From a tiny farm-to-table restaurant in the Pacific Northwest to the high-volume luxury of NYC’s Waldorf Astoria, ICE Chef Instructor Sam Kadko’s career has been nothing if not diverse. After 40 years in the industry, Chef Sam is still exploring the limits of his skill set, from growing organic produce to implementing ICE’s curriculum at our partner school in Russia.

I didn't think field trips could get any better than grade school visits to the zoo, the science center or the monuments in Washington, D.C. But when Chef Jenny McCoy announced our class would be visiting Mast Brothers Chocolate Makers and OddFellows Ice Cream Co. in Brooklyn, I had a feeling this field trip would top them all.

My first two months of culinary school have been full of lessons. Always keep your cutting board clean. Hold your knife down and away from others when walking. Never leave your spatula on the stove. (Chef James will be happy to know I’m getting better at that last one.) But the biggest lesson I’ve learned is the importance of following your passion.

With training that spans Manhattan’s finest kitchens and more than eight years running product development for FreshDirect, it’s safe to say that ICE Culinary Arts & Culinary Management alum Tina Bourbeau can tackle even the toughest of challenges. We checked in with this all-star grad to learn more about her path from student to the distinguished title of senior director of research & development.

Ganache—which calls for only two ingredients, heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate—is one of the easiest and most fundamental recipes in a pastry chef’s repertoire. Chop chocolate finely, add hot heavy cream, mix them together and voilà, you’re done!

Like many Culinary Arts students, alum Anthony Jackson turned to ICE in pursuit of a new, creative career. Combining his prior public relations experience with his newfound kitchen skills, he quickly found a position as the social media manager & communications associate at Chef Michael White’s celebrated Altamarea Group. Read on to learn how Anthony found a culinary career full of more variety and excitement than he ever expected.

What’s the latest news from ICE's New York campus? The Chocolate Lab at ICE’s new facility is fully operational, and chocolate making on our bean-to-bar Cacao Cucina equipment has begun in earnest. Large and small batches are ready for tasting, featuring beans from a wide range of origins, including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Trinidad and the Ivory Coast. And after many a dark chocolate batch, our first milk chocolate just rolled off the assembly line with a heady 50% cocoa solids.

Cake designer Karen Portaleo and pastry chef Susan Notter first met in 2011 for the television series Halloween Wars on Food Network. Their inspired cake and sugar work earned them an incredible $50,000 prize, building on both chefs’ already impressive resumes. On October 18-20, we’re thrilled to invite them to reimagine the art of Halloween centerpieces in a Carved Cake and Sugar Showpiece workshop at ICE. We caught up with Chef Notter in advance of the class to learn what inspires her custom sugar work.

“Before there was talent, there was passion,” says ICE alum and Food Network Star contestant Dom Tesoriero of his path to culinary success. “I was 18 and my friends would just show up at the house with bags of ingredients—I wasn’t skilled, but I knew how to make food taste good.”

When ICE alum Inez Ribustello left her small hometown in North Carolina to move to New York City, she never imagined that she would return. Yet when her illustrious career as a sommelier and beverage director at New York’s famed Windows on the World came to a halt in the aftermath of 9/11, Inez found new opportunities back home.