Happy Valentine's Day!

Giving up the good stuff

In honor of the Lenten season I am giving up the good stuff starting today-wine, beer, and all libations. The last time I did a rather difficult sacrifice (Target in 2010) I almost made it the 40 days, but caved for convenience on a hectic day. In some ways, it sounds shallow to give wine up, but it is part of my routine and will be a challenge for my lifestyle since I so look forward to a pour after work.

So (sparkling water) cheers to March 31!

The Chefs Haselton

Last night, a dream I didn't knew I had came true-a participation dinner at Mr. Stox.

My in-laws have done several over the years and gifted us the opportunity at Christmas of 2011. It took over a year for our schedules to align with the offered dates, and our evening fell on the final one. Sadly, after 40+ years, the landmark restaurant is closing. So, we were so happy to finale joy a final meal, and prepare it.

The entire group hovered around 28 ( about 10-12 too many I'm told) and we were broken up into groups that would tackle each course. Frank and Sandy were assigned to the fourth course, dessert- a banana tartin, while Scott and I worked on the first, jumbo prawn stuffed with crab meat with a jalapeño orange hollandaise sauce.

At first I was totally overwhelmed with seriously so many cooks in the kitchen, plus servers coming in and out running desserts. Our own servers came with and ensured our cooking wine was always filled and the kitchen staff whisked away cutting boards and knives for washing.

We grilled and chopped jalapeños, squeezed and reduced orange juice, separated eggs, stuffed prawns, and babysat/ whisked the hollandaise. The lobster was thwacked around us (and memorialized on the back of my dress) while others poached the beef and assembled a ratatouille.

The experience was amazing. I stepped in the line kitchen and was completely overwhelmed again by the amount of people, burners raging, and food flipping.

Once everyone was done, each group plated and served the meal. It was tremendously fun and extremely delicious. I'm only sorry that we were able to do it once.



Thank you, thank you to my in- laws for such a fabulous evening doing something I love and fulfilling one of my foodie dreams!