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"Everything I do, I do wrong," laments Walter, co-owner with Hambor of Food Glorious Food cooking school, gourmet store and catering in Highland Park.

"He's a pastry chef," Walter says about his partner. "They measure everything in grams. He's very meticulous, a perfectionist."

Hambor is looking at Walter out of the corner of his eye as Walter rolls roasted red peppers and tomatoes in a rectangle of fresh mozzarella cheese they had made right on the spot.

"Fabulous," says Hambor, commenting on his partner's technique.

"You lie," Walter replies.

It seems he always gets the final word.

Welcome to the Tom and Brad Show, 90 minutes of cooking instruction interweaved with poke-in-the-eye teasing that kicked off Food Fest -- the 20th -- earlier this month at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa in Morgantown, W.Va.

The men were the opening act in an annual weekend that this year featured professional chefs and instructors from Cleveland, Columbus and Concord, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Mechanicsburg, Gettysburg and Charleston, W.Va.

Hambor and Walter presented "An Italian Feast," based on their culinary trips to Italy. They had an ambitious menu for the allotted time -- Lasagna Verdi alla Bolognese with fresh from-scratch spinach pasta; Grappa d'Uva, an appetizer featuring fresh grapes individually rolled in bread dough; Panna Cotta con Fragole, a melt-in-your-mouth variation of the wildly popular traditional sans gelatin; and Handmade Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, using curd sold at Food Glorious Food.

They hardly broke a sweat. The choreography -- and jokes -- never missed a beat.

The lasagna and dessert were the highlights of the demo. Walter says he tasted the same lasagna in Bologna, Italy, while he and Hambor were attending the noted Amici di Babette Cooking School, run by the Simili Sisters, to study pasta.

"I thought I'd died and went to heaven," Walter says. "I even went back the next day for more. I inhaled it."

Bechamel sauce substitutes for ricotta cheese in the recipe, which features a ragu flavored with veal, pancetta, dry red wine and tomatoes. The lasagna is so rich, according to Hambor, "you don't want to eat a large piece of it," yet its light texture is "like a cloud." It's a favorite of students at Food Glorious Food, he says.

Panna Cotta con Fragole -- fragole means strawberries in Italian, but other berries can be used -- is "my recipe," says Walter, another he discovered in Italy. Unlike traditional panna cotta, gelatin is not used to set up the custardlike dish. Slightly whipped egg whites provide structure for the dessert, which is baked in ramekins in a hot water bath, "making it more like a European cream," Hambor says.

Promises Walter, "Creme brulee will never be the same. This is better."

"And lower in calories," adds Hambor.

"By 2," finishes Walter, adding: "It's a typical day at Food Glorious Food!"

Food fosters bonding

It's hard to place a definition on Food Glorious Food, a business owned by Brad Walter and Tom Hambor, at 5906 Bryant St. in Highland Park.

The two offer cooking classes on a variety of upscale topics. They cater small parties -- 48 people sounds about right, according to Walter, because they think that making large batches of food diminishes its quality. They have a gourmet store, where they stock fresh mozzarella curd -- among other items such as cookware -- so their customers can make the cheese right at home.

Another service is corporate team building -- not exactly the stuff of an ordinary cooking school, says Walter, but there's experience and reasoning behind it.

In 1980, Walter earned a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and eventually became the dean of student affairs at Carnegie Mellon University. He also became executive director of a Consilium Inc., a nonprofit organization.

Walter discovered the joy of cooking while attending a previous Food Fest. He particularly admired a demonstration by Loretta Paganini, who had a culinary school near Cleveland. He took classes at the school, received a culinary certificate -- his internship was with Toni Pais of Baum Vivant restaurant in Shadyside -- and was the school's associate director for three years.

Meanwhile, Hambor earned an associate degree in restaurant and hotel management at the University of Akron, as well as a culinary arts degree. He began French pastry training at Sammy's in the Flats in Cleveland, where he met Walter, who was completing an internship. Hambor then was involved in developing and opening restaurants -- primarily as a pastry chef -- at the Cleveland Clinic and all around that city.

The pair joined in 2000 to open Food Glorious Food. In addition to their in-house classes, cookware inventory and catering services, they also have a once-a-month cooking demonstration at Whole Foods Market in East Liberty.

So, what's with corporate team building? Walter says he came across it "quite by accident."

"I'm first and foremost a clinical psychologist, then I went in this crazy direction with food," he says. "I was working in Cleveland, and someone came to me and asked whether I'd work with them as a group. They were having trouble relating to each other.

"Food is a natural icebreaker," he continues, "so we break groups into teams as their organization wants it done, pairing specific people if requested. We'll design a model for, maybe, a management productivity problem, then get the group together, hand out recipes, and people get cooking.

"Then we sit down to eat and get talking -- usually with a bottle of wine."

Food Glorious Food has conducted team-building programs in New York, Florida and Dallas, as well as in Pittsburgh. "Food appeals to our natures at all levels," Walter says. "It's one thing to go to the woods and build a bridge over a stream -- not a lot of people are into that."

He and Hambor offer easy recipes -- such as handmade mozzarella cheese and gnocchi with Gorgonzola cream sauce -- to participants to prepare.

"People who never have been in the kitchen before really gravitate to it," Walter says.

- Karin Welzel

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