Celebrity Chefs--but Food Is the Star

Sheila Tholen learned the way of rice casseroles, stews and Jello salad at her grandmother’s knee. It was the 1950s, a time when a lump of cottage cheese and half of a canned peach was called a salad.

Like most teen-agers, Tholen rebelled.

Now she is known for her hot Brie spread and shrimp-and-cheese canapes, delicacies not found in her Midwestern culinary roots, but which fit right into her role as a Red Cross celebrity chef.

Along with seven other Whittier cooks, Tholen will be featured Wednesday at a food demonstration benefiting the Red Cross’ Rio Hondo Chapter. On Tuesday, eight chefs from Santa Fe Springs will have a similar benefit.

The event’s name, Holiday Celebrity Chefs, might be misleading if visitors are expecting to rub elbows with Wolfgang Puck, Tholen admits.

“But when you own a shop in town and you know everyone, you are a kind of celebrity,” said the owner of The Total Sandwich and The Total Catering Co.

The holiday season food fest, held last year in Whittier, was so successful that the Red Cross decided to make it an annual event and included an evening in Santa Fe Springs.

This year, organizers hope to draw 200 people to each evening of food demonstrations and tasting. Last year’s crowd of about 150 caused some problems, however, when guests could not see exactly how the chefs were preparing the food.

So this week, the local chefs’ demonstrations will be beamed to four big-screen TVs scattered about the room.

Live, and on TV, party-goers will see Chocolate Almond Decadence, Los Portales Fajitas and Kielbasa in Beer with Tarragon made before their eyes. Better yet, diners will sample the dishes afterward, along with champagne or sparkling cider.

Tholen will be making a holiday yam-and-apple casserole this year, and another local cook, Valerie Bates, will prepare a favorite from last year’s party, Christmas Eve Punch.

The punch is a combination of champagne, ginger ale, orange liqueur and Sauternes wine. The trick, Bates said, is to add more ginger ale as the night goes on to keep guests from driving home “too happy.”

“This year, I’m also going to make a cheese ball that’s been in our family for years,” said Bates, the author of “The Lazy Gourmet,” which she published in 1985.

Tholen and Bates will be featured at the Holiday Celebrity Chefs event Wednesday at the Red Cross Ballroom, 6706 S. Friends Ave., Whittier.

The evening in Santa Fe Springs is Tuesday at Town Center Hall, 11740 Telegraph Road.

A $25 ticket includes food samples, champagne, a cookbook program and door prizes. Information: (310) 945-3944.