Gastropost Celebrates 100 Missions

GASTROPOST Celebrate's 100 Food Missions with it's Gastroposters

Last night I was invited to go to a new Italian Restaurant on Jarvis Street in Toronto called Osteri dei Ganzi - @GanziToronto to celebrate Post Media's Gastropost Section in the National Post and online who were celebration the 100th Mission.  Since the beginning of the creation of the Gastropost online community and weekly column in the National Post, I have been taking photos of everything I cook eat or drool over.  Then I upload pics that correspond to the Gastropost weekly Mission.  Last week it was Melt. Then I wait and see if it is selected to appear in the Saturday's Gatropost section of the National Post.  Apparently I have been published over 40 something times.  So I have sent them my fair share of food photos.  Last night's party was to celebrate the 100th mission.  In attendance were the Gastropost Team who have to sift through hundreds of photos every week to select their fav's for the paper and the rest are posted online.  There was a room full of Food obsessed people like me.  Some of us who have been there from the beginning have received a Gastrosketch of themselves and some were printed on cards with our choice of a mission and they were spread all over the restaurant.  I never found mine but maybe they didn't print one.  But it was fun to meet fellow Gastroposters who you have admired their photos over the past couple of years.  There are Gastroposters who I tweet and Instagram but haven't even met yet and even missed meeting them last night, but there were a few that knew exactly who each other were so that was fun.  I was even told on instagram that someone had a coworker that loved my food and wanted her to meet me.  It's very odd.  I mostly take photos while I am at home alone and then post them so I never get that much feedback but apparently a lot of people love all the photos and then there are a lot of people that just don't get it.  Oh well...there was a restaurant full of people that get it.  

You can see in one of these shots the waiter was bombarded not by hands grabbing the food right away but cameras jamming as close to it as they could to get the perfect shot.  The food was very good.  I filled up on mostly desserts because I missed the Arancini balls at the beginning...too bad..   

The Restaurant's staff ver very friendly and patient with all the crazy foodies in the room.

Also in attendance was Chef Corbin Tomacezski who was there to get people interested in the Culinary Challenge for Cook for the Cure for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.   I signed up last year and the woman who organizes the Challenge remembered me.   I need to make lot's of new friends with money before I can sign up again this year.

Everyone had a great time and there were even raffle prizes.  No I didn't win one, but there were only a few.  Thanks to our hosts Duncan, Rebecca, Chris and Adam for the great party.   

I even got a ride home from fellow Gastroposter Jenny Roger.  (pictured below light hair with Maria (dark hair) another Gastroposter)

Let's hope I will still be posting at the 200 mission mark and we celebrate at another great party.

Keep following www.gastropost.com to see everyone's photos.

Top Chefs stretch their noodles for a good cause

Rockstar Vancouver Chef Vikram Vij and me

http://www.culinaryshowdown.ca/

I had the pleasure of being invited to an Invite Only event at Cirillo's Culinary Academy because of my Gastropost involvement.  It was a last minute invite and I didn't get confirmation until this morning but I jumped at a chance to go to this event because I knew it would be full of Chef Rockstars who are great chefs and really fun people.  I think there were only a few of the many Gastroposters in the room and it was mostly filled with people that are involved in some way with Breast Cancer Foundation fundraising.  The small but mighty group of Gastroposters were armed with camera and ready for some fun.

As we arrived we were presented with some beverages and beautifully presented and very tasty food.  You can see by the photos here that I probably spent more time photographing the food than I did eating it.  I did try the shrimp which was delicious and planned to go back for more but that never happened because I was busy taking photos and "mixing and mingling: as they called it.  After a bit of the mix and mingle there was a presentation about the Chef's Challenge happening in December and how the funds raised go toward Cancer research.  There were personal stories from a Cancer survivor and from the Chef's as well.

They encouraged everyone to sign up to raise money to join the Chef's Challenge.   I decided to sign up because I would love to go and watch,  less pressure than actually doing the cooking.  These chef's are mighty competitive.  Will see how much money I can raise.  I will post the links to the donation page in a future post.   I kind of felt like it was my way of contributing to a disease that touches everyone.  In my life it took my Dad away at 65 and most of my aunts and uncles,  and has touched a few of my friends as well.

After the speeches it was time for a little Chef Challenge.  Chef Lynn Crawford took on the reigns as Host/commentator and it was East coast vs West Coast in a Longest Noodle Challenge.   Which team could crank out the longest pasta noodle on a kitchen aid mixer machine.   It was Mark McEwen and Chef Corbin on one team and the West coast represented by Dean McDermott and Vikram Vij,  and a few recruits to help them stretch out those long noodles.  There were a lot of noodle jokes in the explanation of the rules of this challenge.  You had to be there....  Anyway at a certain point I lent a hand or 2 to the West Coast team.... they were the fun team, although Dean was taking it very seriously and trying to kick the East Coasts chef's butts.   Well the East coast won the challenge but I don't know about that since their noodle split in half and Chef Corbin was holding it together in the middle.   Oh well... no prizes but just a whole lot of fun with pasta noodles.

Dean photo bombs Vikram

Seriously

                                             Chef Lynn wrangles the "Ding Dongs"

                                                                      Noodle Challenge

                                        Me and Dean McDermott with the Noodle aftermath.

                 What do you do with leftover noodles.... put them on your head of course.