The 5th Annual Great Gathering of Chefs and Me.

One of these things is not like the other ...

That's me, Culinary Gangsta of All Things Cuisine (as I call him) Santos Loo, Owner of one of my favorite restaurants in the world and chef, Marva Layne of Negril Village and part-owner of Annisa, Chef Anita Lo. We are all huddled together yesterday at The 5th Annual Great Gathering of Chefs. Why am I there? Being that I'm not a chef? Well, sometime last year I was taping Cooking for Real here in Manny Hatty and famed photographer Alan 'Battman' Batt visited the set as a guest of Susan Stockton. We met briefly and I went back to work. Later that day I was asked by Susan to participate in his book. Seems he enjoyed what he saw and even though I wasn't a chef, he asked her to invite me to participate in his charity efforts. As soon as I was told it was for charity, I said yes and dropped what teeny bit of insecurity I had about being in a cookbook with such big-time chefs. Oh, let me explain ... Alan puts out beautifully photographed (by him, of course) cook books once a year using donated recipes from the world's top chefs. Then he hosts an event so they can all sign the books. He then sells the books donating the proceeds to a charity. This year the charity is Action Against Hunger. I didn't hear much after I submitted the recipe, but then earlier this year while I was shooting, I got back to my green room and on my table was a huge blown up photo of the recipe I submitted. I was so excited, what a great photog can do to a simple recipe! Anyway, just yesterday was The 5th Annual Great Gathering of Chefs and there I was in some jeans and a cowl-neck sleeveless sweater, while most of the attendees were in chef whites, blues, blacks and other.
I call this picture "Where's Waldo", look at all the chef coats! Can you find a home cook in there somewhere??? Lol, it was really crowded, but I got there early and caught a shot of one of the long signing tables ...
That's just one of the tables, they wrapped the entire room with tables and still with that had to snake a bit to fit all the chefs, plus me, teeheehee. The lush green to the right out the window is Central Park. What a view. Would you pay millions to live there? I dunno, I think Prospect Park in Brooklyn is just as beautiful, I digress ...
That's a guy from D'Artagnan prepping hot dogs made of duck. He topped 'em with spicy brown mustard and a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar. They actually served a 3rd of a hot dog, cut and then skewered, I coulda done about 6 of those. I held back though and did one. I must say, I keep some reduced balsamic on hand in the fridge because it's so good over so many things, so now I'll have to add hot dog to that list. To the right is the crew from ISBRE water. They were total foodies and watched Food Network and watched my show, so that was neat to meet them. On the other side was a Starbucks set up with the new instant coffee. I mention these sponsors because I really like companies that support charitable causes, especially when budgets are being cut across the board. The coffee tasted like, well coffee. I couldn't tell it wasn't brewed, but I muddy my coffee up so much with other stuff so ...
And that's the book I'm in! It's called Small Things Savory, Bite Size Dishes From 150 Chefs. Eric Ripert, Emeril Lagasse, Daniel Boulud, Alex Guarnaschelli and me. Goooooooo Homecooks!!!! I scored one for the team and did it for charity, thanks for your support! I couldn't do this without you watching and supporting. Pretty neat.