While it is quite common to go out for project team dinners, how often do we go for a dinner where we proudly eat what we have cooked? The Washington Dental Services team had an opportunity to do exactly this at the Blue Ribbon Cooking & Culinary Center on Lake Union. It was fun team building event that was held on a Friday evening in the first week of March. Participants included past and current WDS team members and they were joined by their spouses and family members. I must admit that when I saw the menu that we had pre-selected for the evening earlier on during the week, I wondered whether we would be able to finish cooking in time to eat before the evening drew to a close. There were two chefs from the school to guide us to ensure that we did just that. Under their tutelage, we prepared some exotic Italian dishes like Maple-glazed duck and chicken with toasted pecans and wine poached cranberries, hand-rolled Gnocchi with brown butter sage sauce, volcano green beans, grilled vegetables with homemade basil pesto and liquid chocolate cake with creamy caramel sauce. It was phenomenal considering that all the dishes were prepared from scratch. Appetizers were on hand just in case anyone got hungry before the dinner was ready. Time flew by as some of the team members rolled out Gnocchi while others braved the grill. Chocolate was being melted while someone else helped with the egg beaters. The youngest members of the team helped with the salad dressing and even helped pour the chocolate batter into the baking trays. One thing was certain though - Too many cooks.....prepare a lot of delicacies in a span of less than 3 hours. Much deserved thanks to Rich Rorem, Ajit Kumar and the entire team for the wonderful and memorable evening.While it is quite common to go out for project team dinners, how often do we go for a dinner where we proudly eat what we have cooked? The Washington Dental Services team had an opportunity to do exactly this at the Blue Ribbon Cooking & Culinary Center on Lake Union. It was fun team building event that was held on a Friday evening in the first week of March. Participants included past and current WDS team members and they were joined by their spouses and family members. I must admit that when I saw the menu that we had pre-selected for the evening earlier on during the week, I wondered whether we would be able to finish cooking in time to eat before the evening drew to a close. There were two chefs from the school to guide us to ensure that we did just that. Under their tutelage, we prepared some exotic Italian dishes like Maple-glazed duck and chicken with toasted pecans and wine poached cranberries, hand-rolled Gnocchi with brown butter sage sauce, volcano green beans, grilled vegetables with homemade basil pesto and liquid chocolate cake with creamy caramel sauce. It was phenomenal considering that all the dishes were prepared from scratch. Appetizers were on hand just in case anyone got hungry before the dinner was ready. Time flew by as some of the team members rolled out Gnocchi while others braved the grill. Chocolate was being melted while someone else helped with the egg beaters. The youngest members of the team helped with the salad dressing and even helped pour the chocolate batter into the baking trays. One thing was certain though - Too many cooks.....prepare a lot of delicacies in a span of less than 3 hours. Much deserved thanks to Rich Rorem, Ajit Kumar and the entire team for the wonderful and memorable evening.