December 21, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Area Chef Johnny McLaughlin, who grew up in Midland Park and graduated from Midland Park High School, will be featured on an upcoming episode of the Food Network’s hit culinary contest show, “Chopped.” The episode is scheduled to air Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. “Chopped” is a multi-round, timed event that begins with four chefs, each of whom is asked to prepare an appetizer from a basket filled with mystery ingredients, at least one of which is generally unusual in some way. After the four appetizers are judged by the panel, one chef is “chopped” from the next round. The remaining three contestants then prepare an entrée from another basket of mystery ingredients. In the final round, the final two contestants create a dessert for the judges. The winner receives $10,000. McLaughlin was married in October. He and his wife Nicole currently reside in Wyckoff. McLaughlin received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, where he double majored in comparative literature and Near Eastern language and culture. He is a self-trained chef, who has teamed up with his wife to create a line of spicy foods, Heartbreaking Dawns. These food products, which include hot sauces, dry rubs, and pure pepper powders, have gar- Local chef to appear on Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ nered several awards, including first place two years in a row at the Rosendale Pickle Festival, first place at the NOLA Hot Sauce Show, first place for several products from spicy food bloggers, and the 2011 first place people’s choice food artisan from Edible Communities, a local magazine. “The audition process started around February 2011. I had found online that the Food Network was casting for ‘Chopped’ and I filled out the form for Johnny assuming he would be interested,” Nicole explained. “A few days later, he called me and asked if I signed him up for something (I forgot to mention it!) because he had gotten a call from one of the producers. At the time, Johnny was in New Mexico at a spicy foods convention promoting our products. They asked him to provide more information about himself, his cooking style and skills, and his background in cooking.” A film crew then visited McLaughlin to produce the biographical segment that appears at the beginning of the show. “My mom had just finished remodeling her kitchen, so we filmed at her house in Wyckoff,” Nicole added. A few weeks after the bio was filmed, McLaughlin was asked to choose a date to film the show. He chose a date and was asked to show up alone at a location in New York City with nothing but his knives. He was told that a van would pick him up and bring him to the secret filming location. The filming process took all day. “Before being on the show, we would watch ‘Chopped’ and wonder if (the chefs) were actually given the limited amount of time that the show gave the contestants to whip up their meals,” Nicole added. “We found out that the allotted time is real! Everyone on the show, the producers, judges, and other contestants were all very nice. The other contestants were highly skilled -- all having over a decade of experience in a kitchen. Johnny was extremely nervous being so green to cooking in comparison to the other chefs. Regardless of his nerves, he still loved the experience and enjoyed every minute of it. “Unfortunately I cannot reveal what dishes he made or what the challenge ingredients were, but you can find out if you tune in on Jan. 3.” Siobhan Keenan, a college student from Midland Park, has been selected by Education in Ireland, an initiative of the Irish government to promote higher education in Ireland, to be a student ambassador for the program. Keenan is currently studying English and psychological studies at NUI Galway in Ireland. As part of this honor, Keenan is a featured blogger for the program and will be sharing her experiences via Facebook, Twitter, and other media through spring 2012. Her blog may be accessed at http://blog. educationinireland.com/2011/11/introduc- Keenan named student ambassador and blogger ing-student-ambassador-siobhan-keenan. Education in Ireland and the seven Irish universities just launched the new U.S. Student Ambassador Program, connecting prospective American students and their families with those who are already studying in Ireland. The ambassadors represent some of the 7,000 American students who choose to study in Ireland each year. While the majority of these students have traditionally come for a semester-abroad, a growing number of Americans are now opting to pursue full-time undergraduate and graduate programs in Ireland.