My heart raced, hand on the oven door. The servers figgited in my periphery, but I was eyeballing the clock. One more minute, I thought. One more minute and these doughnuts would be hot. Five minutes more, and they’d be plated, whisked away, and devoured by contented upstairs diners. The seconds stretched slowly outward, my eyes pounded the clock. Click. Click. The sound was in my head; the digital number on the microwave finally changed, from nineteen to twenty; and I was overtaken by a rhythmic calm. The plates were already sauced and waiting so Molten Biegnets were soon ferried quickly out and up the stairs. The days events swirled around me in my new found serenity, my mind finally catching up with my body after a long days work. After a long day prepping, then doing a cooking demo in the dining room, events were starting to come into focus. We cooked and plated our five course chocolate themed tasting menu. I had watched Chef do his demo; cooking scallops and cocoa-coffee foam while wearing an attention-getting hat. Then me, shouting out instructions across the mezzanine, over the clamor of a busy downstairs dinner service. Kelley, our bartender; and Matt from House Spirits poured cocktails, and Jason from Chehalem poured the wines to pare with our chocolate themed menu. Gourmands gathered to eat and drink, and benefit kids. The Cooking for Kids event is one of great import for Portland and it’s denizens. In a city packed full of foodies, Morrison has found a great way to raise money for its many important programs. It was fun for me to cook the food, and do the demo, of course. Collaborating with local wine and spirit makers to create an amazing, chocolate themed dinner: Exceptional! But in the happy, up-turned faces thanking me for a great dessert, I saw the benefactors of a truly helpful program. I was proud to be a part of it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Kelley Swenson, by Jeff McCarthy, event, spirits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.