Labor Day Weekend to Remember...
This year, I promised myself that I would put more effort in having Gourmet Conspiracy gain momentum in developing into it's full potential as a viable culinary service company in the industry. This weekend, I felt that I have accomplished more towards this goal than the first eight months of the year.
Saturday morning started with a reconnecting with a long time friend of mine, Cyndi Beaver, who ihas offered to help us with our marketing strategies and direction. Cyndi had a lot of great ideas that I'm eager to incorprate starting with a revamp of the Gourmet Conspiracy website, and consistent & seamless integration to this blog site. We also talked about various design concepts to our product line that we are working on adding to our online store. It was a very informative meeting, but most of all, it was great just to see Cyndi again, let alone get her involvement with the development of Gourmet Conspiracy.
Sunday was a real blast, having a chance to spend time with Chris at the first annual Los Angeles Times Celebration of Food and Wine held at the Paramount Studios. This was a birthday gift from my wife, Didi, who was unable to go with me because of her problems with her knees. Which is why Chris, our business partner, went in her stead.
We got there at an excellent time just right before the event opened and was able to sample great food and wine from most of the vendors. There were a lot to choose from and we did our best to hit as many as we could before the shows started. First stop was the Borders Grill truck ("Two Hot Tamales"?!) and had a carne asada taco topped with fresh avocado guacamole (excellent!). From there, we sampled honey vanilla bean yogurt from Voskos Greek Yogurt (two thumbs up!), and then off to various wine samplings.Chris and I then headed off to the Westside Stage where they were having a discussion about food blogging. The discussion was moderated by Rene Lynch - Assistant Food Editor at the Los Angeles Times with special guests Ree Drummond - The Pioneer Woman, and Aarti Sequeira - Aarti Paarti and "The Next Food Network Star" Season Six.
Quite an interesting discussion and very informative for those wanting to start and maintain food blogs. I was actually inspired and motivated to keep this blog site up, and even got some ideas for keeping it interesting. Let's see where these ideas lead...
Then we headed off to the Downtown Stage for Chef Mark Peel and Chef Suzanne Goin demo on "Farm to Table". They demoed cooking items brought in by local farmers who are regular vendors of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. Next stop, the Hollywood Stage for Roger Mooking's cooking demonstration of Schezuan Peppercorn Steak.
Got a chance to speak with Roger after his cooking demo both at the signing station, and by the Cooking Channel truck. Very easy person to speak with and he made it felt like I was speaking to a long lost buddy from my high school days. We started casually talking about how good the Caramella Ice Cream was that The Cooking Channel truck was handing out, and the deliciousness of the Bahn Mi sandwiches from the Nom Nom truck (Chris and I shared a pork Bahn Mi -very tasty!)Then, we got onto some heavy discussion about some serious talk. Roger is a very down-to-earth kind of person. I asked him about his future projects and he asked a little about myself. By the way, he's also into music and apparently he's got a band of his own - go figure...
I know what you're asking - "What are his future projects?!" Well, you'll just have to wait but I guarantee that it'll be worth waiting for...
A little bit more samplings (like the KyoChon Soy Garlic Chicken - yum!) before we headed to back to the Hollywood Stage to see Aida Mollenkamp from Food Network's "Ask Aida" and The Cooking Channel's "Foodcrafters" shows. She's a very beautiful lady, especially in person (reminds me of a young Julia Roberts...) She too was very easy to speak with and quite a knowledgeable person when it comes to food. I also had a chance to speak with Aida's sister briefly and got the 411 on her beginnings at CHOW and her start at Food Network where she caught their interest from her work with the editorial staff at CHOW.
Shaking Aida's hand, I could tell that she is quite business saavy and perhaps a firm negotiator. What really impressed me about Aida wasn't the fact that she was on stage providing us with all this great information about the salads that she's making, but that her family was out in the audience rooting her on. I met her dad, sister, and little niece, and Chris met her mom. Additionally, she had other relatives and friends towards the front showing their support for her. That's a sign of a close knit family... a similarity that I know quite well with my family...
Off to more free tastings with Don Francisco's coffee and their Hawaiian Hazelnut blend (quite delicious), Korean drinks (sweet and delicious but quite potent...), and Korean mungbean pancakes (out of this world...) Now we're ready for Tommy Tang's demo - Thai Risotto?! Chris asked him if this was a new dish and Tommy confirmed that he just made it up... He's quite the comedian on stage but I think he's quite the soft spoken individual off stage. Of coarse, this was the first time that I've really had a chance to speak with him in person so first impressions might not be all that acurate. All in all, he's also a pleasant person to meet. He mentioned that he's going back to Thailand to work on the next season of his show on PBS... I suspect that he's also going back to continue his work with the Tsunami Children Foundation.
Chris and I also met the owner of SedThee Thai Eatery and got a chance to sample their Thai Chicken Curry before they ran out. Apparently, they ran out the first time and had to make more - it was that popular... They're located on 239 North Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 91203 so if you're in their neighborhood and are hungry for Thai food, I highly recommend this place. Tell them Sam and Chris sent you... (they might say, who?!)
I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get a chance to meet her in person, perhaps chat with her a little and get a picture taken with her; hand her my business card and say "Zooey, next time that you're in the market for a caterer, look me up..." Hey, it could happen!
What a blast! I wouldn't have traded this weekend for anything else - well, at least anything except if Charlise Theron called and wanted me to accompany her to Emeril Legassi's restaurant in Las Vegas... I'm just sayin'
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| Heirloom Tomatoes Salad on mixed greens with fresh basil, drizzled with strawberry balsamic vinegar and olive oil |
The next day, Labor Day, I cleaned up the backyard with Didi and started pruning back some of our fruit trees in our backyard. I was still reeling from the effects of the previsous day's event that I was inspired to prepare some dishes from the produce that I got from a local farm in Long Beach last Friday. Overall, this was a weekend of food and fun, and considered to be one of the most memorable moments of my culinary journey.
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| Grilled ribeye steak with adobo spice rub on roasted baby potatoes and grilled vegetables |
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About Me
- Chef Sam Paano
- I am the co-owner and founder of Gourmet Conspiracy, a personal chef and catering service based in Lakewood, California. My objective here is to provide open communication about various types of food and their benefits towards our health. As far as my training, I graduated from Kitchen Academy in July 2007 with high honors. I have a great deal of passion about learning the cooking styles and techniques from various cultures and incorporating them in fusion dishes.
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