Hazelwood College

Easy Food Home-Cook Hero Awards 2012

Home Cook Hero

Hazelwood College first year student Aine Bennis was recently selected as a finalists in the ‘Easy Food Home-Cook Hero Awards 2012’ competition. It is a national cookery competition which was open to the public, of every age, and sponsored by ‘Easy Food’, which is Ireland’s best selling food magazine. Three finalists for each of the ten categories were invited to the Cook’s Academy Cookery School in Dublin on the 2nd November where they cooked their chosen recipe in front of a panel of celebrity judges consisting of Kevin Dundon, Catherine Fulvio and Catherine Leydon.

The favourite top ten dishes were picked and the winners were announced by none other than RTE’s Marty Whelan at a gala black tie awards dinner in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin which was attended by Aine, her parents Anita and John and her Home Economics teacher Ms. Daly. Aine spent hours fine-tuning her recipe for the Caca Milis category with the help of her Nanna so that her black forest gateau could meet the competition time requirements of 80 minutes.

Aine prepared, cooked, decorated and served a delectable and mouth-watering black forest gateau cake and tantalised the taste buds of the celebrity judges. The star studded awards event allowed Aine to meet celebrities and master chefs such as Kevin Dundon, Catherine Fulvio, Catherine Leydon and also RTE’s Marty Whelan.

Hazelwood College Makes a Clean Sweep!

Hazelwood College students surpassed themselves yet again with another stupendous win on behalf of the Home Economics Department. Second year students Alison Healy & Rebecca McGuinness were the overall 1st prize winners with Brid Flanagan, Jessica Roche & Aoife Kiely taking 2nd prize in Category One of the Bord Bia Quality Mark Schools Competition in the Listowel Food Fair 2012 recently. The students were asked to compile pages for a new Bord Bia Quality Mark website which was to include a home page, recipe page and gallery page. The home page was to provide an outline of the Bord Bia Quality Mark, what it means and how Bord Bia promotes quality assured products to consumers. The students also had to devise a recipe using Bord Bia Quailty Mark products and to include a gallery page which included 3 photos/sketches of local products available in the area which carry the Bord Bia Quality Mark.

Alison and Rebecca received a €100 An Post voucher and certificate each, while Brid, Jessica and Aoife received a €50 An Post voucher and certificate each. The Home Economics department also received €300 prize money towards equipment. The department were absolutely delighted with the students’ achievements and acknowledged that their hard work paid off.

Hazelwood College Home Economics students enjoy the sweet taste of success in Category One of the Bord Bia Quality Mark Schools Competition in the Listowel Food Fair 2012 recently (L–R) Brid Flanagan, Aoife Kiely, Tara O’ Donnell, Orla Cunningham, Home Economics teacher Ms. Noreen Daly, Rebecca McGuiness, Alison Healy and Jessica Roche. Bríd, Alison and Jessica, all first years, achieved a remarkable second place in Category One, while Alison and Rebecca took first place honours.

Sweet Success for Hazelwood

Hazelwood College’s Home Economics students enjoyed great success at the recent Listowel Food Fair. Since its commencement in 1995 the Listowel Food Fair has continued to be a phenomenal gastronomic success. It continues to provide the public with an array of events such as cookery demonstrations with celebrity chefs, food tastings, seminars, workshops and numerous cookery competitions.
One competition in particular that continues to prove popular with all age groups is the ‘Home Baker of the Year Award 2012’, under the category of ‘Best Cupcake Decoration’ and ‘Best Chocolate Biscuit Cake’ this year. Hazelwood College Home Economics students were invited to participate and the level of interest showed their enthusiasm and imagination. An enormous amount of time and energy was made by all the students who entered. ‘The cherry on the top’ was when Jessica Roche (1st year) was announced 1st prize winner and Tara O’ Donnell (3rd year) won 2nd prize in the best cupcake decoration category. This was followed quickly with the revelation that Orla Cunningham (5th year) was declared 3rd prize winner in the best chocolate cake category.
The judges were highly impressed with the school entries – Michelle O’ Connor one of the judging panelists commented that she ‘was amazed by the interest and the quality of the products entered and blown away by the creativity of the students.’ There was great excitement when news filtered through the school of the girls’ success.

Sweet Success for Hazelwood College! Pictured (L to R) ‘Home Baker of the Year 2012’ Winning students – Jessica Roche winner of Best Cupcake Decoration category, with Tara O’ Donnell who took second prize in the Best Cupcake Decoration Category and Orla Cunningham, who took third prize in the ‘Best Chocolate Biscuit Cake’ category.