If you've ever met my pops you know he is a bank of knowledge. The man knows people, places, facts, factoids, equations, food, trivia, maps - the whole nine. In fact the only thing I think he can't spit on at a moments notice is what's the happs in pop culture (but even then he may surprise you, like the time he bumped jayz the whole way home on an 8 hour road trip. So what if it was forever young).
He's generous with his knowledge, always willing to offer his 2 cents and then some. My email inbox stays flashing with notifications of emails from dad - some of which I do read, others of which I just glance over and a few, I must admit, that have yet to be opened. It can just be a bit overwhelming, okay?
Anyhow, every now and again he'll send over a particularly intruiging notification.
Fastforward two weeks later. Something Stuffed heads to NYC! Not the truck, people, the twos of us. For a delightful evening at the Yale Club of NY, given by the UVA (afore mentioned dad's alma mater) Alumni Association, for a dinner hosted by none other than Adrian Miller - former special assistant to president Billy C., soul food historian, BBQ judge extrordinare and nice guy. (Really he is, even his business card says so).
During his presentation, us and the other guests dined on a meal of tomato soup, chicken & waffles, mac 'n' cheese, green beans, cornbread and rice pudding. While the meal was fitting for the theme of the evening, I was slightly unimpressed by the execution of the plates. The highlight of the meal was the breadbasket, these tasty little cornbread muffins had great texture with nice heat from the jalas (our pet name for jalapenos, pronounced: hAla). Other than that, the meal was sub-par. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Anyhow, back to the main reason for the evening...
Mr. Miller spoke on the history of African Americans and how soul food and homecooking has had an impact on the country's most VIP of kitchens, The White House. His presentation covered the Chief Commanding Officers' meals and kitchen conduction spanning all the way back to when the oval kitchen was housed in Mount Vernon.
Being the official scholar of soul food, Miller spoke of homestyle favorites like chicken & waffles and mac 'n' cheese. Incidentally, this childhood favorite of many, started as a dish made only for the ruling court in Europe, where it is said Thomas Jefferson and his enlisted cook, African-American, James Hemings (name sound familiar?) found the dish and brought it back to the Americas. (Jefferson had sent Hemings to France to learn French cooking techniques - today, we can see French culinary influences in both soul food and home cooking.)
The writers at The Post must have heard a rumor about this presentation, for in this Wednesdays dining guide, this noodle and cheese dish gets a heavy feature, spanning both the front and back page. Check it out...
Mr. Miller also shared stories of the various staff members who were responsible for the meals served to our chief officer, including an interesting tid bit on the "first" woman executive chef to grace this said kitchen. While there have been several women to run the kitchen, like Dolly Johnson who cooked for President and Lady Harrison and Zephyr Wright who cooked for President and Lady Johnson, none of them ever held the title of executive chef until, Cristeta Comerford, who was given this coveted position in 2005 during the Bush Administration and remains head chef today. We were particularly excited to hear this story, not only on the girl-power front but the fact that Chef Cristeta is South East Asian, just like us! Holla, girl. Now if only she catches wind of this post and invites us into her kitchen... hey, a girl can dream.
All in all, the evening was a grand success! Not only were we able to engage in Mr. Miller's insightful presentation, but we had a chance to chat with my dad's good friend, who happens to be the dean of admissions at one of the country's finest culinary programs, Johnson and Wales. He gave us some wonderful insight on start-up food ventures, as well as providing lovely company for the evening. It was also a pleasure to speak with Mr. Miller after the dinner, he will certainly be an inspiration for a Something Stuffed, soul-food inspired, new menu item - keep your eyes out!
Special thanks to Courtney Schaefer of the UVA club, The Yale Club of NYC, Mr. Adrian Miller and, of course, my pops.
Stay tuned for part II of this blog, to see what the twos of us got into before and after the dinner.
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