Food and Wine Night
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Learning to Cook
This all began when I realized, as a 40-year-old woman, that I could be better at my job if I learned to cook.
As a kid I imagined myself hosting fabulous dinner parties. My grandma was a great host and my grandpa was an excellent cook. I grew up eating delicious Italian food; recipes taught to my grandparents by my great-great-grandmother. I was not taught much, and my parents probably thought I would figure out how to cook for myself when I was finally on my own.
I did not figure it out.
I would tout, “I can’t cook” as a personality defect. I lived off of microwave popcorn and pretzels. Any dreams of hosting a dinner party were delusional.
How I Got Here
How did I get this far in life you might ask. Well, I lucked out.
I met my husband at the age of 22 and he’s a fantastic cook. I’ve been skating through adulthood ever since.
When the pandemic took over our lives, and the event industry was on hold, I agreed to cook 3 days a week.
It did not start well.
We had lots of casseroles and backup dinner plans. When we moved across the state, and I began freelancing, I took on cooking more. Hoping to break out of the casserole rut, I looked at a lot of recipes. A beautifully plated picture of salmon with mashed peas and tarragon butter from Food & Wine Magazine inspired my next career idea.
Event Managing Myself
I took that picture of the salmon and tackled it as an event manager would. I got organized.
I read the recipe 100 times. I made sure I had all the exact ingredients and cooking utensils. I mentally planned every step of the recipe. I watched YouTube videos that matched the techniques requested by the recipe. Everything I thought I could do in advance, I did.
Organizing my ingredients, cookware, and utensils before I start prepping any food.
Y’all, I even found the suggested wine that paired well with the dish.
After all the organization, the salmon with mashed peas and tarragon butter turned out so, so good! I completely surprised myself.
My tarragon butter was darker than Food & Wine’s, but still so delicious.
Finding Inspiration
Something clicked with the salmon recipe; it reminded me of an entree from a catering menu I’ve worked with. Hosting at home feels like a lost art for my generation. Millennials live in smaller quarters and do not own more than one type of fork let alone a gravy boat. I get why we don’t do it. Why make a fancy salmon if I’m just going to serve it on a paper plate?
As a professional event manager, I could know food without having to make food. Often, I relied on the expertise of chefs and bartenders to handle menu and drink planning, establish course timing, etc. They are the service industry masters that inspire me to do more.
Food and Wine Night
I called my new project “Food & Wine Night” (#fawn) and told my husband I was going to attempt a mini-dinner party for us once a week. I want to bring the “out” dining experience into the home. Conceptualizing this idea meant understanding the complexities of cooking and serving my guests. I’m not trying to master hosting, but I want to figure out the lost art of hosting a cocktail and dinner party at home.
If I can figure out how to cook, then maybe I can figure out how to bring back the dinner party, one mini-dinner at a time.
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