Cornucopia

Excess.

Straight out of Piedmont. Shavings of tuber magnatum resting on top of John’s little ricotta gnocchi pillows.

My first week at Araxi is over and I am resting in the Paradise Valley. It just so happened that my first weekend working there coincided with Cornucopia, Whistler’s food and wine festival, and one of the year’s busiest weekends. Last night the restaurant threw a huge party. We put out thousands of canapes and hundreds of people got wasted. The prior night was a winemakers dinner for 105 people, which was a lot of fun. The pace was furious, seeing us put out all five courses in just over two hours. There was virtually no breaks between courses – as soon as the last plate of a course went out, we were pulling plates for the next. One course involved six cuts of Pemberton Meadows beef: tongue, neck, heart, loin, shortrib and tail. A lot of labor and a lot of love went into that dish, and putting out a hundred of them was a feat on par with building a gazebo.  The rest of the menu was great, and I could go on for hours, but I can’t, as I am a slow writer and need to get to the city to see my lover. Just chew on these pictures and know that good things are happening in the mountains.

Every available surface was used for plating.

Do you feel the urge to smash all those glasses. If so, you are not alone.

Two hundred rolls, masterminded by Victor Benjamin.

Sitting hungover in my cabin, looking out the window at the goats tromping around, I feel good about the week. James and the crew are great to work with, the products are inspiring, and the setting is gorgeous. After getting a healthy champagne buzz, Victor and I walked across the golf course through a foot of fresh snow to his place on Blueberry hill. As we passed a bottle back and forth, while forging a path along the hidden fairways, I realized that I had made a good decision coming up the mountain.

The mountain is now open. This picture is pretty much Whistler in a nutshell.