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Yesterday afternoon, Stop & Shop held a “Back to Reality” luncheon and cooking demo at Sibling Rivalry in the South End. The event brought together bloggers of all sorts to learn about some great cooking tips and Stop & Shop products to help us ease from summer back into fall.

The concept behind the restaurant Sibling Rivalry truly is a sibling rivalry of sorts. Here is what their website has to say:

Sibling Rivalry combines the simple elegance of classical cooking with the rich, bold flavors of Modern American cuisine. Chef’s David and Bob Kinkead created a ‘dueling’ menu that showcases their talents with different interpretations of seasonal ingredients. The Kinkead brothers’ philosophy of providing fresh, straight-forward cuisine is at the core of their menu.

 

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling Rivalry menu

I arrived and was greeted by the PR reps that were hosting the event with Stop & Shop. The clean and modern space was decorated simply with summery flowers.

summer flowers

Brightly colored gift boxes containing great coupons, brownie mix, recipes, and a $25 Stop & Shop gift card also decorated the space. Everything felt bright and festive!

Stop and Shop gift bag

While we all mingled before lunch, we snacked on delicious mozzarella and brie cheese, fruit, and crostini.

cheese plate

There was a LOT of cheese!

cheese display

I also had to check out Sibling Rivalry’s wine collection, of course. Very nice!

Sibling Rivalry wine cellar

I caught up with some familiar bloggers, Elina and Tina and also met some new ones, one of my favorite parts of these types of events.

Boston bloggers

As we got settled in for lunch, we were treated to a cooking demo by Chef David Kinkead who talked about making a delicious skirt steak salad and a roast chicken. He then demonstrated how to use the leftovers from those meals in two completely different meals, a skirt steak sandwich and chicken salad. It is always fun to have some new dinner into lunch ideas!

cooking demonstration

Chef Kinkead also answered some audience questions including one about knives. I have been meaning to get some new knives, and it was helpful to hear from such a seasoned chef.

Chef David Kinkead

The first course was a salad with a delicious dollop of roquefort cheese.

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For my entree, I requested the vegetarian option, and it was a beautiful medley of veggies atop a delectable sweet potato puree.

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I loved the avocados, onions, and sweet potato the most, but everything was so fresh and flavorful. I liked that this was an outside the box vegetarian meal. I have eaten waaaay too many plates of pasta primavera in my lifetime!

I unfortunately had to duck out early to drive to NJ, so I missed dessert and a presentation by Stop & Shop. But I did learn from some of the other bloggers how Stop & Shop does all sorts of fun stuff for moms, and I would definitely be interested in attending another one of their events in the future.

Thanks to Stop & Shop and to Sibling Rivalry for hosting us! I look forward to returning for dinner someday soon.

I’ll be in NJ helping my mom out the next couple of days before I return to Boston for a champagne and boating bachelorette party.

Any fun weekend plans for you all?

Also, are any of you going to BlogHer Food? I have a ticket, but am wondering if I will be able to go to San Francisco for that AND FoodBuzz Festival a month apart.

Tags: blogger lunch, Boston, chef, cooking demo, Food, Sibling Rivalry, Stop & Shop

After my first Boston Center for Adult Education Celebrity Chef event, I knew that I needed to attend another. And when I looked ahead in the recipe book and saw that the final event in the series brought two chefs from Bermuda, I was intrigued.

You may or may not know that Boston at the end of February can be unbearable. It feels like it has been dark, cold, windy, and slushy for about forever. If you are training for the Boston Marathon, the winter has its moments of feeling doubly long. By the time February comes to a close, it is as though you can not take one more second of winter.

I have probably mentioned in the past that I ran the 2004 Bermuda Marathon and absolutely loved the time I spent there, despite the fairly difficult race course and my failure to qualify for Boston. I stayed at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess which was really beautiful, located right in town, and made the best post-marathon breakfast, a smoked salmon and brie omelet, ever. Longing for that same sunny experience this winter, I was happy to find that the BCAE still had room for me to attend this event.

I arrived once again at the beautiful Fairmont Copley Hotel, a place I love to visit and actually just had drinks at the other night when Emily from Maiden Voyage was in town.

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The room was set for lunch, with tasting portions of Goslings rum at each place setting.

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Goslings Black Seal and Gold Rums

The slightly sweet smell of the rum was warm and welcoming. Later on in the event, we were provided with a lot of great information about the rums including the history of the company, how they are made and stored, and ways to use them in cocktails. To be honest, I was a little nervous to try them as I don’t drink hard alcohol often. However, there was nothing hard about these. Smooth, sweet, velvety almost, both rums were a pleasure to drink and completely lacked that sharp, alcoholic taste I anticipated.

Once again, the room was set up with a demo kitchen.

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Spending an afternoon with Chef Thomas Frost, Executive Chef of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and Chef Christopher Chafe, Executive Chef of the Fairmont Southampton is a surefire cure to the winter blues. They played off of one another in a way that the facilitator called the Thomas and Chris show, making the audience laugh many times throughout the afternoon.

The first dish that we sampled was a “Confused Bermudian”, a traditional codfish cake served with marinated Bermuda pumpkin “noodles” and Gombey jam aioli. The fish cake was delicate and flavorful, and I really enjoyed the noodles, which were actually made of butternut squash and “cooked” by sitting in rice vinegar. The noodle mixture also included a good hit of ginger and colorful, crunchy red peppers.

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The codfish cakes were served with Goslings’ signature drink, a Goslings Dark & Stormy made with Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer. Refreshing, with a kick of spice from the ginger beer and more than a little kick from the rum 😉

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The second dish was a Taste of the Island “Papillote” made with grouper, chorizo, confetti vegetables, and herbs baked in a wine-soaked parchment envelope. As in the last event I attended, these Fairmont chefs talked about the Fairmont’s commitment to sustainability and using what is local and in season.

The presentation of the Papillote was lovely, but you had to be there to smell the incredible aromas that escaped once the paper was cut.

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This dish included both white wine and rum. What stole the show for me was the chopped fennel root. It really gave the entire dish a slight licorice flavor, and as you all know I have been loving the fennel lately!

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This was served with another cocktail! One thing is for certain, the Celebrity Chef Series is worth every single penny! This cocktail was a Rum Swizzle. I may have had a few of these in Hamilton after the Bermuda Marathon. 😉  A Rum Swizzle is made with Goslings Gold Rum, Black Seal Rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, grenadine, and Angostura bitters. Fruity and slightly sweet, this drink is almost too easy to knock back.

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The final dish of the demonstration was Inside-Out Beef Wellington made with beef tenderloin, wild mushrooms, crisp pastry, truffle butter, creamy foie gras, and angostura splashed jus. I don’t eat beef, but I will admit to eating the pastry dipped in the jus. It was buttery and flaky, and I wanted to soak up every drop of the sweet jus which actually tasted like reduced port.

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After the Wellington was served,  Bermuda Jam Factory opened up their jam bar, featuring unique, delicious jams that provided varying levels of spices and intense flavor.  Included in the mix were a habanero jam, jalapeno jam, and ginger pepper jam. Don’t they sound interesting? They were really yummy, especially for spice lovers like me.  These pair well with cheeses and bread, but can also be used in sauces or as a glaze for fish or meat. I was a little full after all of the great food and drinks, so I only had tiny tastes.

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I did save room for the last rum, Goslings Old Rum, which tasted and smelled of warm molasses and is something that I could definitely get used to drinking. Paired with a square of 72% Ghirardelli chocolate, this end to the meal was rich and perfectly satisfying.

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Before I left, I snapped a quick photo of our entertainers and chefs for the afternoon. The representatives from Goslings and Bermuda Jam Factory were wearing Bermuda shorts; I really wish I had also gotten a photo of them.

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Of course no visit to the Fairmont Copley is complete without stopping to visit Catie Copley. She was clearly interested in me. . .

What a life!

 

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For the first time in months, I didn’t rush to get on the T because of a howling, bitter wind. Instead, I walked to South Station, and by the time I got there I was HOT in my winter coat! Could it be that spring is almost here? My perfect Saturday afternoon tells me that it might be right around the corner.

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Many thanks to the BCAE for planning such an outstanding series and to the Fairmont Hotels for hosting it. I can not wait until next year; I will attend every weekend if I can!

 

Speaking of Boston, spring, and marathons. . .

Please consider my charity raffle for The ALLY Foundation! $10/ticket at http://firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally

The prizes so far? A custom me & goji mix, a one month membership to Healthworks fitness, a case of wine from Wine Cellars of Stoneham, a tour and private tasting for 10 at Westport Rivers Winery, and a $100 Williams Sonoma gift certificate. There aren’t a ton of entries, so there is a good chance of winning!

Tags: beef, Bermuda, Bermuda Jam Factory, Boston, Celebrity Chefs, chef, cocktails, Fairmont, fish, Food, Goslings, Lunch, recipes, rum, Travel

As I mentioned at the end of 2009, one of my goals for 2010 is to attend a food or wine course each month of 2010. I started the year out well by attending the Boston Center for Adult Education Celebrity Chef Series on January 30.

The featured chef was Laurent Poulain, Executive Chef at the Fairmont Copley. The wine distributor for the day was Commonwealth Wines, and the pairings were outstanding.

Chef Poulain was charming and funny, his French accent a delight to listen to as he went through each course.

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The first course on the menu was a mushroom and cheese crepe. Chef Poulain talked a lot about sourcing local, small farm ingredients. When it came down to the event, he was unable to get Vermont Dandy cheese, so he used Vermont Ayr cheese from Crawford Family Farm instead. The mushrooms were from Giorgio Farm in Reading, PA. You can’t even imagine the delicious smells emanating throughout the room as Chef Poulain demonstrated how to make the crepes. He used fresh herbs in the batter and drizzled the final product with syrupy, reduced port.

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It was cheesy, savory, and had the perfect hit of sweetness from the port. The wine chosen was a Frei Brothers Pinot Noir. A delicious wine from the Russian River Valley, this Pinot Noir was light and fruit forward, a perfect pairing with the richness of the crepe. Richard from Commonwealth Wines told us that Frei Brothers is a 100% sustainable winery, something that I always like to keep in mind. We did not visit them on our last trip to the Russian River Valley, but I definitely will the next time.

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The second course was a potato and herb crusted lamb with an orange demi glace and fava bean salad.

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While cooking this course, Chef Poulain talked a lot about herb purees and how easy, healthy, and versatile different herb purees can be. This one was absolutely delicious and really made the fava beans shine. He also mentioned that the lamb was from a family farm, Blackberry Rock Farm. I don’t eat lamb, so I just ate the crunchy potato crust, but my table mates enjoyed it immensely.

The wine paired with this course was absolutely gorgeous, a Clarendon Hills Syrah from Australia. The nose was of cocoa and blackberries, and the taste was purely chocolate covered blueberries. I could definitely see this beautiful wine pairing well with a rich meat like lamb or even a nice stew.

We learned that the winemaker for this wine does not irrigate the grapes, that they basically just let them grow as they do, and the result is what it is.

The third course was absolutely to die for, a dark chocolate cream phyllo pie with spiced Cape Cod cranberry. As Chef Poulain started on this course, the hotel fire alarms started going off. We waited, listened to the emergency message which basically said that we didn’t need to leave, and stayed in our seats. Chef Poulain kept his cool and humor throughout, speaking over the alarms and whipping up a delicious chocolate ganache for his audience.

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While Chef Poulain worked on the dessert, he also told us that he had recently been contacted by Food Network and asked to make a Boston Creme pie, a dessert which the Fairmont makes very well. The original recipe, however, was made at the Omni Parker House, and Chef Poulain declined and directed them to the Parker House. I thought that was a sweet story and a testament to the type of chef he is.

Oh my gosh, this dessert was perfect and actually did not look like it was too difficult to make. The spiced cranberries tasted 100% of New England. As they were frozen-fresh Ocean Spray cranberries from Cape Cod, they were! The spiciness paired well with the firm, almost fudge-like chocolate cream filling and the flaky, buttery phyllo. I think Chef Poulain used about 5 layers of phyllo, each spread liberally with melted butter. Chef Poulain mentioned that he was from Normandy and that the cuisine there is laden with cream and butter. Yum, yes please.

The final wine pairing was a Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon. Richard from Commonwealth Wines explained that he could have chosen a dessert wine but chose this Cabernet because the dessert was not super sweet. The dryness of the wine, with a perfect amount of berry flavor, went well with the dessert. I have grown to dislike sugary, sweet desserts in my old age, and this dessert was perfectly rich but not sweet at all. I finished every last bite.

Unfortunately, the alarms going off did make the sprinklers activate in the hotel lobby which made for quite the hotel mess. However, on my way out I had the GREAT joy of meeting Catie Copley, the resident black lab at the hotel, a dog I have been walking by and waiting to meet for the past year. Catie even has her own book out.

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The BCAE and the Fairmont did an incredible job of putting this event together. I couldn’t believe the high quality and portion sizes of both the wine and food. For the small fee that I paid, I got a gourmet meal and left full and happy. I enjoyed the conversation with my table mate, the chef presenting was engaging, talented, and fun, and the whole event went off seamlessly.

If you live in the area, I would recommend this series. I also would definitely recommend the Food Writing course at BCAE which I took in the fall and just wanted more of!

Tonight the foodie love continues as I celebrate my friend Raija’s birthday at Craigie on Main. You may remember my last meal there, and the intense love I have for this restaurant.

Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Please don’t forget about my raffle to raise money for The ALLY Foundation! Each entry is a $10 donation on my fundraising page: http://www.firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally. The prize is a $100 gift card to Williams Sonoma! The ALLY Foundation is doing incredible work protecting us from violent sex offenders, and I am proud to be running the 2010 Boston Marathon for them. Anything that you can donate will help!

Tags: Boston, chef, cooking, Food, recipe, wine

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