What a week it's been!
- On Friday, I judged the International Student Cook off at THE Ohio State University. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the crowd - over 4000 people - and was really excited by the diversity of the students and their passion for the food of their culture. The Indonesians won hands down with their amazing chicken cooked in one of my favorite ingredients - special sweet soy sauce - along with chilies and garlic. I am going to try to duplicate it sometime very soon. Other standouts were the Lebanese group, who made a great hummus and taught us that the Lebanese are trying to get AOC status for hummus (or whatever it's called in Lebanon). Sri Lanka was a standout, too, with their amazing selection of curries. I haven't had a lot of Sri Lankan food, and I fell in love with the curries - for my American palate, it was almost like a mix of Northern Indian and SE Asian - spicy yellow curry made with coconut milk. I also learned that curry powder is roasted before use in meat dishes, but is raw in vegetable dishes. I tried the most amazing Lebanese dessert made from a sweet mozzarella-like cheese topped with toasted vermicelli noodles and pistachios and then covered in sweet rose & orangeflower syrup. I also met some great new contacts and learned a lot about the university's use of local products. It was really exciting to talk to their chef. I'll write more about that later.
- I have decided to stop working my day job except for one day a week. This is very nice because it means I'm back to pretty much one job and I will have plenty of time for writing.
- My plans for having Saturdays off in the summertime have been a little bit derailed but I expect to have at least 1-2 off a month and will keep everyone posted on dates that I will be leading market tours, cooking classes, etc.
- With all of this extra time, I hope to finally get some reviews going. Does anyone have any places they'd like me to try? I'm open to suggestions and would prefer something inexpensive, as January is a hard time for waitresses (and yes, mom, I know that if I would have saved in the rich months I'd have extra now, but you know how I am).
- Yes, I plan to complete my 10 things you need to know about cooking.
- Save the Date #1 - Next Sunday Supper is March 22nd and will take place at the Hills Market in Worthington - perfect for some of you suburanites!! I will probably put the shop up on Tuesday.
- Save the Date #2 - February 21st is the Fiery Foods Festival at the North Market. I will be judging the Chili Cook-off for the Chefs and then I will be participating in the cook off as an amateur! So stop by if you'd like to see if I can put my money where my mouth is! I have a pot of chili in the oven even as we speak!
- Go Steelers!
