Culinary Arts student claims ‘Valley’s Next Famous Chef’ honors

January 7, 2013 1 Comment
STC Culinary Arts student Daniela Gonzalez Garcia, right, won the the “Valley’s Next Famous Chef” in November. The competition was broadcast on KVEO NBC 23.

South Texas College culinary arts student Daniela Gonzalez Garcia was crowned the “Valley’s Next Famous Chef” late November after winning a reality cooking competition broadcast and partially-sponsored by KVEO News Center 23. The competition featured amateur cooks from around the Rio Grande Valley that had to prepare a meal within an hour using a main ingredient. The competition was judged by a panel of professional chefs from the Valley. For the final battle, Gonzalez Garcia gave the judges a tour of Italy through a dish of shrimp carbornara, a Capri salad with balsamic … Read More …

Filed Under: Around Campus, Arts, College News, Community, Featured, Honors/Awards

Culinary Arts alumna serves up passion in every dish

July 30, 2012 No Comments
Joanna Villarreal graduated from South Texas College in 2011 with an associate’s degree in culinary arts.

Clanging pots and pans, screaming servers, hot ovens, searing flames, and the reprimands of a head chef are all good reasons to stay out of the kitchen. But for South Texas College graduate Joanna Villarreal, it’s what she lives for. Villarreal graduated from STC with an associate’s degree in culinary arts in 2010 and earned a culinary arts certificate from the Cordon Bleu College of Austin in 2011. The 22-year-old Edinburg native is currently a line chef at a local restaurant, where she is quickly climbing the proverbial latter in what is typically a man’s world. “My biggest … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Alumni, College News, Featured

Enjoy STC’s free Winter Wonderland Art Walk on Dec. 1

November 18, 2011 No Comments

Chestnuts won’t be roasting on an open fire, but free food, music and art displays are a great way to kick off the holiday season with South Texas College’s second annual Winter Wonderland Art Walk on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event takes place at the college’s Pecan Campus Courtyard located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public. The STC Winter Wonderland Art Walk is a self-guided tour of art displays and demonstrations in cooking and ceramics, as well as live musical performances. Guests can start their tour at any … Read More …

Filed Under: Around Campus, Arts, Community

Student chefs delight celebrity judges with mushroom concoctions

November 2, 2011 No Comments
The celebrity judging panel with the contestants of STC’s Culinary Arts Program Second Annual Iron Chef Competition.

Walking down the line, you might have mistaken it for triage in an emergency. There were calls for dressings, knives and pressure everywhere. People in white and black garb were running, almost as if their lives were depended on it. “I need olive oil here now,” yelled out one contestant. “Please get me green onions,” yelled another. All the commotion was not an emergency situation, at least not to anyone except the six hungry judges waiting to eat. Instead, four student contestants were vying for the title of South Texas College’s Culinary Arts Program Iron Chef. “The … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community, Featured, Honors/Awards

Student Joseph Moore ices competition to achieve sweet success

October 10, 2011 No Comments
Moore putting the finishing touches on his winning entry for STC’s first Culinary Arts Program Cake Decorating Competition.

Eleven South Texas College Culinary Arts Program students battled their way through butter cream, fondant, crystallized sugar, chocolate bark and a variety of other weapons of mass deliciousness. But only one stood out above the rest as Joseph Moore was named the STC Culinary Arts Cake Decorator of the Year. Moore and his fellow newbie chefs recently participated in the college’s first Cake Decorating Competition, through which contestants brought their homemade cakes and took one hour to give the cakes one extreme icing makeover. “I literally spent weeks meticulously planning out my … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, Featured, Honors/Awards

Free cooking classes offer fresh, healthy options

July 11, 2011 No Comments

With an alarming number of people in the Rio Grande Valley with diabetes or considered obese, South Texas College’s Continuing, Professional and Workforce Education and the Culinary Arts Department are teaming up with Doctors Hospital at Renaissance to offer free Healthy Cooking Classes. “The number of people in the Valley with these diseases is growing at an alarming rate and so we want to do our part to provide some basic free education to help folks make smarter choices that will help them be healthier and possibly save money on eating out,” said Juan C. Aguirre, director of … Read More …

Filed Under: College News, Community

Culinary Arts Department serves up a sweet competition

May 24, 2010 No Comments
Culinary arts student Brenda Alfaro's winning entry featured a two-part dessert with pears and sugar art.

Students in STC’s Culinary Arts Program baked up some tasty, sweet surprises as they competed in the first ever pastry challenge in the college’s Pecan Campus Culinary Arts Kitchen. The desserts ranged from flavorful chocolate cakes to lemon panacotta decorated with star fruit. The student chefs were required to use a sauce and fruit in their desserts, as well as a crunchy element, and they were given two hours to complete their dishes. The competition, which was held on a week apart on separate occasions, featured desserts from students in two Advanced Baking classes led by Culinary … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, Community, Faculty/Staff, Featured

Student hopes to introduce others to the flavors of Peruvian cuisine

April 5, 2010 No Comments
STC student Pablo Bellido is looking forward to introducing others to the food and flavors of Peru once he graduates from college.

Roman philosopher Seneca wrote that happiness is like poppy flowers growing in wheat fields. The poppies may not have been intentionally planted there, but the presence of the wheat allowed these colorful examples of nature’s art to sprout anyway. These profound words serve to highlight the unpredictability of living, and how happiness is not a consequence of a calculated life; it is a result of both setting goals and relinquishing some control to let life take you where you’re meant to go. In my life, I have found the longer I live, the more this statement reveals itself to be true. … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Community, Honors/Awards