Long Time, No Write

Wow, last week was a blur and I had no time to blog, being in the kitchen from open to close. I was too busy getting ready for the Hot Chef competition at the Mosby Museum in Warrenton yesterday, where ten restaurants and caterers served three courses each to about 250 people. That's a lot of food. When you consider that my dining room holds about 60 people, you can start to imagine why I had no time to blog.

Although we had to set up in the rain and ultimately came away empty-handed in the competition, Brandon and I had a great time while we were there and we put out some excellent food. I don't know what the judges were looking for, but I thought our first course of Surry sausage on a grits flan with dried cherries and Virginia maple syrup was the single best dish at the entire event.

As the saying goes, you cannot please everyone, so I only ever try to please myself with my dishes and yesterday, my dishes pleased me greatly. At the end of the day, we had a lot of fun and we got to meet lots of potential customers and the crews from other area restaurants. For us, it's a real bonus to get out and work in front of a crowd, rather than in the cramped windowless box of a kitchen that we call home.

The competition was to design three courses of food using foodstuffs typical to this area around the end of the Civil War. Here's our meticulously researched menu:

Surry Sausage with Dried Cherries and Virginia Maple Syrup on Hominy Flan

Fricassée of Rabbit on Potato Cake with Field Pea, Tomato, and Corn Salad

Brown Bread with Pickled Peach Compote