Spa Cuisine Reinvented at Monthly Culinary Experience

Lake Austin Spa Resort Features Star Chefs and Delicious Experiences

AUSTIN, TX - Distinguished by a menu that successfully marries "healthy" and "gourmet," Lake Austin Spa Resort, the number one ranked destination spa in the United States, shares its secrets of preparing deliciously healthful cuisine for one week every month during its celebrated Culinary Experience ^TM program.

The popular week-long Culinary Experience program begins on the second Sunday of every month. These special culinary weeks feature special guest chefs, daily cooking demonstrations and other activities that celebrate all things culinary.

Each month, Lake Austin Spa Resort's executive chef Terry Conlan is joined by renowned restaurateurs and cookbook authors, James Beard award-winners and other nationally-known celebrity chefs. Upcoming guest chefs include:

• August 2010: Barbara Fenzl is a major figure in the American culinary stage. She is the owner of Les Gourmettes Cooking School in Phoenix , est. 1983, host of the 13-week PBS series Savor the Southwest, and host of Phoenix’s local PBS station’s last ten cooking-related pledge drives – A is for Appetizers, D is for Desserts, etc., and author of Southwest the Beautiful Cookbook (Collins San Francisco, 1994), Savor the Southwest. (Bay Books, 1999) and Seasonal Southwest Cooking (Northland Publishing, 2005). Barbara has served on numerous culinary boards including past president of International Association of Culinary Professional; benefactor and past board member of the American Institute of Wine & Food; past president of the Arizona chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier; and a past member of the James Beard Foundation Resturant Awards Committee. Tim LaFuente told his mother that someday he wanted to either be a chef or a firefighter. He has lived his childhood dream by having the best of both worlds. He became a firefighter in Victoria, Texas at the age of 19. It was also quickly realized by his fellow firefighters that he could cook well. He soon became the “Firehouse Cook” a relished title which is rare in the fire station. Tim has been featured on the Food Network in a show called Eat the Heat, a show about peppers and hot sauces hosted by Tyler Florence. He has also been published in a book that highlights 39 Firefighters called Great Fire House Cooks of Texas. Andrea Beaman is a Natural Foods Chef, spokesperson, author, and television host dedicated to spreading knowledge about alternative healing and green and sustainable living. Andrea was a featured contestant on Bravo’s hit reality TV show, Top Chef. She is the food and health expert on CBS News, and has appeared on The View. She is the host of award nominated Wise UP! a health and wellness show that travels across the country in search of life-enhancing activities, alternative therapies, holistic health and organic foods. Andrea is the author of The Whole Truth – How I Naturally Reclaimed My Health, and You Can Too! and The Eating and Recipe Guide – Better Food, Better Health. Her third book Health is Wealth – In Tough Financial Times The Best Investment is in Yourself is on the way.

• September 2010: Sara Moulton is one of the most trusted names in the food business. As the host of Cooking Live, Cooking Live Primetime, and Sara’s Secrets between 1996 and 2005, she was a founding Food Network personality. She’s been food editor for ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” since 1997. In the spring of 2008, she hosted Sara’s Weeknight Meals for Public Television. Sara was Gourmet magazine’s executive chef until the magazine shuttered in May 2009. On top of all of this, Sara is the author of three cookbooks: Sara Moulton Cooks at Home, Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals and her newly released Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners.

• October 2010. Special guest chef Terry Walters is all about good health – body, mind, and soul. She is a holistic health counselor, food educator, and motivational speaker devoted to teaching people how to make healthy choices. Her book, Clean Food, is more than a cookbook. It is an encouraging, easy-to-understand guide to eating closer to the source and benefitting from the buying the best and fresh locally grown ingredients. For the past nine years, she’s been teaching people how to make delicious, healthy foods to nourish their families. Author of Good Friends Great Tastes, Debbie Gore blends international flavors to make memorable meals with minimal effort and maximum nourishment. Chef Debbie will teach a cooking class that blends the superfoods with great taste. Her easy and elegant recipes are sure to please family and friends. She is also the creator of the “Recipe for Life” program, which helps individuals find the ideal ingredients for their “Recipe for Life.” Using ingredients in a recipe metaphor, she entertains and guides listeners toward better decision making. Avoid over-committing, create balance for aging gracefully and stimulate your diet with the superfoods for overall well-being.

• November 2010: Grace Young is considered an authority on Chinese cooking. She is the author of Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge to be published May, 2010 (Simon & Schuster). Young’s cookbooks have won numerous awards including the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Le Cordon Bleu International Cookbook Award, the Jane Grigson Cookbook Award, and the World Food Media Award’s Best Food Book in Australia for The Breath of a Wok (Simon & Schuster, 20004). Young’s first book, The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen won the IACP International Cookbook Award. Young has been featured in the New York Times, on NPR’s All Things Considered and on the CBS Sunday Morning Show. She is a consulting editor for Saveur magazine and her work has appeared in Bon Appétit and Food & Wine magazines. Chef John “Johnny Vee” Vollertsen is director and creator of the Las Cosas Cooking School in Santa Fe and Las Cruces, New Mexico. John’s career in the hospitality industry has taken him from New York, through Sydney, Australia, and finally Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has taught cooking for over 15 years and enjoys a second career in food writing as a regular columnist for Local Flavor magazine and as Dining & Food Editor for The Santa Fean magazine. John also hosts a Food Radio talk show called Bits and Bites with Johnny Vee on 1260 AM-KTRC. His first cookbook Cooking with Johnny Vee was published by Gibbs Smith Publishing in 2008.

• December 2010: Corinne Trang is the “Julia Child of Asian Cuisine,” according to The Washington Post. She is an award-winning author of six cookbooks and a lifestyle writer for distinguished publications such as Food & Wine, Health, Cooking Light and Saveur. Corinne is also expert on Asian cuisines and cultures, beverage and food consultant, lecturer, spokesperson, chef, recipe developer, and lifestyle writer. She is a frequent radio and television guest as well as the chief east coast correspondent for America’s Dining and Travel Guide (Business Talk Radio). Born in France’s Loire Valley of a French mother and a Cambodian-Chinese father, Trang was raised in Phnom Penh, Paris, and New York. She has traveled extensively and studied culture and cuisine throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

• January 2011: Marge Perry writes, teaches, broadcasts and speaks about cooking, food and nutrition. In her capacity as a syndicated food columnist for Newsday, Contributing Editor for Cooking Light and Health magazines, columnist for myrecipes.com, restaurant critic, and contributor to many other media outlets, Ms. Perry is an accessible and authoritative guide for anyone who cooks, eats and travels. In addition to Dinner Tonight, the cookbook based on her daily Newsday column, Ms. Perry has contributed to nearly 20 other books. Ms. Perry teaches cooking and food writing at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, food writing at mediabistro.com, and is a guest lecturer at the culinary management graduate school at New York University. Her love of and involvement with food ranges from writing and reporting about chefs, restaurants, growers, and artesinal producers; restaurant reviewing; menu consulting, consumer trend analysis and reporting, and serving on tasting and judging panels. She is the recipient of the Libby Hillman Award for Culinary Excellence and the Food Writers’ Symposium scholarship.

• February 2011: Learn from a master. Joanne Weir knows a thing or two about teaching a cooking class. She’s a James Beard Award-winning book author, a celebrated chef and a cooking teacher with her own TV show. In the second season of her very successful 26-part public television series, Joanne Weir's Cooking Class, Joanne's love of teaching cooking takes center stage. Her home kitchen is once again the classroom for each show as she works side-by-side with a real-world student for a hands-on cooking lesson. The student and viewer learn how to prepare a wide variety of Weir's latest wine country-inspired recipes, using the freshest and most seasonal ingredients available.

During a Culinary Experience week, guests are also treated to an organic garden tour and tea tasting, a cowboy breakfast on the shores of Lake Austin (seasonally), classes on the art of entertaining, remodeled recipes classes, wine seminars and cheese and olive oil tastings, to name a few.

ABOUT LAKE AUSTIN SPA RESORT

Nestled along the shores of scenic Lake Austin in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Lake Austin Spa Resort offers guests the sanctuary of a world-class spa and the warmth of a best friend's lake house. Lake Austin Spa Resort offers all-inclusive vacation packages, which include accommodations in one of 40 charming lakeside guest rooms, three gourmet meals daily, indoor and outdoor fitness activities and classes, and a selection of spa and body treatments.

The resort has received numerous awards from prestigious national travel and spa magazines since its multi-million dollar renovation and expansion in 2004. Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Allure, the Zagat Survey, Health, Garden Design, SpaFinder Lifestyle, Spa Magazine and American Airlines' Celebrated Living magazine have recently honored Lake Austin Spa Resort as one of the best in the country and in the world.

For additional information and reservations, call 800-847-5637, or visit www.lakeaustin.com.

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