Things are busy in Colorado. Barbara is in town and has everyone hopping. We have a steady stream of guests for the next few weeks and all of the challenges and pleasures that go with that. On top of that we're still reaping the benefits from our weekend in Aspen and all of the creative energy that sprang up from the exposure to new ideas and unique perspectives. Since I'm waiting for dinner service to begin I thought I'd take the opportunity to wrap up our tales from last weekend.
From the experiences that we've had over the past two years I would have to say that there are several different levels of adventure at the Food and Wine Festival. There's the consumer experience which is made up mainly of foodies with a relatively large disposable income who are excited to be there and thrilled by random sightings of their favorite food celebrities at events and on street corners. There's the experience of said food celebrities and press who are wined and dined at private parties and exclusive soirees. Then there's the experience of the volunteers and workers who do most of the actual work involved in making the festival happen. Of that crew I think that the security guards have the toughest jobs, resembling bouncers at an exclusive club where everyone seems to be somebody important, at least in their own opinions. I saw more hostility directed at and around the security crew this past weekend than I've seen in the past year anywhere. The guys did a great job dealing with all of us (we exhibitors were the probably the worst offenders) and managed to keep smiling all weekend long. The exhibitors make up the last category of festival attendees. We as exhibitors and members of the trade were treading the middle ground between celebrity and consumer. We were invited to some but not all of the parties and we were able to take in a fair amount of seminars in addition to manning our table at the grand tastings. All in all I was pretty happy with where we were in the hierarchy.
This is not to say that we wouldn't have loved to have been the people giving a seminar, teaching others about what we do and feeling extraordinarily special in the process. But I'm not the most social person in the world. Parties are as stressful as they are enjoyable for me and to be surrounded with all of these famous people can be nerve wracking. I've never been good at introducing myself to strangers, always preferring to be introduced by a mutual acquaintance for a point of reference and conversation. The way things worked out this past weekend were perfect. I got to meet some new people, renew acquaintances with some old ones and safely observe the madding crowd from within their midst without any personal pressure to perform. I may not be satisfied with that position in the future but for now it suits me just fine.
Our mutually favorite seminar was Steve Olson's guide to Mezcal. It was informative, entertaining and thought provoking. It reminded me of why passion is such an important characteristic in anyone giving a presentation of any kind. He spoke a bit on the history of mezcal and it's definition (any spirit distilled from agave). We tasted agave syrup, roasted agave and seven different mezcals. Steve gave a great lesson on the art of tasting (Let the spirit hit the center of the tongue and spill down the sides, swish thoroughly and breathe out. Spit and then give a final slow inhale and exhale to experience the full flavor of the spirit.) It was the most detailed description of how to taste that I had heard in years. The range of styles and flavors were incredible and his presentation just a lot of fun. He had stories about each individual spirit and the people that created them as well as history and folk lore to round things out. It was one of those experiences that just made me feel lucky to be in Aspen.
The other great seminar was Wine and Swine with Danny Meyer (who has a bookcoming out this fall) and Dan Phillips. We entered the tent to find rubber pig noses and six glasses of wine ranging from white to pink to ruby at every place setting. We tasted each wine with six different salamis from Salumeria Biellese and filled out a grid rating each combination on a scale of three: yummy, eh, and yuck. Danny Meyer explained that he liked to taste by salami, meaning that he started with one salami and then tasted it with each wine before moving on to the next one. I actually went the other way and tasted by wine using the bread provided to clean my palate after each taste of hot salami and change in wine. It was fast and furious. I don't have the list of wines and salamis here in the kitchen so we'll add it later. We had a great time at that tasting and it really made us think about individual palates as everyone's grid was different, and the art of pairing food and wine, any kind of food and wine.
Last but not least we caught two cooking demonstrations by Jose Andres and Daniel Boulud. The first demonstration was by Jose and it was definitely personality driven. He was assisted by his two little daughters and his chef Katsuya Fukushima from the minibar. The girls provided a nice foil to Andres' dramatic flair and semi-serious demeanor. You can definitely tell that he has a television show as he excelled in drawing in his audience and amplifying the effect of his culinary tricks. It was very entertaining and as we were reminded, all of the recipes are detailed in his newest book on tapas. The seminar was named "Two Ingredients Ten Ways" but it was really one ingredient ten ways, watermelon being the second fiddle to the chef's machinations. There was everything from watermelon juice cocktails to a watermelon "egg yolk" made with sodium alginate and calcium chloride.
In contrast, Daniel's presentation was all about the food. He was congenial but restrained and there were no fireworks or special effects. There was simply the food which consisted of "Summer Cooking" with a heavy emphasis on fish and vegetables. The techniques were solid and the flavors were harmonious. Unfortunately his subdued style failed to hold the attention of his entire audience. Surrounded as he was by theatrical culinary competition and flashy personalities his seminar felt a bit slow and unimaginative on the surface. Those of us who were able to pay attention were rewarded by beautiful fish and vegetables, fresh, multi-layered flavors and textures, and some beautiful summer dishes.
If we have time later we'll tell you about some of the cool new products we saw at the tastings and the wines we tasted but for now those are the highlights from our weekend in Aspen/