by Mike Souza

When President Philip Ozorio got word that we could use the Yan Can Cook Int'l Cooking School facility in Foster City, we had to go into action immediately if we were going to make it happen before a scheduled remodeling date. It would have been so convenient for Philip and I to postpone the launch of this much anticipated Macaense-Portugu�s Cooking Series, especially since our Chinese New Year Party was scheduled for the weekend prior, but we felt it was important to follow-through with our commitment to membership, no matter that it was literally a scramble to organize and coordinate this activity with so little time. To make this challenge even more interesting, we had never done anything like this before! It was a classic case of the blind leading the visually impaired. When about 40+ people responded to the flyer, I just about flipped. We ended up with 47 attendees.

While I would like to brag that our eternally optimistic nature and foolhardy determination carried us through to a successful conclusion, I must apportion credit where it is due, and on top of the list are our volunteers and supporters. There is always the logistical aspect to any Lusitano activity, and this one most definitely had its share. As the chairman for this activity, I reckoned that the "theme and menu" was a good place to start the planning process. There were a number of things to consider, especially given that this was the first attempt at what we hoped would become a regular activity and benefit for our members.

We decided that the recipes for this class should be as simple to follow as possible, the assumption being that this event would attract more novices than veterans. We were not totally correct in that assumption. Mafalda Matos(mom) was hired as a "technical consultant" (all-business transaction here; I had to rebuild her well-pump system in exchange for the recipes and advice). I told her I needed a veggy dish, and a dessert for my part in this event. She recommended R�bano com Porco Picado (saut�ed turnip and ground pork), and Sonho (deep fried puff pastry). Jerry McDougall provided a fabulous recipe for Vaca Estofada (I wonder what he had to do for his mom Betty Ozorio McDougall in exchange), which Philip and I tested the night before (actually, it sounded so good on paper we weren't about to wait-and-see-how-it-would-turn-out-the-next-day). Gisela Coddington put together a recipe for Pasteis de Bacalhau (Bolo de Bacalhau in Macaense, or Bolinhos de Bacalhau if you're a Carioca) with advice from my other sister Judy Espina.

So, there we were with an hors d'oeuvres, two entr�es, and a dessert on the menu. Maria Roliz was first to arrive at the facility with Scala Chinchilla, and they set up the chairs, refreshments, etc. Keep in mind that Maria was not on the "board" this term, but that did not stop or even slow her down with all the things she does for the club.

The entire event went very smoothly. I must agree with some of the compliments we received about us looking quite professional. The food was very good, but the company was excellent. Towards the latter part of the afternoon, just as we were about to get down to the business of serious sampling (pigging-out), Mr. Martin Yan made a surprise appearance. He had just arrived home from a business trip, hadn't slept in who knows how long, but found the energy to thrill us with an ooh-aah! demonstration on the proper techniques and use of his Chinese-style chef's knife, which he custom-designed. Master Chef Yan cut a slice off a bell pepper so thin that it changed the white lettering on a can to red. Then he cut a halved cucumber into about a hundred slices and used it for plate garnishment. Several of us are now proud owners of at least one of his knives.