COMMENTARY
‘Great Holiday Baking Show’ seeking America’s best chefs
3/20/2016Do you love to bake cookies, pies, pastries, wedding cakes, and other sweet treats? How about yeast breads or ethnic specialties made with recipes handed down through the generations?
Well, tell the producers of the hit show The Great British Bake-Off: They’re looking for America’s best amateur bakers as they cast a December episode of The Great Holiday Baking Show for ABC.
Applications are due by May 1, and you must include pictures of yourself and of the delectable goodies you bake.
Tell about your background, a specialty item you’re always asked to bring to parties, a legendary disaster in the kitchen, why you love to bake, who taught you to bake, why baking is such a passion for you ... important details to convince the producers that you should be chosen for the show.
For more information, go to bakingshowcasting.com/apply/. And if you still have questions, send an email to bakingshowcasting@loveproductionsusa.com.
Presidential Ale
The Catawba Island Brewing Co. has created an honorary beer to celebrate the centennial of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont.
And to raise funds for the site, there will be a release party for the Presidential Ale on April 1 at the brewery’s tasting room, 2330 E. Harbor Rd., Port Clinton.
The party will feature live entertainment, 50/50 raffles, and food. And $1 from each beer sold between 5 and 10 p.m. will be donated to the library.
“We’ve had so much success in the past doing beer for special events,” said Mike Roder, president of the brewery. “We felt like it made sense to make one for the presidential library.”
For information, go to catawbaislandbrewing.com/home.php.
Cake exhibit
For an array of artworks that really takes the cake, don’t miss the newest exhibit curated by Margaret Carney, director of the Dinnerware Museum.
The show, titled Cake, will open with a reception (serving cake, of course) from 1 to 4 p.m. on April 9, and then be on display through Sept. 4.
Tara Barnes-Stumpf of Tipp City, Ohio, was awarded first prize in the juried portion of the exhibit for her cake stand titled “To Have and to Hold.” Ann Arbor pastry chef Heather Anne Leavitt served as the juror, with 25 pieces in contention.
Twenty-one artists will exhibit in the invitational portion of the show. Ceramics, glass, and even Legos have been used in the cake-themed exhibit pieces, which will be available for sale to benefit the Dinnerware Museum; prices range from $75 to $10,000.
There is no charge to see the exhibit, which will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays or by appointment (special tours are encouraged).
The show will be held at the Museum on Main Street, a part of the Washtenaw County Historical Society, at 500 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. For more information, go to dinnerwaremuseum.org/cake.html, call 607-382-1415, or email director@dinnerwaremuseum.org.