What can I say?  The chefs made a truly delicious meal around the theme of Leah.

Sous Chef Vanessa launched the evening with a delectable dish of melted gruyere (best cheese in the world) baked in puff pastry, as part of her charcuterie board.   It was resplendent with things Leah loves, including wild boar sausage, apples, roasted broccoli, caramelized onions and roasted nuts. Her original Franglais 79 cocktail was a blend of prosecco, gin and pear and passion fruit juice. 

To the table to enjoy guest chef Abe’s homemade samosa’s highlighting chickpeas/garbanzo beans,  in honour of Leah’s beloved pets.  The savory pockets were served with fresh mint cilantro chutney and tamarind dip, and we washed them down with a sweet mango lassi shake. 

Sous Chef Dallas celebrated the old bait-and-switch with her appetizing baked mac and cheese “muffins”, with extra gruyere and emmental cheese sauce and fresh chives. The rich dish was balanced with a ‘ketchup looking” strawberry harissa sauce and an original mint julip prosecco cocktail. 

Onto the always creative sous chef Amy, who served a cake with a glowing candle…..which was a parmesan cheese crisp hiding a broccoli salad with dried cherries, nuts and water chestnuts.   Further exploring the theme of ‘secretly health-ifying foods’, SC Amy made a surprisingly delicious pressed juice with fruity mango and passionfruit (masking an enormous amount of juiced celery and cucumbers).

For the main dish, Master Chef Leah celebrated some of her favourite food memories including broccoli-gate 2021.  Chefs were served a yeasted broccoli waffle, with fried tempera chicken/tofu, pickled red onions, steamed broccoli and a brown-butter miso sauce.   For the drink, she celebrated her favourite bartender Matt and his delicious brandy-lemon juice-and-orgeat cocktail topped with fresh nutmeg.

Last but never least was Sous Chef Dean’s dessert, re-creating a classic Meech Lake friend evening in pastry form.  Chefs were delighted by the artistic lemon-cranberry curd tarts with vanilla crust and chocolate swimmer sculptures setting the scene.  The tarts were complimented with a blended papaya-rosemary-bourbon cocktail. 

For the upcoming event,  we will explore the concept of Leah
An inspiration photo has been provided below.   You might have a favourite Leah for example.  Who knows?   Perhaps she loves crunchy foods, reading mysteries, listening to jazz and playing charades.  Hard to say. 

Maybe you have a favourite Leah memory -including fighting for justice, singing on broadway, or athletic performance.  Or maybe swimming at sunset, dressing up like dogs, or playing frisbee.  Who knows?  Hard to say. 

When: 6pm Nov 30th

​Hors D'oeuvres: SC Vaneesa
First Appetizer: Guest Chef  (maybe Abe but he is still deciding)
Second Appetizer: SC Dallas
Soup/Salad: SC Amy
Main: MC Leah
Dessert: SC Dean

We took it s   l   o   w, as Master Chief Dean demanded. 

The evening started with Guest Chef Brad, who enjoyed the many slow hours it took to create a fresh-from-the-oven pull-apart garlic bread with homemade tapenade (everyone had seconds!).  He also developed an alliterative cocktail featuring Sloe berries - really unique flavour.  

Onto Sous Chef Leah, who was inspired by ingredients that take many years to grow and/or develop (e.g., fruit from trees).   The chefs dined on a collection of puff pastry appetizers filled with slow roasted apples, caramelized onions and a very old sharp cheddar.   The appetizers were served with an apple cider and prosecco spritz, with a maple sugar and apple-pie spiced rim. 

A bit of a 360 turn with Sous Chef Amy, who focused on those who are slow to process information and therefore got on the bandwagon of consuming of tide pods.  Her interpretive trio of tastes included a cheesy rarebit toast, a pesto polenta cube, and a labourious turnip cake.  Her intensely cinnamon goldschlager cocktail celebrated the similarly stupid trend of the cinnamon challenge.  No chefs were injured during this dish

Sous Chef Vanessa finally, after all these years,  made what we have been waiting for her to make: homemade ramen with soy broth, served with roasted pork belly,  salted eggs, grilled mini corn and soy-glazed mushrooms.  A savoury celebration of slow-to-brew soy sauce!  The soup was enhanced with a fresh gingery cocktail, garnish with pickled ginger. 

Master Chef Dean leaned into the time-intensive braise with a slow roasted tagine with cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, olives, and warm spices,  served with a homemade Khobs bread. His drink featured a home-brewed pineapple Tepache, such a depth of flavours that I decided to enjoy a second round.   

Sous Chef Dallas outdid herself with her deceptively complex flavours, with layers of stewed blackberries and cherries,  black sesame and anise crisp, and a goat cheese cheesecake layer.  It was sweet, yet also sour and savoury, creamy with crisp elements - A real triumph of a dish.   The dessert was balanced with a glass of late autumn Riesling.  

Next up: Master Chef Leah

Master Chef Dean wants us all to be S....L....O....W

Maybe you will think of the slow food movement, which is opposed to fast food. It promotes traditional, local cuisine and ingredients as well as sustainability in farming practices and consumption (i.e. eating). 

Perhaps your mind goes to slow cooking. Maybe pick a dish to be cooked "low and slow", as they say. 

Or maybe your dish just isn't that smart......... 

No matter what your take on it is, one thing's for sure is that we will all take our time! 

WHEN: Saturday September 28th, 6pm 

Hors D'oeuvres: SC Leah
First Appetizer: Guest chef
Second Appetizer: SC Amy
Soup/Salad: SC Vanessa
Main: SC Dean
Dessert: SC Dallas

We laughed,  we cried, we celebrated all that is the dramedy of life!  
Some chefs leaned into the concept of contrasts-that-shouldn't-work-but-do, whereas others celebrate the tension and theatrics of mixed emotions.   For example the highs of air conditioners and the lows of people who forgot to wear a hat! 

We launched our supper with a dish that challenged our taste buds by sous chef Dallas - a crispy gruyere and kimchi fritter, dipped in a kimchee and lemon sauce.  The melty nutty cheese and fermented spicy cabbage combo shouldn't have tasted as good as it did, especially with the sweet plum brandy cocktail.  I had seconds and regret nothing.  As he tends to do, sous chef Dean took the concept of contrast to the next level with his appetizer.  Though perhaps initially hesitant to try his concoction, everyone cleaned their plates as we ate the layered combination of homemade teriyaki-marinated tofu, caramelized onions, a slice of orange,  Dijon kale, and a bulger salad with raisins and olives.   The drink brought yet more flavours to the mix, with a savory and spicy beer and tomato juice cocktail. 

Sous chef Leah took us to a more theatric state of mind,  as we celebrated the classic dramedic movie 'The Truman Show'.   We cued the sun with a turmeric arepa filled with  chickpeas marinated in spiced oil and herbs, topped with a pink beet and curry leaf relish.  Leaning on similar flavours, her custom cocktail include curry-leaf-infused vodka, puree mango, ginger and fresh raspberries. Next was a celebration of portmanteau tastes with guest chef Abe (welcome back!)- the could-have-been-gross-but-was-delicious dish of peanut butter broth and gochujang tofu ramen dish surprised us all with it's balanced savory taste.  The noodle soup was complemented with another contrast of a Macha tea-infused gin gimlet.

Onto Master Chef Vanessa for a reimaging the classic supper scene from the movie 'Hook', with expertly cooked coffee infused steak/mushrooms,   a corn and watermelon salad,  and puff pasty filled with pureed squash, mashed potato, and Caribbean sweet potato.  Celebrating a real-time celebrity dramedy,  MC Vanessa secured a bottle of Miraval rose from the winery of in-the-middle-of-a-divorce Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.   For the final dish,  the room filled with the sounds of 'O Fortuna' as sous chef Amy shared a personal tragedy involving a bunny cake that fell to a terrible fate.  The reborn hummingbird cake was filled with a cream coconut layer, covered in candy, and served with a refreshing carrot and ginger juice.      
​     
Onto our next event with Master Chef Dean!

Master Chef Vanessa asks "What good is intensity without a little levity?".  "What is the impact of seriousness if not contrasted against busting a gut?" 

The theme, a portmanteau of Drama And Comedy, call our chefs to find way to juxtapose elements that shouldn't work together but yet somehow they do!

When: April 20th, 6pm

Course Assignment
Hors D'oeuvres: Sous Chef Dallas
First Appetizer: Sous Chef Dean
Second Appetizer: Sous Chef Leah
Soup/Salad: Sous Chef Christine
Main: Master Chef Vanessa
Dessert: Sous Chef Amy

Baby's breath, neon lights, and pastel drink umbrellas set the stage for our celebration of tacky!

Sous Chef Dean launched the evening by removing his one piece purple snowsuit to get the party started! Tapping into all that is eurotrash,  he leaned into bad taste and brought 'drugs' to the party - forcing guests to heat up/cook their sugar for the cocktail.  Homemade goat cheese puff pastry was served with a syringe of thyme infused honey and pill capsule of chili flakes, walnuts and rosemary. To the table for Sous Chef Christine's 1970s sandwich loaf,  a classic dish that all good wives served at fancy dinner parties for their husbands friends.  Slices of bread were filled with artichoke hearts,  chickpea salad and black olives, covered all over with a goat cheese spread - a very distinctly tacky presentation.  A classic punch with an optional splash of gin was provided to help wash it all down. 

Glass harmonica music filled the room, as Sous Chef's Vanessa explored the tackiness of 'church lady' food, following a somber funeral.   The basement hall food was elevated to heights with a 'veggie dip' patty, prosciutto wrapped cheese toast, and deviled eggs with maritime lobster. Red wine reached new depths as it was de-enhanced with root beer soda...  Sous Chef Dallas tapped into the tackiness of teenage judgement and their celebration of hyper-processed food.  A 1980's classic Alligator soup was re-imagined with homemade alligator noodles, a preserved-lemon relish, and bespoke heart-shaped crackers.  The soup was served with a delightfully effervescent natural wine.   Then a Weird Al soundtrack and pipe cleaner art distracted the chefs while waiting for the main dish. 

Master Chef Amy re-created a tacky childhood favourite, the Arby's roast beef sandwich with curly fries.  Chefs unwrapped their roast beef (or tofu) sandwiches, and dipped their freshly cooked curly fries in a homemade BBQ and horsey (horseradish) sauce - Delish!.  The fast-food re-creation was served with bespoke cola syrup and club soda.  In the final dish of the evening, sous chef Leah explored the tackiness and shame of enjoying raw batter.   Chefs licked off a whisk full of dark chocolate mouse (aka cake batter), and ate a pile of roasted sugar and flour 'Raw' chocolate chip and cherry cookie dough with their fingers.            

​Let's get TACKY!!!  Channel your inner, earnest dorkiness and give us a dish that you think is so bad it's good, something that offends all the senses but you embrace with open-hearted gusto, something that would make James Beard roll in his grave but you can't get enough of, a guilty pleasure that makes other people question your sanity. All is welcome as long as you love it while drowning in a tsunami of side eye!  

When:  6pm Saturday February 24th

Dishes:
Hors D'oeuvres: Sous Chef Dean
First Appetizer: Sous Chef Christine
Second Appetizer: Sous Chef Vanessa
Soup/Salad: Sous Chef Dallas
Main: Master Chef Amy
Dessert: Sous Chef Leah

​Guest Chef - TBD

And a little inspiration to get the juices flowing:

The intrepid chefs entered the dark woods,  their movement creating a million spoon-shaped whirls in the low-lying mist.  They all paused, took big, slow breath of the mint-scented air, and pick up their forks. 

The forest floor crunched and crackled underfoot,  the inspiration for the first course by Sous Chef Amy.  The subtle forest noises were recreated with a crispy nest of shredded phyllo,  beet-dill-goat cheese rusks,  and a herbaceous dip with a pile of tree branches (pretzels).  We swirled the apple sticks, mixing in the apple concentrate into our fizzy drink. 
As we moved deeper into the forest, the mood turned perhaps suicidal as Sous Chef Dean honoured lives lost with custom dumplings stuffed with egg, mushrooms and bulgogi tofu, served with a crispy tempura broccoli.  Many a vegetable sacrificed their juicy lives for the custom cocktail topped with bubbly sake.

Things became slightly more regular in the forest, as the logger-favourite stewed prunes entered the meal with Sous Chef Leah.  The chefs dined as laborers in the deep Canadian woods, feasting on a historic salad of stewed prunes, roasted root vegetables and a prune dressing, washing it all down with an adapted prune juice dark-and-stormy. Back from the outhouse and further into the dark woods, for Master Chef Dallas's sampler of delights inspired by the wonders of the Black Forest. The chefs dined on multi-day marinated mushrooms, crunchy cabbage slaw, homemade spätzle with stewed forest berries, and a delicious brown bread - all enhanced with sips from a black cherry whiskey sour.        

The woods because less in focus and shaky, as Sous Chef Vanessa served a forest-berry sherbet, complemented with milk chocolate bark topped with dried cherries, blueberries, and cranberries - and a haunting insignia pretzel.  The meal wrapped up with chefs sipping on bourbon and blueberry liquor cocktail (and a spider!).      
    
Many thanks to future chef Elio for bringing the forest to the table (literally).  

Master Chef Dallas order all chefs to venture into the Deep Dark Woods!
Date: Oct 14, 6pm
Location: chez Master Chef Dallas

Course Assignment
Hors D'oeuvres:  Sous Chef Amy
First Appetizer: Sous Chef Christine
Second Appetizer: Sous Chef Dean
Soup/Salad: Sous Chef Leah
Main: Master Chef Dallas
Dessert: Sous Chef Vanessa