Team Building Night with BofA Employees...

Got the pictures from the team building excersize we hosted last Thursday night for some bank employees, what a blast. The chef in charge broke the team of guests up into 5 groups and had each group watch a chef make each course. I was on the main course and sauce. Here are some pictures a team member took:

Myrtle Beach Food Competition January 31st, 2008

Wow, what a great couple o' days I just endured! Just got home from this years food competition at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in conjunction with the Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Supply Show of the Southeast. What a great time! There were gobs of vendors and stuff showing off their crap and, the best part, FOOD! I was one of the competitors this morning and was able to grab some pictures while I was there.

The competition was an F3, mystery basket. We didn't know what our protein was going to be until our 1:45 countdown started. This was what I made, my protein was Chicken, obviously. Won silver at 35/ 36 points, one point away from gold!!! Better luck next time :)

Menu:
Pan-Seared Chicken Breast of Chicken w/ Citrus Saffron Cream

Trilogy of Roasted Root Vegetables w/ Thyme and Rosemary

Autumn Spiced Double Smashed Potatoes


Another chefs skirt steak.

Look at all the trophies! :)

Behind the scenes...

Other competitors items...



This dude won best of show (AKA Grand Champion) at 39/ 40 points, almost a perfect gold! Man, gold and 1200 bucks! Nice job bro! (tasted good too, I got to have some, yum)

January 26th Private Catering for 30+!

Yowzers, what a night! Over 30 people and BOY WERE THEY HUNGRY! I'm not sure if they drank more than they ate, but everyone loved everything, so there :P







The menu for the evening:

Theme: Steak Night

• Starter Courses (3)
• Jumbo Shrimp w/ Grilled Avocado Cocktail Sauce
• Assorted Cheese Display with Crackers
• Pan-Seared Diver Scallops w/ Chunky Mediterranean Tapenade
  
  
• Salad Course
• Crisp Caesar Salad w/ Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Anchovies and House Made Dressing

• Main Course
• Pan-Seared Tenderloin of Beef w/ Caramelized Onion and Wild Mushroom Ragout

• Dessert Course
• Cranberry Orange Crème Brulee

January 19th Adult Cooking Class for 12...

Yes, another fun filled evening with Chef B! This weekend, I taught some adults how to cook a few simple dishes. 5 hours later, the wine all gone and the bellies full, I was able to make it safely home.











Here was the menu for the evening:

Theme: Steak Night

• Starter Course
• Fried Calamari w/ Three Chili Butter (Great course for a sweet white)
  
  
• Salad Course
• Grilled Romaine Caesar Salad w/ Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Anchovies and Home Made Dressing

• Soup Course
• Roasted Butternut Squash Soup w/ Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Honey Sour Cream

• Refresher Course
• Orange and Pomegranate Sorbet

• Main Course
• NC Locally Grown Grilled NY Strip of Beef w/ Carmelized Onion and Wild Mushroom Ragout

• Dessert Course
• Cranberry Crème Brulee

Compass Day at JWU Charlotte, NC

What fun today! I was invited to talk about my sector with some JWU students today to promote the Independent School career choice. Some students aren't really sure the direction that they want to go after graduation, or were not aware that we offer co-op internships every semester. This was a great opportunity to share info about what I do as well as hang out with future chefs of America! Was a blast. Here are a couple pics I took today:


Got to meet the Lee Brothers in person today, was a suprise!


Busy for lunch:


Dipping Sauce for Lumpias:


How to cook rice in a cooker:


Rolling Lumpia:

A great event to help raise awareness/ money for eating disorders...

Was at Danial Stowe's Botanical Garden tonight helping out with a charity event to help raise money towards fighting eating disorders. Was a great time. Worked a little last night and all day (13 hours) today. Met some more great chefs, some more celeb chefs as well as ate some great grubbage. I'm sure they raised gobs of money too as the rich looking ones were there tonight :)

Sustainable Agriculture Conference

"Changing the Face of Local Foods" was the theme for this three day event that I've attended. Tons of local food producers, chefs, hot granola chicks, tree huggers, hippies, you name it were there. I met some fantastic people that are working incredibly hard to change the way we consume food and treat the land.

Sustainability was the word of the day around there! It impresses me to no end of what it takes to change the world we live in. Seems to me that in order to help stop the abundance of fossil fuels and the stripping of our land, we as chefs really have some work to do.

My first thought after speaking to the farmers was the cost. How are we supposed to afford to offer all these great local things to our customers if it costs sometimes more than 3 times that of something we can get from California or Chili!? The answer I hear a lot is, "HOW CAN WE NOT AFFORD IT!?" If we keep up what we are doing now with buying from the lowest bidder, we'll run out of gas, land and water before the end of our lives! It takes more energy to ship that stuff here from California than it does to grow it here! Think about our children! We've pissed away everything to feed us gluttons and this is where we've ended up. Now, we're scrambling around trying to "fix" our mess.

Check out the pics of my trip. A few garden tours and some still life, good stuff :) Seems this sort of thing is being brought to me often lately. Were moving forward at work to start an edible garden, will keep you informed.