Things to Do in Scottsdale

If you're wondering what people in Scottsdale do besides lounge at exquisite resorts and eat at fine restaurants, then this is the guide for you. On your next vacation to Scottsdale,
be sure not to miss out on these attractions.

Shop at Scottsdale Fashion Square

Among the many things Scottsdale is known for, shopping is one of them. This shopping destination satisfies even the smallest urge for haute couture. When the rich and famous, locals, and visitors need an upscale mall, this is where they shop.

Spend the Day Golfing

Scottsdale is a golfer's paradise. With about fifty golf courses just in Scottsdale, you can golf your entire vacation at a difference course each. You will find all types of championship courses, including the Scottsdale TPC where the FBR Open is played each January as one of the first PGS tournament events of the year.

Stroll through the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

This museum is relatively new in the community and focuses on modern and contemporary art, architecture, and design. Five galleries showcase changing exhibitions and works from the museum's growing permanent collection. The museum presents a variety of educational programs and special events for adults and families, including lectures, docent-led tours, workshops, and classes.

Visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West

This living memorial to the great American architect is located a few miles northeast of Scottsdale. Taliesin West is a sprawling 600-acre complex designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Taliesin West today houses The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, The Frank Lloyd Wright Memorial Foundation, and The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Take the tour to get the full impact of his vision and work.

Taste the Best of the Scottsdale Culinary Festival

Each April, Scottsdale hosts a four-day festival of food, music, and entertainment. Did I mention food? This very popular event is a fundraiser for arts and art education programs for students in the Valley of the Sun.

Watch the Pros at Spring Training Baseball

Every year during the entire month of March, baseball fans flock to the valley for Spring Training Baseball. The Cactus League allows the fans to see many teams up close and personal for a reasonably priced ticket. The San Francisco Giants call Scottsdale Stadium home during spring training.

Whatever your taste, you will never have a dull moment in exciting and diverse Scottsdale, Arizona.

Scottsdale Culinary Arts School

Getting a formal education for whatever career you want to pursue allows you to get a secured position in the industry. But to succeed in any field, your mind should be in tune with what your heart desires. It’s true, isn’t it? How can you last in a job that you are not happy doing? This also applies in the world of culinary arts. If you believe deep in your heart that your greatest passion is cooking, then you have a bright future in the food service industry.

Before you aim in getting a higher position in the industry, you should first get a formal education in culinary arts that many top culinary arts school provide, such as Scottsdale culinary arts school – the Scottsdale Culinary Institute or SCI. There is no better way to prepare you for a career in the field of culinary arts than taking the world-renowned courses included in the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts program. The institute gained its international popularity from the quality culinary programs of Le Cordon Bleu in culinary arts or patisserie and baking. SCI is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology and the Culinary Arts Program is accredited by the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute Accrediting Commission.

This top Scottsdale culinary arts school, SCI, offers degree programs that prepare students for an exciting and rewarding career in the field of culinary arts. With a stern emphasis on hands-on training, the school’s programs provide graduates with a degree and the experience to immediately advance in their careers. Besides the student study center and library, the campus houses 8 kitchens, bakery, and meat shop- all equipped with the latest culinary equipment in the industry, enabling the students to keep up with the modernization of today’s food service establishments.

To help you set your goal in the food industry, here are some of the Culinary Arts and related courses of study and degree programs of Scottsdale culinary arts school:

Associate Degree of Occupational Studies in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts, which can be completed in as early as 15 months and an externship that will last for 3 months at a food service establishment of facility of your choice.
Bachelor Degree in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Management, an advanced program of Scottsdale culinary arts school that provides advanced culinary arts education together with the management and communication skills required managing a restaurant. If your goal is set in a way that you run a business in food service industry, this program of Scottsdale school of culinary arts is the best for you.
Associate Degree in Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality and Restaurant Management, a combination of culinary arts program with practical knowledge of restaurant and guest service operations, which prepares students for entry-level positions.

Taste of the NFL XVII to Be Broadcast on Martha Stewart Living Radio; Nick Lachey Emcees

"To address the needs of the hungry and homeless by raising awareness and money through special events and programs." -- Taste of the NFL mission statement

Tonight, on the eve of Super Bowl XLII, thousands of good-hearted and fun- and football-loving folks will gather at the Phoenix Convention Center to nosh on some of the nation's finest food, sip great wines, and rub elbows with NFL players past and present. The charitable event is Taste of the NFL XVII, and could very well raise a half-million dollars to help tackle hunger in Arizona -- where food banks were first conceived some 40-plus years ago -- and in communities throughout the U.S.

Last year at this time, GoodBiz113 introduced its readers to Taste of the NFL [TNFL], a quintessential win-win-win fundraising initiative that kicked off in 1992, when Minnesota's Twin Cities hosted Super Bowl XXVI ["Cuisine Concepts at Heart of Taste of the NFL -- AKA 'Super Bowl Party...With a Purpose' -- to Tackle Hunger in America"]. Via its annual Super Bowl Eve event, plus local team-sponsored food- and wine-tasting events featuring top chefs and libations, TNFL has raised a total of $6.8 million for hunger-related charities in NFL cities from coast to coast.

Since publishing our first GoodBiz113 small-biz profile of Cuisine Concepts, TNFL has raised approximately $1.3 million -- including $200,000 for Daily Bread Food Bank of South Florida, where Super Bowl XLI was held. During the year, nearly $1.1 million was raised at eight local TNFL events hosted by the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Minnesota Vikings and the St. Louis Rams.

In fact, TNFL's most recent newcomer -- none other than the New York Giants, this season's NFC champions -- contributed $70,000 raised from its very first gala to the ShopRite Partners in Caring Fund, a nonprofit program that helps feed hungry kids and adults throughout the New York metropolitan area. How's that for great karma?!

Among this year's recipients of TNFL/Super Bowl-related monies raised -- e.g., via ticket sales, auction items, purchases from the online TNFL Store:

* St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance

* United Food Bank

* America's Second Harvest

* Community Kitchen

* The Campus Kitchens Project

* Food Research & Action Center

Each year, Wayne Kostroski, co-founder of Cuisine Concepts, and founder and executive director of Taste of the NFL [AKA Hunger Related Events], recruits chefs from the leading restaurants in TNFL host cities to come to the Super Bowl and collaborate for the season's premier fundraising event. TNFL covers each chef's airfare and lodging, and they show up -- ready and rarin' to prepare and serve their signature dishes to some 3,000 guests, each of whom has paid $500 to $600 per ticket. [Corporate tables for 10 are priced at $5,000.]

"Tickets to our annual event have been sold on eBay for as much as $2,000," Kostroski told GoodBiz113. "Besides the Super Bowl, of course, it's always the hottest ticket in town."

Since we interviewed him last year, the effervescent restaurateur/altruist/sought-after speaker has scored some major coups. Besides adding the New York Giants to TNFL's calendar of local events, he also won several months' worth of free publicity from the far-reaching likes of Martha Stewart Living Radio, SIRIUS channel 112.

Starting last November, Martha Stewart Living Radio has broadcast twice-weekly interviews with chefs, each of whom discusses his or her signature TNFL dish, takes calls from listeners, and shares colorful anecdotes about their favorite NFL players and hometown teams. This evening, the program will broadcast live from TNFL.

"Martha Stewart Living Radio also ran a 'Recipe Bowl' contest, in conjunction with Epicurious.com," beamed Kostroski. "The winner was a woman from Henderson, Nev., whose husband happens to be a high-school football coach. They both get free airfare, lodging, meals and tickets to prime Super Bowl seats. Plus, she gets to cook with one of the sous chefs participating in Taste of the NFL."

Tonight's gala event showcases great wine from Gallo, dishes prepared by chefs from 36 restaurants in all 32 NFL cities, and TNFL and Pro Bowl events. Guests will also get to sample dishes from seven hand-selected "Flavor of the Valley" restaurants that represent some of the best cuisine in the Phoenix/Scottsdale region:

* Cowboy Ciao

* Furio

* Michael's Catering

* Tradiciones

* Roaring Fork

* Eddie V's Edgewater Grille

* Wildfish Seafood Grille

Following dinner, pop star/actor/sports team owner Nick Lachey will emcee auction-related events -- including the presentation of checks to St. Mary's Food Alliance, and United Food Bank. He'll also introduce the evening's entertainment: 1970s rock band, Cheap Trick.

The food-service industry is rife with seering competition. Refreshingly, TNFL is a bastion of cooperation -- in the kitchen, at the serving tables and behind the scenes.

"You wouldn't believe the camaraderie among our chefs," said Kostroski. "Before Taste of the NFL, we have a Friday night huddle for NFL players, their spouses/partners and the chefs. We present awards to those who have contributed their talents and time to their communities, and do some other fun and special things, too."

After Hurricane Katrina, several New Orleans restaurants closed their doors forever. Not the French Quarter's Bayona Restaurant, whose star chef and co-founder, Susan Spicer, has been a loyal team player since TNFL's early years. To help see Spicer and her displaced employees through the disastrous post-Katrina days, weeks and months, the TNFL "family" took up a collection and sent her a check for nearly $9,000.

"The bottom line to me, in life, is that most people will step up, when asked, to do what they do best," Kostroski noted. "Taste of the NFL reminds people to check your pulse to see how you're feeling, and then to consider what you can do to help others -- whether you're a chef, plumber, electrician, whatever."

On March 6, Kostroski is a featured speaker in the prestigious "Meet The Culinary Entrepreneurs" lecture series, sponsored by New York's Institute of Culinary Education [ICE®]. What will his message be to the ICE® audience of would-be restaurateurs? "To engage people of all talents and backgrounds in order to serve the greater good," he replied.

"Taste of the NFL is another way to be inclusive," Kostroski added. "If someone wants to help us tackle hunger by driving a truck or delivering stuff on a Schwinn, we'll figure it out... Once they come on board, though, we've got 'em forever."

To become involved in TNFL -- as a restaurateur, chef, volunteer, sponsor, etc. -- contact Wayne Kostroski. Phone: 952.926.7478; E-Mail: wayne@cuisineconcepts.com.

***

Tags: America's Second Harvest, Arizona, auction, Bayona Restaurant, broadcast, Cheap Trick, chefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Community Kitchen, corporate, Cowboy Ciao, Cuisine Concepts, Daily Bread Food Bank, Dallas Cowboys, dinner, eBay, e-commerce, Eddie V's Edgewater Grille, emcee, entertainment, entrepreneurs, Epicurious.com, Florida, football, French Quarter, Furio, Gallo, GoodBiz113, homeless, hunger, hungry, Hurricane Katrina, ICE®, Institute of Culinary Education, Jacksonville Jaguars, karma, Louisiana, Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living Radio, media, Michael's Catering, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minnesota Vikings, mission statement, New England Patriots, New Orleans, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Nick Lachey, online, Phoenix, Phoenix Convention Center, restaurants, Roaring Fork, Scottsdale, ShopRite Partners in Caring Fund, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, small business, South Florida, St. Louis Rams, St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, Super Bowl, Taste of the NFL, TNFL, TNFL Store, Tradiciones, Twin Cities, United Food Bank, University of Phoenix Stadium, Wayne Kostroski, Wildfish Seafood Grille, wine, XLII, XVII

Cooking Courses: Top Cooking Courses & Culinary Courses

Baking and Pastry Arts Cooking Courses

Become a baking or pastry chef with a degree from a recognized and accredited culinary school. Graduates of pastry and baking cooking courses from reputable culinary schools, such as The Art Institute and The Kitchen Academy can expect a fast growing market for pastry chefs and baking chefs over the next few years.

Culinary Arts Cooking Courses

There are a wide variety of excellent Culinary Schools

Culinary Management Cooking Courses

Further your career with a degree in Culinary Management. Several culinary schools, such as The International Culinary School at The Art Institute and Scottsdale Culinary Institute offer excellent programs with classes focusing on employee relations, marketing and financial management.

Hospitality Management & Restaurant Management Cooking Courses

Hospitality and Restaurant Management is one of the fastest growing careers today. Choosing to pursue an education in Hospitality Management and Restaurant Management from reputable culinary schools, such as Texas Culinary Academy or The Culinary Academy is a great first step in achieving a career in Hospitality and Restaurant Management.

Travel and Tourism Management Cooking Courses

Educate yourself in the travel and tourism management industry by attending one of the several cooking courses nationwide. Culinary schools such as Le Cordon Bleu International or Bryan College are one of the institutions that will prepare you for your career in travel and tourism management.

Wine and Spirits and Beverages Management Cooking Courses

In the Wines, Spirits & Beverage Management program, you’ll focus on the process of overseeing wines, spirits, and beverages supplies for restaurants, cruise ships, or banquet facilities. Attend a culinary school such as The International Culinary School at The Art Institute, and you’ll study communications, training, leadership, management, accounting, marketing, financial management, and employee relations.