With Bruce Parkinson
15FEB08
Food Dude Adrian Niman, TakeOffEh's Jill Christie, grand prize winner
Lindsay Pearlman, Ensemble &
TakeOffEh's Nina Slawek
Prep in full progress by l-r: Dan Prior, Exotik Tours; Brad Miron, itravel 2000; Mel Crawford, Disney; Lindsay Pearlman, Ensemble; a Chef on 8; Susan Bowman, Thomas Cook Canada; Sue Web, VoX
Pierre Lepage, Intair; a Chef on 8; Deanna Murphy, Sunwing; Brent Carnegie, Conquest Vacations;
Olga Sebestova, Cruise Strategies;
Richard Eave, RMR Group.
Time To TakeOffeh!
Downtown Toronto was groaning under the weight of another February snowstorm, the army was nowhere in sight, and yet a substantial group of Canadian travel industry luminaries fought through the slush to attend a gala lunchtime launch for TakeOffeh.com.
The website is the latest venture for Open Jaw founders Nina Slawek and Suzanne Christie. TakeOffeh brings together Canadian consumers and travel sellers, in an environment of rich content, including original and sourced travel news and features, insider tips and trends and video presentations from travel professionals.
The heart of the site is the Travel Market, already packed with hundreds of postings from travel agencies offering exclusive tours, adventure operators, cruise lines and more.
Travel industry members are accustomed to exchanging an hour or two of attention for a good meal, but on this occasion they had to cook it too, at least part of it. The venue was Cooks On Eight, a concept cooking school and restaurant with picture windows looking down on the skaters in Toronto City Hall's Nathan Phillips Square.
Attendees were divided into groups and asked to do the prep work for a Sweet Corn and Roasted Pepper Soup with Shrimp and Avocado Salad. They set about the task with great enthusiasm - or at least high-volume chatter.
ACV's Nino Montagnese had the television food show host looks and smile, though he denied ever having entered a kitchen. Conquest's Brent Carnegie made the same claim, and assumed a supervisory role with panache.
Ensemble's Lindsay Pearlman took a similar approach, asking why he would chop something that was only going to be pureed later. "It's that kind of thinking that makes a good executive," he said. It was also fortuitous that Ensemble colleague Franca Iuele is a restaurateur who could work for two. Pearlman's luck extended to the grand prize draw, as he won the services of a talented pair known as The Food Dudes, who will come to Pearlman's home and cook a gourmet dinner for four.
Signature's Dianne Jackson refused to reveal her role in the cooking process, saying only that she was working on a 'special project,' while iTravel2000's Brad Miron cheerfully seeded tomatoes, singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" as he worked.
Tourist Board representatives took on more than their share of the labour. Cuba's new tourism boss in Toronto Elias Bestard chopped shrimp with gusto, while his colleague Nieves Ricardo and the Mexican Tourist Board's Monica Garcia shed big Latin tears over a pungent onion. Meanwhile, Cheryl Carter of the Barbados Tourist Board, surrounded herself with garlic and chopped merrily. When told she looked like she'd done this before she replied simply "I am a West Indian."
Skylink's Yuvraj Datta soldiered on with his fearsome looking blade, filleting garlic and jalapeno peppers and musing as to why he had been saddled with all the 'irritant' foods. Dan Prior from Exotik Tours credited Jamie Oliver for inspiring his love of cooking, and his prowess was providential, as most of his team appeared to be deep in conversation. JM Vacations' Rhonda Rathbone wanted it known that she 'aced the avocado,' while Las Vegas CVB rep Patrice Bell savoured the sweet scent of cilantro.
The result of all the effort was a concentrated burst of diverse flavours, much like the content of TakeOffeh - something for everyone to like.
© Open Jaw