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Cookbooks, art Chetek native's new pursuits
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| By: Anita Zimmerman |
April 01, 2009 |
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Chetek native Greg Thompson paints animals on ornaments at his home near Birchwood. A heart attack forced Thompson to exchange his culinary career for a less-stressful lifestyle; books of his soup and cheesecake recipes are available in town and online.
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When life gives you lemons, make lemonade-and then save the recipe.
Greg Thompson was cooking at Woodlands Supper Club in Birchwood when he suffered a severe cardiac arrest last November. Thompson, who graduated from Chetek High School in 1974, was resuscitated and survived.
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Unfortunately, his culinary career would not.
"The cardiac arrest was pretty rough, and the recovery at times seems even more rough," Thompson admits. "It has been a difficult transition as it has prevented me from going back in to the restaurant environment."
Commercial cooking has been a lifelong pursuit for Thompson, who started out at Nielsen's Flavor-Crisp Chicken, then went on to cook at Gaslight Cafe, Lehman's Supper Club in Rice Lake, the Birch Lake Inn, Woodlands Supper Club in Mikana and Woodlands Supper Club in Birchwood. He first moved to Rice Lake, then to his current home outside of Birchwood, where he has been for about 17 years.
"I have to say that what I enjoy most in the food service industry is the supper club setting. Being able to put out presentable, quality dishes is quite rewarding," Thompson says. "I love making things from scratch."
Given that he needed a less-stressful lifestyle and a new source of income to cover continuing medical expenses, Thompson turned to writing cookbooks that capture the essence of his culinary style. His "A Collection of Soups" is available at Ohde Health Mart Pharmacy and Chetek Beauty Shoppe, to be followed by "A Collection of Cheesecakes." Both are also for sale online at www.thewoodlandgallery.org.
"A Collection of Soups" includes from-scratch recipes for crab and cheese chowder, old-fashioned tomato, chicken dumpling, cream of asparagus and gazpacho, among others. Recipes for white chocolate almond, key lime, coconut, and turtle cheesecakes, plus 36 other flavors, are included in "A Collection of Cheesecakes."
"Since cooking is such a passion of mine, I miss it quite a bit," Thompson says. "However, it has given me a chance to get back into another passion of mine-my artwork."
In addition to writing cookbooks, Thompson decided to go into business selling hand-painted objects.
"I have always loved wildlife and concentrate all of my artwork around it. I paint wildlife on glass ornaments and wooden bar stools. I am starting to paint wildlife ceramic tiles and will also be selling wildlife notecards," he adds.
Ornaments come in 20 designs-squirrels, birds, bears, foxes, does and more-for $15 apiece, and his bar stools feature chickadees and cardinals. Bar stools are $75 each. Ceramic tiles and notecards are coming soon, he says.
Photos of all of Thompson's works are on The Woodland Gallery Web site, a title he chose because it reflected the beauty of his surroundings, he says. "The name is inspired by where I live-in the middle of the forest, with lots of inspiration."
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©The Chetek Alert 2010
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