The Banquet

The invitation was vague. Johay merely told me we were going to a 'chef's table' at Chef Gene Gonzalez' resto last Wednesday, May 9. Well, "table" turned out to be a pagan banquet, a mega - lavish spread, a bacchanelian feast...an orgy of different tastes and textures. Actually, "in fairness" - it was intentionally ALL of these BECAUSE that evening happened to be the final exams of the graduating class of the Center for Asian Culinary Studies, under their teacher - Chef Gene Gonzalez (good friend of Johay and Al's. thus the invitation)! So, there they were...6 budding young chefs, all nervous, all armed with their pots, pants, ladles, AND creativity..churning out some 24 different food items for us - the panel of judges - to scrutinize, criticize, and rate. There were about 12 of us in the panel..among whom were my connoisseur brother Jomie (hehe), Lia, and cousin Peachy.. The students were tasked to work on the concept "Four Seasons of Italy" and came up with ...a visual feast as you can see by the photos, and a 3-1/2 hour gastronomic orgy...Criteria ranged from originality to taste to texture to appearance..which was fine in the beginning, but towards the end..my taste buds had totally spaced out; something was indeed very wrong with me when the sole and the lamb started tasting the same... by the time we started with the 5 different courses of desserts...I was copying the ratings of my seatmate, as my brain had ceased to function. The four seasons just melded into one. By midnight, I was totally gone. I was like a bear wanting to sleep for the next 12 months. But it was such an interesting evening, one I had never experienced before, I really wouldn't mind going thru it again, this time though, with pre-psyching for two days prior (a.k.a. not eating)...