It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since we launched ICE’s bean-to-bar Chocolate Lab (the first education-focused one of its kind!). We decided to check in with ICE’s Creative Director Michael Laiskonis to find out what he’s been up to. As it turns out: a lot.

She’s been an accountant, a model, a caterer, a chef, a reality TV competitor and most recently a cookbook author, a restaurateur and a co-host of ABC’s Emmy award-winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew.” She is Carla Hall, the fan favorite competitor on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars.”

In 2011, Illtyd Barrett (Management ‘12) was on a mission: to put Welsh cuisine on the map. A builder, an artist and an experienced cook, he had all of the ingredients for a restaurant — except the business savvy, which is why he enrolled at ICE. There, he met Tom Coughlan (Culinary/Management ‘12), a young, aspiring chef who had recently switched courses from finance to culinary arts.

Ready to take this weekend's cookout to the next level? Let's talk ribs. The secret to the best ribs ever to come off your grill is… your oven! Slow roasting your ribs in the oven before finishing them on the grill is the best method we’ve found for juicy, falling-off-the-bone ribs that don’t require an expensive smoker or low temperature grilling set up.

Summer is the season for seafood. Whether you’re dreaming of sushi like Jiro or picturing the perfect seafood cookout, learning how to properly fillet a fish is essential. But we get why you’ve been putting it off: it’s intimidating. That’s why ICE and Wüsthof teamed up to roll out a new video demonstrating the correct technique for breaking down a whole fish.

Give a girl a slice of pizza (plus garlic knots) and you’ll feed her for a night. Teach her to make homemade pizza and she’ll be able to host spontaneous dinner parties and feed all of her pizza-loving friends for a lifetime. Because with just a handful of ingredients — flour, water, salt, yeast and olive oil — you can throw together a pizza using what’s already in your cupboard, adding a few fresh toppings to give it that gourmet touch.

When you host a special event at ICE, you can have your seasonal, delicious meal — and cook it, too! ICE’s Special Events department hosts over 400 culinary events every year, and with each, we turn an event or celebration into a fun, memorable cooking experience.

As the Fourth of July approaches and we eagerly anticipate colorful firework displays and backyard barbecues, why not celebrate with a red, white and blue sprinkle-covered confetti cake? This delicious lemon-almond cake, filled with fresh strawberries and blueberries and layered with cream cheese icing, is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

“If you cook, you are going to get hurt.” The crowd that gathered for a panel discussion on modernist cooking erupted into laughter, but Wylie Dufresne’s observation was gravely accurate. Extreme heat (and cold — working with liquid nitrogen was the object of Wylie’s remark), sharp knives and heavy equipment are some of the perils that cooks must navigate in their daily workplace environment. Add to the mix a dash of occasional chaos and the pressure to produce at breakneck speed, and it’s a wonder more chefs don’t bear hideous deformities.