It's here, and it snuck up on us. Like a bad girlfriend who happens to be totally hot... you despise her yet can't give her up. As unknown chefs, we are the bastard stepchildren of this event. But, like it or not it is a cold hard injection of revenue for this area in bad economic times, and it's got everything from Rachel Ray to the King and Queen of Spain.
We are slotted to participate in a couple of events including the Grand Tasting Drunken Cattle Run on Sunday... ok, that's not what they call it, but close to what it amounts to at some point in the day. Two years ago, we had the dubious pleasure of catching Alton Brown's end-of-show demo where he did an amazing job of belittling a few overly intoxicated persons who were asking truly dumb questions. That was a priceless moment. He sure can be raw when necessary. Also, we are involved with the Tyler Florence party tomorrow night. We've tried to pull some other connections and get behind the scenes wherever we can... these events will be our 'fun' time as they are pure learning opportunities and possibly the best way to make a sour situation sweet and hopefully open some doors. Hard times call for creative measures. All in all it's fun for all, and we bitch about it but we have fun. We're chefs, dammit. What do you expect?
We will keep you posted...