Galen-Ames Will Spectate Feast Fest from Separate Area

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-To ensure maximum security, former FF chef Brianna Galen-Ames will watch Feast Fest not from the Kitchen Pass balcony with fans, but from a special chair in an alcove on the kitchen floor.

Galen-Ames's awkward conflicts this past month after she left Feast Fest and then wanted back in for 2012 have levy her hit with a stream of unpopularity among Feast Fest chefs, officials, and fans.

Galen-Ames's contractual matters are still to be sorted out, and whether or not she may be part of the event in 2012 has yet to be determined.

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Leavenworth Chosen for Ceremonial Pie Thawing

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Feast Fest chef Joan Ellsly Leavenworth will receive the honor of being the sole chef to participate in the Ceremonial Pie Thawing Wednesday, it was announced late Tuesday.

Leavenworth was chosen from a random computer vote, which takes the names of all 61 chefs and draws a random one. There is no managerial, critical, or powerful influence or input that goes into the drawing.

Leavenworth said she was "elated" when she learned her name had been drawn Tuesday.

The thawing is purely ceremonial, involving merely a chef taking the ceremonial pie out of a refrigerator and placing it into a kitchen floor oven. The thawing was performed by Ai Okoworth in 2010, Peter Dumas in 2009, and Jane Jockell in 2008.

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Mock Feast Fest Highlights Mashed Potatoes As Main Food for Improvement

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Mashed potatoes came through as the only food needing work after the Mock "Dress Rehearsal" Feast Fest Tuesday afternoon.

The potato mixture could need remixing or recalibrating after the one used Tuesday produced a pasty, unnatural texture.

"We need that fluffy texture," said chef Jacqueline Pierce. "If we get results on Thursday like those we got today, the mashed taters won't go over well with the guests or the critics."

All other foods went well at the Mock Feast Fest, however, and a quality score to rival and perhaps beat out that of previous years is expected.

"Some years we are not sure how things will go over after the Mock Fest, but we have great confidence this time around," Jim McAllister assured.

Wednesday will be a mandated day of rest for Feast Fest chefs; there will be no exhibitions, mocks, or practices. Taking place will be some kitchen events such as the Ceremonial Pie Thawing and Baking, but such events are purely for show and will not require any real culinary work or talent from the chef body as a whole.




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Dumas Injured in Mock

-Marina del Rey, CA
-Peter Dumas could become the first Feast Fest chef to miss the event on Thursday after he reaggravated an injury to his tailbone from March.

Dumas was hospitalized for four hours for the tailbone injury at the LaLa Exhibition in New York, and he reaggravated that same injury Tuesday at the Mock "Dress Rehearsal" Version of Feast Fest in Marina del Rey.

Feast Fest thought it had cleared the bar of potential injury related absences after Jarólde Jámes recovered from a Friday leg surgery this week, but the Dumas affair will put new questions into the mix.

Dumas will again be hospitalized for "a short time" to receive pain medication. Doctors say he should be able to participate Thursday if he feels up to it, but they recommend he "take it easy" on the floor and wear regular tennis shoes instead of the roller wheel shoes usually worn by chefs. These shoes on occasion cause collisions into walls, the cause of both Dumas' March and Tuesday tailbone injuries.




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Correction

A recent article about an emergency landing of the private plane of Jan and Suzy Jenkins said the event happened Tuesday. It should have said that the emergency landing took place Monday.

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Jenkins Safe After Emer Landing

-Los Angeles
-The Jenkins duo of L.A. Wild are safe after an emergency landing of their private plane was successful Tuesday.

Suzy and Jan Jenkins, owners of the company that provides produce for Feast Fest, are based here in Los Angeles but had took time out to visit family in Raleigh, N.C., over the weekend. Their flight back to Los Angeles in time for Feast Fest had a landing gear problem of unknown origin and was forced to land at a private airport near Pomona instead of the intended landing at Los Angeles International. The Jenkins were then bussed to Marina del Rey.

The Jenkins had no injuries and the cause of the malfunction was being investigated Tuesday evening.

Suzy and Jan Jenkins were two of only four people aboard the private business jet; the others were a pilot and a flight engineer.

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Tuesday: Mock Feast Fest Day

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-All 61 chefs will convene at the Beachview Tuesday for a mock "dress rehearsal" version of Feast Fest. The mock Feast Fest will replicate all the events of this coming Thursday, with only two discrepancies: the mock PrepFest will be 9 am to Noon, whereas the real one will be from 7 am to Noon, and the mock Feast Fest ends at 6 p.m., whereas on Thursday the real thing will end closer to 7.

The Mock Feast Fest is the final chance to reevaluate and make strategical changes and assessments before Thanksgiving. "Tomorrow will be a good way to assess what we can expect and what we may need still to improve on when Thursday comes around," says chef Jim McAllister.

Wednesday will be a mandated day of rest for Feast Fest chefs.

The Mock Feast Fest, unlike the real one, is closed to the public and will not be critiqued and/or scored.

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