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David J. Rausch Chemistry Endowment
News and Updates
The Summer Alumni Picnic is back!
Reserve the date Sunday June 28th. I hope to see you there.
More information to follow.
BP Chemists and Benedictine University Chemistry
alumni Ruth Bergeron ('01) and Audris Rubas ('00) present Dr.
Rausch with Fabric of America checks from BP for the David J.
Rausch Chemistry Endowment.
Dr. Rausch visited with dentist Bill Marchi
('78) in his office in Pensacola during his trip last March 2008
to Alabama & Florida.
Dr. Rausch won the First Annual Wine Tasting Competition at Niche
Restaurant in Geneva on September 21, 2008. Four white wines and
four red wines were tasted blind to identify their grape type,
country, region, winery and date vintered.
Organic Professor Reunites with Former Students
(This was posted on-line in the Wall
Street Journal Forums)
A special event, “Open That Bottle Night”, at the Thai
Cuisine Restaurant in Rockford Illinois, was the motivation that
reunited a distinguished college professor with two exceptional
alumni. Dr. David Rausch, Professor Emeritus of Benedictine University
in Lisle, Illinois, had been carefully cellaring a bottle of 1978
Robert Mondavi reserve cabernet sauvignon to celebrate the successes
of two of his students.  Dr.
Terry Bugno, Oncologist/Integrative Medicine Specialist, graduated
from Benedictine University in 1978. Willow Junya, a program manager
at IBM and co-owner of the Thai Cuisine Restaurant, took Dr. Rausch’s
organic chemistry course in 1978. They never expected that it
would take thirty years and this unique event to finally make
this toast! Ten guests including another Benedictine University
chemistry major alumnus, Ruth Bergeron, also taught by Dr. Rausch,
shared this noteworthy occasion.
The perfectly seasoned appetizers and spicy entrées of
the gourmet Thai meal were paired nicely with a 2000 Domaine Zind
Humbrecht Goldert VT gewürztraminer, a 2004 Peller Estates
VQA gewürztraminer, a 2006 Hop Kiln Thousand Flowers gewürztraminer
blend and a 2000 Domaine Zind Humbrecht VT pinot gris. Other flavorful
entrées were paired with a 2000 Ruyene & Pascal Bouley
Volnay Champans Burgundy and the Benedictine Heritage wine, a
1999 cabernet franc from Napa Valley. The 1978 Robert Mondavi
reserve cabernet sauvignon was then tasted without a food course.
This beautifully made thirty year old wine maintained its dark
ruby color and aged to reveal a delicious balance of concentrated
fruit and smooth tannins. Rausch joked that it had held up better
than he and his former students. This was considered the wine
of the evening by many of the guests. Paired with a “perfect
ending” of bananas in coconut milk were the 2001 Meeker Tuta
Luna and 2005 Inniskillin VQA ice wine.
The menu for the evening included:
Thai Styled Egg Rolls
Beef Salad
Pot Stickers
Teriyaki Beef
Mixed Vegetables
Panang Beef
Chicken with Cashew Nuts
Red Curry Fish
Basil Seafood with Brown Rice
Pud Thai Shrimp
Chicken Fried Rice
All of us had a wonderful time at the 2/23/2008 dinner. I would
like to thank everyone who came and joined. I will send pictures
to wine@wsj.com.
_________________
Always find joys in life and do not postpone!
Willow Junya
Website Launched December 1, 2007
Check back periodically for updates to this site.
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