Thursday, March 6, 2008

Another Fun Trip To Manteo.

Remember how excited I was about the Outer Banks Taste of the Beach cooking classes I had signed up for? OK, I drove the twenty miles on Monday for "Learning the Secrets of Seafood," and as I'm pulling into the parking lot, my cell phone rings, and Priscilla tells me the web site had put the date wrong and she was calling me FIFTEEN MINUTES before the event to tell me it was a NON-event. Then yesterday I got to drive the TWENTY miles to Manteo for a drug bust. Today, I was so looking forward to my class from 10 to 12 on "Learning the Basics of Soups, Stocks, and Sauces." So, I drove the - Have I mentioned this? - TWENTY miles to Manteo for a third time this week. I get to the College of the Albemarle campus and talk to the gentleman there who informs me that since ONLY TWO people signed up, that the class had been CANCELLED. Did anyone inform me of this? I think NOT! WELL, THAT DID IT FOR ME! Sorry, didn't mean to yell. I went through my sad little story for him, complaining about having to drive FORTY MILES round trip with gas at $3.15 a gallon and I am VERY disappointed and EXTREMELY unhappy and how this had left an UNPLEASANT taste in my mouth and how I'd probably NEVER again participate in anything having to do with Taste of the Beach. The gentleman was getting ready to go to a meeting with the President of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association and said he would bring this up to him. I gave him my name, checking to be sure he spelled it correctly, and my telephone number. We'll see. Then he wanted me to talk to another lady who was somewhat in charge, but apparently didn't have a clue as to what the Taste of the Beach group was doing (and for that matter, neither does the Taste of the Beach group) . Amy was very nice and apologized profusely and offered me free tickets to "Bill The Sauce Boss Wharton and The Ingredients" for Saturday night at 7. Here's the description from the web site: The Inventor of Gastronomic Boogie Woogie... The Sauce Boss Outer Banks Epicurean & the Port O' Call Restaurant presents: The inventor of Gastronomic Boogie Woogie... The Sauce Boss Event Description: Legendary bluesman Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton will cook up a pot of Gumbo as he and his band of culinary music makers rock the house! Everyone will get to enjoy the Gumbo - which is made with local Outer Banks Seafood, of course! Event will be held at the First Flight High School Auditorium in Kill Devil Hills, Mile Post 8.5. I don't want to go (Shades of Emeril!), but I accepted the tickets (a $70 value) and will probably give them away. Here's her website . Then she offered me a complimentary Food and Wine Pairing class at the Flying Fish Cafe (value: $55). And she offered me a complimentary cooking class at the College. I'll probably take her up on those. She said she'd find out what's going on and call me back this afternoon. You know, the Taste of The Beach "organizers" should take a page out of the North Carolina Aquarium's book. They've had cooking classes and demonstrations almost every week since late January and they're filled each time. There's actually a waiting list. Apparently they know how to promote their events. So my experience so far with the Outer Banks Taste of the Beach -- Total suckage. ETA: I must say, after e-mailing the president of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association and talking to the lovely Amy Huggins at COA, my experience has been wonderful. Everything I addressed was taken care of, plus I got perks and comps.

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