Velda Newman: Photo Op

Here’s the great teacher herself.

Her students having fun, …

Making art at the big table

And eating. This was a wunnerful class. If you weren’t here, you missed out.

Food Photos

Well, as it turns out, Kim had put a disk with the photos in the computer, ahem, about 3 weeks ago. So, here are some food photos.

First, making a new app.

The app.

My new preparation for my salmon dish. En papillote.

A great shot of the cheese cake.

And finally, no not a medieval weapon, but my new caramel cutter.

Next some Velda pics.

Tru Restaurant Chicago

Well, all in all, it was a great show. I say was because I’m back at the inn and it is snowing like crazy. However, the roads are pretty good.

Kim is in Chicago until tonight and I just hope she’ll be able to fly out.

In the end, we got room service only. The room service people did a fantastic job. The yeoman’s portion. The food is more restricted but it was also, item for item, cheaper than the new O-H restaurant that had the service issues.

We also went out. We went out to Tru Restaurant. A fantastic culinary experience. And I do mean fantastic in all senses of the word. Great art collection. Wonderful dishes and the pastry chef is a great confectioner and chef. The culinary chef was also top notch. The wait staff flawless and fun. Go! What are you waiting for. If you’re not here at one of our workshops eating MY wunnerful food you should be at Tru.

Keep your finger’s crossed for Kim.

Hyatt Regency Chicago

We are here and we are ready for the convention. So far, we tried to eat at the restaurant downstairs, no go. Bring sandwiches kids or do as we are doing and order their room service. We waited and watched as 6 tables were seated and then orders taken as we just sat there. (It was like we had an invisible shield. No one even made eye contact.) I had to beg the busboy for water and for bread. Finally got that. (Good thing I speaked Spanish.) Gracias Antonio.

At least they thanked us for eating there. I guess our waiter was slow or something and prone to mistakes. But he did take orders from two parties in our section. We barely got the water. Bad.

I said thanks for the water and bread. Look. I’m a Chef. I know running a restaurant is hard. But I think that I could have put those milling people (I counted 9) to work. (Why have five people seating if your waiters can’t handle the crowd.?) You know I could have. This should be the gold standard of service. I don’t think they’ll even make bronze. Maybe nickle. Nah. Pewter? Nope. I was itching to get in there and straighten them out. I would have employed runners and waiters that can see and told the seating ladies to get the water for the people they were seating. I would also make sure that when a customer complains, even as nicely as I did, to the busboy that they report it.

Oh, one more big boo hoo. They got rid of the coffee house that was here. Boo hoo. Kim will go crazy without her latte in the morning.

Other than that, we’re just having a blast. Happy to be in Chicago. Nice room, though you know I am partial to our rooms. Nice view of the airport and grounds, though, what can I say?

It’ll be a great convention. Though to tell the truth, I miss the Four Seasons in Huston. Boo hoo.

Beware IKitchen.com

I would not ever use these people again to order any sort of kitchen gadget. There are some many better places. cooking.com and others.

It snowed here the other day. All gone. It was lovely while it lasted.

Velda Newman is in the house

And we are having a great time. Pictures are on the way. As soon as Kim downloads them from the camera, I’ll put them up.

We’re busy getting ready for Chicago.

Oh and I just got my industrial strength caramel cutter. Yowza! It’s massive.