Chef offers a taste of the good life

Local food, home improvement and health vendors will converge at the Home and Lifestyle Expo and Taste of Home Cooking School on April 9 in Carson City.

The event is sponsored by The Nevada Appeal and The Record-Courier. Attendees will be able to learn new recipes and tips on home improvement from local vendors.

The event will take place at the Capital Christian Event Center, 1600 Snyder Ave., from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

There are a limited number of VIP tickets left, which includes early entry, preferred seating and a backstage tour of the Taste of Home Cooking School Show.

Also, the $40 VIP ticket includes an autographed Taste of Home Cookbook, additional raffle tickets and entry into the Home and Lifestyle Expo. The cookbook includes more than 1,500 recipes.

General admission tickets for the Taste of Home Cooking School are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Admission to the Home and Life Expo is $2 or free with a food donation, which goes to Food for Thought.

For more information, call 882-2111.

The cooking school is sponsored by Taste of Home magazine, which hosts hundreds of these cooking schools in conjunction with local media outlets around the country each year. The cooking school will feature chef Eric Villegas, 51, an award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and television personality.

Villegas recently discussed how his love of cooking came about, how he got involved with Taste of Home and his future.

Q. What initially inspired your love of cooking?

A. My parents came to the United States from Bolivia as adults, they didn't speak English. My mom learned (the language) by watching "All My Children" and she was a good cook, not an exceptional cook. My father was a surgeon and loved to cook and due to his profession, we were able to travel all over the world, and in our travels we ate where he wanted and were introduced to different flavors and foods. It was in these five-star restaurants that I fell in love with the sterling silver, the big chef hats. The pomp and circumstance. Mom then had a stroke in her early 40s and out of necessity, I started cooking for the family, and Mom in her broken English would give me her handy hints.

Q. Do you see a renewed interest in cooking?

A. I see a renewed interest in the art and love of cooking the past 10 years, and Taste of Home has been a big part of (fostering) that. We have iconic sponsors, such as Minute Made Rice, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Gallo; brands we all immediately recognize and have used at some point.

Q. How did you come to Taste of Home?

A. Even with my background, Taste of Home and it's amazing test kitchen, was completely under the radar. When I finally learned of it, I approached them about being a part of their program, did an interview and just started. It takes me out of my comfort zone in that during my career I have cooked in high-end restaurants, which is only about 2 percent of the population. Now I have to learn to be lean, mean and clean (without the fancy kitchen and equipment), and I get to cook for the other 98 percent.

Q. What can participants at Taste of Home expect?

A. They can expect fun, to be entertained and to learn real-life techniques in the kitchen. The amazing cooks at the test kitchen have spent hours making recipes that are fool proof so that people can cook fast, efficient and cost-effective meals, to do something wonderful for their family and offers a completely different view of eating. We show them how to get into the kitchen, get it done and get on to dining and having time to enjoy a meal together, around the table.

Q. Who will be joining you?

A. Jamie Dunn is a wonderful presenter who really connects with women and shows them how to get in the kitchen and get it done. She cooks for her own family and fosters the importance of coming together to share meals. Guy Klinzing had 30 years with Mars and he is a singer and performer so he sings as he cooks and is very entertaining. Last night he gave us an Elvis impersonation. I will not be singing, but I will make a mushroom dip using fresh ingredients; it's kind of the same idea as the artichoke dip, but new and fresh.

Q. What else should people know?

A. Taste of Home presents 300 cooking schools a year and that number's increasing and they've been doing this for 50 years. They reach 300,000 people annually, and the price of admission includes a free subscription to the magazine of your choice, either "Taste of Home," or "Simple & Delicious." Also, when people send questions in to Taste of Home, those are answered directly by their test cooks.

Q. What have you most enjoyed about this experience so far?

A. We did a show last night that was standing room only - 2,000 people - and I couldn't get into the auditorium, because the two little old ladies guarding the place didn't believe I was there to present. It was a huge show and then we did one in Iowa where we had 700. Many of the chefs stay more local, but I am going to be traveling across the country so I get to see the world's biggest ball of twine, biggest skillet and the big Paul Bunyan ... I love the Americana that goes with this and meeting people from all these places.

Q. What is your favorite recipe?

A. I just turned 51, just had a baby, so my favorite recipe is my baby daughter Sophia Ann. She is absolutely beautiful and another reason Taste of Home is so great, because now I'm learning how to make baby food.

Q. What is special about Michigan's cuisine?

A. When you go to New Orleans you know you'll have Creole or jumbalaya, when you go to California, it's fresh and in New England there's chowder. When you go to Michigan, what most people don't realize is that we have a pantry second only to California - fruit, wine, brewing, fish from the Great Lakes; just down the road from my house we have the first salt water shrimp farm and so we find those foods available locally and may take a recipe (from another region) and using foods we're known locally for and adapt that recipe using those ingredients. We take these gems of agriculture (and locally manufactured kitchen items) to raise awareness. In doing the TV show, I felt it was my job not only to refresh Michigan's traditional recipes and reworking them with a fresher, newer taste, but to let everyone know what we have available here. And in more than 120 shows, we didn't even crack the surface.

Q. Do you have plans for a new show or book?

A. We will be starting a new show, "Great Lakes, Great Foods," which will broaden the focus to include a greater geographic area and we'll go to Milwaukee to Taste Of Home headquarters and see inside their test kitchens. And maybe a book with baby food recipes ... since I'm doing that now.