Courtesy of: The Morning News
By: Rosalie Klein
For the past two years, Renaissance Resort management has been providing unique island experiences with their monthly RLife events conducted on the pool deck of the Marina Tower. RLife is a brand policy of involving guests with their destination through lively evenings of music, dance and local culture.
For this month’s event Aruba Renaissance management was thrilled to present an entire weekend of remarkable events. They began with a fashion show on Friday by local designer Bergeny Del Mar as part of the Aruba in Style Fashion Week. Continued on Saturday with a food festival and international chef’s demonstration in their Renaissance Marketplace, and ended with a free tasting of authentic local dishes with Antonio “Joselito” Albertz, a native son, and from Orlando, Florida celebrity cake baker Mercedes Strachwsky.
Antonio Albertz was born on Aruba and received his chef’s training at the well-respected Aruba EPI Culinary Institute. He has been a high-level chef at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom of Disney World for several years, and confided he will be embarking on a program with The Food Network in a few months, showcasing cuisine from around the world
Chef Joselito joined his good friend, Renaissance Executive Chef Juan Dominguez, in offering resort guests an authentic taste of island cuisine in the form of Fresh Red Snapper Fish Cakes and Beef Saté. These were complemented with tasty Aruba Ariba cocktails.
What particularly drew the fascinated attention of the public was the remarkable art of cake decoration demonstrated by Mrs. Strachwsky. The Orlando-based cake expert was on island to give a seminar on the subject, and observers on Sunday evening truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn to make beautiful flowers (and adorable monkeys) from fondant.
The baker was catapulted to celebrity status when requested to create the show cake for the 1997 International Cake Exploration Societé, (ICES ) Convention at the Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World. This show cake proved to be the best of the best. It was recognized as a work of art and transferred to the Orlando Science Center to be displayed as a permanent exhibition. It was 9 feet in diameter and contained over 600 pounds of fondant representing the natural beauty of Florida, with each section depicting an endangered aspect of the state. Mercedes and her husband, Alex, a well-known international pastry chef, opened their dream bakery, Bake Me A Cake Pastry Shop, in Altamonte Springs, Florida in 2001.
It was a thrill for Renaissance guests to meet and sample the tasty creations of the two celebrity chefs. “This was our first culinary event,” explained Renaissance Resort & Casino Local Marketing Manager Zugheila Lindeborg. “For the most part, our RLife events have been music, dance and fashion, which were very well received. We are particularly pleased by how much the visitors enjoyed this unusual encounter and their enthusiastic sampling of native island dishes.”
