Feeding My Passion

Although I’ve been doing a few of the 98.3 The Coast “Cooking with the Diva” radio/video podcast shows recently, it’s really Watty’s (that’s what most everyone calls Chef Tom Watson) show, and he’s been nice enough to let me do it. Last Tuesday, he was feeling very poorly, so he asked me to do it. Not exactly expecting it and I froze for a second before stammering out “Sssure!” Fortunately the recipe was very simple, a delicious tomato gratin with toasted hazelnuts, thyme and fresh mozzarella. It turned out pretty well, I even had time to go back to the Port to do some research on the best wine for this dish and grab a couple bottles of what we had at the restaurant. During one of the commercial breaks, I looked up the origin of the word “gratin” (on my super cool new Samsung m800) and was able to talk about that before the end of the show. Excellent!

The story about the gratin is interesting, so I’ll tell it soon.

Video after the jump.

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This looks like a perfect vacation to me. I’m going to set a soft goal for being there in Spring or Fall 2010.

In the ongoing series of cooking classes we’re doing for Highlife Adventures, Cameron and I went into Chicago and taught a vegetarian cooking class. Actually, I did most of the teaching, mainly because when it comes to being a vegetarian, Cameron doesn’t remotely resemble that remark. But he and David, the grill guy at Marilyn’s where Cameron is the chef, were very helpful plating food for the class. We had at least 12, which is equal to our biggest classes, and they really seemed to love everything.

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This was supposed to be the summer
We were going to pick blueberries.
I, with my trained and stained fingers,
Would find the ripest, sweetest, juiciest berry in the whole patch
So dark and ready, almost purple
Almost candy
And feed it

to you as if in slow motion, watching
It slip between your teeth.
You close your eyes, and through your mouth,
You smell its sun-drenched candy blueness.
POW it bursts with so little pressure
And your beautiful face, sun-drenched and smiling,
Your eyes still closed, you taste the bright joy,
We can both still taste it
Even now