cookin the pot

  El Chalten found my hat this morning , on the floor, walking down the stairs, still like a kid, head hurting but not wanting to miss anything so up what I think is early......after last night...so much wine...cooked for 9( pasta with puttanesca sauce--yes on the anchovies, grilled chicken, bruschetta, and flambe apples as the hostel looked on)... demoed a proper steak deal for a dutch guy, .gave some of the apples to the lady working the desk ...butter her up as the wine flowed and knowing she will tell us to keep it down--which she did do, politely before she left...... did a 5 hour hike yesterday,,cannot remember the name.....anyhow up we go to lunch in the snow on top of the mountain....nimble fingers enabled me to eat my sandwich.........mark `skied` down as I fumbled with my phone trying to take a picture......missed mo course...I ran down to try and warm the body......as we entered the forest I slowly moved ahead as the combo or German and Swiss German gets a bit much ...

random thought on BBQ Barbeque is fire and food. A simple fact that often gets missed when so many are more concerned with the gadgets, complex recipes and a multitude of side dishes. I converted back from propane to lump charcoal a few years back. Of course I am asked why—it is so much slower, inconvenient when you want to `grill` something fast, or an ad hoc party after a few too many. Essentially though it is that process that brings one back to cooking. I cook for a living and while that job entails many methods, recipes, a hectic pace, and long hours, BBQ brings me back to something primal. This slowing down helps me think back to what cooking is suppose to be about. We live in an age that has seen food porn, the eat local movement(elitist and/or down to earth), the rise of the celebrity chefs(worldly and local), the multitude of food channels and internet blogs, develop a culture of food never before seen. Constantly bombarded with food from all angles. At the same time, in this ...

  --We could web auction local wine again, or maybe crowd source for a new stove and use the cash to pay off what we owe FOODSPOTTING? Usual monday morning as we try to get organized for another week. The restaurant had been down spinning for a short time and a strategizing session was well under way. Our algorithm was working overtime in the lean winter months trying to get reservations.   --Okay, Dave, I need you to get on to OPEN TABLE and keep at it every day this week, something you guys in front of house should be on top of. Also, FOODSPOT a few plates  `NOM IT` a few on the sly and then track it okay?. Maybe we can rework the price point to move a few different plates this week. --Our tweets on the salmon terrine have been down this week. Mel, I want you to beetweet that it is on special, drop it by 3%, tie it to a salad of some such, we need to use up some produce this week. Hashtag it with `local` and something, you figure it out. Try not to bulltwit it though, m...

ready to burn.......

By the time Claire had made it to sous chef she was still fighting an up hill battle in a Melbourne culinary scene dominated by men. After years toiling behind the likes of Mcmanus, Smith – Thomas and the impish and trying hellion, Atwater, Claire found herself thrust into a pressure cooker at Bistro Covenant in suburban St Kilda's. Here under the tutelage of George Herbor she excelled at her position in garde manger focusing on regional interpretations for pates and terrines. She became well known for her country pate sourcing out Hellman's pork from down in Warragul and eventually would see her efforts hijacked by Herbor as he stole the ingredient list and had a factory kitchen in Geelong mass produce her product for the home meal replacement market. Not to be denied Claire would leave Covenant and open up her gourmet chiko roll shop in Geelong with great success eventually landing a contract to supply Qantas on it's over nighters to Christchurch.     This one will b...