Heading Back to San Francisco after Four Days in Foodie Heaven at the Food & Wine Classic

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Aug 012011
 

I’m flying back into SFO tonight after experiencing my first, and hopefully not last, Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. With so many famous cooks all crammed into this beautiful, but very small town, the best way to describe this event would be to call it a “celebrity chef petting zoo.”

By the way, I highly doubt any of the participating chefs would mind being objectified in the petting zoo analogy. In fact, I’m hoping they start using the phrase, and I get credit for coining it!

The chefs that come to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic know the drill. Sure they’re there to cook, lecture, and party with their fellow foodies, but more so they are there to be photographed with fans, asked questions, patted on the back, and told repeatedly, “you’re my favorite chef!”

The food and wine were amazing, but what I will remember most about this event are all the interesting exchanges between the various participants. Ming Tsai and Jacque Pepin had a classic Smackdown, which I just blogged about on my American Food site on About.

There were Top Chef winners everywhere, and they certainly enjoyed chatting and joking with each other, as well as rubbing elbows with the cult-like fans of the show. The old guard – Jacque, Ming, Bobby, and Mario (you don’t need the last names do you?), all appeared in multiple venues around the event to large adoring throngs.

I have a bunch of articles lined up to appear on About.com, so I’ll be sure to post links here when those go up. In the meantime, if you would like to see a few hundred photos I shot while there, I just created a photo album with Google Picasa. The shots you see here are some of my personal favorites.

I haven’t had time to write any captions yet, or remove bad and/or redundant photos, but they still may be fun to take a peak at to get a glimpse of my Food & Wine Classic experience.

I also shot a small amount of video footage with my very low resolution Flip Cam. The video you see here is a short excerpt from a very entertaining demo by Iron Chef Michael Symon called “For the Love of Pork.” How was I going to miss that one?

The sound isn’t great, but you should be able to hear him relay a funny story of how Tom Colicchio help him with the subtleties of naming a dish. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more. And yes, I will be back in the kitchen soon!

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Free Tequila + Food Bloggers + Photo Booth = Lots of Explaining to Do!

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Jul 192011
 

As much fun as I had eating and drinking my way through four fabulous days at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, it was getting to meet some of my food blogger buddies that really made my time there so special.

Saturday night, after Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Chefs” Dinner (which you can read about here), Patron Tequila hosted a very exclusive after-party at the Brexi Brasserie, which I attended with three of my new favorite foodie friends.

In addition to supplying copious amounts of very good tequila, Patron also set up a photo booth. As a steady stream of well-oiled party goers made their way in and out of the booth, the photos were projected onto a large screen for entire room to see (and make fun of).

Pictured here, with the usually reclusive Chef John, are (from left to right) Jen from Daily Blender, Sara from Average Betty, and Heidi from SavoryTV. Thanks ladies!

As the Night Falls at the Chateau de Grey Goose

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Jul 072011
 

The media cannot live on heritage breed meats and sustainably farmed vegetables alone. While I was primarily in Aspen to collect and share content regarding the all-star line-up of chefs, and their dizzying array of food, it was a perfectly made cocktail that may have left me with my most enduring taste memory.

The cocktail was called As the Night Falls, and was being served exclusively at Chateau de Grey Goose, Grey Goose Vodka’s beautiful Aspen lair. I was invited to a cocktail party to meet its creator, François Thibault (pictured here with Dimi Lezinska, left), and taste the intriguingly named concoction.

In the spirit of full-disclosure, let me say that I’m not a vodka drinker, nor do I regularly frequent cocktail parties. My wardrobe and personal style pair much more naturally with beer, but as I stood in front of the marble bar watching my As the Night Falls being muddled, measured and mixed, I was getting genuinely excited to taste this drink.

It was love at first sip – a delicious combination of Grey Goose L’Orange vodka, fresh grapefruit juice, and an exotic spice blend, including ginger and pink peppercorns. As I tipped the frosty glass for a second sip, François asked me what I thought.

It’s moments like that where I really wish I spoke French, so I could have given him a compliment worthy of this brilliant formula – but I don’t, so I said, “it’s really good, I like it.” Stupid English.

Happily, Grey Goose was mixing drinks at events and parties throughout the Food & Wine Classic, and thanks to my As the Night Falls experience, I consumed not a single beer. Thanks to François, and his French vodka, I had become a cocktail party guy.

Anyway, below I’ve included the recipe for the As the Night Falls, as well as another cocktail I had a few of (five), called the Pear Flower. I don’t know if I’ll be running out to buy the box set of Sex in the City anytime soon, but thanks to Grey Goose and François, I have decided to expand my drinking horizons.

If you have any questions you can check out Grey Goose’s website site which has lots of recipes and information. Enjoy!

Grey Goose L’Orange As the Night Falls

2 parts Grey Goose L’Orange Flavored Vodka
1 part white grapefruit juice
2 coriander (cilantro) leaves
7 red peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
Small piece of ginger
whole star anise to garnish

Add the peppercorns, ginger, and cilantro to the bottom a cocktail shaker. Muddle slightly (means to crush a bit with a blunt wooden dowel) to release the flavors in the spices. Fill the shaker with ice and add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and shake vigorously. Double strain into chilled coupette or martini glasses. Present a whole star anise floated on top to garnish. Learn French (optional).

Pear Flower

1 1/2 parts Grey Goose La Poire Flavored Vodka
1/2 part St. Germain® Elderflower Liqueur
3/4 parts freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1/3 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 part sugar syrup
very fine granulated sugar

Rub a lemon wedge around the rim of a cocktail glass. Roll the moistened glass in the sugar. In a cocktail shaker, combine all ingredients. Shake well and double strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a pink grapefruit zest.

The Tao of Reruns

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Jun 102011
 

Whenever I travel, whether it’s somewhere I want to go, or somewhere I have to go, I always get a bunch of irate emails regarding my “slacking off.” When I have a trip coming up, I’ll film a few videos ahead to post from the road (as I did this time with the beef neck sauce and grilled shrimp recipes), but invariably I have to fill in the gaps with either reruns or other types of filler.

This trip I’ve been accused of “short-changing” the fans, of being too “distracted by shows and travel,” and of “not caring about the blog as much as you used to.” Even though I’m sure their hearts are in the right place, I can’t tell you how upsetting I find these emails. The only thing more annoying are the accusations that my mustache is not real.

I won’t spend too much time explaining myself since I believe 95% of the visitors here “get it,” but I did want to cover a few points. I can’t make a living (yet) just providing few video recipes on this blog. So, as many of you know, I’m also a freelance employee of the New York Times Co., writing the American Food site on About.com.

It is in that capacity that I’m occasionally blessed with press passes to things like the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen I covered last month (and where the photo above, from one of the after parties was captured). When these trips come up, I jump at the chance to go, not only to collect content for About.com, but also to help raise my profile as a food writer and “influential blogger.”

Other trips, like this one, are personal, and I’ll never apologize for taking time away from the blog to visit my family (having said that, I believe I still always apologize when I post reruns and filler). I sleep well knowing no one posts more original video recipe content than I do; not even close. By the way, as the regularity of these side trips, projects (like the cookbook), and “distractions” have increased, so too has the blog’s traffic and popularity – almost tripling in the last year.

So, in summation, please continue to enjoy what you see here, no matter the frequency (or quality), and save the emails lecturing me on my commitment to the blog. Also, reading the unbelievably inspiring comments under the Next Food Network Star post is pure, ego-swelling joy, but many of you voiced concerns I’d stop doing this blog. That will never happen. I wouldn’t take any job that meant the end of Food Wishes.

All right, now that I got that off my chest, here are a couple reruns originally posted way back in 2007. In addition to seeing my mom and sister’s family, one of the great treats of returning home is getting to cook and eat with my aunts and uncles. They were very popular when first aired, so I thought I’d give them another run for the newer viewers. Enjoy!

(if you click on the recipe’s title you will be taken back to the original post)

Uncle Billy’s Chicken D’Arduini

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRj0t3Cu7l4]

Uncle Billy’s Homemade Pasta

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFQG0pIE2yk]

Aunt Joyce’s Giambotta (Vegetable Stew)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Nf2ifzPO8]

My Top Ten Highlights from the Food & Wine Classic

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May 172011
 

I had to narrow down like two-dozen things to do it, but I’ve finally posted a top ten list for my favorite Food & Wine Classic experiences. The four days were a blur of amazing food, wonderful wine, and a truly unforgettable cast of culinary characters, so choosing a top ten list was not easy. If you’re so inclined, you can read the article on my About.com American Food site.

I’ve been reading lots of similar recaps on other food blogs, and except for a few exceptions (everyone loved Jose Andres’ barbecue), these post-Classic reviews are as varied as the food itself. And, you wonder why these star chefs are so high strung?

Tomorrow at some point I’ll be uploading a super delicious video recipe for lamb shoulder braised in root beet and toasted sesame. The recipe was adapted from the one I saw Richard Blais make in one of the cooking demos I attended.

He served it with a scoop of coleslaw ice cream, but unfortunately I’m fresh out of liquid nitrogen, so you’ll just have to settle for the lamb, Stay tuned!

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