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Savor Dallas will honor five distinguished leaders with the 2008 Lone Star Award for outstanding achievement in Wine, Cuisine, Spirits, Support of the Arts, and business practices exemplifying the Texas Can Do Spirit.

This year's winners are Chef Darren McGrady, Lone Star Award for Culinary Achievement; Kathryn and Craig Hall, Lone Star Award for Wine; Jimmy Bedford, Lone Star Award for Spirits; Howard Hallam, Lone Star Award for Support of the Arts and Dee Lincoln, Lone Star Award for Texas Spirit.

"We are extremely pleased to honor these incredible visionaries and pioneers in their fields," said Savor Dallas Founder Vicki Briley-White. "They exemplify the hard work and dedication necessary to excel, and make a lasting impact in our community, both locally and nationally."

The 2008 Lone Star Awards will be officially presented at Savor Dallas' International Grand Tasting, hosted on March 8 at the Plaza of the Americas/Westin City Center Dallas.

Previous Lone Star Award Honorees include Chef Matt Martinez, Jr.; Tom Perini, Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing, Robert Del Grande, Avner Samuell, Anne Greer McCann, Doug Frost, Andrea Immer Robinson, Tony LaBarba, Renie and Sterling Steves, Susan and Ed Auler, and Paula Lambert.

I am putting together a fundraiser Sunday, September 7 2008 with the Cooking School team at Market Street, McKinney.Texas to raise money for the Spencer Taylor Memorial Scholarship.

Spencer Taylor was 15 years old when he passed away from metastasized Synovial Cell Sarcoma on August 13, 2007. His father Gary is one of the managers at the store.

Six celebrity chefs will prepare a 6 course gourmet meal for about 50 people in the cooking school. The evening starts with a reception to sample some fine wines and watch the chefs prepare and serve canapés prior to dinner.

McKinney North Jazz Band will be providing musical entertainment and Gary Cogill of WFAA - Good Morning Texas will emcee the event.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 which will provide enough of an endowment to fund a scholarship each year into the foreseeable future.

For more information and to purchase tickets please call 972 548 5167

I donated a dinner for 8 people to the charity "The Suicide and Crisis Center" in Dallas.

Instead of the dinner going to the highest bidder it has been opened up to anyone in the DFW area who want's to purchase a raffle ticket for just $50 each (or 6 for $200) to win the gourmet dinner party.

This is what you get if you win...

• 4 Autographed copies of "Eating Royally Cookbook"
• Signature Set of Edge Cookware
• Consulting with "The Royal Chef" on menu
• Food purchase, shopping, preparation
• Tables set up and tear down
• Butler Service for the evening
• Good for 1 year from date of purchase 3/7/09

At best you get a dinner party in your own home for 8 people cooked by me and at worst you are donating $50 to a wonderful charity. So it's a win win !

The drawing is March 7 2008 at the Fresh Faces Of Fashion 2008 fundraiser dinner and tickets are on sale now by calling 214-691-5514

I will be taking a small group of people to London this summer and giving a personal guide of the State Apartments of Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle. You will get a firsthand, unique insight into the day to day life of Britain's family through my fifteen years royal service and not some stuffy tour guide.

On the tour we do;

• Lunch at Harrods - and a tour of the food hall.
• Afternoon Tea at the Ritz Hotel - with a presentation by Darren.
• Touring and Sampling Borough Market -London's oldest market.
• Dinner Cruise on the Thames - "liquid history" on Britain's royal river.
• Visit Kensington Palace and see the Princess Diana dress collection.
• Tour Windsor Castle - the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.
• See the glittering chandeliers and nineteen state rooms at Buckingham Palace along with many famous masterpieces from the Royal Collection.
• Join an exclusive cooking class where Darren demonstrates and then serves a "royal dinner party" followed by a west end show.

Space is very limited for this exclusive tour.

Call Southlake Travel at (817) 657-9866 to make your royal reservation today.

With Mothers' Day creeping up on us what better gift than a signed copy of my new cookbook. I donated all of the advance and all of the royalties to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. - two of Princess Diana's charitable goals were children and AIDS.

The book has over 100 recipes and 150 personal photos in it along with some pretty cool food shots. It is part cook book and part memoir, so even if you don't like to cook it still makes a good read. It has just gone into THIRD print too - so it can't be that bad (smiles)

You can order signed copies here; www.theroyalchef.com

This is a dish I often cooked at Buckingham Palace. If it has Gaelic in it then you can be sure there is Whisky somewhere in the recipe. Marmite is an interesting addition to the dish and can be found at Wholefoods, gourmet food stores and online British stores. It is one of those ingredients you either love or hate and never goes off in the pantry. Simple to make, fancy to serve and a welcoming dish in this chilly winter weather.

1. Season the tenderloins with salt and pepper and add to a hot skillet with two tbs of the Olive oil.
2. Cook over a medium heat for about four minutes on each side.
3. Remove from the skillet onto a plate, cover and keep in a warm place.
4. In a sauté pan, add the remaining 2 tbs olive oil and place over a low heat.
5. Add the onion and cook until it softens. Then stir in the mushrooms and garlic and sauté until the mushrooms soften.
6. Stir in the Whisky, Cream, chicken broth and Marmite and increase the heat to reduce the liquid.
7. When you have a nice consistency, remove the sauce from the heat and adjust the seasoning. Add the juices from the tenderloins and the chopped parsley and serve over the steaks with more chopped parsley to garnish.

Thank you to everyone that turned out to see my cooking demonstrations at the Milwaukee home and garden show last weekend. Despite the temperatures being the coldest in the entire universe and the American Airlines pilot announcing "welcome to the North Pole" as we landed - we had hundreds at each demonstration and the "women and children first" rule went out of the window once samples of the Gaelic Steaks and Bread and Butter pudding were ready. We also managed to completely sell out of copies of my book Eating Royally - thank you again for that.

This weekend I am in Atlanta at the Cobb Galeria, drop by for a sample if you get chance and say hello.

Coming in the next newsletter, all about my forthcoming trip to Philadelphia and two hour pledge drive for WHYY - and a special Mother's Day Tea Party fundraiser for the PBS station.

Hope you enjoyed this months newsletter. Remember you can always opt out of it and I promise not to bug you with any more mails if you do. We had over 100 new sign ups this month on the web site so that's cool. If you missed a newsletter and want to read it or just want the recipe then go to my website (link below) and click on newsletter- they are all archived there.

If you enjoy watching cooking shows then I am sure you will enjoy my new DVD. Two hours in high definition and shot by a food network producer. The DVD has all the royal family favorite dishes on it and a bonus 20 minute segment telling how I got "From the Palace to Dallas.

Watch the trailer here - www.theroyalchef.com

Until next time...... Darren