Friday Night Dinner

All of Jenn's food preparation and practice came down to one night. She knew it would be this way from the first day of class, and last Friday, it was time for the big show. At the Natural Gourmet Institute it is known as the "Friday Night Dinner."

Their fifteen person class was split up into two teams, each responsible for preparing and serving a Vegan meal on subsequent Friday nights, with Jenn's group getting the first shot. The preparation began about a month in advance with the menu planning. Ideas were brought forth and shaped along the way as the team created the meal from scratch. After the menu was dissected, changed, rearranged, sampled and changed again, the group was finally ready to serve their offering to the public at $40 a person.

Here is a photo of the table set-up before the guests were brought in.



The centerpiece consisted of hand peeled citrus fruits.



This appetizer was not even on the four course menu. It is called amuse bouche, and was designed to get the appetite going.



The first course called "primero" was a salad of grilled cactus paddle and blood oranges with cilantro citrus vinaigrette.



The second course, "segundo," featured an anaheim chile pepper stuffed with quinoa, black beans, and fire-roasted corn surrounded by mole sauce, jicama and red cabbage slaw over creamy grits. It sounds like an odd combination but the results were spectacular.



Third, they brought out the "intermezzo," or palate cleanser. The sorbet of pomegranate and apple is designed to get your taste buds ready for the dessert grand finale. Mission accomplished.



And last they brought out the "tercero." The warm Mexican chocolate drink accompanied the dessert "taco" made of pumpkin seed tuile filled with macerated berries, all surrounded on the dish by raspberry coulis. The chocolate berry goodness made it hard to believe this stuff could actually have quality ingredients. Jenn spent hours making these tacos appear just right.



After the meal, the proud team answered questions and showed their relief for a job well done. They even received high praise from the president of the school, something that happens only on rare occasions. Jenn shows her appreciation to the crowd through her glowing smile.



I must add that I was never a fan of Vegetarian or Vegan diets before we came here. I listened to and followed all of the stereotypes such as men are meat eaters and we need to eat meat. And I do love me a good steak.

So, it took some work to get me to believe in this type of eating and this meal may have done it. It was absolutely one of the best meals I have had in a restaurant setting. At the end of the meal, I was full, but there was no heartburn, no belly ache, none of that.

At home, Jenn has been practicing her cooking on me and I must say, with less meat in my diet, I feel less sluggish, and overall I actually have more energy. It seems logical to me; my body uses less energy digesting all that meat, therefore giving me more to use in other areas of my life. As they say, food for thought.

With the hardest part of the program behind her, it is time to finish up our stay in New York and move on. There will be some touristy things to come as her parents fly in for graduation next week. But the big news for now, is that our next stop will be Denver as Jenn obtained an internship at a place called Watercourse Foods. There she will learn a bit about the healthy food business in the "real world" that we can bring back home to Manhattan.