Dinner with Sam The Cooking Guy

Yesterday my fiancée and I went to a cooking class that was put on by Sam The Cooking Guy. For those of you who don't know who he is, Sam has a cooking show that airs on CTN / SD 4 out here in San Diego along with Discovery Health. His show is really entertaining, and it's not like your average Food Network show. He calls his show a "Reality Cooking Show." The show is shot from his house, there are no scripts, and he does everything in one take (mistakes and all). The recipes are easy to make, and all the ingredients you can get from the local market. One of my newfound hobbies has been cooking, and I have to say a majority of the things that I have made have come from his show.

When I saw that he had a class on Mexican Food (One of my favorite cuisines!), I had to sign up. The class was held at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, and it was an intimate crowd of about 40. It was a really fun evening. Sam went over 6 dishes and 2 cocktails. My favorite was the Chicken Enchiladas. Throughout the evening he told funny anecdotes, and at the end of the night he stayed around to chat, take photos, and sign autographs.It was refreshing to see that he was same the happy go lucky guy that you see on TV.

I think one of the things that I really admire about him is his drive and determination. When he quit his job, and decided to start a cooking show there were tons of people that criticized the idea, and said that he would never make it but he didn't let the naysayers discourage him. He was very passionate about the project, and he kept working at it till he succeeded.