One of the fringe benefits of having friends who are "foodies" is you get to partake in many kinds of delectable delicacies as part of any regular association with said friends.

I have always been a rather picky eater; however, over the past few years, and thanks to my foodie friends, I have tried and come to like many different types of food that I otherwise would have wrinkled my nose at when something different was presented to me.I have one friend in particular who enjoys creating huge spreads, just as much as he does eating them.Whether he is baking, smoking or grilling, everything he makes is mouth-watering and taste bud tantalizing, and one never walks away hungry or dissatisfied.For roughly the past year, my friend, Jason, has been experimenting with a new way to prepare food that makes me feel as if I am at a gourmet restaurant every time we eat at his house. The process he uses to do it really is quite simple.My friend has become a sous vide guru, and we are all so glad he did.To put it simply, sous vide is the process of cooking food that is vacuum sealed in a plastic bag and then placed into a temperature-controlled hot water bath and cooked at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.Now, while the process may sound lackluster, the end result is divine.Last weekend Jason had a sous vide party at his home.Prior to the party he purchased several cuts of meat from his local butcher in Hometown and then went about the process of preparing them.There was boneless turkey, chicken, beef and pork that he seasoned well, marinated (in some cases), vacuum sealed and then cooked in the water bath a few days ahead of time.The great thing was, while the meat was at the perfect level of doneness after several hours, with a sous vide you can let it sit in the water bath for several days and have your hot meal ready to go whenever you want it.He explained that he could prepare everything on Sunday, throw it in the bath and just pull out the desired bag each night for dinner throughout the week.Talk about convenient!With my crazy and hectic schedule, any time something is convenient, it is a very good thing.If convenience wasn't enough to pull me over to the other side, let's talk about the taste.There wasn't a person in the room who wasn't relishing in the heavenly flavors we were experiencing. (Think mmmmm and ohhhhh!)Everything was so tender and moist.It was just absolutely delicious and I highly recommend giving it a try if you ever have the opportunity.The only downfall to all of this awesomeness is now I am totally spoiled and my present method of cooking somehow seems substandard.Thanks a lot Jason.Having friends is a blessing.Having friends who enjoy good food as much as you do is even better.Having friends who will cook it for you via sous vide; well, it just doesn't get any better than that.Editor's note: As with any type of food preparation, sous vide cooking requires safe food handling practices, which should be investigated before attempting this process.