It’s All Maya!

This weekend Patrick came up with a great idea!  He told me he wanted to start trying out new recipes to get his creative juices flowing as a chef.

“What I want to do is try out some new things and see how well certains foods blend together and I want you to grade me on presentation, originality, and taste.” he said.

“You mean, I would be like the judges on Iron Chef?” I asked, loving the idea!

“Yeah, that’s more or less what I mean.” he replied, with a look on his face that said, What have I gotten myself into?

That afternoon Patrick went out shopping to several markets looking for all the ingredients he needed for his secret dinner.  I was at home reading a book that I couldn’t put down when the phone rang.

“Do we have black olives?” Patrick asked.

“Yeah, they’re in the fridge,” I answered.

“Are you sure?  I think we only have green ones.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I answered, seeing the olives in my mind’s eye.  “I can see them.”

“Okay, see you in a little bit.” Patrick said, before hanging up.

I was about to get up and double check, but I continued reading my book and forgot all about it.

Patrick came home and started prepping; cutting this and slicing and dicing that.  Pots and pans were banging around in the kitchen and when he’s in the kitchen - well, I usually stay out!  About 15 minutes later, Patrick came into the living room where I was still reading and asked, “Cherie, where’s the olives?”

“Probably in front of your nose.” I said, getting up to go into the kitchen.  Both Patrick and I suffer from the same malady where something is staring right at us and yet we’re completely blind from seeing it!

I opened the refrigerator and started looking around.  “Hmm, I know we have a mixture of dark Mediterranean olives in here somewhere.” I said, moving things around on the shelves while Patrick waited patiently for me to take them out!

“Here’s the green olives.” I said. 

“Yeah!  I know, I saw them as well, but I need the black olives.”

After a few more minutes of searching, I had to admit, “I think it was the green olives I was thinking of.”

“You mean you didn’t look?” he asked, incredulous.

“I’m sorry.  I was sure we had some.”

“Oh well, I’ll use the green olives.” Patrick sighed, giving me a peck on the cheek.  “Don’t worry about it.”

(That’s what I love about Patrick, he never lets the little things get to him.) 

A few hours later, I set the table for our cosy little dinner and put a pad and pencil by my side.  We decided on a rating from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest, 5 average, and 10 outstanding.  Patrick once again had the same look as he had earlier in the day wondering what he got himself into.

I sat down and he poured us a glass of wine.  He came back with a fresh baked baguette still warm from the oven.  Patrick then placed the first course, a salad made of tomatoes, olives, kiwi, and feta cheese with a semi-sweet light vinaigrette, down in front of me. 

I immediately took notice of the presentation, and thought that the kiwi added a touch of originality, but taste, of course, is the ultimate decision in what makes any dish good.

“So,….” Patrick said, after I had finished all of my salad.

“Well,” I began, looking at my notes; I was ready to hold up my score, but then thought better of it!  “For taste I give it a 6 and a half.”

“Why?” he wanted to know!

“I love the sweetness of the kiwi and the saltiness in the feta, and the tomatoes surprisingly blends well together,  but I think the green olives were a little over-powering.  The dish would have been a lot better if you had used black olives!”

Maya Muses:  Opps!  Needless to say, on Iron Chef all the ingredients that a chef could dream of is at their fingertips!  As for my Iron Chef, I’m not sure if next weekend he still plans on continuing with this experiment of his!

Photo Credits:  Flicker and Personal Photos