La Chiesa II

Tonight, I went on the second of three culinary adventures put on by Arts on Grand and La Chiesa restaurant, both of Spencer.

It was,again, MARVELOUS. Not only is it good food, but I feel as though I'm learning so much. Tonight Chef Jeremy Neppl made a pork loin with an Italian bacon, but the name escapes me. It wasn't prosciutto, but something similar to that. He also made potato gnocchi (a pasta-like dumpling) and Bolognese sauce, a layered potato dish, green beans, and Brussels sprouts. They were all so good, and it was a lot of fun watching him cook. By the way, I know that at some point, I am going to make the gnocchi.

I should have been writing over the last few weeks all that I learned last time. But it's not very interesting reading about how to bread something without breading your fingers in the process. I learned a lot of neat tricks like that. I've also made chicken stock from scratch, blended olive oil and canola oil for some things in the kitchen, etc. They're small things, but significant if you spend any time in the kitchen.

Tonight Jeremy really surprised me. He told me that he read my blog... to be honest I was a bit embarrassed. I felt sort of like a food critic wannabe. I don't feel I know nearly enough about food for that role, but then I got thinking. I'm entirely comfortable with the role as literary critic. Actually, I thrive in that role. And like I tell my students, "critic" does not mean negative. It means to be analytical, interpretive. But then, even with that definition, I don't feel as though I know enough about food to really analyze it or interpret it, but I do feel as though I'm getting there. My palate is strengthening. Now, when I eat something I would have found acceptable in the past, I realize how bad it really is. Hell, take out pizza no longer cuts it for me. So now I find myself in a quandary. I have to cook more even if I'm tired or I don't want to cook in order to be satisfied.

I don't want to be a chef like Jeremy (the hours would kill me). I want to be a good cook and I want to know about all the different foods out there. Here in Northwest Iowa, we have so few opportunities to experience foods from different cultures. Sometimes our only option is to make them ourselves. So Jeremy, if you're reading this. I need to learn more about cooking. Can you point me in the right direction? By the way, the pictures I took of you with my cell phone tonight didn't turn out well, so I borrowed one from your website. And I told my boyfriend that we have to eat at your restaurant SOON. Thank you for everything, and I can't wait until next month.