Earlier this year, I had the chance to attend the largest catering conference in North America in Las Vegas. There were over 5,000 people in attendance, over 800 booths at the trade show and about 8 different sessions happening simultaneously throughout the day for three days straight.

One of the highlights of the trip was that I ran into Wolfgang Puck! He was incredibly friendly and approachable. I had the luxury of dining at one of his restaurants, Spago, located inside Caesar’s palace. What I love about Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants, is that everything is fresh and you can tell.  I had fresh parpadelle pasta with a delicious short rib tomato sauce. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the sauce had been simmering for hours to create a beautifully comforting dish.

I think what I noticed the most at these various locations, is that everything old is new again. Perhaps because of the failing economy, everyone has turned to comfort foods, but with a twist. At Fix, a restaurant inside the Bellagio, we just had to order the buffalo chicken wings. This restaurant makes high end food, and they were offering buffalo chicken wings?!? We had to know what they were like. When they arrived at our table, we were wowed by the presentation. They had taken Cornish hen legs and used those as the ‘wings’. They had been slow cooked in a delicious homemade buffalo sauce and were served alongside the classic dip and veggies in a mason jar. It was a very ‘cute’ presentation.

Other things I found on the menus at these restaurants were old fashioned carvery, scallops Benedict, and popcorn shrimp… all served with an updated twist. I think I am so blessed to be catering in a time where I can ‘play’ with my food. I came back inspired to create classic menus with updated flares, like our deluxe sliders package for weddings that we presently offer. I mean, there is a reason that all of these things always come back into style, they are delicious!

Living on the West Coast, we have the luxury of being exposed to a lot of different ingredients and foods. So what I’ve done with the sliders menu, is offer some things you might not see every day, such as bison burgers or artisanal hamburger buns, and paired it with some deluxe toppings, such as avocado salsa and caramelized onions. It’s a way to have a classic barbecue wedding but with a few updates added to it. I’m working on getting new menus posted on the website with some of my new inspired creations.  Look out for these in the near future.

When I was a kid, my parents used to cram all of us kids (four girls and a lone boy) into a van and we would drive across the United States. We lived in Spain full-time, and so every three years  we would fly back to New York and spend our summer break driving everywhere in the States to visit friends and family until we reached California. At that point, we would hop a flight back to Spain.

My favourite part would come whenever my mom spotted a sign that read “U-Pick Berries”. As soon as she saw that sign, she would become incredibly excited. Her anticipation would spread to us kids until we managed to convince my dad, the long-haul driver, to pull over. We would scavenge through the van and find some appropriate containers to fill with berries, and off we went! We usually never stopped for long, but we would have enough to feed us fresh and delicious berries for the rest of the day in the car. All of us would have stained fingers and mouths when we finally pulled into a hotel parking lot for the night.

Now that I’m an adult, I am so thankful for my mom’s love of berry-picking. I venture out to the u-pick farms at least once per year to fill my buckets and enjoy the sunshine. There’s something about doing activities that I loved as a child that just makes them that much better. This year, I went during raspberry season with my good friend, Kim.

What makes this year different, is that I actually was able to use my treasured berries for my catering business. Those beautiful red, plump fruits became decadent raspberry-nutmeg pies that would be enjoyed by my very own clients! It was a great experience to pick under the hot sun, come back to my kitchen (air conditioned, thankfully) to make pie crust from scratch, and to finally add those beautiful raspberries.

On my next entry, I’ll have a fabulous recipe for all of you pie fanatics out there.

I have an obsession with food. I want to know how it got to my plate, where it came from, how it was processed, and what made it taste the way it tastes. I guess this obsession makes me a good candidate for being a chef.

When this whole journey into the culinary world began, I was running a small kitchen at a camp in Colorado. I realized that I enjoyed feeding people food that didn’t come from a box, and I realized that I wanted to learn how to make good food. So, off to culinary school I went.

It’s been three years since I graduated. And even though that is not a very long time, I feel that every step of the way I have learned so many valuable skills for what I am doing now. I have also developed a bit of a philosophy on food: it must be fresh and it must be from scratch. About a year ago, my husband and I launched into the abyss and started a catering company.

One of the things I love to most about running Mizuna Culinary, is that I am constantly exposed to new adventures. I teach classes, I’m learning how to grow a lot of my own ingredients, I get to cater at all sorts of events, and every day I get to do what I love!

This blog is going to be about the culinary adventures my profession takes me through. I’ll have stories about gardening, teaching, crazy cooking ideas and experiences and, of course, a lot of food! I hope you join me and check in every now and then. Enjoy my “Food Matters”!