Has it only been a year since UA Associate Director of Athletics for Facilities and Project Management Steve Kozachik was sworn in as the City of Tucson’s Ward 6 Councilmember? He and his staff should be congratulated on their hard work, especially on Rio Nuevo issues.

And Steve had never held public office before, so he had a lot to learn about the City of Tucson’s financial situation. He is a Republican and defeated Democratic incumbent Councilmember Nina Trasoff in November, 2009.

Councilmember Steve Kozachik

Council Office: Ward Six staff
Ann Charles, Council Adminstrative Assistant
Barbara Jacob, Administrative Assistant
Donovan Durband, Council Administrative Assistant
Teresa Olson, Council Administrative Assistant
Christal Ferree, Executive Assistant

Donovan used to write for us at Tucsoncitizen.com (“Urban Durband”) until he was hired by Steve.

Join them for a non-partisan holiday party for all.

Happy Holidays!

Ward 3 Council office is having their holiday event today (no fancy flyer received, just an email notice):

Holiday Event and State of the Ward with Council Member Karin Uhlich -
December 15 – 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Hors d’oeuvres from Pastiche. Ward 3
Council Office, 1510 E. Grant Road. A presentation from the Ward 3
Neighbors’ Alliance will start the evening off with their agenda for
the first quarter of 2011.

Councilmember Karin Uhlich

Council Office: Ward Three Staff
Tamara Prime, Chief of Staff
George Pettit, Council Administrative Assistant
Linda Mehall, Office Supervisor
Lisa Ross, Administrative Assistant

This is Democratic Councilmember Uhlich’s 2nd term in office. She defeated Republican incumbent Ward 3 Councilmember Kathleen Dunbar in 2005, and Republican challenger Ben Buehler-Garcia and Green Party challenger Mary DeCamp in 2009. She is the Executive Director for the Center for Economic Integrity.

Season’s greetings to all.

Attend either or both of these Council offices’ holiday events, and get to know your Councilmembers.

Each entrant was asked to choose the best of four categories: Chocolate Artisan, Mousse Crossing, Cocoa Loco, and Hometown Hits. I tried to sample all the different chocolate cookies, fudges, truffles, candies, tiramisu, dipped strawberries, etc.and it was lots of fun judging so many delicious wonders and delicacies. There was even a chocolate mole taco and a chocolate based mixed fruit compote.

chocolate truffles

I’ll let you know toward the end of this article who won in these categories (based on celebrity judges’ decisions), but here’s a list of the restaurant/catering participants:

Chocolate Artisan: Anne Gartner, Bergie Harzheim, Creative Catering, Gentle Ben’s, Pastiche, Pizzeria Vivace, Sunflower

Mousse Crossing: Creative Catering, Doubletree Hotel, Eclectic Cafe, Hacienda del Lago, Pastiche, Melting Pot, Tucson Country Club

Cocoa Loco: Cafe 54, Creative Catering, Culinary Design, Luna Bella, Pastiche, Sweet Rustler Treats

Hometown Hits: Creative Catering, Doubletree Hotel, El Parador, Lutz Swiss Bakery, Mini’s, Quail Canyon Golf, Rocco’s Little Chicago, Sweet Rustler’s Treats, Zink’s Treats

This event featured raffle prizes including chocolate cakes, gifts certificates to restaurants, caterers, florists. A silent auction was also held.

Celebrity judges were Jenny Anchondo, anchor of KOLD TV Channel 13, District 4 Supervisor Ray Carroll, Judy Rich, COO of Tucson Medical Center, Jerry Simmons of Simmons Automotive. Based on their judging in the first hour, the winners of each category were:

Chocolate Artisan: Creative Catering
Mousse Crossing: Eclectic Cafe
Cocoa Loco: Creative Catering
Hometown Hits: Creative Catering
(wow, 3 out of 4 for Creative Catering! Check them out here.)

And the People’s Choices for each category were: Chocolate Artisan: Pizzeria Vivace (tiramisu), Mousse Crossing: Melting Pot (chocolate fondue), Cocoa Loco: Culinary Design Catering (chicken Mole), and Hometown Hits: Lutz Swiss Bakery (chocolate macaroons). Congratulations to all the winners.

The proceeds from this Taste of Chocolate benefit the Rincon District 5500 Rotary‘s scholarship program and Polio Plus (their goal is to eradicate polio in the world). For more info contact: WBTUS@aol.com or click on their website link.

If you missed this decadent event today, be sure to watch for the 3rd annual Taste of Chocolate next Spring. I had never seen so much delicious chocolate in one room before.

Eating of these pies (yum) is from 4 to 7 p.m., once the winners are announced. These delicious pies will be sold for $3 a slice, or $5 for two slices.

For more info: www.pieparty.org (including photos of previous year’s contests). Organizers are Megan “Turtle” Southern and Ian Fritz.

You can eat as much as you like. Here are the prize categories:

Best in Show -
Wins a 4 night stay at a beachside condo in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, and chooses the recipient of the event proceeds from a list of non-profits on the website (also see list below).

Pie contest logo

- First Place -
(one in each category)
Dinner for two at Janos, Maynard’s, The B-Line, or Lovin’ Spoonfuls

- Second Place -
(one in each category)
A whole pie from Bentley’s, Cup Cafe, Pastiche, or Epic Cafe

- Third Place -
(one in each category)
A 2010 edition “Eat More Pie” t-shirt

Ribbons will be awarded to all winning pie bakers, including third place. A prize will also go to the most creative pie.

So, get out that favorite, secret, gourmet pie recipe from your Tante Gunhild, Uncle Toby, or Greatgrandma, and bake it up for this pie contest.

One lucky non-profit from this list will receive the event proceeds:

Center for Biological Diversity
Desert Harvesters (4/15 update: received $3,750 proceeds)
Dunbar Coalition
Earth First! Journal
Gloo Factory
KXCI
No More Deaths (No Mas Muertes)
Nuclear Resister
Owl and Panther Project
Sky Island Alliance
Tucson CARES (Companion Animal Rescue, Education, and Support)

Eat more pie!