Guest Speakers

Sure to inspire, inform and entertain!

City: Toronto, ON
Hometown: Toronto, ON

Chef Chris Kanka has more than 20 years of culinary experience in everything from fine dining with The Distillery Restaurant Group in Toronto and Port O Call restaurant in Bermuda; Pan Asian cuisine at Monsoon and Bangkok Garden; culinary consulting, and food prosthetic plating for films like American Psycho. He also holds the title of Master Smoker from Fanning's Smoked Salmon and is an expert in meat and seafood butchery, awarded the 2003 Toronto Star's Eater's Choice Award for Best Fish Monger.

Currently, Chris is working to open a restaurant by spring 2012 in Ontario's Durham region, where he grew up. Chris' philosophy is simple; he tries not only to think outside of the box, but also realizes that there is often more than one solution to any question.

City: Toronto, ON
Hometown: Chicago, IL

Originally from Chicago, Chef Patrick Wiese currently cooks exclusively for one of Canada's top investment bankers. Before moving to Toronto, Patrick's successes in Chicago included cooking for Oprah Winfrey as well as acting as Executive Chef for prestigious catering companies, and catering his private chef services to many families and professionals in Chicago.

Since arriving in Toronto in 2006, he has worked as Executive Chef at Fuzion Restaurant – during which time he received the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo's Nine of Dine Award as one of Toronto's best new chefs – and has started his own private chef business. His latest adventure includes hosting a 14-day South African food and wine tour.

Carla Woolnough

Carla is the founder and owner of the home decorating and staging company, Nex-Step Design. She is the National spokesperson for RE/MAX Canada's Fit to Sell program. She is the creator and host of the DVD How to Stage Your Own Home. Carla also owns Stage to Fit Inc a furniture rental company specializing in providing furniture for home staging, corporate events, film and television.