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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit - Fried Chicken, Sabered Champagne and Jaques Pepin

From the "I wonder what the rich folks are eating?" dept.

Right off the plane from France and Italy I was whisked through a veritable Inferno on a scale only Dante could aptly describe. It seems there have been some hellacious wind and fire storms in West Texas and we drove through them to get to Abilene, where Tom and Lisa Perini host the Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit, now in their 7th year.


My colleague and partner in wine, Guy Stout, has been "edumacating" folks in West Texas in the proper way to taste Texas, California and "Franch" wines during the event. But earlier in the day, I was unable to make his seminar as I needed to go to another place.

Seems there is a little story, coming at another time. But suffice to say, and I am bragging (just a little bit) I found myself in a cottage having coffee with Jacques Pepin and his daughter Claudine and one of his dearest friends, Jean-Claude Szurdak. Good times.

Before they did their thing, an afternoon seminar on cooking, including a flawless sabering of the sponsored Champagne from Veuve Clicquot, we had a little alfresco lunch outside on a cool West Texas Spring day. Pictures to follow.

More to come...in the meantime, enjoy the pix! Wish all y'all were here!

Tom Perini's legendary fried chicken

Cuke 'n Onion salad
Potato salad to die for
The blue plate special with biscuit and a killer Margarita
Bread Pudding
Sabering the Champagne #1
Moving up
Voila!
Claudine with Jacques plating the Souffle
Austinite food writer Paula Disbrowe and culinary legend Jean-Claude Szurdak