Playing Chef

A few of my close friends know I am a passionate home chef. I have no formal training, but have loved cooking since my wife was pregnant with our first child and couldn’t stand the smell of being in the kitchen. Over the last 8 years I’ve learned a lot, but there is only so much you can learn from books and YouTube.

One of our clients at Kelsey Advertising & Design is a pair of restaurants in downtown LaGrange. Mare-Sol and C’sons are great restaurants, and I’ve enjoyed dining at each of them. Thanks to Executive Chef Marcus Means, I will be staging (apprenticing) at the restaurants occasionally over the next few weeks (or maybe months).

My first night in the kitchen was last Wednesday and I had a blast. I forgot how much I enjoyed working in a professional kitchen. I learned a lot of tips and tricks, and learned how to make my favorite appetizer at Mare-Sol, Mushroom Florentine with Lobster. They are stuffed mushrooms with a cream cheese stuffing, topped with mozzarella cheese and baked until perfection. I can’t wait to try something similar at home. I also learned how to make homemade cocktail sauce, which is surprisingly simple.

I’m excited about the opportunity to learn more about the culinary arts, and thought it would be also be a great opportunity to help others, so I’m thinking about starting a blog to chronicle my experience as a stage. Let me know what you think of the idea. Either way, it’s going to be fun!