Today I competed in the quarter finals for Master Chef NYU. Unfortunately my summary of this morning's events will be relatively brief since I have suffered a great setback --- I broke my index finger nail. Not all of it, and it doesn't hurt, but when picking up a box of leftovers from today's competition, my soap and water weakened nail (too many dishes to wash) crack on the top leaving a little bit of finger tip exposed. No fun. But, like the title says, you win some and you lose some. This broken nail was my loss. The competition was my win. I will be advancing again to the semi-finals next Friday. I'm happy to have made a well praised dish (the tuna / couscous /coleslaw lunch), however I regret the amount of time it takes to prepare and compete... so many numbers to think about and this is certainly cutting back on my numbers time (I study math). In any case, the competition did go well. The first batch of couscous I made had too much seasoning (I used bouillon and used too much.. so I remade a second batch which came out much better. I think I used a little too much of the spice rub on the fish, but otherwise it was very well received. I know need to conjure up a dinner recipe by Monday at noon for the semi-finals which will be held next Friday. Oy! My first thought is Chinese stirfry with my perfect tofu (see previous blog on the perfect tofu). I'll need to give this some serious thought though, and I'll likely post on Sunday with my ideas.
As a post thought (that is a thought post posting) I do want make clear that doing well in this competition is in many ways no great feat of culinary prowess. I am mostly competing against college students who are far better at cooking than I was then (for instance in the summer before my Junior year I attempted to make apricot chicken and ended up with a horrible mush). In any case, I am confident that if my Mother, sister, sister-in-law, aunts, or Bubbie were to compete in this with me, my best dish would be a rough approximation for their worst dish. Having cast doubt on the culinary abilities of my competitors, I now will likely lose in the next round (hows that for karma).
2 comments:
oh ivan, you sell your family short. what about your brothers? would they kick your ass, too? and your niece and nephews and dog-kin? they've got some kitchen moves. and most of all, dad. clear out of the kitchen, boy. (and congratulations!)
Go Ivan go! We will reschedule next two P. Seminars, don't worry... Bring this title home.
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