
DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710070053

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RUTH FANTASIA, FLAVOR EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

POCKET CHANGE CAN CHANGE LIVES AT FOOD & FUN EXTRAVAGANZA

THE NEWS always hits us with the worst cases. The child with a catastrophic illness whose life would be cut short except for the work of the doctors and staff at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. Those are the big stories.

But there are little stories too. Children whose medical needs are a little too serious for their pediatrician but not life-threatening - the child who may not be growing quite right or the one who can't hear too well. CHKD handles those cases too.

That's why when The Virginian-Pilot was asked to sponsor a cooking demonstration stage at this year's Farm Fresh Food & Fun Extravaganza, which benefits the hospital, I jumped at the chance. As a child, I was a patient at CHKD. As a parent, the hospital and its affiliated doctors have provided my child with medical care that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to receive.

The Extravaganza will be held this weekend in Norfolk's Scope Exhibition Hall. The hours are from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to cooking demonstrations, the Extravaganza features hundreds of booths filled with food manufacturers handing out samples of their latest products, entertainment, a children's activity center and more. Tickets are $5 for adults ($3 with a coupon available at Farm Fresh stores), $2 for children ages 1 through 12.

For those of you who haven't attended the Extravaganza in previous years, attendees wander from booth to booth, tasting as they desire, in return for a small (usually 25-cent) donation to CHKD. If you haven't been saving your quarters since last year's Extravaganza, don't worry. Volunteers will be throughout the hall all weekend, ready to make change.

All those buckets of quarters add up. Last year, the Extravaganza raised more than $100,000 for the hospital just in public donations.

Here's the schedule for The Virginian-Pilot Cooking Stage:

FRIDAY

1 p.m.: Kelly Bailey, pastry chef, The Trellis Restaurant, Williamsburg

2 p.m.: James Kim, sushi chef, Mahi Mah's, Virginia Beach

3 p.m.: ``Wines With Food,'' Associated Distributors, Chesapeake

4 p.m.: Chef Han

5 p.m.: Farm Fresh Cake Decorating Competition. Decorators from five Farm Fresh stores compete to see who can create the best cake.

6 p.m.: Chef Han

SATURDAY

10 a.m.: Sylvia's Soul Food

11 a.m.: Alvin Williams, chef, The Bistro at Le Chambord, Virginia Beach