This post is mostly pictures, as the last day of the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival consisted of a brunch and then we were left to explore the beautiful city on our own.
San Francisco inside…

Our close friend, Krissy, has (finally ) started her own blog, The Sugar Pixie, and you should definitely go check it out! She is the genius behind some of our sweet dessert posts lately, like the awesome strawberry cupcakes and the amazing key lime pie.

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This meal and post was inspired by an online community I read called Trashy Eats. It is well know that I, Christey, am not the cook that Peter is, nor have the interest in doing the crazy French sauces that he wants to perfect. I used to, but he is so good at it, I will let him do it and I will eat it.

I do know how to cook, as much as I let on that I don’t. Not crazy fancy stuff, but a lot of basic things. A long time ago, though, I did not. I knew some very very basic things to do with stuff that got me by when I could not stop at a fast food joint, or convince some one to make me something. The good thing, is my palate was that basic as well, cheese (Velveeta and American only), bacon, steak, mac and cheese (only the kind in the box and then, only Kraft) and potatoes. Oh! And creamed corn out of the can.

My dad’s mother, Mildred, used to make this for me all the time when I was a child and visiting her for the summer. My mom later told me exactly what it was (as I was not paying much attention, and could care less) and from that point on, I would make it all the time.

I made this once when I had first met Peter, he laughed at my silly little lunch and said ‘That’s Bangers and Mash… sorta’ I instantly felt fancy with a fancy name for my own lil’ trashy eats.

Peter is at my mother’s this evening, trying to fix her water well so she can have water again and not have to stay at our house again. (Not that we don’t like her to stay here, really! It just seems such a pain in the bottom for her to lug her stuff and annoying pleasant dog over here.) We were going to shoot Peter making his March pomegranate recipe tonight, but by the time he fixes her water and drives back home, I would be so starving that I might have already chewed my arms off.  We don’t want that. So I was on my own tonight. That brings me to this:

Trashilicious

My son, Andy, turns 12 today. On Friday the 13th, which I think is cool. My mother, however, was so upset the day I had him because I had him Thursday, February 13th. “He’s going to have his first birthday on a Friday the 13th!”. I really liked that idea, but I have always liked 13. So there ya go

Over the New Year’s I recorded on the DVR a ton of Twilight Zones from the 60’s. Andy was curious about the series because we got in a long discussion about the series back in October when we ran the Disney Tower of Terror 13K (The Tower of Terror ride at Hollywood Studios is themed around the TV series ‘The Twilight Zone’). So for the past few weeks he has been watching a few episodes here and there and declared that he wanted a Twilight Zone themed birthday party. This made me very happy, as I love the show, but really wasn’t sure how I was going to do a cake with that theme. I knew that it must have an airplane with a monster on it though because his most favorite episode (and the one that scares him the most, but he still watches it over and over and over again) is ‘Nightmare at 20000 Feet’, the one with William Shatner in his screen debut, imagining that there is a monster on the wing of the plane destroying it.

Well, this is what I ended up with, and he loved it completely, which of course make me a very happy mommy (I would like to add, I am not a cake decorator in the least, and don’t really know the secrets, so please forgive the obvious mess-ups)

Wow! We have been crazy busy and out of town. But we are now back for at least a good two weeks

In lieu of a real post, I am going to post pictures of our Thanksgiving feast, mainly because it was amazing. Our Thanksgiving consisted of 4 families who all contributed to the feast. Peter was in charge of the seafood dish. He decided to make his wonderful lobster bisque, which is very much like his crab bisque, with the obvious difference of lobster instead of crab.

Duck and Turkey and Green Beans, Oh MY!

I apologize for the lateness of this, the fourth and final post about our experience at the Bocuse d’Or, USA.  I traveled last week for business, and this got later than it should have, but I wanted to write about the dinner and awards experience anyway.  Then, Christey and I have to get back to business as usual at FotoCuisine and actually start cooking again!

To recap: Foodbuzz was kind enough to send Christey and me to the Bocuse d’Or USA, in Epcot, Walt Disney World, as part of their Foodie Correspondent Program, to write about and photograph the competition. This is our fourth post about our experience. Our prior three posts were interviews with Chefs John Besh and Hung Huynh, and one post about the competition itself featuring four out of eight chefs competing for chef of Team USA.

Chef Jerome Bocuse, son of founder Paul Bocuse, and Executive Chef of Epcot’s Chefs de France. Photo by Christey Krause.
Your table is ready

21 years ago, Paul Bocuse started an international competition of the best young chefs and their interpretation of cuisine…which is a lot like saying that a while ago, the Greeks started a tradition of a competition between the very best young athletes. The Bocuse d’Or has been likened to the Olympics of the culinary arts, but in reality, it’s more focused than that. It’s closer to an individual sport, like figure skating or gymnastics, where the focus is on the totality of a very particular effort, from pure technical ability to inspired artistic interpretation.

The USA has never placed well in the Bocuse d’Or. It can be argued that until recently, American interest has never lingered on the art of cuisine and food, at least in the mainstream. Bicycle marathons or the butterfly stroke may attract the fickle attention of the public when a talented American is involved, but the subtle elegance of oil poached cod, or the tenderness of a seven-hour short rib braise, does not seem to grab heart of a nation still publicly struggling with the pros and cons of the McDonalds menu.

This year, many of the most celebrated American chefs — those born here, and those who have adopted America as their home — have decided that it is time for the USA to show what it can really accomplish. They have thrown their collective weight behind Team USA to guide, challenge, and prepare the next American chef in the hopes that the USA will have a place on the winners’ platform in next year’s competition.

A competitor’s platter is paraded before the judges. Photo by Christey Krause

Foodbuzz was kind enough to send Christey and me to the Bocuse d’Or USA, in Epcot, Walt Disney World, as part of their Foodie Correspondent Program, to write about and photograph the competition. This is our third post about our experience, and covers the competition between four of the eight competitors for Team USA. Our prior two posts were interviews with Chefs John Besh and Hung Huynh, and our final post will cover the awards ceremony.

Much more inside

Chef Hung Huynh was born in Vietnam and raised in Massachusetts. He grew up working in his family’s restaurant, became a Culinary Institute of America graduate, and won the coveted Top Chef prize from the third season of Bravo’s popular reality TV cooking show. He has worked as executive sous chef at Guy Savoy in Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and is now Executive Chef at Solo, a Mediterranean and Asian restaurant in Manhattan known for innovative kosher cuisine in a high-tech dining environment.

Chef Hung Huynh stands before his dishes at the Bocuse d’Or USA competition at Epcot, Walt Disney World. Photo by Christey Krause

Chef Hung was selected as one of the eight competitors for the Bocuse d’Or USA, to compete at Epcot, Walt Disney World, to represent the USA in the international Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon, France, in January 2009.

During a question and answer session, Chef Hung mentioned the difficulty he had in preparing for competition, as Solo’s kitchen is strictly kosher, which made practice for Bocuse nearly impossible. Nevertheless, he brought everything he had to the competition.

Foodbuzz was kind enough to send Christey and me to the Bocuse d’Or as part of their Foodie Correspondent Program, to write about and photograph the competition. This interview is our second post about our experience. Chef Hung graciously agreed to speak with me during the cocktail reception, before the gala dinner where the winner was announced. He had started cooking at 8:30 that morning, and finished his dishes at 2:10pm.

Interview after the jump

Chef John Besh was raised in Southern Louisiana and currently owns four restaurants in New Orleans: La Provence, Lüke, Besh Steak, and his flagship restaurant August, which was named on Gourmet magazine’s list of Best Restaurants two times. He has been a contestant on Iron Chef America, where he won the andouille challenge against Mario Batali, and was a finalist with Michael Symon on The Next Iron Chef competition. Chef Besh was named one of the Top Ten Best New Chefs by Food and Wine magazine in 1999, and won the 2006 James Beard award for Best Chef in the southeast.

Chef John Besh emceeing the Bocuse d’Or USA, Epcot, Walt Disney World. Photo by Christey Krause

I got a chance to speak with Chef Besh after he and Al Roker emceed the Bocuse d’Or USA competition in Epcot, Walt Disney World. The chef for team USA was to be chosen out of eight competitors, the winner will represent the USA at the International Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon, France, in January 2009.

Foodbuzz was kind enough to send Christey and me to the competition as part of their Foodie Correspondant Program, to write about and photograph the competition. This interview is our first post about the competition. There will also be a post where I speak with Chef Hung Huynh, one of the Bocuse d’Or USA contestents and winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 3, and one or two more posts covering the competition itself.

Interview inside

Last Saturday, Foodbuzz sponsored a gathering of Florida Featured Publishers for a meal at Todd English’s bluezoo in the Epcot Dolphin hotel.

We considered bringing Christey’s Canon 10D and wondered about the lighting, but in the end decided we were really just going to enjoy ourselves and meet everyone who we’ve read about — and meet some new bloggers as well. So, the photos are from our cheap point-n-click and the quality definitely reflects that (or, possibly refracts that). The camera certainly doesn’t do the meal justice.

The menu was a custom five course meal, with an additional amuse bouche at the beginning, a little neck clam with a bacon ragout, delicately balanced on a wide shotglass with what looked like shaved ice, yet the clam and sauce were warm, and I later saw that the “ice” was actually coarse salt. English and his chefs have been experimenting with molecular gastronomy, and I wonder if the ice/salt confusion was supposed to happen (MGers love illusion). In any case, the clam was delicate and wonderful.

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