Do you ever eat frozen meals? Personally, I rarely do. It’s not that I especially have a problem with them, it’s just easier for me to cook. On nights when cooking doesn’t fit in my schedule and Reggie doesn’t want to cook, we either order in food or go out to eat. Since we live in NYC, there’s always a restaurant open (with the exception of the last couple of days….with “Irene” and everything). On the occasions when I do eat a frozen meal, I can usually always tell the difference between whatever it is versus the homemade version. That is why I was totally shocked when I discovered that the lasagna that I was served at a special dinner actually turned out to be Marie Callender’s new three meat and four cheese lasagna!
It all started with this Sotto Terra invitation: 
I went last Tuesday with a girlfriend. Unfortunately, the Foodie City Mom winner of two seats to the dinner was stuck in “earthquake traffic” from NJ to NYC, so they had to cancel at the last minute. A girlfriend and her husband didn’t have any plans for the evening so they met up with us there later. The evening was going along wonderfully. The townhouse that the meal was held in was gorgeous.
George Duran was warm and engaging. His strawberry-apple sangria was refreshing and the meal that he prepared was delicious. (George sent me his sangria recipe. I will post it tomorrow.)
I learned so much from Phil Lempert during the evening. He knows so much about food and shared his knowledge in such a helpful manner that I was scribbling down notes about organics, CSAs, food deserts and more. By the end of the night, I was considering joining a CSA. I’m still considering it, but I think that I might end up wasting food which defeats the purpose.
Equally important, the event managed to do something that is rare – it had complete strangers bonding over food memories. We were all at a large family-style table and were sharing about our food concerns, favorite foods and favorite childhood food memories.
Everyone was happy and the plates were being taken away clean because everyone ate up everything. Then, there was the ending. There were a couple of giveaways. One was George’s book which contained several of the recipes from the Sotto Terra menu. The last giveaway winner won …the box for Marie Callender’s new lasagna. It turned out that in the midst of the things (sangria, stuffed endives, gazpacho, strawberry arugula salad, herbed cheesy garlic bread and a mojito granita shot) that were actually prepared by George Duran, the main course (lasagna) and dessert (razzleberry pie) were Marie Callender’s frozen goods! You should have seen the reaction (that was privately being taped). We were all shocked. You could have knocked us over with a feather, because we never saw that coming. Personally, I found it hilarious. I turned to my friend who came with me and said, “Oh my gosh…I feel like Justin Timberlake on Punk’d!” (I didn’t almost cry/totally lose my street cred for a minute though…but that’s another commentary.)
It was all about the balance and presentation. George had stacked two pieces of the lasagna on top of each other. The only thing that he had added was a parsley garnish. For the dessert, George had simply slipped some of the Marie Callender’s razzleberry pie into ramekins, warmed it up in the oven and added a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of sauce to make them look like a chef’s creation.
In any event, from what I observed the group on my night thought that it was a fun way for Marie Callender’s to prove their point that their new lasagna was as good as a homemade lasagna. (Of course the “foodie” part of me is now anticipating adding pepperoni and Italian sausage to my next homemade beef lasagna. I already use ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan, so I’ll just need to add the Romano cheese.)
I must admit that I couldn’t stop teasing my Italian friend for not knowing the difference between frozen and homemade lasagna though…he grew up on his mother and grandmother’s authentic Italian food! I spoke with him yesterday. He had called his mother to tell her about the dinner…and she found the idea of all of us being tricked (including her son!) to be the funniest thing.
In any event…My name is Kimberly and I was punk’d by Marie Callender’s. 🙂