I Get My Toque On

Many of you Every Meal A Feast FROTB (Frequent Readers of This Blog) know that I have a restaurant fantasy. Mind you, my fantasy runs to the opening and running and, well, hanging out parts of the restaurant business. Not the cooking, in other words. But that doesn't mean that I don't like to cook, nor that I'll pass up a chance to cook like the pros.

Which is what I did last Tuesday at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (CIA). Wow, they have a FANTASTIC four-day culinary program called Sophisticated Palate. Wow, wow, wow. It's one part cooking, one part dining, one part wine tasting, and about four parts cool. I mean, does it get any better than being in a CIA kitchen, in a full chef's uniform*, cooking with some cool people and a CIA Chef AND legendary Sonoma County chef John Ash? No! (For a little more on this, check out my previous posts: Hanging with John and The Art of Presentation.)

Cooking with Chef Ash was great. (See the pic above -- that's me showing Chef Ash a thing or two.) I learned some great techniques not only about cooking, but also about simple things like using garlic three ways, and the proper way to hold and use a knife.

We cooked all morning, ate our lunch, then went to an olive oil producer. (More on that later...) That evening, then, we ate dinner at the CIA's Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant with an expert on food and wine pairings. I finally stumbled home about 11:00 p.m. dizzy with all I had taken in -- food, wine, and otherwise -- from an amazing day. Save your pennies. Get a second job, if you have to. Go to the track and bet on that long shot. Just do whatever you can to attend the Sophisticated Palate course. It's a foodie's paradise.

(*The full chef's attire is clogs, chef pants, a chef's jacket, a toque [hat], apron, and two -- not three, not one, two -- hand towels placed in your apron string.)

P.S. How did I get to attend for one day? Well, it helps to have friends in the right places. T--I OWE you big-time!!!