‘macy’s culinary council’

“Fancy Foo Foo food is dead!”

Monday, July 19th, 2010

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I had the pleasure of catching up with Tyler Florence here in Atlanta over the weekend and he was fun as usual. He was in town to cook up some great recipes at Macy’s at Lenox Mall in Buckhead. Tyler told us bloggers and other media outlets that fancy foo foo food is dead! Thats right, you read it correctly lol.People want comfort food right now and all that other crap is not where its at. Tyler talked about how he grew up in Greenville,South Carolina and starting to cook in restaurants at 15.

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Pia and I

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Corinna Allen and I

He talked about writing his 6th cookbook (Family Meal) and how if recipes have more than 6 ingredients, it’s gets to be too difficult for the average person. That’s why he likes to keep everything simple and test recipes in his own kitchen. He also just opened a new restaurant in San Francisco called, Wayfare Tavern he said “it’s for the people”. Someone asked him what was some of his foody blog sites and he mentioned:

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  • Talking with Tami (giggles but he did)
  • Grub Street
  • Tablehoppers
  • Yelp
  • Urbandaddy
  • Thrillest

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He told us that he loves blogs and twitter and facebook and has people check them often to see what the people are saying. If he gets a complaint on yelp or any other sites he brings it to his kitchen attention immediately. He wants people to have a great experience when dining out. At Macy’s he cooked up Sole Almondine, Lemon Smashed Potatoes and Parmesan Roasted green beans. He said a great tip for cooking mashed potatoes is to leave the skin on when cooking them and add half cream and half milk to the pot. Wow never thought of that. Enjoy the pictures and shout out to Tyler Florence for the fun interview! Also thanks to Macy’s and Everywhere for the invite!

pics by Sal at www.paparazzipics.org

www.tylerflorence.com

Cooking it up with Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Friday, June 18th, 2010

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Yesterday evening we were off to see a cooking demo at Macy’s at North Point Mall. Chef Marcus Samuelsson was the cook who prepared some good cuisines. You may remember him from winning Top Chef on the reality show on Bravo.

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He told the audience that he was from Sweden/Ethiopia. He has traveled the world with his different recipes and combining all sorts of ethnic food together. Pia and I sat in the 2nd row back and we could smell all the different aromas.

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I took a lot of good notes on how to prepare fishes and seafoods. Marcus said in his country they ate a lot of fish. He began to cook salmon and asked who didn’t cook fish that much. I raised my hand and he invited me on stage!

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He also invited another lady up as well. He then prepared the fish but to me it didn’t look cooked enough and he assured me that it was done. I still wasn’t buying it and hate to eat raw foods or anything that looks weird lol.

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Salmon and Corn Pancakes

Marcus said, “Tami it’s seared”, I said, “I saw you do that but it still looks mooshy” lol. The crowd was laughing at me as I hopped up and down because I was so scared to try it lol.

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Crab Cakes with Corn

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Fried Chicken with Collard Greens

He put it back in the pan and then gave it to me to try. It was good but I was terrified. Then he wanted us to try fish skin. I just smiled but was thinking, what did I get myself into. Once it was ready to eat he put a lil sauce on it and it was bon appetite lol. It wasn’t too bad and reminded me of pork rinds lol.

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James Andrews and I

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Black Tie Barbecue owners, Spencer and Allison

He prepared several meals like Fried chicken and collard greens, Crab Cakes with Corn and Pistachio Aioli, and Corn Pancakes with Chili-Covered Gavlax. All his dishes were very tasty especially his version of fried chicken,sooo good!

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Our Macy’s goody bags items,cute

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Chef Marcus and I

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Chef Marcus converse kicks lol

Right now he is touring and has a restaurant in NYC where he also lives. He has a new book out too called, “New American Table“. He has such a great personality and I hope his career goes very well. Enjoy the pics and Happy Friday! Shout out to Macy’s for the invite!

www.marcussamuelsson.com