2004


West of the City Magazine: Let's Get Cooking!
September/October Issue


Mississauga Quarterly:
September Issue


The National Post: Grooms with Spoons
Tuesday April 1,2003


West of the City Magazine:
March/April Issue, 2003


The Village Newspaper Clarkson's Corners: Learn to Cook Classes
Summer 2002 edition


The Oakville Beaver: Swapping Lives
June 5, 2002


Mississauga News: Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail
March, 2002


Toronto Star: Back to Cooking School
September 12, 2001


Mississauga News: .Former Celebrity Chef Offers Cooking Classes

June 27, 2001

GROOMS WITH SPOONS

Samantha Grice
National Post

CREDIT: Yvonne Berg, National Post

The menu - designed to inspire grooms in the art of cooking.

In the cozy kitchen of a home in Mississauga, Ont., an idyllic domestic scene is unfolding. Candles have been lit, jazz is playing in the background and at the stove Lonnie Duchesne is cooking the filling for stuffed, marinated portobello mushrooms. Beside him, brothers Garry and Toby Gardiner are taking turns stirring a creamy asparagus risotto. Jason Buck is hanging back waiting to stuff the mushrooms and Lance Oliver is finishing up the arugula salad with Parmesan. They are all wearing white aprons and taking swigs from bottles of Blue or Canadian.

Sitting watching the action is Melissa Lehman, Garry's fiancée and her friend Cathy Hergott. The two are sipping white wine and snacking on a baked-garlic-with-Roquefort-and-rosemary appetizer, as the guys prepare dinner. When the preparations are complete, Garry will present each dish to his bride-to-be.

The truth is, this is a rare event for Garry: At home Melissa does almost all the cooking. But if this evening's cooking class for Garry and his groomsmen goes according to plan, the sight of Garry in an apron could become commonplace.

The group are gathered in the home of executive chef Patricia Corsini, whose cooking school and catering company, Cook Gourmet, runs, among other kinds of cooking courses, classes for grooms.

Corsini had long held cooking nights for both sides of the wedding party and it stuck with her how surprised and pleased many of the guys were after they learned to cook a fancy dish. So she came up with the idea of a class just for them.

"They think it's really difficult so they're surprised. Once you put a spoon in their hands and get them stirring and they make one dish, they feel empowered," Corsini says.

"A lot of men want to learn to cook. It isn't so much the wife wanting the guy to learn, but a lot of grooms come on their own. They think 'I'm getting married, I want to be involved in the whole experience, I want to be involved with my wife,' " she explains.

Corsini says her aim is to teach the guys one or two main cooking concepts they can start with. "If they can get one full meal going, then they can go off from there and build on it."

After chatting with this group in advance of their class, Corsini thought it wise to keep things simple and do recipes such as the stuffed mushrooms and the arugula salad because those would complement the things they already knew how to cook -- barbecued meat.

As the guys stand at the stove stirring their dishes, they discuss their
day.

"Did you know they made machine guns in Kitchener?" Lonnie says. "That's where I was today. I was standing there beside this guy testing machine guns."

"No way," says Toby.

"That's cool," says Garry.

"And you wouldn't believe the sound a machine gun makes. And the guy beside me was testing grenades," says Lonnie.

As they gab, their attention to the task at hand becomes, well, less attentive, so Corsini periodically slides in to check on their progress, give things a stir or adjust the heat.

Lonnie has taken a shine to Corsini and has begun referring to her as his wife, or, in one instance, as his little waffle iron. He aims to impress by telling her the onions are caramelizing nicely. Lonnie cooks a chicken omelette every morning.

At the beginning of the class the guys broke into teams and Garry and Toby chose the risotto, which is ironic because risotto is famously
time-consuming and time is what Garry dislikes most about cooking. At the moment, according to Melissa, Garry can make Kraft Dinner, steak, chicken and potato packages on the barbecue as well as a "mean egg over easy."

"I'm hoping this class will get him interested in cooking," she says. "He doesn't see the value in spending an hour in the kitchen for a meal we might eat in 15 minutes. That's what he always tells me."

"She spends a lot of time in the kitchen and I'm truly thankful for it," says Garry. "We eat pretty healthy -- our carbs are measured out, we eat protein three times a day and we eat every two or three hours. I do want to help her as much as I can, especially since starting in September she'll be going to university to get her MBA. There are days when I feel bad, when I come home and if I'm not doing anything I go downstairs and hang out and she's up there for an hour and a half preparing my lunch. On a Sunday afternoon I'm relaxing and she's cooking. She enjoys it, but I'd like to help," he says while he stirs and stirs and stirs the risotto.

"Patricia, what's that green stuff called again?" Jason asks Corsini.

"Arugula," she says.

Lance has finished making the salad and dishes out servings for everyone. Garry formally presents a plate to Melissa. Corsini tells him to let her know it's an arugula salad with Parmesan made for her by his buddy.

Garry says, "Yes, Lance will be by every two weeks to make this for you," and then laughs.

When the risotto is ready Garry presents the pièce de résistance. "To my love, will you try the risotto asparagus." He pronounces it roosootoo while everyone else just keeps calling it rice.

All are impressed with how well it turned out and Melissa says she is going to want to see this scene repeated. "I'm going to take this recipe home and one night I'm going to say, 'Hey, Garry, how 'bout making me some risotto."

LEARN TO COOK CLASSES


LEARN TO COOK GOURMET - Join in on any one of the classes offered at Cook Gourmet with yourself or invite a few friends to come along. With the exception of demonstration classes, our classes are hands-on. Typically, a class consists of instruction, cooking and eating - simultaneously. You're not sitting back and just taking notes! With the exception of Pastry and Baking classes, wine is served.

Maximum enrollment in hands-on classes ranges from 10 to 16 people. Recipes and instructions are provided for class use and are meant to be taken home as well. Each person is given a small token of our appreciation for attending the class and don't forget to check the website for the latest in photos from your class!

PRIVATE PARTY - Are you looking for a fun, vivacious offsite activity for your staff? Would you and your family like to do something different for your next birthday or perhaps a monthly gourmet cooking club gettogether? Do you like to entertain your clients and friends in a warm and elegant atmosphere or perhaps you would like to have your bridal party get together for a special thank you. Our specialty is private cooking classes tailored to your particular celebration and needs.

FOR THE CORPORATE FIELD - Cook Gourmet offers corporate culinary team building that introduces a culinary experience tailored to help the corporate team realize its goals. We would like to explore adding value to your clientele in the way of client appreciation events or simply to host a presentation or new product, or service you are launching. At Cook Gourmet, we specialize in corporate classes as an incentive to solidify relationships.

In order to emphasize your service, a good way is to offer a collective gourmet cooking class ranging from cocktail to five course tasters, to an outdoor barbeque class. Our school offers room for a preliminary meeting and the agenda can be arranged to suit your particulars.

When the guests arrive at our school, they are greeted with hors d'oeuvres, beverages and their own cook's apron. (Your company logo can be embossed on each apron as an added incentive). The guests review the event's pre-selected menu and meet their private chef During the evening, experience cooking in our spacious, fully stocked, professional kitchen where we teach valuable cooking skills.

Then, sample the entrees! Photos are taken throughout the event and each guest is treated to a packet of the events recipes. We are available for both day and evening classes and can work with you to select a delicious and educational culinary experience.

YES WE CATER - Whether you need full service horsd'oeuvres and cocktails for a residence party, private yacht, client reception a full service bridal shower including waiters, games, gifts and give or a private dinner party. Cook Gourmet will work with you to customize a menu for your particular requirements.

PAMPER YOUR DAD this Father's Day with a Cook Gourmet gift certificate - a fun and great evening out. Why not include yourself and sign up for the Father's and Son's class Wednesday, June 12th. A wonderful way to say "Thanks, Dad". Gift certificates from Cook Gourmet are a unique and perfect gift. Gift Certificates available for all occasions.

SWAPPING LIVES

Kids like to trade -- they trade lunches, hockey cards, t-shirts. Some kids may even think about trading lives.

Thirteen-year-old Neil Stratford of Oakville not only thought about it -- he did it! Stratford swapped his life in Oakville for the life of Noel Dhingra, a 13-year-old resident of St. Mary's, Ontario.

Well, at least he did for a weekend and now we can watch on TV to see how it all turned out.
Stratford and Dhingra are just two of the young people who participated in the new TVO kids 'reality' series, Swap-TV, now in production to premiere in September.

Last weekend Stratford and Dhingra "swapped their lives".

Stratford went to St. Mary's to spend the weekend with Dhingra's family where he had an opportunity to learn fencing with stage fighting and fencing instructor John Brogan, who is located in Stratford.

"The swap was fun because I got to try new things, such as fencing, archery and print making," said Stratford.

Dhingra came to Oakville to spend that weekend with Stratford's family. Because Stratford is interested in gourmet food and gourmet cooking, Dhingra, who is not a cook, had the opportunity to take a gourmet cooking class at the "Cook Gourmet" in Mississauga where Stratford takes classes.

Swap-TV is aimed at the 9-13 year old 'tween set'. The pilot show of Swap-TV started out as a school project for four female students in their final year of the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson University.

Tatyana Terzopolous, now one of the associate producers on the series, has been involved since the inception of the program idea.

"We decided we wanted to do something that had potential to get us going in the television industry," said Terzopolous.

When thinking of pilot ideas, the graduating students considered the popularity of reality TV shows such as Survivor. They wanted to create something that was a fun documentary style reality show for kids, but not the traditional formal style with sit-down interviews. They wanted to make it fun with game-show elements, graphics and pop-ups.

"We wanted to do a show that instead of just following around kids, who do interesting things, we wanted to immerse them into each other's lifestyle, so that they can learn firsthand what it's like to be another kid. That's where the premise of Swap-TV came from. We take two kids and we swap their lives for the weekend. We look for kids with a unique way of life and then set up a swap that the kids will each get into."

TVO liked the pilot so much it wanted to create a 13-part series.

Serving as mentors, TVO introduced the student producers to Ira Levy of Breakthrough Entertainment with the idea that these novice producers could use the help of more seasoned professionals to get a series produced.

Finding participants took some creativity on the part of the fledgling producers, and they found volunteers in a variety of ways.

One approach was to place ads in newspapers looking for kids. Dhingra saw the ad and responded by e-mail.

The producers were interested in Dhingra because he was into fencing and archery and also had a printmaking studio in his basement.

Stratford fit into the picture because he was interested in learning new things and his cooking teacher Patricia Corsini (who is chef/owner of 'Cook Gourmet in Mississauga) had been approached by the producers and indicated that Stratford would be a good candidate for " trading places" for a number of reasons.

"Neil is interested, really keen and he challenges himself all the time. He asks questions and is very focused," commented Corsini.

She also stressed his parents' level of involvement in his hobby also made him a good candidate for Swap-TV.

Terzopolous agreed that it is necessary to have the whole family involved to make it a successful swap.

"It's also about the family, not just the child, making the swap."

"Both kids were incredibly cooperative and positive. The show becomes a life-changing experience for both the kids and the families when everyone gets involved...it is at this point that the experience moves above and beyond the confines of simply 'making TV'."

HOPPING DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL

Kids of all ages can make their own bunnies and more right here in Mississauga. Cook Gourmet on Clarkson Road has morning and afternoon classes the weekend of March 23-24. As well as making a chocolate bunny, participants also make rabbit suckers and ice chickadee cookies, then bring home an Easter basket. Get more information or register at 905-403-0059 or on the web at www.cookgourmet.ca/classes.html.

BACK TO COOKING SCHOOL

Cook Gourmet

Fall dasses range from hors d'oeuvres, The Mystery of Phyllo Pastry, wine tasting and Italian, Greek, French and Asian cuisine. Private or corporate classes are offered. 1204 Clarkson Rd. N., Mississauga, 905-403-0059,

www.cookgourmet.ca.

FORMER CELEBRITY CHEF OFFERS COOKING CLASSES

With a state-of-the-art kitchen and a family to feed, this stay-at-home working mom can have her cake and eat it, too.

Patricia Corsini, former chef for famed artist Robert Bateman, is now living in Mississauga and offering gourmet cooking classes from her studio at 1204 Clarkson Rd., just north of Lakeshore Rd. Call to reserve at 905-403-0069.

"I wasn't interested in cooking until I went to work for the Bateman's 12 years ago," said Corsini. "I was 25 at the time and had no idea who Robert Batetman was."

Her self-confidence and strong organizational skills landed Corsini a job as Bateman's personal assistant. The job included cooking, entertaining and scheduling his career. She was unmarried at the time and moved to British Columbia with the family.

"I knew little about cooking when 1 started but they were keen on always eating nutritious foods," said Corsini. "They taught me so much about living a healthy lifestyle."

Corsini learned from trial and error and by reading a lot of cookbooks. But I the real challenge came when she was asked to start catering parties for celebrities and noted dignitaries.

"Catering brought me a lot of satisfaction," said Corsini. "It was a constant learning process but successes prompted a passion in me for plating fine cuisine."

Corsini admits to a few flops in front of some well-known people in her pursuit of learning but looks back with a smile on her face.

"I learned that celebrities are just people, too," said Corsini.

When the Bateman's moved to Germany a year later, Corsini had become one of the family. She lived with them and their two children for a year before meeting her husband and returning to Toronto.

She graduated from George Brown College, then began her own catering business, teaching gourmet cooking classes out of her studio.

"It wasn't until we moved to Mississauga last August," said Corsini, "that I was finally able to install a full state-of-the-art kitchen. It's a dream come true."

Corsini offers classes for individuals, couples or groups and charges $90 per person. Sign up for just one class or for a series. Parties of up to 10 can be accommodated.

"I offer alternate cuisine," said Corsini. "It could be a full five-course dinner, or appetizers and hors d'oeuvres."

To visit Corsini's new website, go online to www.cookgourmet.ca.