In my continuing journey in self-discovery and life meaning-making, I think I have come to at least one complete thought. Note, having A complete thought about life takes a very long time to cultivate. If you don't believe me, feel free to strike it up in conversation with my boss and also former Graduate advisor so I can watch the verbal barrage of professor-ship ensue. (I truly heart being on the other side of the trials and tribulations of the mentor-mentee experience.) My one complete thought is thus: If you are in bliss while working hard, if nirvana is reached after twelve hours on your feet, if you gaze at your blisters, callouses, and cuts lovingly then you have stumbled upon your very own pure happiness.
Think, 'Whistle while your work," is a played out cliche? Not true my friends. I am here-fabulous as ever-to testify that yes, whistling while your work exists but it only exists while the work you are doing feeds your body, mind, heart, and soul. If you fine readers out there are anywhere near as ecstatic as I am while eating, then when so much of your being is being feed, how could you not whistle? Most folks think it's a cliche because their work, their job, their career or whatever does not make them happy. Therefore, the need to whistle to express joy from working is completely foreign, weird, and worst of all lame.
Sure you didn't come to a food blog to read someone waxing philosophical into the great tubes of the universe, but trust me this is going somewhere. Two weeks ago, I had a night that didn't change my life; it did me one better. It confirmed what I already knew about how and why I want to change my life away from a focus on digital media technology and applications to a focus on food. The reasons for my change are many from the most primal, to emotional, to practical, to intellectual, to magical.
However when I was blessed with the opportunity to be in the kitchen alongside career (dare I say celebrity?) chefs working very hard for the Tennessee Williams' Southern Gothic Family Reunion Dinner as part of the 2010 Florida Film Festival, the only reason for change that mattered transformed from dreams to my reality. Feeding people makes me happy always. Period. And for that stroke of genius in my life I will forever feel indebted to my friend Miriam Lorenzi for sticking her neck out for me to be in that kitchen, Chef Michel Nischan for blowing my culinary mind and being just one really, really great dude, and Sous Chef Jonathan (pictured above) who kindly showed me the ropes as we went throughout the day and night.
And because this night was so monumental, I hope to re-create some of the flavors of the south energy of this mystical southern spring evening in my recapitulation.
*All photos are from http://www.floridafilmfestival.com/festival_info/photo_gallery/tennessee_williams_southern_gothic_family_reunion and were shot by Michael Kilayko.
The Event
The Florida Film Festival has savvied up their festival offerings by truly investing in the foodie culture with events centered around the role food plays in the film of our everyday lives. This year has been the biggest for the food events and for the festival as a whole so far with a varitable who's who roster of groundbreaking chefs in attendance. So when the mega actors hit the road after Friday's opening night premiere and party, Saturday was a showcase for the chef stars. All day food centric events were happening at The Enzian and around neighboring Winter Park.
My volunteer assignment was the last celebration of Saturday evening, The Tennessee Williams' Southern Gothic Family Reunion Dinner. The $250 (for non-Enzian members) ticket bought you an evening of a celebrity chef prepared dinner lakeside in the garden at a sprawling 1920s manor while impromptu scenes from Tennessee Williams' famous works sporadically broke out among the guests and staff. If the festival organizers wanted the guests to feel as if they were living, breathing, eating, and drinking a classic piece of turn-of-the- century Southern literature, their entertainment arrow hit the suspended disbelief target bulls eye.
The grand manor's entrance. In one incarnation, this domain was a nursing home.
Getting caught suddenly in scene was all part of the fun.
The Food
Oh, where do I even begin? Arriving at The Enzian, I started to fill my Honda Element with cases of wine, trashcans, and all the kitchen equipment The Enzian kitchen could spare. Note, Honda Elements are the greatest car ever invented. Ever. I can't get into now, but one day I hope to wax on all things Element. Feeling very confident while hauling stuff, I told The Enzian Head Chef I was cool to carry all the shrimp and grits Chef Michel shipped in to my car by myself like a big girl not thinking there could possibly be more than 30lbs of grits in one styrofoam cooler. I was so awfully and painfully wrong. Still, the ingredients made to the manor kitchen only yielding one cut on my hand from a particularly sharp shrimp head and a large bruise on my shin from turning into instead of away from my trailer hitch. If you had not yet gathered, the dish Chef Michel Nischan was preparing for the Southern Gothic Family Reunion Dinner is the classic Shrimp and Grits.
Of course I read every Shrimp and Grits recipe I could get my hands on before the day of, and still I had no idea what I was in for. Thankfully a professional trained chef named Jonathan was also there to truly assist Chef Nischan while I was happy to do whatever grunt work came my way. And work we did. Especially Chef Nischan who I expected to break out into a whistle and a fine gig at any given moment.
First, all three of us peeled the shrimp. Jonathan chided me for not getting all the shells off, but hey, I'm learnin' over here! Still, I learned the proper de-veining technique and had more seafood feces on me than I thought was possible for an evening's worth. It was like I was harvesting shrimp innards. The shrimp then chilled in iced metal bowls, as Chef collected all the legs and shell remainders to make a wicked shrimp sauce. Never have I seen such care and love for a work of food as well as sincere respect for the main ingredient wasting nothing. As Chef prepared his sauce cooking down the shrimp exoskeletons with water, raw sugar, cream, and a bit of salt pepper, he talked his steps out with Jonathan and I the entire time even taking moments to quiz Jonathan to ensure he was learning. It is rare a human cares so much for other humans they barely know.
Then Chef did something which made my heart grow three times, he took the softened shrimp parts and over a mesh strainer squeezed all their shrimp juices out using only his hands. This process took a nice chunk of time, but you could taste the hand crafted quality in the end. He explained you could try and extract these juices some other way, but because this product was pourous it required 360 degree pressure to get all the goodness out. And the aroma! I knew shrimp was sweet, but this type of sweetness was a whole new realm of flavor to me. This sauce made shrimp seem like the candy of the sea. Next while Chef had Jonathan sear alligator andouille sausage for their drippings, he began to add the shrimp essence back to the stock followed by the sausage drippings and let it all reduce low and slow just how we like it in the South.
Chef Nischan's technique for acquiring the essence of shrimp.
And then there were grits. Pounds and pounds of par-cooked, stone ground grits. Praise God Jonathan was given the task of continually stirring the grits with water until they were perfectly cooked and creamy. My job was to cut the 2lbs of butter into pats and put them in the grits pot. To that only a bit of cream was added. Chef grated some Amish cheddar, but because the grits were outstanding on their own the cheese was omitted entirely.
As we encroached closer to the 7pm service time, the chef asked me to salt and pepper the shrimp so he can began searing them. This was my greatest task yet. Astutely I pinched the seasonings between my middle, fore fingers and thumb and hyper focused my vision shrimp to shrimp confirming consistent covering and flavoring. Jonathan, sweating over the largest pot I've ever seen, continued to vigorously stir the easily 25lbs of cooked grits, I offered to trade. He was cool and kept on keepin' on the grits.
Finally Chef asked me to clip buckwheat micro greens and arrange them for service. Truly I didn't do that right the first time but again Chef, calm as a cucumber even while all the other chefs are arriving and bustling around the one kitchen, guided me to the proper clip. The experience in the kitchen was rewarding enough, but there's more! I know why most people want to be chefs. We get to taste all the food before the guests. Madone! First I downed Chef John Currence's Crispy Pig Ear Lettuce Taco. Who the hell knew an ear dish could be so light, bright, and refreshing? Ok, so the salsa and lettuce probably did most of that work but the balance of all the ingredients made my first ever pig ear dish are hard one to beat from here on out. Next we sampled Chef Robert Stehling's Shrimp Cakes with a knock-out Mango Almond Cole Slaw, and I don't even like coleslaw but not a morsel of this one escaped the clutches of my jaws. I could have stayed in foodie heaven forever, but before I knew it we were off to the races for dinner!
Crispy Pig Ear Lettuce Taco by Chef John Currence.
Shrimp Cakes by Chef Robert Stehling.
Enzian Chef's get their shuck on! With oysters, of course.
While the guests sipped on wine and cocktails plus the complimentary Peroni and slurped on freshly shucked oysters, we prepared our outdoor serving station so Chef could finish searing the shrimp to order. His dedication to his cuisine combined with his lighthearted demeanor filled me with some much joy, even to scrub his dishes was an honor. Sidebar, Chef is not a stranger to a sink or a sponge. Once outside we hit the ground running serving up the most spectacular Shrimp and Grits I've ever tasted and I don't even like grits! (Bleh, I'm from the North and we don't interface with such things up there. Yet of course all things change with time and I am now a grits convert. I might have to turn my Yankee card in.) Our station was a well-oiled assembly line. I was scoping grits, Chef was searing shrimp, and Jonathan was saucing plates followed by my sprinkling of micro greens all served to smiling patron faces asking ever so demurely if they could please have shrimps with their heads still on. Classic.
Me clipping micro greens con Chefs Nischan (L) and Chef Currence (R).
Chef Michel Nischan searing up the sweet shrimp.
I was swimming in nerves and excitement. Jonathan even loaned me a spare chef coat so could play dress up to the fullest. Into dinner, Jonathan was yoinked by the magnificent Martha Foose to assist in the finishing of her Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Covered and Candied Ginger Strawberries and Fresh Whipped Cream. Chef was being pulled in all directions by his adoring public leaving me to hold down our station o' shrimp-n-grits. At the end of the night it was all me, all the shrimp, all the grits, and in that moment I found myself. Ok, after I scored some of Martha's pie, I definitely found myself because no circle is complete without pie.
Phone Photo by Miriam Lorenzi http://www.miriphoto.com/
Magnificent Martha doing the south proud with her piping.
The People
By this point I hope it is clear to see Chef Michel Nischan was a pure beckon of light for someone trying to find their way in food, and while I felt the entire evening was a gift, he handed me a signed copy of his book Sustainably Delicious with one breathe and asked me how to spell 'Miriam' with the next. All the FFF volunteers and Enzian staff members are some of the hardest working and sincerest people I've had the pleasure to meet and work with. If you live in Orlando and have yet to visit The Enzian for a film or event, put that immediately on your bucket list.
The bevy of famous chefs surrounding us was dizzying. John Currence, Martha Foose, Robert Stehling, and The Lee Brothers. And are they all super cool, down to earth, people? Hell to the yeah. All these chefs were completely aware of all the hands on deck it took to make this dinner happen asking us if we needed to eat, if we needed a drink, and if we enjoyed the food. We rallied together for this victory. I was feeling on top of the world. And in my euphoric state did I tell the Lee Brothers I saw them on Throw Down beating Bobby Flay being totally lame? Yup I sure did and I didn't care then and I don't care now. I was me. I was in my element (ha! figuratively and literally) and all these super successful people made me feel like I was already part of their club simply because we all share the love of food, the love of feeding others, the love of giving simple joys to people like a fantastically crafted bite. I loved this night. I loved the work and I cannot wait to do more. And this is one thought I know is complete.
A group of folks any self-respecting foodie would be honored to share an evening with.
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becky osborne
April 29, 2010 @ 3:40 pmmy mouth started to water right around “candy of the sea”
sweetlife
May 4, 2010 @ 5:46 amwhat an experience, I am so happy you were part of it. I could really feel your excitemnet through your post..lovely post.. I loved all the pics, What wonderful chefs you had a chance to work with.
sweetlife
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
May 4, 2010 @ 9:31 pmI’ll never tire of reading such posts.. so uplifting and positive and it really warms the cockles to hear of someone happily finding their ‘way’ through the craziness of life. It’s also a nice reminder to continually reassess things.
I also agree with the whistling while you work thing. No point sticking with things that make you miserable, but there is less point with letting yourself be miserable through things that just have to be done!
Rachel Joyce
May 5, 2010 @ 9:13 amBecky – Making your mouth water keeps me going ^_^
SweetLife – thanks for the kind words and for hanging in for this lengthy post!
Conor – Finally! A whistle-while-you-work enthusiast. Thanks for reading and for the encouragement.