Monthly Archives: March 2016
My Private Chef Cooking Class $10

GET A TASTE OF SPRING WITH CHEF CHRISTOPHER TONG OF MY PRIVATE CHEF
AT THE WHOLE FOODS MARKET-LINCOLN PARK COOKING SCHOOL, CHICAGO
Chicagoans appreciate when the calendar turns the corner toward spring. Celebrate spring and attend a cooking demonstration hosted by the popular Chef Chris Tong, of the upscale Chicago-based private gourmet dining service, My Private Chef.
He will present some delicious recipes perfect for spring entertaining. The cooking class is on the mezzanine level in the on-site classroom at the Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park, 1550 North Kingsbury, Chicago. It will be held on Monday, April 11 from 7pm-8:30pm. The cost is $10.00 per person.
People who are casual cooks or lovers of gourmet food get to ask questions, discuss preparation, and come away with fabulous recipes that you can try at home. Chef Chris will provide tips on shopping
for the finest ingredients. And, everyone gets to have a taste!
Chef Tong’s Spring menu features:
Fresh Pea Soup, Crème Fraiche and Chives
Sautéed Pork Tenderloin, Red Beet and Heirloom Carrot Salad with Soy-Ginger Vinaigrette
and Jasmine Rice
Fresh Strawberries, Champagne Sabayon
Advance registration is requested to reserve your place in the class.
To register for the class, call Whole Foods Market, Lincoln Park at 312.587.0648
or sign up at the Customer Service Desk. Credit card payment will hold your place for the class.
My Private Chef is enjoying popularity as one of Chicago’s favorite private gourmet dining services. Trained in European-style fine cuisine, Chef Tong established his reputation at fine restaurants and hotels in Florida, California, and Chicago. Now he has adapted his impressive skills to the world of private entertaining. My Private Chef offers enticing cuisine for a wide range of events, from intimate dinners to weddings to corporate parties.
Chef Chris says: “Every event is different and I’ve met some wonderful people including many celebrities.
Being part of very special occasions makes my work worthwhile. I also love conducting cooking demonstrations where I get the feeling that audience members will go home and try some new dishes!”
For more information about My Private Chef, contact Event Services at 773.370.8131
or visit our web site: www.myprivatechef.net
Cuddle and Touch for Emotional and Physical Needs
We all want love, acceptance and connection with other people. We’re social beings, and this connection with others is part of our emotional, physical and spiritual DNA.
Touch plays an important role in building these connections, increasing scientific evidence clearly shows a connection that lack of touch can lead to depression, anxiety and a myriad of heath issues, and an inability to connect with others.
Most of us don’t get enough touch in our lives.
We’re touch-deprived, and most of us don’t even know it consciously. All we know is that there’s loneliness and stress and a deep sense of missing out. We feel this because there’s a biochemical yearning for something that is missing in our lives. And there is something missing: touch and the connection with others that it fosters.
“That’s why we started Cuddlist,” says Adam Lippin, Co-founder and CEO of CUDDLIST. “Safe, non-sexual, consensual touch fills a need that’s badly neglected in our society. Cuddling relaxes us and reduces stress at the very least, and on the deeper level it nourishes our soul and helps us get in touch with our higher self. Much like yoga and meditation, non-sexual touch is healing and transformative.”
Cuddlist brings together those who need touch (and that would be just about all of us!) with Certified, professional cuddlers who are experienced, safe, well-versed in cuddling techniques and follow a code of conduct that set the conditions for a great session. There have been LOTS of press on this group over the last year – check it out HERE.
THE CHICAGO NETWORK IS GROWING!
Become a certified CUDDLIST or FIND a CUDDLIST in Chicago
While any two people can cuddle, of course, what sets Cuddlist apart is that we are creating the marketplace for transformative cuddling, and we bring the professionalism and best practices that make it work; Cuddlist training is overseen by my co-founder, Madelon Guinazzo, and she both has years of experience as a full-time Cuddlist and knowledge of what works in practice.
While Cuddlist is something special, and fills an important gap in our world, I also want to share what it means to me personally.
“I’ve been a yoga and meditation practitioner for more than 20 years. Yoga has been an animating principle in my life that has seen me through college, drug addiction, the corporate world in New York, loss and death, and the birth of my son and my relationship with my amazing spouse. I’m also a touchy-feely “hugger,” and when I go to shake someone’s hand I’m keenly aware how restricted touch is in our society.”
Most would agree that touch is therapeutic, and the rush of oxytocin we produce when we cuddle is great, but in my experience cuddling also can be something deeper.
American Buddhist Jack Kornfield, in his book, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path, talks about how the simple act of being present can be a deeply spiritual practice. I think cuddling, if non-sexual and approached without expected outcomes in mind, can help us be present and raise our spiritual awareness.
So while I’m a “hugger,” and I immediately see the value that cuddling can play as a corrective in our society, I also think it contains a deeply spiritual component.
Indian civil rights leader Mohandas Gandhi said we must be the change we want to see in the world, and I want to play my part by encouraging non-sexual touch and the emergence of what might be called cuddle yoga.
“Touch is important, and we don’t get enough of it. I want to change that, and that’s why I, along with my Co-Founder, started Cuddlist. Will you join us?”
Are you ready to give yourself the gift of nurturing touch?
Book a therapeutic, non-sexual, cuddle session with a Certified Cuddlist today.
Find out more at CUDDLIST. Learn more; FIND a CUDDLIST and/or become a CUDDLIST!