One a chef at Baltimore's Harbor Court Hotel, another a designer who worked on projects like CINGHIALE and PAZO giving Baltimore positive exposure with highlights in current issues of  National Magazines!

Congratulations to Patrick Sutton of Patrick  Sutton Associates who was in House Beautiful magazine giving paint color recommendations.  Patrick describes his entry to me " House Beautiful did a story on painting kitchen cabinets and asked my experience with it. I am in the midst of modifying my kitchen and so I shared with them how I was transforming what is a standard, builder grade, brown wood cabinet kitchen into something more stylish by adding trim at the top so it looks built in and then painting the whole thing in a glossy deep color called "mysterous"."

You can find Patrick in his headquarters in Harbor East when he is not jetsetting around the world for clients.

Chef Edwin "Zeus" Harmon, Restaurant Chef at  from Baltimore's  Intercontinental Harbor Court Hotel found me in the local grocery store and proudly exclaimed that he had a recipe published in Woman's Day this month. IT was part of an inspirational stories of the one person who changed someone's life. Chef Zeus, known for taking his mother's recipes to an haute level names his dear Mom. White Chocolate & Dried Cranberry Croissant “Bread” Pudding Recipe ! Recipe see below.

"Food for the Soul
When Edwin “Zeus” Harmon, restaurant chef at the InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore hotel, is whipping up his signature bread pudding (seen to left) with Liberian sauce, he’s thinking about his mom, Sylvia Verbena Harmon, who inspired him to pursue his passion for cooking. Sylvia’s kitchen in their home outside Monrovia, Liberia, was more than a place to make family meals; it also served as home base for her busy catering business. “My mother was always making fruitcakes, birthday cakes, wedding cakes. She fed everyone who came in the door,” says Zeus, 45. “No one left our house hungry.”

With so much baking to do, Sylvia enlisted the help of her eight children. Zeus took to it the most. “She needed manpower to stir the batter, and I was a big kid”—which is how he got his nickname. As a teenager, he took over part of the business, making all the birthday cakes himself. “I assisted so much, it was like we were one person,” he says. As Zeus became more adept in the kitchen—helping his mom with savory dishes as well as her famous sweets— Sylvia took notice. “She saw that I had talent,” he says. And she would know: Sylvia graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 1959. In fact, says Zeus, “she was among the first black women to graduate from the school.” And throughout the ’70s, Sylvia put her culinary skills to work in the Liberian president’s executive mansion, cooking for many visiting dignitaries including former President Jimmy Carter. “She was the best chef I’ve ever known,” says Zeus.

After graduating college in the U.S., Zeus worked as a residence hall director at his alma mater, West Virginia State University, for several years. But he kept cooking, creating incredible meals for family gatherings and get-togethers with friends. “Whenever my mom would call or come visit she’d take me aside and say, ‘Why not cook? That would make me so happy.’”

It wasn’t until he was in a car crash in 2000 that he finally took her advice. “After the accident, I realized that I wanted a career I felt more passionate about,” he says. He enrolled at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. When he told Sylvia the news, she was ecstatic. “It was like a burden had been lifted off her,” says Zeus. “She didn’t have to worry anymore about me not being fulfilled.”

Since graduating from L’Academie de Cuisine in 2001, he’s been at the Harbor Court hotel, working his way up from intern to restaurant chef. Every day spent preparing dishes that translate the pungent flavors of West African cuisine to a mid-Atlantic audience fills Zeus with the same joy of cooking he came to know when he was young.

Sadly, Sylvia died of cancer in 2004, but he keeps her Le Cordon Bleu diploma, her photo and other mementos in a special spot in his apartment. And when he goes out into the hotel’s dining room to chat with guests, he tells them stories about his mom. About how she grew up in Liberia and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. About how she cooked for kings and presidents. About her amazing bread pudding, which is now his signature dish. (For the recipe, go to womansday.com/pudding.) “My mom’s cooking always made people happy, and I want to do the same with my food,” he says. "

His entire Harbor Court team, headed by Executive Chef Josean Rosado and GM Arpad Romandy are so proud!

RECIPE:

Recipe Ingredients:

Butter for the baking dish
2 cups heavy cream
4 large eggs
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
6 large croissants (about 1 lb)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips

Recipe Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a shallow 2- to 2 1/2-qt (or 8-in. square or 11 x 7-in. rectangular) baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla. Add the sugar and cinnamon and mix well to combine.

3. Tear the croissants into 2-in. pieces. Add the croissants to the cream mixture and toss to coat. Fold in the cranberries and chocolate chips.

4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (cover with foil if it browns too quickly), 50 to 55 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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