Red Penguins, Cooking, Friends & Iron Chef

I have returned from my trip to GE Monogram's Experience Center and wow what fun.  Not only did I have the pleasure of being GE's guest at their state of the art Monogram Experience Center, I had the distinct honor to share that experience with my Dream Team friends.

 When I arrived in Louisville, I never expected that any part of my trip would involve Red Penguins.  Though it was clear when we pulled up to the 21cHotel and I saw the large Red Penguin's lined up along the hotel roof that my experience in Louisville was not going to be what I had expected. 

There was a car walking down the sidewalk, a stretch limo totally bedazzled in red marbles and the interactive falling letters in elevator lobby and that is but a glimpse at the spectacularly designed 21c Museum Hotel.  

It was so seriously cool to be sleeping in a building filled with art, I had to pinch myself to be sure it was real. 

 
The first evening in Louisville the GE Monogram Team treated hosted a meet and greet dinner and drinks in the 21c hotel exhibition space.  During our visit we had the pleasure of viewing their current Cuba Now installation.  It was a wonderful evening reconnecting with The Dream Team and meeting some soon to be new Dream Team members.  What an amazing group of talented industry professionals and designers.

For the next three days we were whisked away to the sprawling land mass known in Louisville as GE’s appliance park, so large they have their own zip code – virtually a city within a city. We spent time learning about GE Monogram Appliances and more importantly we spent a majority of our time in their state of the art cooking facility with GE’s very own world class Chef Brian Logsdon and Chef Joe Castro.  

Basically we listened, we learned, we cooked and we ate – over and over and over again.  And let me say I am looking forward to sharing Chef Joe and Chef Brian’s recipes with you; every spoonful in each meal we prepared and ate was spectacularly tasty and aromatically mouthwatering with every bite.

And the highlight of our trip was our very own Iron Chef Breakfast competition among each of the 5 kitchen’s.  We were to create a meal with the remaining ingredients from the week and would be given one mystery ingredient to incorporate into our meal.  We could only use the ingredients that were available and we had to prepare the meal on the fly and were given 45 minutes to complete. 

We were to make one plate for each member of our team, one plate for the judges and our kitchen area needed to be clean.  As part of Team #1 I had the pleasure of cooking each day with Michelle Jennings Weibe, Jonathan Legate, Deb Corning and Meredith Heron.

The mystery food was unveiled – LEMONS! And the competition began.  So off we were to gather our provisions and cook up a meal - Our meal was Croque Madame (“Southern Style” as Jonathan would say), micro greens with a lemon oil, Dijon, and apple cider vinaigrette and a warm Lemon curd on a cashew graham crust.

At the end of 45 minutes each of the five teams presented their meal, and wow I have to say it was truly amazing what everyone had prepared in such a short time.  It was sure to be a close call and it was up to the chef’s to determine who the winner would be.  

We all sat down to enjoy our meals as the chef’s stayed in the kitchen to sample the meals and determine who the winning team would be.

And the Winning Team Was!!!!! 

TEAM #1  WOO HOO!!!!

Thank you GE Monogram for a wonderful experience!