Sunday, March 18, 2007
Joseph Yasso
Executive Director
lesgour@msu.edu
Well - people have been consistently accessing this website (and specifically the blog!) for the last two weeks so I can not deny the viewing public from a blog entry any longer! Our website debuted at the beginning of the second week in the short month of February and since then has been viewed by well over one thousand (1,000) people worldwide. If you are attending
Les Gourmets you are in for a tremendous spectacle. Soon, we will ask you for the names of all the guests in your party so as to create a unique and personalized experience. It has been a pleasure working with the board members to ensure that our guests and volunteers are offered a quality evening, unrivaled by any other institution. Be sure to check back on this website soon to see a list of all the wonderful sponsors who have committed to the success of Night of the Golden Dragon - A Tour of the Pacific Rim.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Jennifer Wright
Director: Arts & Entertainment
idealsbecomeher@gmail.com
**Huge Sigh of Relief** Welcome, from the Arts and Entertainment team! We have surprising performances. We have rich linen. We have exotic florals. We have 10 of the 1000 paper cranes folded. Yes, that was not a typo. In addition to your presence at Les Gourmets there will also be in attendance 1000 hand-folded paper cranes.
For the dinner, I just want to convey the richness, serenity and simplicity that are embedded in so deeply in the cultures we are representing. Individually they are so subtle and at times vastly different that it was a difficult starting point for someone attempting to bring them all together. After research and debate and drawings I finally presented my plans to the board, as portraying the cultures through light, and celebrating the one item they all shared- the lantern.
Lanterns provide light, they provide hope and in so many of the cultures they are essential to everyday life. They can be ornate or simple; they can be big or small. They can be singularly unique or strung in the thousands. They can be a beacon, drawing people to them, as I hope you will be drawn into the land of The Golden Dragon and the culture of hospitality we are cultivating. I hope to see you in 5 weeks! Cheers!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Jeff Packard
Supervisor: Heart of House
packardj@msu.edu
I'm Jeff Packard, one of the HoH supervisors for Night of the Golden Dragon. This event is shaping up beautifully. I'm very excited for it to unfold without a hitch. I met with Chef Sherwin this week and we had a very productive chat about what will be going on behind the scenes. Also, the menu is progressing wonderfully. Some of the ideas going around are highly artistic and will surely wow the crowd. To see what they are, I guess you'll have to be there!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
John Doan
Director: Heart of House
doanjohn@msu.edu
You know you have been thinking about something to much when you start having weird, nightmarish dreams about it. In my case, strangely enough, it is wine. With an on-line independent study with Dr. Borchgrevink, increasing wine sales for Gilbert and Blake's in Dr. Bonnie's marketing class, and being in charge of securing wine donations for
Les Gourmets, I have wine on the brain constantly. So my nightmares have been like, buying a case of expensive wine to find out the labels have been forged and it is not really the wine I bought. Or, opening a bottle and never being able to finish because one more glass keeps coming out, and finally the one where I go into a wine shop and none of the bottles have labels so I can't ever tell what anything is and no one in the store knows either.
With that said,
Les Gourmets 2007 is going to rock your world, let my dreams be a testament to the fact that our students are working hard on this, and that it's going to be of the hook. See you there!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Chelsea Hallman
Director: Human Resources
hallman8@msu.edu
Another week closer to
Les Gourmets 2007: Night of the Golden Dragon, and our volunteer numbers continues to grow. So far, 288 students have signed up to volunteer in Heart of House, Reception, and Front of House. Our student volunteers have had the opportunity to sign up and request their positions, and we are excited to have both experienced and first year
Les Gourmets student volunteers, bringing together a variety of talents and areas of expertise in hospitality.
At this time, we are soliciting donations for volunteer meals, (a well fed volunteer is a happy and hospitable volunteer) and getting ready for our first volunteer orientation sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. As we begin to count down the days (32), we become more and more confident that our student volunteers will keep the
Les Gourmets tradition of excellence in hospitality alive and well! Happy Monday!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Malorie Brown
Director: Reception
brown161@msu.edu
I am very excited for the upcoming event and training. We have so many volunteers for the Reception - we know it is going to be the best
Les Gourmets yet. We have training coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday this week which includes an orientation for Reception and Front of House. Boyoung, our supervisors, and I are very excited for the training and rapidly nearing event. A big thanks in advance to our volunteers!!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
John Doan
Director: Heart of House
doanjohn@msu.edu
Lee Lutes from Blackstar Farms just contacted me and was enthusiastic about donating five cases of a merlot/cabernet franc blend to accompany the main entree (oreintal beef tenderloin skewers). The grower of the fruit is a MSU alumni and is hoping to attend the dinner himself! Very exciting, and as the rest of the wine donations become solidified, the realization is setting in that this is going to be a magnificant occasion.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Kelsy Norman
Director: Front of House
normanke@msu.edu
As March 31st quickly creeps up on all of us, the Front of the House is working hard to provide one of the best volunteer and dinner guest experiences to date. Our recent focus has been comprised of compiling a training manual for volunteers to reference throughout their
Les Gourmets experience. Come to FoH Orientation - February 27th @ 7:00pm or February 28th @ 8:00pm in the HB classroom, lower level of Kellogg to sign up, receive your copy of the training manual, and open a little bit of luck… We’ve also been organizing a fabulous, sweet treat to thank all of the dining guests for coming to the event – want your own box of gold? Get your tickets while they last! A special thank you goes out to HB faculty members who have generously allowed time to promote
Les Gourmets during classes. We’ve gotten a great volunteer response! Looking forward to seeing all of you at orientation!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Ann Dore
Director: Marketing
doreann@msu.edu
Run, don't walk to check your mail-boxes! The official
Les Gourmets invitation has been mailed! We hope you enjoy the invitation as we spent many creative hours dreaming up the design and assembling. Our special thanks goes out to Amanda Zanon for being the creative genius behind the invitation design, and also to Stefanie Taylor for her unique custom seal and label ideas! Please send us your feedback (email: doreann@msu.edu). Do you like it? Is it an effective marketing tool for our event? Should we continue to send a hard-copy invitation in this digital world? We look forward to your input!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
John Doan
Director: Heart of House
doanjohn@msu.edu
I spoke with Lee Lutes from Black Star Farms. He is a winemaker at this beautiful winery in Suttons Bay Michigan on the Leelanau Penisula. I was a little discouraged because he said that in years past students have encouraged him to get involved with
Les Gourmets, but no one has touched base with him. He did not even know what
Les Gourmets was. I believe that we should show him, and hopefully encourage him to donate some of his wonderful wines in years to come. He is an MSU alumni and is willing to donate 5 cases, which is enough to serve one whole course. His options are a semi-dry riesling, great for Asian cuisine. A desert wine for the desert course. A Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend that would go great with the main course, or a sparkling wine to be served during the reception. Check out
Black Star Farms for more information on this great company.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Joseph Yasso
Executive Director
lesgour@msu.edu
Well it's the day after the "unveiling" of our brand new website and traffic to the site has been increasing every hour since it's been online. It's been very interesting tracking the statistics of the site, especially the location of visitors. For those of you who are interested, 8.7% of visitors to this site have been from Hong Kong. We've even had three guests from Australia and New Zealand. There are also guests viewing this page from all over the U.S. - Alpharetta, GA, Elon, NC, Dallas, TX, San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, as well as right here in East Lansing, MI. I think it's great that
Les Gourmets has such broad appeal. If you have attended
Les Gourmets previously and would like to share an experience, email lesgour@msu.edu with your story or memory and we will post it in this space. Also, please remember that our reservation system is only open until Monday, March 5 at 11:59pm. Please book early to make sure you reserve a space.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Joseph Yasso
Executive Director
lesgour@msu.edu
It feels great to be posting in this space. Space that was envisioned by the
Les Gourmets executive board way back in the fall semester. Our hope at that time was to give those interested in
Les Gourmets an inside view of the event. Readers of these postings will be treated to the inner workings of the heart and mind of a
Les Gourmets volunteer. Executive board members, department supervisors, volunteers from each department, and perhaps even faculty. We don't know how often a new perspective will be posted so your best bet is to check this space frequently. We are proud of this site - we welcome you and appreciate you spending time here. If we may enhance this experience for you in any way possible, please do not hesitate to let me know. I may be reached at lesgour@msu.edu. Once again, have a pleasant stay, and please come back to see us again.
