Following the style of the Food Channel’s popular Iron Chef series, on July 31 staff from the Charleston facility participated in this year’s Live Well Charlie West Corporate Cook Off. The event pitted employees from 11 businesses against one another and provided five mystery ingredients to create the meal, with each team having access to a pantry of spices, condiments, oils and other ingredients. Meals had to be completed in one hour then presented to a panel of judges. The Charleston team members, which placed fourth, included Cook Jay (Tiny) Boggess, Relief Cook Jeremy Johnson, Resident Monitor Supervisor Mike Patterson, Resident Monitor Phill Gross, and Counselor Megan Shirk. According to Director James Sands, one of the mystery ingredients was quinoa, a grain which the Cooks had never used. It is a species of goosefoot, closely related to beet root, spinach and tumbleweed. Oh, is that all?!
