The Best Thing I Ate This Week: Mushroom Extravaganza At Spencer’s

A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender says, “We don’t serve mushrooms here.” The mushroom says, “C’mon! I’m a ‘fun guy.’”

(cue laughter)

Okay, okay, you’ve probably heard that one.  But admit it.  You laughed.

If you know me or read my blog, you’ve probably heard me profess my intense love of mushrooms a time or two.  I developed a love of mushrooms back when I was a young vegetarian and we’ve been together ever since.  Our love is true and unadulterated.

"Of course I'll marry you!"

This past weekend my good friend, Chef Holly Kapherr, invited me to be her guest at a cooking class at Spencer’s, a fancy steakhouse located inside of a fancy Hilton in the Walt Disney World area, for a piece she was writing for Orlando Style magazine.  The theme of the class was mushrooms.  I was totally stoked.

We arrived at Spencer’s and were promptly greeted with mimosas!

Mimosa? Don’t mind if I do

"I, too, shall partake."

We were encouraged to eat a lovely fruit and cheese spread while we waited for the class to start.  Holly and I ate our cheese (and plenty of it!) and mingled a bit with the other women attending the course.  They were “ladies who lunch” types—you know, yuppie moms with money who like to kill their Saturday afternoons attending fancy cooking classes.  While we drank and ate, the executive chef came out and introduced himself, along with the head chef in the kitchen, Chef Eric Szymczak.  We were invited to sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen to start the class.  Each seat had a different bowl of mushrooms placed in front.

A lovely spread!

I got buttons. An oldie, but a goodie.

 

King trumpets and Maitake mushrooms!

We were served more mimosas while Chef Szymczak introduced his team to us, then they got to cooking!  The chef talked about different kinds of mushrooms and broke down each bowl of mushrooms for us, explaining where they come from, how they grow, and what they taste like.  In the meantime, his team started preparing little tastings for us to enjoy. You know, things like…

Lobster and Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

A whole pan of the deliciousness.

The best mushroom soup I've ever had in my life.

A darling mushroom slider and portobello fries.

We ate the delicious tastings, drank our mimosas, and laughed with the chef.  Then, when the demonstration was over he said, “And now we’re going to prepare lunch for you.  Feel free to step out on the lanai and have a drink while you wait.”

The lanai. We were pissed that we weren't told to bring our bathing suits.

Lunch?!  We’d just had so many mushroom delights and we were all stuffed!  We couldn’t believe they were making us lunch in addition to everything we had already eaten!

But y’know.  We made room.

Shitake and Goat Cheese PIssaladierre

Porcini Crusted Lamb with Black Trumpet Mushroom Risotto, pearl onions, and peas

This was the special vegetarian entree. The sucker in our group got this. (It was really good though, she gave me a bite).

White Chocolate Truffle Timbale.

I sort of enjoyed it.

Oh, and did I mention that we got a fancy wine with every course?

Ahh, drinking in the middle of the day. Nothing like it.

 

Moscato. My fave!

To wrap things up, Holly interviewed Chef Szymczak.  She’s such a great interviewer.  Totally laid back, she really knows her stuff, and she has fun while keeping it professional.  She brought me along with her when she interviewed Jen and John of CakeWrecks and it was a blast.  The interview with Chef Szymczak was great too.  He’s full of energy and extremely passionate about food.  He was gracious and fun.

Chef Holly Kapherr and Chef Eric Szymczak

The food was delicious and we had a blast.  I was full for the rest of the day.  I fell into a major food coma when I got home and I never ate dinner, just a bit of fruit, and I passed out on my couch, which I NEVER do.

I hope we go to another one soon.  Wink, wink, Holly.

Full. Happy. Minutes away from matching food comas.

If you think you don’t like mushrooms, please give them another try.  They’re magically delicious!

Eat It Up: My Top 5 Must-Have Foods

If I had it my way, I’d be able to eat everything, all day, every day.  I’d just tip my head back and let it all slide right in.  I suspect that’s what all of us really want.

Uhh, maybe not everything.

That being said, I know who I am and my reality is that I can’t eat everything, all day, every day.  I attended Rachel’s webinar about living a happy and healthy life today and one of the things that she talked about was how being healthy honestly isn’t always a blast.  I think that’s something that’s important to admit from time to time.  Health blogs tend to be full of positivity, which is certainly a good thing, but sometimes they (we) glorify the lifestyle a bit.  While I’m glad to be living a healthy life and I’m glad that I can fit into smaller jeans, I’d be a huge liar if I didn’t just admit that sometimes I’d rather be butt-deep in a bag of Cheez Doodles on the couch watching Seinfeld reruns instead of sweating my ass off in a spinning class or slaving over the stove preparing a balanced meal.  It’s all part of the process though, and even though I wish I could get Dangerously Cheezy sometimes, I know I’m better off doing the spinning and stove-slaving thing (most of the time.)

I may not be able to eat all day every day, but I do my very best to eat well, and even though it can be exhausting, I’m glad I do. I was thinking that it was about time that I shared some of my must-have foods with you!  These are the five foods that I always have at my disposal and eat almost daily:

1.  Eggs

Oh yeah, I looooooooooove eggs.  They’re one of nature’s perfect foods!  A beautiful blend of fat and protein in its own smooth little shell–you can’t go wrong with eggs.  I buy them organic and I buy them brown–it’s just my way.  Brown eggs come from red/brown chickens and they really aren’t much different from white eggs, but I prefer the way they look.  I tend to like brown food better than white food.  I’m all about breaking down color barriers.

I often say that eggs need a new marketing agent, because even though it’s 2010 and the idea that eggs are bad for you went out in the ’80s, people still talk about egg yolks in the same hushed tones they use to make abortion jokes at church.  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes I’m totally into having a plain egg white omelet because egg whites alone have a different flavor from eggs with the yolk intact.  However, the whole egg is nothing to fear–on the contrary, the whole egg is awesome! An egg has about 70-75 calories and about 5 grams of delicious, filling fat. We’ll talk about not fearing fat on another day.

Don't mind if I do.

The really great thing about eggs, aside from the nutrition, is that you can prepare them in so many ways!  I eat eggs most days of the week because they fill me up, are nutritious, and they’re so versatile.  They don’t call it the Incredible Edible Egg for nothing.

2. Greek Yogurt

Back in the olden days of yore, when I ate things because they were low in calories, not because they were nutritionally awesome, I used to buy fat free artificially sweetened yogurt.  It was terrible.  Overly sweet and chemical-tasting dairy glop is not my idea of a good time.  Now, for 20-60 extra calories, I eat Greek yogurt.  It’s thick and creamy and divine.  20-60 extra calories–that’s two bites less of dinner!  It’s less than half a can of soda!  I prefer Chobani Greek yogurt because it is sweetened with natural cane sugar and it comes in different flavors.  I recently discovered strawberry-banana at Publix, then I died of happiness.

3. Toasted Wheat Germ

I know, “wheat germ” sounds like it’s really freaking gross, right?  But it’s actually delicious.  My friend Chiara suggested that I start putting wheat germ in my Greek yogurt.  At first, I got the untoasted because I wasn’t paying attention and untoasted wheat germ is freaking gross.  I won’t even tell you what it tasted like, because I’m afraid you’d think of it when you try toasted wheat germ, but trust me, untoasted<toasted.  I went out and got some honey-toasted wheat germ and it’s all the more awesome.  Eating wheat germ aids in digestion and promotes healthy skin, hair, and nails.  For real.  I put about a tablespoon in my daily yogurt or my rouge bowls of oatmeal and it tastes great.

Mmm, folic acid.

4.  Mushrooms

Mushrooms are actually my favorite food in my life.  I love mushrooms even more than I love Cheez Doodles, and I love Cheez Doodles a lot.  When I was a kid, I foolishly believed that I didn’t like mushrooms, but when I quit eating meat in my teens I tried them and loved them.  I cook mushrooms several times a week and whenever there’s a mushroom dish at a restaurant, I order it.  I generally saute mushrooms in a bit of olive oil with onions or shallots, but there are tons of ways to prepare them.  Mushrooms and onions are my favorite pizza toppings.  People often tell me about their aversions to mushrooms because  mushrooms are a fungus.  Whatevz.  More for me, suckers.

5.  Dark Chocolate

Hopefully by now you’ve all heard about the health benefits of dark chocolate and you’ve gone out and stocked up.  I know I have.  I limit it to a square a day and I savor it.  My favorite kind is the Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate with a Touch of Sea Salt.  It’s so classy. It has a sweet and creamy consistency, more like milk chocolate, and the touch of sea salt totally balances the sweetness in a way that will make your tastebuds sing sing sing.

Sweet, sweet glory in bar form

So, there you have it.  Those are my must-have foods that I eat (almost) every single day.  I was really tempted to list fruit (yes, all of it) on this list, but I didn’t think that would really be fair since that’s such a wide category.  For the record, I do eat several servings of fruit in a day.  Orlando Organics always brings me several different fruits every week and I love having different choices every day.   Today, for example, I made my oatmeal Key West-style with kiwifruit, strawberries, and wheat germ, and I had mango and pineapple with my breakfast-for-dinner (which was eggs, of course!)

What are your must-have foods?

Orlando Organics and How To Make a Passion Sandwich

A few weeks ago I went on an unsuccessful date with a guy who asked me what my passion was.  Actually, “So, what’s your passion?” were his exact words.  I was dumbfounded, mostly because it was the lamest question I’d ever heard and because I had already talked with him about the normal stuff–what I do, what I like, what my personal tastes are–at that point, talking about “passion” seemed really contrived and stupid.

That question was only one of many reasons that the date was not a success, but we don’t need to talk about all that.

This story all leads up to this: though I struggled to answer that stupid question without rolling my eyes like a total bitch, I lit up when I saw one of the employees at the coffee shop where lame date occurred, because I had spoken with her about my beloved Orlando Organics just a few days prior and she and her husband were considering signing up.  When I saw her I asked if they had looked into it yet, and she and I launched into a quick conversation about the company.  When we were done, I explained to my date that I absolutely love this local organic produce delivery service and he replied, kind of dickishly, “that’s kind of what I was looking for when I asked what your passion is.”

Oh.  Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me.

Though it didn’t work out with Passionman, I’m definitely In A Relationship with Orlando Organics and I think we’re in love.  I got a subscription about four months ago and I have been reaping the benefits of having fresh organic produce delivered straight to my door every other week.  There are different packages and members have the option to receive packages weekly or bi-weekly.  I’ve been getting the Harvest Blend Regular and it’s perfect for me.  I usually add a carton of organic eggs and sometimes I even add tofu!  Here’s a sampling of my recent and past deliveries:

Notice my sweet Starla peeking out from under the table.

Holy sweet potato

Hellooooooooo, Summer!

As you can clearly see, Orlando Organic is amazing.  I might even say I’m passionate about it.

The last photo in that set contains yellow squash, mushrooms, onion, and eggplant, which I used to make this vegetarian delight for my mouth:

"I'm a passion sandwich."

Wanna make it?