Foodie and the Beast – July 25, 2021

Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis.

On today’s show:

• The Washington Post has called Andy Bixby, creative director of beverage at The Imperial, a “cocktail wizard,” for his uber-creative house cocktail ingredients. Andy’s with us today and we find out some of his trade secrets and … if the Post’s praise is justified;

• Thanks to the pandemic, there’s now a dearth of trained hospitality workers for the front and back of the house. Howard Community College is helping to replenish the pool of skilled workers by offering classes to earn a baking and pastries certificates and a culinary arts certificate. The man in charge there is Tim Banks, associate professor and department chair for the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Studies. He tell us about the program and its successes;

• Casie Vogel is a lover of all things carbonated, whether it’s a spiked seltzer happy hour or her daily Diet Coke. She loves them so much that she wrote a book: The Hard Seltzer Cocktail Book. She’s a bubbly conversationalist, as you will hear;

• Maryland native Nieshia Williams is owner/pastry chef of Golden Flour. She creates pastries, cookies and breads that are gluten-free. But, trust us, when you bite into one of her goodies you’ll never know the difference!