More recipe fun

Some women get to wear their husband's Carhart. I get to wear my husband's chef coat. I am in the kitchen with him after all. It's my first time in such garb, but not my first time working in the kitchen with Jay. I'm trying to be a good assistant. With this test we worked on a garlic chicken dish and patatas brava. I made the tomato sauce for the patatas bravas. That was my test. Jay had me dive right in and work on something on my own. We also tested a secret dish that we plan to unveil when we open. I can only give you a photo of something fried on a stick, but I won't say what it is. You can guess away at what it might be, but I will never tell. All I can say is that it tastes fantastic. I may be partial, but our son's friend Matt doesn't have to be. He downed every bit of what we gave him and said he definitely wants to hang out at Debajo del Sol. I told him he could be our guinea pig any time. The night of experimentation is helping us figure out what we will need for equipment and how we will need to prep. I still feel like we need to do a lot more practice, but we are confident in our menu items and always enjoy testing recipes and trying daring and fun flavors. Of course, it came at the end of a sort of big day. Our daughter, Kiki, participated in a pageant and did extremely well, bringing home prizes for the prettiest eyes and best personality. We worked up an appetite with all the excitement, so we were happy to come home and find Jay in the midst of prepping for an evening of great food. Now, we are sitting and resting, satisfied with the flavors we've had fun playing with and looking forward to much more testing.

PHOTOS BY CRISTINA TRAPANI-SCOTT