Join Me at “Cook and Care” For a Good Cause

When you combine great food, good cocktails and a worthy cause, that’s my kinda party! I’ve been invited to appear as a celebrity guest judge at “Cook and Care,” an annual culinary and mixology competition benefitting the Children’s Advocacy Center of Lowndes County, Inc. (CAC), and I’d love for YOU to join me there! Presented by the Exchange Club of Valdosta, the event is being held at Quail Branch Lodge, 7601 Zeigler Rd. SE, in Lake Park, Georgia at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17.

Come watch as local chefs and mixologists review their mystery baskets and compete in a friendly rivalry to create the best 3-course meal and two cocktails for a panel of judges. You’ll enjoy a specially designed menu provided by Jessie’s Eat & Treats and live music. You can also bid on items up for auction:

Kaleidoscope Gallery & Emporium painting
Elli’s Boutique gift certificate
JT Vinson custom-tailored sport coat
Davis Creation’s saltwater pearls
Bourbon Basics workshop for 24 people provided by Valdosta State University’s Dr. Bill McKinney and First Lady Dacia Charlesworth

Meet the Judges
On the judge’s panel, I’ll be joined by award-winning cookbook author Warren Caterson and Dave Snyder, owner and executive chef of Halyards Restaurant Group of St. Simon’s Island. Click on each photo to get to know your judges!

Warren Caterson of Vilano Beach, Florida is a chef and full-time writer who studied at the Southeast Institute of Culinary Arts. He is the award-winning author of “Table for Two – The Cookbook for Couples,” “Table for Two – Back for Seconds” and the upcoming “Cooking Outside the Lines – Musings of an Extemporaneous Chef ” (Winfield & Scott Press).

Rebekah Faulk (that’s me!) is a bonafide food enthusiast who demonstrates her passion for all things culinary as the Statesboro Herald food columnist and the mind behind Urbanspoon’s Top Georgia Food Blog, Some Kinda Good. She was a contestant on Season 2 of ABC’s The Taste and hosts “Statesboro Cooks,” a local 30-minute cable cooking program produced by students in Georgia Southern University’s Department of Communication Arts.

Dave Snyder, owner and executive chef of Halyards restaurant group of St. Simon’s Island, is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont.The Georgia Association named Dave a finalist for Restaurateur of the Year in 2012 and selected him as one of four chefs to represent Georgia Restaurant Association’s Georgia Grown program in 2013.

Tickets include entry to the show, along with hors d’oeuvres and complimentary cocktails from 6:30 – 7 p.m. Now available for purchase, individual tickets are $40 or $75 per couple. For more information and to purchase tickets, email cacdevelopmentcoordinator@gmail.com or call 229.251.1999. Check out the buzz surrounding the event in this article published by the Valdosta Daily Times: Competition Heats Up for the CAC.

The CAC is one of more than 800 Children’s Advocacy Center’s across the country, a 501(c)3 organization that provides initial forensic interviews and therapy at no cost to families for children who have been physically and sexually abused, neglected or a witness to domestic violence. Serving an additional five counties in South Georgia and accredited through the National CAC, the Center provided more than 1,515 therapy sessions to 471 sexually and physically abused children in 2013.

See you there! Join the conversation on social media using #CookAndCare.