CHLA Lodging News May/June 2020

18 CALIFORNIA LODGING NEWS  www.calodging.com EVANS HOTELS—CREATING CARE PACKAGES Evans Hotels, which runs The Lodge at Torrey Pines, the Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa and the Bahia Resort Hotel have partnered with local vendors and farms to provide care packages for its team of over 400 employees. On a bi-weekly basis, the group is running a drive-through center at the Bahia where employees can pick up family packs of home necessities as well as groceries. Care packages consist of items such as farm-fresh eggs, rice, beans, fruits, vegetables, and toilet paper. DOUBLETREE BRAND To help the many people feeling cooped up at home by coronavirus stay-at-home orders, DoubleTree by Hilton shared the official bake-at-home recipe for the brand’s famous chocolate chip cookie. Baked on land, sea, and even in space, DoubleTree has shared one of their closely guarded secrets to help people feel more at ease at home. 1/2 pound butter, softened (2 sticks) 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 1/4 cups flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt Pinch cinnamon 2 2/3 cups Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl. With mixer on low speed, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blending for about 45 seconds. Don’t overmix. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Preheat oven to 300°F. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and center is still soft. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour. Cook’s note: You can freeze the unbaked cookies, and there’s no need to thaw. Preheat oven to 300°F and place frozen cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.   continued DOUBLETREE SIGNATURE COOKIE RECIPE Makes 26 cookies THE GRANDE COLONIAL HOTEL Kim Avant, The Grande Colonial Hotel Director of Human Resources, started a program to allow managers to donate any unused paid time off to hourly staff. Donated hours are converted into immediate cash in hand for the recipient staff. Though the Grande Colonial is a relatively small property with only 15 managers, they have already received nearly $5,000 in converted PTO hours. We recognize that this is just a snapshot of what our industry is doing to help others and cannot include every act of kindness from every hotelier. So, we are asking for your help. Fill in the following page for your wall or post on Facebook with the hashtag #calodgingcares and be sure to tag us. Be proud of what you have done and know that though times are tough, we will get through it together. 