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Chef Elizabeth Stelling

 

Elizabeth Stelling – owner and founder of CookAppeal, LLC, and CookAppeal Wine & Food Experience. CookAppeal offers boutique catering, event planning, and personal and customized chef services to create that perfect experience for each client.

Chef Elizabeth was educated in Culinary Arts at CCCCD in Texas (she hails from Dallas) and has more than 20 years of experience in the food industry as a chef, server, caterer, manager, business owner, and educator in wine and food pairing.

She launched her first catering company in Dallas after countless clients tasted her food and wine choices in her hair salon. They asked if she could help with planning and designing party themes, which led her to create “The Cork Screws Wine & Food Experience” in 2000. For four years Cork Screws, a forerunner to this CookAppeal Wine & Food Experience group, offered monthly food and wine events and catering services. Membership exceeded 70 people over those four years ending with the most successful event, a fondue party that served 110!

Chef Elizabeth’s love for cooking dates back to her childhood when big family gatherings took place in her grandmother’s kitchen and garden in Texas. Family elders instilled in her the importance of ensuring that the food placed on the table three times a day was fresh, tasty and healthy. Being health-conscious about food has permeated Chef Elizabeth’s professional and personal life—she has shared her philosophy on cooking and eating organic, low-sodium and low-fat foods with her clients as well as her own family.

In the 1980s, as global and fusion cuisines exploded on the Dallas restaurant and food scene, Chef Elizabeth took the opportunity to explore different tastes and techniques. She studied under chefs such as Gilbert Garza of Suze and Samir Dhurandhar of Nick and Sam’s. Her travels across the country also enhanced her knowledge of the food industry and exposed her to a wide variety of cuisines.

In addition to her professional cooking experience, Chef Elizabeth enjoys applying her skills and knowledge for community and charity events. She is a member of the Slow Food Movement, NJ; Women for Winesense, NJ Chapter; the Princeton Corridor Rotary Club; New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners and the American Institute of Wine & Food.

Check out her food poetry that airs every other Monday- www.croptocuisine.org

Her official blog site- www.cookappeal.blogspot.com/

Robert Stelling – Wine Consultant for CAWFE, Growing up on Long Island, Robert and his five younger siblings relished their mother’s penchant for feeding her family fresh, tasty and healthy foods—a philosophy mirroring that of Elizabeth’s family. When he met his future bride in 1995, he not only discovered an incredible cook, but also a soul mate that shared his love for food and wine. Robert thoroughly enjoys being Elizabeth’s “official” food taster, and helping pair the wine with each dish.

A software engineer, Robert has parlayed his passion for pairing wines to complement Elizabeth’s dishes. He served as the wine consultant and buyer for the Dallas Cork Screws group for four years, is a member of the Slow Food Movement, and attends continuing education courses in the fine art of wine selection in and around Princeton..