Today so far...
Let me start out by saying I am tired. The three hour time change is always rough on me. But this time it is compounded by odd sleeping hours in general. I am seriously considering blowing off dinner and sleeping. And dinner is at an Antique Car museum, so I really want to go and take some pictures for my father-in-law and come home with stories about all of the outrageous cars I saw. So I am highly motivated to go, but also just exhausted. I'm about 60/40 in favor of going right now.
The morning was spent in sessions and the afternoon was the fun networking event. We ended up taking a cooking class at Hugh's Catering, and not the Florida Culinary Institute. I'm not sure what happened. Anyway, we got instruction from Master Chef Hugh McCauley. Real nice guy. And I bet within a few years, we'll be seeing him on The Food Network. He taught us how to make gazpacho, which I'll probably never make because Rachel hates tomatoes. We also learned how to make stuffed chicken breast. I learned a couple of neat things - I used to pound mine flat. Instead, you can butterfly a breast. You brown it a bit and also do a few cuts so that it folds nicer. That was cool. I also learned a neat trick I plan to try at home. Most things I cook start with olive oil and garlic. He keeps a sealed container of olive oil and garlic so when it's time to cook, you already have chpped garlic and oil. Pretty neat.
I also asked him to give some tips on prepping food, specifically chopping technique. He taught me to hold the knife in the middle and to always keep the blade in contact with the cutting surface while using your free hand to push the material towards the blade. It took a little getting used to, but once I got a rhythm going, it was very easy to do.
So I spent the afternoon doing a few of my favorite things - cooking, eating, talking, listening, and drinking wine. It wassn't as macho as golf, skeet shooting, deep sea fishing, or extreme cart racing, but it's where I wanted to be and I'm glad I did it.
Te next post will either be about the great nap I had or the auto museum.
The morning was spent in sessions and the afternoon was the fun networking event. We ended up taking a cooking class at Hugh's Catering, and not the Florida Culinary Institute. I'm not sure what happened. Anyway, we got instruction from Master Chef Hugh McCauley. Real nice guy. And I bet within a few years, we'll be seeing him on The Food Network. He taught us how to make gazpacho, which I'll probably never make because Rachel hates tomatoes. We also learned how to make stuffed chicken breast. I learned a couple of neat things - I used to pound mine flat. Instead, you can butterfly a breast. You brown it a bit and also do a few cuts so that it folds nicer. That was cool. I also learned a neat trick I plan to try at home. Most things I cook start with olive oil and garlic. He keeps a sealed container of olive oil and garlic so when it's time to cook, you already have chpped garlic and oil. Pretty neat.
I also asked him to give some tips on prepping food, specifically chopping technique. He taught me to hold the knife in the middle and to always keep the blade in contact with the cutting surface while using your free hand to push the material towards the blade. It took a little getting used to, but once I got a rhythm going, it was very easy to do.
So I spent the afternoon doing a few of my favorite things - cooking, eating, talking, listening, and drinking wine. It wassn't as macho as golf, skeet shooting, deep sea fishing, or extreme cart racing, but it's where I wanted to be and I'm glad I did it.
Te next post will either be about the great nap I had or the auto museum.
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 2:44 PM
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