Chef Charles Hall II gives Menu Planning Course on Statia

Mr. Charles Hall II who has been invited to Statia by the St.Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation to give a week long training course on Menu Planning was impressed with the overall experience.
Chef Charles II started cooking from the early age of 12. He graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a degree in Culinary Arts and a degree in Food Service Management. He worked as a Sous Chef at Hilton Resorts, Restaurant Manager at the J.W.Marriott Hotel in Washington D.C. and as the Executive Chef at St.Albans School on the grounds of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Today Chef Charles owns his own catering business called Shake n Bake in Maryland.
The classes started on Monday June 20 with participants ranging from caterers, cooks, hotel staff and aspiring chefs.
The course dubbed “Menu Planning” was met with subtitels such as: Purchasing, Standards of measurement, Sanitation, Use of equipment and small wares, Cooking techniques and applications etc.
On Friday June 24 2011 the final day of the course, certificates were given to the 24 persons who completed the training. Chef Charles planned a wonderful menu of Coconut peas & Rice, Jerk Grouper in Mango Sauce, Green Salad with a papaya/strawberry vinagrette made from scratch, stuffed cucumber chunks and grilled green beans with red peppers. The class was invited into the kitchen and everyone helped out in preparing the meal before sitting down together to enjoy it.
Director of Tourism Mr. Charles Lindo was present to hand out the certificates and expressed his gratitude to Chef Charles for accepting the invitation to give the training, the Gwendolyn van Putten School for the use of their facilities and to all the persons who faithfully attended the training each day and for their active participation and willingness to improve themselves in the hospitality field. He especially thank Mrs. Maya Leon-Pandt, Product Development & Research Manager and the rest of the Tourism staff for putting together such a successful event and said he looked forward to the next one.