Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend a food supplier trade show, compliments of my SS boss lady. It was way better than being at my actual real job, plus I got to taste all number of things that aren’t available to the Average Joe.The absolute best thing that I put in my mouth at the show was a lovely Scottish smoked salmon from St. James Smoke House offered to me by an equally lovely Scottish man. It was a toss up as to which one I was more enamored with—the man or the fish.
The salmon was so delicate and buttery that I wanted to never stop eating it. It had none of that overly fishy, salmony taste to it that a lot of grocery store smoked salmon products have. I’m usually done with any lox/smoked salmon thing after a couple of bites, because it always seems to turn fishy in my mouth. Not so this stuff! I waxed so poetic over his salmon that he gave me a t-shirt, which I may never wash (shades of Marcia Brady and Davy Jones), because he touched it!
(What can I say--a man with an accent! If he'd been wearing a kilt, it could have been a bad scene, because what's better than a man with an accent? A man in a plaid skirt with an accent!!)
(It's totally possible that he gave me the t-shirt to get rid of me, because I was having such conniptions over the salmon, and he was afraid I would drive off other customers…I am not ashamed!!!)
I also got to meet Herschel Walker, the famed All-American, Heisman Trophy winning Georgia running back from the 80s. Herschel took his mama’s recipe for fried chicken and makes a fine and wonderful breaded chicken tender. I had one hot from the fryer, and it was darn tasty. The breading was crunchy and not too much of it, and the chicken was moist and had a very good flavor. His company, Herschel’s Famous 34, does wings, chicken tenders, and ribs. He was just as nice as he could be, and personally handed me my chicken tender…which I promptly ate…none of that salmon swooning business.
(I was hoping to run into some of the crew from Fine Technical College, because working this show (i.e., slave labor) was a way to get volunteer points. The show is 2 days; maybe they were there on the second day. I did see some students from a Metro Area Technical College, and again, I was struck again by what a tight ship that Head Chef ran at FTC. There was one chickie who was wearing her chef jacket, those horrendous hounds tooth-checked pants, and spike-heeled boots…you’re having one of those “what the hell” moments, too, aren’t you? There was a gaggle of younger guys who had on their whites and were wearing knit stocking caps and Converse/Chuck Taylor-type shoes, and they all just looked…unclean is the most polite word I can think of at the moment. Seriously, would you hire one of these jokers? That was one of the things that Head Chef always said about these “volunteer” opportunities—that you could meet potential employers at them, so you need to always look and act professional.)
Anyway, it was a great day, and I was more than a little queasy by the end of our time there,
but I shouldered onward. The key to doing one of these shows, because there are 100s of booths, is to only take a small nibble and IMMEDIATELY toss the rest…unless it’s that smoked salmon!And now, I'm off to research flights to Scotland...I need more salmon, and I'm most willing to try the beef as well...isn't this a lovely package? This is "Glen", and he's the mascot of Scotch Beef...enough said, don't you think?
2 comments:
You let me know when that flight is booked! I'll take the train up to meet you. Funny, someone at work told me that a poll was taken and people in the UK think that the Edinburgh Scottish accent is the most "trustworthy" UK accent. Maybe you were overtaken by that as well. :)
Did you go to the St. James web site? Their slogan is that they are "Reassuringly Scottish." Ha! They also have a picture of a castle by a loch. Where they catch their salmon, no doubt. "Our fish were clever enough to evade Nessie, but we got 'em."
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