By RACHEL MAZZA
LOCK HAVEN - It was all it was billed to be ... and much more.
And if you weren't among the 350 people at last night's second annual Express Fall Harvest Cooking Show, you missed a great event.
With a new, larger location at the Castanea Fire Co. picnic grounds, the event was bigger and better than last year, hosting 17 vendors, five restaurants, indoor and outdoor demonstrations, goodie bags with coupons from local businesses, contests, more than $3,000 in prizes and, of course, the four dishes prepared by the wildly entertaining Chef Robert Noble.
"This is fantastic," said Art Reamer of Global Smart health and fitness products. "Someone is doing a great job. The people are excited and interested. I'm really impressed."
The enthusiastic crowd echoed those sentiments with their excitement for the event.
According to Express Advertising Manager Rick Noll, tickets for the event were "100 percent sold out"... several weeks ago.
"The interest shown and the involvement from local businesses is just great. We really wanted to take advantage of the space we have this year, including having several outside venues for demonstrations, contests and more vendors," Noll said.
Numerous attendees walked away with some sort of prize, ranging from gift baskets to jewelry to gift certificates to candles to a six-month YMCA membership to frozen foods to bags of groceries to a sheet cake and more.
And there were demonstrations.
Bobbie Jo Simcox showed attendants various napkin folding techniques to add that special touch to any table.
Kathy Noll demonstrated "Fun with Food" and Phil Taormina of the Herb Guild showed how to cook with different types of herbs.
Returning vendors and audience members were thrilled to be back.
Lisa Koch and Sandy Francis, bakery and deli managers of Lingle's Neighborhood Markets in Jersey Shore and Renovo, offered a sheet cake and 10 bags of groceries as prizes.
"We wanted to come back again," Koch said.
Francis nodded in agreement, "There are a lot more people here than last year ... this is a great turn out."
Scanning the crowd, it was difficult to find a vacant seat. To accommodate such a large audience, Noble's performance was recorded and projected onto a screen set up next to the stage ... and no one wanted to miss a moment of it.
The personable and charismatic Chef Noble topped off the evening in style, cracking a joke in every other sentence, as he demonstrated how to prepare Easy Cheesy Frittatas, Roasted Parmesan Vegetable Salad, Mediterranean Chicken Salad and Chipotle-Orange Shrimp.
The crowd could hardly stop laughing as Noble gave out helpful cooking tips, talking about how he feeds his children quick but healthy meals.
"You can saute in salad dressings instead of butter or oil. It cuts back on all the grease and fat and keeps the nutrition in," Noble said.
He also suggested keeping left-overs in foil and placing them in bags in the freezer for quick meals that are convenient for families on the go and for kids after school. This method was particularly useful for the frittata that can easily be reheated in the microwave before school for breakfast.
"I want to make sure my kids are eating right. You can't send kids to school in the morning starving, and these (the frittatas) make it really easy," Noble said.
Eager to share the delicious smelling dishes, Noble passed out his completed recipes to the crowd, posed for pictures with audience members and answered questions.
Noble filled cooking time with anecdotes about his children, life and experiences as executive chef at the Clinton Country Club and sous chef at the Dutch Haven Restaurant in Lock Haven.
Noble concluded his presentation with the Chipotle-Orange Shrimp.
"I love seafood. I didn't think it would be right to come to Lock Haven and not do something with shrimp," he said. "You can add whatever seasoning you want. Make it your own."
Throughout the evening and at the conclusion of the event, prizes were awarded from the many vendors, including Lock Haven Hospital, Pampered Chef, the Rotary clubs of Downtown Lock Haven and Mill Hall Sunrise, Reflections, Rich Coast Coffee, Opera House, Curves of Mill Hall, Downtown Lock Haven, Global Smart, the Hometown Heroes Book, Lock Haven YMCA, Reflections jewelry, Tastefully Simple, Tupperware, Time out Wellness center, Scentsy, Jewelry from Lia Sophia, Mary Kay cosmetics, 10 bags of groceries from Lingle's Bilo and the grand prizes of a two-night stay at Seven Springs Resort from The Express and a dishwasher from Millers of Mill Hall.
The two grand prize winners were Donna Beck, who won a weekend at Seven Springs, and Ruth Bauman, whose name was drawn as the winner of a new dishwasher, compliments of Miller's Furniture of Mill Hall. She said she intends to give the dishwasher to her son.
Popular contests included guess the weight of the giant pumpkin. The winning guess of near 82 pounds was made by Janet Miller, whose prize was a weekend getaway at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, compliments of The Express.
"We had guesses ranging from 21 to 1,000 pounds," said Noll. "The actual weight was 82 pounds, 2 ounces," Noll said.
The $101 collected was donated to the Clinton County Food Bank.
Second prize of the pumpkin itself went to Lindsey Tarantella. Noll promised to assist in getting the 82 pound monster to her car.
Local restaurants Casa de Lobo, Tiny's BBQ, Dutch Haven, Madison Restaurant and Stella A's provided samples of their popular cuisine to attendees before Chef Noble's show at 7 p.m.
Express staff had their hands full as doors opened at 4 p.m., helping to seat attendees, coordinating the movement of food into the building, handing out bags filled with coupons, gift certificates and more to those who bought tickets.
"We're absolutely thrilled to provide this event to the community and to allow our vendors to show just what they do," said Express Publisher Bob Rolley. "We want to thank all who participated and all of the ticket buyers."
