So, do I want to be a food critic?

The San Francisco Chronicle article asked if I wanted to be a food critic. Duh, doesn't everyone? I am surely not in the least bit shy about expressing my opinions, especially about food, so I figured "why not?" and threw my proverbial hat into the ring. The prize: to be chosen as one of the six judges for the paper's annual Turkey Training Camp. This year's event was planned as an Iron Chef style battle of the chefs, the chefs being Michael Mina and Douglas Keene of Cyrus. I had enjoyed Michael Mina's eponymous restaurant http://www.michaelmina.net/michaelmina_sanfrancisco/ but saying that I loved the food at Cyrus restaurant in Healdsburg http://www.cyrusrestaurant.com/would be an understatement!
So, when Stacy from the Chronicle called to congratulate me, I was elated (another understatement)! I was ready to be wooed by the Turkey and trimmings made by these two famous chefs - hoping they could change my mind about turkey: dry, tasteless, and infused with a strange unpleasant smell!

And finally November 3rd dawned, rainy and dreary. By some strange coincidence, it was the day that one of my foster dogs was getting picked up by her new family. Just as I had sent her off, and shed the requisite tears as I waved my goodbye, my other foster dog Clark mysteriously started spraying blood! Thankfully, my sweetie was willing to rush him to the vet so that I could make it to the Chronicle offices in San Francisco on time. And I was so eager to be there, that my normally tardy self actually made it to their table with 20 minutes to spare! Wow, I said to myself, "I sure hope this bodes well!".

I met my fellow judges, got a tour of the Food Department, and then we got to meet the chefs. Sadly, they had already finished cooking, so we didn't get to experience that part of the Iron Chef competition. But their food was ready for us to dig into, so my sadness was very shortlived as we were presented with first the menus, and then the food! There wasn't going to be any wine pairings and all we had was water to cleanse our palates, but that was just fine with me. I was ready to start my critiquing career!

It was a memorable meal, or rather 2 memorable meals! The Chronicle made us judges promise not to scoop them and steal their thunder, so I will update you all on the meals in the next installment right after the Chronicle article is published on November 19th.