I’m going to just go ahead and put it out there. I’m a pretty blessed kid. I do realize that most people will think, “No, you’re a blogger, and bloggers get to go places,” but that’s not the case. Lately, I’ve been knocking things off of my list that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. One of them was meeting Chef Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, XOCO and Frontera Fresco fame, in person, and it happened. The icing on the cake was being able to meet and “help” (meaning totally mess up some Shrimp Sumai) with Chef Takashi Yagihashi of Takashi and Slurping Turtle fame. I was also able to hang out with family and fellow tweeter and soon to be blogger Renee aka TheUrbanMomster. They were doing a cooking demonstration at the Macy’s Culinary Council demo station for a very lucky group of people.
One thing that makes me happy is that these two chefs reside in our beautiful city of Chicago and have made culinary roots here.
Today’s adventure was a cooking demo from both chefs, with Chef Bayless making Herb Green Ceviche with Cucumber and Frontera Grill’s Now-Classic Ceviche and Chef Takashi making Shrimp Shumai and Natto Soba. They are all pictured in the order listed below.
I was the lucky audience participant who was able to come and try out the molding of the Shrimp Shumai – and believe me, while it looks easy, there is definitely an art to being a Chef, and both of these talented men make it look extremely easy.
All proceeds raised from the chef demonstration went to Common Threads organization, which teaches low income children how to make wholesome and affordable meals. Pretty cool, huh?
And if that’s not enough, I got to take some more photos!
And if you get a chance to tweet at either of these chefs, make sure to let them know I sent ya, and send some congrats to Chef Takashi as he competes in Iron Chef Masters this month!
Do any of you have a favorite chef?
Now, all I have to do is meet Alton Brown and Cat Cora and I will be completely happy.
~Make It A Fantastic Day
I LOVE this post!! It looks like you had a great time, and how lucky that you got to help Takashi with the demo. I hope that we get to work with you again on another Macy’s Culinary Council event! Everywhere loves having you in the society! Thanks!
Thanks! I had a ball. Takashi was such a pleasure to stand with. His sense of humor is fantastic. Now I need to find a great excuse to get up to Slurping Turtle soon with Mr. Houseful!
That food looks so darn good!!! Yum. I like Marcus Samuelson. This fall I am going to see Dale from Top Chef at NY’s Food and Wine Festival yay!
Take me with you? :PussinBootsEyes: