This St. Patrick’s Day, try your hand at an Irish-inspired sweet — no baking involved! Chef Sarah Chaminade shares her boozy take on cheesecake, with a buttery, chocolate cookie crust and a creamy filling accented by Bailey’s Irish Cream.

Students enroll in our pastry arts program for many reasons — for some, it’s to mix flour, eggs and sugar for the first time and launch a budding pastry career. For others, it’s to hone their skills and enhance their existing experience. Diploma (and whisk) in hand, our pastry grads set out on a range of career paths — from recipe writers to startup chefs to educators and more.

Here at ICE, our mixology experts craft delicious cocktail menus for cocktail-themed special events — a creative, hands-on option for a group event with friends or colleagues. In anticipation of our new lineup of cocktail themes, we’re sharing recipes for a couple of classic, American cocktails from our American Pastime theme. Mix, sip and repeat!

If you haven’t added cardamom, za’atar and berbere spice to your pantry, you’re doing it wrong. These unique, flavor-packed spices can turn an ordinary dish into something extraordinary (and delicious). In a new video from ICE and Direct Eats, Chef James Briscione shares a few recipe ideas that will be sure to excite your palate and inspire your own spice exploration: Berbere Roasted Chicken Pizza with Berbere BBQ Sauce; Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Za’atar and Sumac-Yogurt Dressing; and Cardamom Roasted Pork Tenderloin. Watch the video to learn how you can prepare these dishes at home.

I began what I refer to as my first "real" cooking job 22 years ago this spring. Looking back, stumbling into a modest restaurant called Emily's was perhaps the smartest move in my career, setting a tone that still guides me. Situated in a hundred-year-old Victorian house in the sleepy Detroit suburb of Northville, that kitchen was my school, my hobby, my life. In those early days, I could have ended up in any run-of-the-mill, turn-and-burn establishment, but at Emily's I found out what real cooking was all about, the refinement and the passion, and a little about the business as well.

On a crisp February morning nearly 10 years ago, I met with ICE alum Rommel Gopez in the lobby of Hotel Edison, where he was Director of Guest Relations. The first thing I noticed about Gopez was his appearance — he sported a three-piece navy suit and a purple pocket square placed with just a touch of nonchalance.

How does the chef of the world's best restaurant fight food waste? Massimo Bottura, chef of Osteria Francescana, named #1 restaurant in the world in 2016, will answer this question and more during the Zero Waste Food conference on April 28-29, 2017. Hosted in partnership with The New School, the two-day conference brings together chefs, growers, architects and food entrepreneurs to explore ways we can create more sustainable food networks and eliminate food waste.

In a new video from ICE and Direct Eats, Chef James Distefano, former executive pastry chef of the acclaimed Rouge Tomate, delves into baking with alternative butters. First, he shares the recipe for a mouth-watering maple butter crepe cake. Then, he shows us how to whip up blondies made with cashew butter, with an added touch of yum from chocolate chips and salted cashew brittle — delicious and (sorta') nutritious. Finally, for those of you with peanut allergies, Chef James has a new best friend for you — sunflower butter, a great alternative for recipes calling for peanut butter.

What would the world look like if we produced no food waste? How would our daily practices be affected? Could we make a significant impact on our communities? Is such a world feasible? The Zero Waste Food conference — a conference presented by ICE and The New School featuring industry leaders and visionaries like Massimo Bottura — will tackle these questions and more.

John Ragan MS teaches Understanding Wine, a 10-week, in-depth course developed in collaboration between ICE and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). As USHG’s senior director of operations and master sommelier, John works with each of USHG’s restaurants to evolve their exceptional wine programs.