New A 349.8 mile day to Milwaukee to meet Michelle. But we had some time so stopped at the Chicago Botanical Garden on the north side of town even though we had been there before. It’s a Sunday and everyone was there, the melting pot of the town was evident, a mixture of languages and ages. We noticed today they had special presentations on Italian cookery sponsored by Barilla; a friend of mine is the QA manager at their Ames location. At that location they bring in durum wheat from Arizona and North Dakota, they mill their own flour for making the pasta at that location. So we decided to take the show in. As we were walking through the colorful gardens, one neat thing was floating planters in the ponds. They were anchored but slowly spun. They were filled with pink petunias.
The Barilla presentation was in a nicely sheltered area with a set of benches. They were all taken by the time we got there but, directly up the center was a walkway and at the top were two places to stand. Now for two people who have sat for the last 14 days this was our spot. At this time we have no idea of what to expect. A Barilla spokesperson gave a nice song and dance about the activities which were to happen along with the chef’s who were going to present different topics. After a scheduling problem the show came on about 30 minutes late, thank god we were late arrivals. The first chef was Art Smith; he has been the chef for Oprah’s birthday party. Apparently they fried chicken for it as he said he felt and smelled like chicken when the day was done. Art had just cooked for Barack Obama the day before. He cooks for many celebs and has a new restaurant in Chicago at 52 W. Elm, Table 52, and seats 30 people.
His preparation for today was Spaghetti with Olive-Pine Nut Tomato Sauce or in the language (Spaghetti con Olive, Pinoli e Pomodoro) for those whom may have an interest in this recipe just e-mail me. He went through the prep of this dish by adding a small quantity of olive oil to the hot pan and roasting the pine nuts. He then crushed the garlic and adding pepper flakes, slow cooked them. He added crushed tomatoes to the sauce mixture and added washed and diced black olives. He made the comment, always stir in the same direction; he had heard that from many chefs. We looked at each other and said I stir in both directions. The pasta was Barilla penne cooked for 10 minutes, check by taking out one and squeezing on the table, if it rebounds, it is cooked, if it is smashed go out and buy Barilla. He combines all and tops with freshly torn basil, as a knife blade can give a metallic taste to the herb and meal. That is why Shirleen tears her lettuce when she makes salad. What was amazing they served a small cupful of this entire to the entire group as he was taking questions? I asked that I noticed he had used partially cooked pasta for the crowd, how do you prepare it? He basically said he would advise not to do it. I then said how my wife and I had a tour of the Ames Barilla plant and had noticed the professionalism.
He had recently been to Africa to teach 100 girls on how to cook; this is at Oprah’s school. He talked about his mother, he would tell her that he had cooked for someone, and she would counter with, you’re looking pale or something totally different. His emphasis was love of family and people close to you. Share your experiences with others and preparing meals for them shows they mean much to you.
He has written a couple cookbooks and his philosophy is to get the families to eat together again. His first book Back to the Table, on the New York Times best sellers list, sounds interesting but not available there. His Back to the Family, subtitle “Food Tastes better Shared with the Ones You Love”, was available and of course we got an autographed edition. It was dedicated to Oprah. As we were standing in line a lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked ‘was it the Ames plant you went through?’ I said yes it was as we knew the QA Manager and I was selling laboratory services. She mentioned that she was the wife of the president of the company and knew Jerry P. she said she would say Hi the next time she saw him and I gave her our courtesy card. She was going to thank Art for his presentation but stood in the autograph line for her turn. When he signed ours I asked if he would like a copy of our German-Bohemian Heritage cookbook, he said he sure would as his mother was Bohemian. He then wrote his address on the bag we put the cookbook into.
To each person who filled out a questioner was given a big cloth shopping bag, much like the Europeans use daily. The bag has big pockets on the sides and of course the name Barilla on it. They had it stuffed with a box of farfalle pasta – the girl’s favorite, a box of Plus penne – multi grain pasta, a large bottle of tomato & basil with imported olive oil and a spaghetti stirring spoon.
At Michelle’s home I had their black cat, Basil, swirl around my legs. Michelle asked me to let it do that as the cat has not befriended anyone before. I stood there with my eyes closed saying, ‘I am doing this for my beloved daughter’ I must have said it 6 times or so. What an accomplishment for me. jerr
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