What do you do when more than 15 World Class Executive Chefs and Top Somelliers decide to be at the same resort you are for a whole week ... well there''s only one thing you can do ... gain weight :-)
My daily routine:
Breakfast - Coffee (the tiny strong ones) at the bar to jumpstart the day - hang out by the pool till the morning culinary session followed by Dr BBQ at the beach - then lunch, followed by coffee (and games HOP HOP HOP) at the bar to digest - afternoon food presentation, five PM wine seminar, apéro at the bar followed by dinner ... and then there were the parties, ....
And so it went every day during the absolutely fantastic week organized by CM''s Executive Chef Erik Peters in Punta Cana from June 6th to 12th 2010. An impressive line-up of the culinary "crème de la crème" was in the village to share their art with all of us.
Winewise I had the pleasure and honor to have our afternoon wine course/degustation sessions lead by Charlie Arturaola and Andreas Larsson. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Charlie Arturaola and attend one of his presentations ... DO IT !!! He is the most passionate sommelier I have ever had the chance to listen to (I''ll have some videos up in a few days so you can enjoy it as well) and you can clearly see wine runs through his veins (not literally guys, come on, he''s a pro). And even though he does not have the habit of doing wine presentation in shorts Andreas Larsson is definitely one of the greatest sommeliers ni the world ... I don''t know how they do it, but they are amazing. If they are ever in your neighborhood ... go and see those guys.
And then there was food ... in all shapes and sizes, from all parts of the world, prepared for us by the best of the best. Men and women who have food in their heart, soul, fingertips and at the tip of their tongue: First of all I would like to congratulate 3 people who made this an incredible event. CM''x Executive Chef Erik Peters organized the whole week of culinary excellence together with Sandpiper''s Executive Chef Christian Martin, who came to Punta Cana especially to assist Chef Erik in running this spectacular event. Apart from being great chefs they are also wonderful guys to hang out with even though they had so much work and so little time. Chapeau and we''re already looking forward to the next Food and Wine Extravaganza.
It would be too long to list who did what every day and list all the recipes. Actually I think that could be a book to publish but one thing was clear, even the chefs were having a great time in Punta Cana. One chef however was everywhere !!! Bernard Guillas, Executive Chef La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club & The Marine Room, La Jolla, California was so amazing in co-hosting and presenting all the sessions. Apart from being an excellent Chef he is also an extremely entertaining character and presenter. It was great talking to him almost every day even though I called him Rolland the first two days ... Too many names to remember in one go.
One of the most fantastic opportunities during this week was that you could actually talk to these men and women who are at the top of the food chain while in their natural (non-working) surrounding.
Stefano Lacava (thanks for always setting the plates right so I could take some pictures :-)), Philippe Ruiz (yes, we preferred your session to the first World Cup game), Ray Lampe (how did you manage the beach BBQ lunch every day in that hot sun ...), Robert Bennett (That dark chocolate with the port was the best) ... and not to forget Sean Bernal, Pascal Messier, Ramiro Viera, Rick Moonen, Sue Torres, Jannette Berrios, Arthur Artiles, Maria del Carmen Bonarelli, Leandro Diaz, Juancho Ortiz, Dianna Munne and Julian Alonzo.
Okay so maybe I haven''t talked about Punta Cana and all the G.O''s and G.E''s who made ours a wonderful two weeks: Judy, Elizabet, Gaelle, George, Dina, Karen, Vincent, Gallia, Fernando, Dionnis, Andrew, Antonio, Céline, Nazareth, Karen, Alex, Frank & Gustavo (sorry for missing that dive) and especially THE WHOLE kitchen team who did everything to make this a wonderful event/holiday.
PS: This trip was NOT sponsored by CM :-) so I won't say that everything was perfect, one thing definitely wasn't but let's just call it personal and he will probably appreciate me not putting his name on the front page, but next time don't be such a snob, you should know better, you're the image of Club Med.
Here are some pictures of the event:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=187171&id=256168382750&ref=pbEnjoy ... we did !
Oh and if you would like some recipes of what was made during the event just let me know and I'll post them
GODJ
