Instructors at The Cooking Room
Our Chefs:
The Cooking Room is fortunate to be centrally located between Calgary and Edmonton. As a result, we draw top chefs and wine experts from both of Alberta's two major centers.
Brad Smoliak
As far back as he can remember, Brad Smoliak has wanted to cook for people. He loves the pots, the pans, the pointy things, playing with fire, and, of course, the food. And why not? Shouldn't everyone love food? When you think about how much our lives are affected by what we eat, when we eat and who we eat with - it should be something we all love.
For the past 20 years, Brad has cooked in all kinds of kitchens and cooked for all kinds of people. Two things have remained true over the hundreds of thousands of meals he's prepared...good food doesn't have to be complicated, and simple food, simply prepared, can be fun, delicious and exciting.
Brad is well known as the co-founder and chef of the Hardware Grill in Edmonton. He was also Executive Chef for the Mayfair Golf & Country Club. He is a television personality and contributing writer for many food publications including The Edible Prairie Journal and Food for Thought. Brad can also say he has cooked for royalty, having cooked for Queen Elizabeth during her Royal Visit to Edmonton in 2005.
www.bradsmoliakcooks.com
Erin Rosar
Erin Rosar is an accredited Sommelier and instructor with the International Sommelier Guild where she instructs at all levels with the Guild's programs, including the highest level of the Sommelier Diploma. She is also a recognized Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers out of London, England.
Erin is the founder of WG Wines Consulting Inc. of Calgary, Alberta and it's website is www.wgwines.com. She has had pieces published in Wine Access, Calgary's Child Magazine, Mom Magazine, and her own newlsetter through WG Wines. Erin also is a respected wine judge and sits annually for the Canadian Value Wine Awards. Erin is as a proud partner in the Vinestone Wine Company wine shop in Cochrane, Alberta. Erin's newest venture is a wine tasting kit called Wine in the Kitchen.
Erin's fun and enjoyable approach to wine education has made her a welcomed speaker at The Pajama Party events at The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, The Canadian Women's Expo in Toronto, The Red Deer Women's Conference, The Calgary Interior Design Show and many private and corporate events.
Erin fervently believes that learning about wine should always be entertaining, interesting and definately "user friendly". She loves to share her passion for the world's wines with her audiences of students, clients and readers, and a style that makes learning about wine more creative and fun.
Julie Van Rosendaal
Julie Van Rosendaal is living proof that you can have your cake and eat it too! (After all, what good is cake if you can't eat it?) The best-selling author of One Smart Cookie, Grazing, In the Dog Kitchen and Starting Out, Julie has been referred to as "Queen of the Skinny Sweet" and "The Poster Girl for Low Fat Cooking" by Avenue Magazine, and is in demand to teach classes, appear on TV and radio, speak to various groups and demonstrate her culinary skills at events and benefits across Canada. Julie is the food and nutrition columnist on the Calgary Eyeopener on CBC Radio One, a regular contributor to magazines across North America, and co-host (with Ned Bell) of "It's Just Food" on Access and Canadian Learning Television, which will air its third season this fall.
Having spent years researching and experimenting in the kitchen, Julie developed the knowledge she needed to create healthier versions of typically high fat, high calorie dishes and baked goods that were so delicious, it enabled her to enjoy whatever she craved rather than declare her favorite foods off limits. As a result she lost 165 pounds and her inspiring story has been featured in such publications as Shape , Prevention, People, and Woman's World magazines. Julie's latest project, a reality cookbook called Dinner with Julie - a year in my kitchen, documents the entire year of 2008 in her kitchen, and can be seen online at www.dinnerwithjulie.com.
Nasim Lundy
Having grown up in Tanzania, Nasim Lundy has known Indian and African cooking for a lifetime. She moved to Red Deer in 1975 and has pursued a career in hairdressing with a fervent hobby of cooking. All of her siblings are in the restuarant business and Nasim shares that same skill and passion for cooking good food. Nasim cooks for people anytime she can gather them together...catering functions, church groups, cooking classes and lucky friends. As this type of cuisine is a daily way of life for Nasim, she has developed time saving strategies and an armload of loved recipes by all who taste her food.
Nicole Kammerer
As opening Executive Chef at Mercato, Calgary, Chef Nicole Kammerer has perfected her recipes and hand picks all of her ingredients. She has ventured out on her own and opened Nicole Gourmet, a personal chef service offering full service catering and weekly home delivered meals. Nicole prides herself in crafting beautiful food highlighting the integrity and freshest quality of seasonal local ingredients. Without the use of additives or preservatives, she creates simple, deliecious and sophisticated food from a vast repertoire of international cuisine. This variety of cuisine knowledge allows her clientele to enjoy a wide range of food selection with a focus on balanced flavor combinations.
www.nicolegourmet.com
Patrick Dunn
Patrick Dunn has been playing the food game for nearly 17 years. He took the traditional route of going to cooking school at SAIT in Calgary, as well as Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, specializing in the pastry arts. Patrick has worked in many fine dining establishments in Calgary such as Cilantro and Florentine Bistro, served as pastry chef at The Wildwood Grill & Brewing Company, a chocolate maker for Bernard Callebaut, and as Saucier at The Emerald Lake Lodge and Conference Centre in Field, BC.
Patrick is perhaps most well known as being a laid back and informative instructor at The Cookbook Company in Calgary, specializing in corporate team building, and private cooking classes on a wide variety of cuisines and themes. He's also very proud to have his own company, InterCourse Chef Services, specializing in residential cooking classes, private dinner functions, as well as his own line of spices, InnerSpice. Clients have come to appreciate and recommend Patrick for his ability to put people at ease with his organization, creativity and attention to detail. www.inter-course.ca
Pierre Lamielle
Pierre A Lamielle is a graduate from the French Culinary Institute in NYC, author/illustrator of the off-beat 'Easy Cook' column in Swerve magazine and creator of Kitchen Scraps: A Humorous Illustrated Cookbook. The unique format combines great recipes, colourful stories and whacky illustrations. Check out www.kitchenscraps.ca for regularly updated whackiness.
Nan Dell
With a passion for food and a life long love of cooking, Nan is most at home in the kitchen. Nan has started her career in food as a caterer and personal chef. Cooking local, organic and vegetarian food is a love, but you will find her at the market making friends with the butcher, baker and cheese maker! Sharing her love of food and her slightly geeky culinary knowledge is her raison d'etre. If you have an chance, sit down and enjoy a foodie moment with this talented and spirited cook.
The Cooking Room