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!!!
O.K., O.K.--surprise, surprise, I was a chef for Halloween, complete with my gotten-at-the-CIA toque (no pics--sorry!). To buy my chef coat, I wandered over to Rohnert Park to visit Castino Restaurant Equipment and Supply. Wow, it's a fun place (for foodies) to kill a few minutes/hours. It's a warehouse setting with row after row of all things cooking/restaurant related. You want a heavy duty mixer? Bingo. A selection of knives? Gotten? Those little yellow and red squeeze bottles? Yeah!
