Amateur Cooks Rejoice!!

Last night we had the privilege of hosting an Indian dinner with two cooks from Kalamazoo, MI. Mukta Joshi and Himanshu Pant joined us and cooked 5 traditional Indian courses. What was amazing is the fact these two have not spent one day in a professional kitchen and are not professional chefs. We, that is, Jen, Carlos, and myself, acted purely as a support staff to help them organize, do some minor prep, and serve the food. They did everything else. It is no secrete that I am a champion for amateur cooks and that I believe whole heartily that the serious amateur cook can produce restaurant quality food if they put their minds to it. Last night was proof of my contention. We served a total of 36 people in two seating's. They started prepping for the dinner at 9:00am and we started the first service at 5:00pm. By the end of the evening they were a bit tired but elated. They felt what it is like to complete a successful dinner service and the pride that goes along with it. During service Jen and I came up with the idea of making this a regular feature at the restaurant. We want to do a series of 6 or so dinners over the few months that feature an amateur cook cooking their food and their menu. I think this will be a blast. I'll keep you posted as time goes on.