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By Carrie Pasternak ’08
The Council of Lafayette Women will host its biennial spring conference for women in the Lafayette community April 4-5. The weekend will be a wonderful opportunity for alumnae to gather together to hear great speakers, reconnect with old friends, and enjoy a weekend at their alma mater. Students, faculty, and staff also are invited.
Ellen Poriles Weiler ’83 will speak at the conference on “Love at First Bite – Exceptional Summertime Cuisine for Sun, Surf, and Sand,” and what better way to celebrate the beginning of warm weather than with tips to maximize your enjoyment of summer’s bounty?
Weiler says she was inspired to learn more about cooking and food by her late mother-in-law, who was a gourmet cook, and also by a passion for great food and entertaining. She began with easier dishes and worked her way to tougher ones, not always succeeding, but, as she says, “the best knowledge comes from our failures, not our successes.” Weiler combines her love of good food and of the relaxing summer atmosphere at the beach to highlight the best of summer’s bounty.
“I think people will be inspired to cook some great meals while spending minimal time to prepare them. I hope to captivate my audience with such mouth-watering recipes as shrimp kebobs with jalapeno-lime marinade and grilled curried mangoes with coconut sorbet and toasted coconut,” she says.
Weiler says the Council of Lafayette Women Conference is a “mini-reunion of sorts [and] a great way to catch up with old friends and reconnect.” The conference is a great way to get away for a weekend and take a break from our often-hectic schedules. Weiler encourages alumnae “to attend this conference because they deserve a break from work and family to focus on themselves and spend some quality time on themselves a trip back to campus may just be the restorative mini-vacation they need.”
Weiler has been an active Lafayette volunteer for the past 23 years, receiving several awards from the Alumni Association. She has served as president of the Philadelphia Alumni Chapter twice and continues to serve on its executive committee. She is chair of the Volunteer Committee of the Alumni Council and a member of the Chapters Committee. Her latest addition to this lengthy list of volunteering in the Lafayette community is membership on the Council of Lafayette Women.