How lucky am I that this past weekend I got to work with two of the greatest chefs on PEI?

On Friday night, chef, friend, client, entrepreneur and fish seller, Greg Aitken and I went to Tonya Gray’s

house in Stratford for a cooking demo and Thai dinner for 12 ladies.

It was a whole lot of fun.

I got to catch up with gals I haven’t seen in a long time, there was a lot of wine and “crantinies” (sp?), laughter and decorating delights from Tonya’s gorgeous home.

On Sunday night at the Victoria Village Inn, Chef Stephen Hunter put together an outstanding meal for a private dinner party. He was in full chef mode, with the intention of impressing the lady who booked the function, Chef Emily from the Dunes.

Everyone was fully impressed and I would explain in further detail what it was that was served however I run the risk of embarrassing myself with the wrong names and spelling.

I will share the story of how because Steve was sick on Thursday, we conscripted Greg to do the cooking demo and dinner on Friday. Greg was a superstar and did it on such short notice. It did entail me meeting Steve on Friday at the Superstore and taking all the groceries. Somehow, later on in the day when we were unloading the groceries at Tonya’s, a pork loin got appeared despite there being none called for in the Thai dinner.

By the end of the evening and after a few glasses of wine, I forgot the pork loin in Tonya’s fridge. I didn’t mention this to Steve, but did assure him that I would have the large piece of meat out to him for the dinner party on Sunday, by 5pm - long enough for it to marinate and roast.

Because of an email glitch - I was sending emails to Tonya’s old email addy - Tonya didn’t receive my messages that I would stop by on Sunday to pick up the pork loin.

Sunday morning I called and there was no answer at Tonya’s and I was going out to the country for the day.

By Sunday afternoon I was making contingency plans for the pork (in PEI grocery stores are not open on Sundays) and starting to panic.

Finally, I reached Tonya and was able to pick up the rogue, traveling pork by 4pm, get to Victoria by 5pm so that Steve could whip up a finely crushed almond and curry crust, roast it and top it off with a fun poached pear sauce.

I was relieved by the end of the night that everything went so well and along with Chef Wesley Gallant, formerly of Piece A Cake, we watched the Habs lose to Boston, the first hockey game I’ve watched in five years.