COD Foundation treats President’s Circle to culinary adventures
Marge Dodge
The
College of the Desert Foundation President’s Circle members were taken on a culinary adventure without ever leaving their Zoom screen. The event featured
Casuelas Café,
Cork Tree Restaurant and
Everbloom Coffee. Recipes were distributed prior to the event so attendees could follow along with the cooking demonstrations.
Joaquin Delgado and
Ray Rodriquez, owners of Casuelas Café and Cork Tree, narrated demonstrations of preparing chunky guacamole, camarones rancheros, chimichurri, beef filet and Chilean sea bass with soy mirin glaze.
Efrain Mercado and
Matthew Ortega, owners of Everbloom Coffee, shared their story of meeting as students at COD and sharing a passion for coffee and the entrepreneurial spirit. Mercado never thought he could afford to attend college and credits a high school counselor for encouraging him to apply to COD and for scholarships. The two friends began their business from a coffee cart that proved so successful they recently opened a store in Indio to serve “coffee for the people.” They demonstrated a delicious looking coffee swirled with caramel and topped with cinnamon and informed the group that wine has 1,100 identifiable flavors while coffee has 1,300.