(piano background music and restaurant ambiance throughout)
Welcome to Food Story everyone. Mind my reach, I’m just going to put down (glass noise) some dishes down for your first course (plates clink down)… there you go. If you don’t already know we have a set of five preselected courses coming out today from Chef Gabbi. Here’s a copy of the menu *menu flaps down* so you know what you’re expecting. Oh wow! There she is actually. Hi Chef, would you care to explain the menu?
Yeah, thanks I’d love to. So food is a HUGE part of my identity so today’s menu is actually a bit autobiographical… and by a bit I mean entirely so get ready.
The first course is going to be some classic potato pierogi fried with (sizzle noise) onion and butter. I don’t know if I have any other intensely Polish people here tonight?… No, just me? Okay, well a pierogi is like a… Polish dumpling it’s filled with a potatoey filling and it is SO delicious. It is my ultimate comfort food and as a person that has a little bit of anxiety from time to time it really comes in handy. I used to make them with my grandma as a kid and by make them I mean eat the batter while she would make them, but it’s just a great memory that I have as well.
The second course today will be penne with vodka sauce and for an extra charge we can actually make it a cocktail (water pouring) for you and not cook out the vodka. My aunt sherry did this once for us at a family gathering and needless to say none of us really remember that evening but it was a great time so we can do the same for you as well. I also wanted to have a nod to my supposedly Italian heritage, and I will use every excuse I can to talk about my time abroad in Rome, Italy. I was there in the spring of 2020 which yikes I know not the best time I could’ve chosen, but I did end up going home early in March and to be honest I had spent all my money on cannolis at that point anyways, so it was probably for the best.
The main dish tonight is actually being prepared by my boyfriend, Cory. We have been dating for over five years completely on accident and here we are today. He will be making steaks in an airfryer… I know bear with me it sounds kind of weird… but it’s the only thing he knows how to make and honestly it’s surprisingly delicious. I had to feature him in this menu because well… he is the Nick to my Jess for all the New Girl fans out there.
(sigh) Alright…so I’m gonna expose myself for this fourth course here, we’ll be having avocado toast with everything bagel seasoning because I’d like to personally come out as basic. I have a bit of a plight with the word basic, ya know sometimes it’s okay for things to be liked by many people. So let’s all, you know, watch our Tik Toks and grab a Starbucks and enjoy this course together. (applause)
Lastly, finally, ultimately, we’ll be having a traditional Greek baklava for dessert. Now, I’m not Greek, but if you’re not familiar baklava is made by stacking sheets (pages turning) of phyllo dough on top of one another and it is therefore the BOOK of pastries and my life menu wouldn’t be complete without a book. I have loved reading for as long as I can remember and someday, hopefully soon, I hope to use my degree in Editing & Publishing to publish the voices of others… maybe even helping culinary professionals share food stories of their own.
Now, I could ramble on all night, but I can see you’re getting hungry… or maybe apprehensive about what you just signed up for, so I should probably go make this food. Happy eating.