Well, not really, but a couple weekends ago I volunteered at the Crave 07 show with the folks at Kathy Casey Food Studios. Locals know Kathy as a spunky chef who appears on channel 9, writes for the paper, wrote a James Beard Nominated cookbook this year; Seattle’s own First Lady of Food. Her food studios in Ballard is a mecca for foodies, with private dining rooms, an elegant bar, and my favorite, a walk in closet library with shelves stretching 10 feet above my head. Your can get a taste of Kathy’s cooking at SEA-TAC’s Dish D’lish, or from the dozens of companies she consults for.

As she did at the Northwest Women’s Show earlier this year, Kathy hosted a stage with a rotating list of Seattle’s favorite chefs demoing some of their favorite dishes.

Here Kevin Davis of Steelhead diner prepares his famous Angry Crab, a spicy saute of King Crab Legs thick as my wrists.

Crave Show 2

Next, Chef in the Hat, Thierry Rautureau, put on the charm as he demonstrated Scrambled Eggs with Lime Creme Fraiche and White Sturgeon Caviar in Egg Shells. The combination of Rautureau’s charm and accent, he had all the ladies in the audience giggling like 4th graders.

Crave Show 1
Finally, I assisted Cathy and her sous Chef Matthew with an appetizer of corn cakes, and sesame roasted shrimp. After a few minutes of standing stage left, rushing off dirty dishes or retrieving dish towels, Cathy asked little ole me to come up on stage and skewer the shrimp. So exciting! Hello!

I also got to demonstrate a chef’s favorite technique. Sprinkling. Let’s be honest. When you watch the food network and you watch Giada reach into her pot of sea salt, grab a pinch, then position her hand about 18 inches above her dish and rub her fingers back and forth, the frame of salt falling down in an elegant whirl is soothing and a touch impressive. Done right is is breathtaking.

With a bowl of black and white sesame seeds set before me, I too, attempted to woo the audience with my sprinkling skills. “Don’t look at Kathy,” I said with my wave of seeds falling on the shrimp. “Look at me! Isn’t this beautiful, aren’t you so impressed? Don’t you want to hire me Kathy Casey, because I sprinkle sesame seeds like no other?”

You, might think I am joking. But no. It is the same possessed state that would overshadow my childhood dance recitals. Outfitted in black spandex shorts and tank, embellished with blue and pink sequins, I awaited my destiny. Though I lived in a suburb of Seattle, far from LA, I was sure that a casting agent from the TV show In Living Color was in the audience and was going to ask me to become a fly girl. Needless to say, it never happened, and I ended up abandoning my dance career for a life in the kitchen.
Crave 07, did I mention that Theo chocolates had a booth next to us with cascading mountains of chocolate samples? Looking forward to next year.

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