Forked with Maria Rivera and Matt McCutchin
Teachers beget learning. I hooked up with two more University at Texas Professors my second night in Austin and was schooled. Maria Rivera and Matt McCutchin both teach portfolio classes at the University. Earlier in the day, Matt invited to talk to one of his first year portfolio classes. Teaching is something I have long resisted but truly love to do. Thanks Mom. After the talk Brad, my host and previous meal partner, suggested we grab a bite to eat later and of course I was up for that. The first bit of learning came when we arrived at the Eastside Cafe, our dinner spot. The huge garden out back and chicken coop made my eyes grow and mouth water immediately as I realized that our dinner would be extremely fresh. More on what I learned at this meal in a post coming soon.
As dinner got going I started to learn more about my dinner partners. Matt has worked all over the country in a ton of agencies and has crazy agency chops. He even knew Chinnici Direct. He is a native Texan and has that hip Austin Texan look to him Complete with the Thick framed specs. Talking with Matt brought me back to my agency days. We playing the “do you know” game while jumping from agency to agency in our minds. Thanks Matt for inviting me into your class and calling up all the memories.
Maria is originally from Alabama and has been to my favorite of favorites in the BBQ world, Dreamland. She also did some time in NYC and eventually settled in Texas as a teach and a copywriter. As we progressed into entrees I learned of a project Maria created for her 35th Birthday. She created a video that asked a simply question, “What do you know for sure?”. Then she sent it to everyone she new from family to random happy hour acquaintances. The response was bountiful and educational. I love projects like this. Maria is planning on making a little book of all the responses. Hopefully she will share it with us when its done.
Special thanks to Brad Love for hooking it up in Austin.
What we ate
Fresh raw garden greens from out back
Super fresh Salmon, Trout and Chicken
