just finished up an amazing weekend in sunny scottsdale at the second annual crave arizona food and wine festival sponsored by food and wine magazine. having gone to culinary school in scottsdale and worked with some great local chefs for a couple of years, it is fun to go back and be part of the culinary scene once again. plus, since my sister and i left az for chicago just as my parents were retiring there, i figure i should hop at any chance for a trip to see them. they also seem to like hang super-sized posters from my demos in their house—maybe they’re afraid they’ll wake up and forget who i am one morning (just kidding mom and dad, i know you are reading this! ☺ love you.)
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had a great time in milwaukee and helped raise close to twenty thousand dollars for the james beard foundation! the foundation raises money for culinary scholarships and has the mission to “celebrate, preserve, and nurture america's culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence.” chefs come together around the country to host dinners benefiting the foundation. last week i was lucky enough to be invited to cook with three james beard award winners, paul bartolotta, sanford d'amato and adam siegel as well as my good friend hosea, winner of season 5.
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i thought deciding between the dishes from week to week was a challenge, now i have to choose one of these amazing dishes, each based on very different ingredients, as the final winner. talk about a difficult decision.
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i know i am a bit behind as usual, but i have been having my own top chef challenges in various cities as i continue to hop around the country so it took me a few days to catch up. this week's episode was a bit shocking. i had already heard that laurine was asked to pack her knives, but i did not realize that two of my top picks had such a poor showing this week. yikes.
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i think this week was harder than the past two as many dishes gave me a 'culinary boner'. so excited to hear of visits to the green city market from folks like dave, those carrots looked beautiful; multiple fun components from mary with a 'shooter' of pear that would add a refreshing twist to the dish; a no named pasta that made me want to dive right in from tommy; a crepe filled with pure deliciousness; and of course the roasted pork from carleen, words that speak to my heart. so hard to make a decision yet here are my top three choices this week...
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