Epicurean Evenings

I’m heading into the busy season for work with chefs preparing for the holidays. I’ve taken some extra steps lately to learn more about my products and what exactly it is that I’m selling. I’ve been making flash cards like it’s my job. I have to say that I think it’s really helping though. I can finally look at menus and figure out what everything is. It’s tough because some things are written on menus in both French and Italian, so I’m hoping to sound very “worldly” the more I learn! I did have my first test today though and it came very unexpectedly. I walked into a restaurant I’m trying to get as an account and low and behold they just finished taping “TV Diner” there! How cool! This restaurant has it’s own little kitchen studio where they do special/private events for people and you get to interactively learn how to prepare certain foods. So I got to meet the head chef as well as the girl who hosts the shows they put on there. I saw Billy Costa, but didn’t talk to him. What a cool part-time gig that would be…in case she ever needed a sub??? Instead of teaching aerobics I could be teaching cooking classes! So I was telling the chef I work with from there (and the host of the show) how I’ve been practicing and making flash cards…he decided to test me! I thought it was a big mistake to tell him I did that, but he picked up my catalog of over 17,000 items and I answered all the questions right! Woo Hoo! I’m finally getting there!
I also talked to a co-worker of mine last week and he asked how things were going for me. He’s been very supportive and helpful all along. He said it’ll take me a full year to get a good grip on things and figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. So basically, in about 5 months I should know what I’m doing! Yay for that too!
Last week I met up with my friend Amy who I met in cheese class. Now, I don’t usually write the names of places or chef’s names in this but I’ve just got to say where we were here. We met at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Fine Dining Restaurant for their Epicurean Evenings. Each week on Tuesday, the chef prepares a three-course meal that the Sommelier pairs wines with. Both the food and wine comes from a particular region. It was Paso Robles last week. Another cool thing about the evening is that they sit you with other people there. So we sat with Bill and Judi…they’re great! They’ve definitely got a few more years behind them then myself and Amy, but they just started dating and invited Amy and I to their wedding in 2010! Guess they liked us???
Onto the food….the first dish was crispy prawns with cauliflower. Now, these prawns also came with heads on….I sell something like this. I’m not exactly sure if I ate it the right way, but I cracked it open and took out what I thought was meat. It was very, very tasty…and I’m not someone who usually enjoys shrimp that much. The second dish was seared scallops with a truffled Madeira sauce. Okay, they had me at “truffled.” Oh my, delightful! Absolutely wonderful and if I wasn’t at the Four Seasons, I probably would have licked the plate. I’m lucky I didn’t because Bill is apparently a VIP there so they kept bringing us extra wine! Don’t worry…I didn’t drive! The last dish was also very d-lish! Veal cheek raviolis with roasted root veggies. I’m not really sure which I liked the best…the scallops or the raviolis??? I don’t think I could pick just one, but I would have licked the third plate too! I don’t remember which wines we had, but I never remember the names of those. I just put my trust in the Sommelier and enjoy!
Now, I must talk about the end of the evening….I excused myself to use the restroom at the end of the meal. Okay, so the bathroom was bigger than my apartment. When I walked through the first door and was in a nice, pink room I just giggled to myself. Then I went through the next door and felt like a princess in a castle. There was a huge sitting room to my left and the marbled sink area to the right. I walked all the way to the back where the prettiest toilets were…I’m sorry, you probably don’t want o hear about toilets in a food blog, but….I just gasped at how beautiful this place was. So as I walked back to the sink area (there’s probably a fancy name for that???) another woman walked in with the same reaction I had. I told her not to be embarrassed as I did the same thing and thought it was the coolest bathroom ever! Amy came in and just had to take my picture there! Yeah, just an old-fashioned girl from New Hampshire…..