Oh Hai, Food Blog!

Oh, I have sorely neglected you. Facebook, Twitter, and Livejournal are harsh and distracting mistresses.

Thankfully, though, I have not remotely been neglecting my cooking, which is what prodded me to pick this blog back up and give it another go.

So what have I been up to on this year-and-a-half hiatus? Well, recently, I met up with my friend Rachel and her friend Mike, who runs this company called "Emerging Chefs" and with Rachel's suggestion was interested in having me come on board for an "Iron Chef"-ish event in March. Of course, I'm honored and excited to have been selected to be one of four "contestants". This will be my largest "pro" cooking gig yet, and I'm very much looking forward to working with everyone.

Also, around this time last year I had my very first Dinner Party of DOOOM, which has since become a series of events - the sixth one TBA after the holidays. These have served me well to not only get my name out there as a chef, but also each party has cultivated new and amazing friendships.

As this is in fact a FOOD blog, I will spend the next few entries with the recaps of each Dinner Party of Doom (DoD). A lot of the content will be taken from my "notes" and LJ entries, just so I can get this blog caught up with me.

And just for your patience and time? My Garlic Asiago sauce recipe, which is an oldie-but-goodie plucked from my own "recipe box".

Garlic Asiago Sauce
1 1/2 cup of Asiago Cheese
1 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream
2 heads of garlic, peeled and minced
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Coat the bottom of a small saucepan with the olive oil and about 3 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour and evenly distribute, then whisk in the heavy cream. Let cook for about 5-7 minutes and then stir in the Asiago cheese until it's completely melted into the sauce. Season with salt and stir frequently until sauce is thick and creamy. Remove from heat. Don't worry about its thickness too much, it will thicken within about 10 minutes of cooling.