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Outspoken Podcasting Chef, Sustainability Advocate and Farmer.

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Saturday, November 29, 2003

    I am off to the mainland this morning to shop and cook.  It was an abrupt awakening at 5am though.  The house was shaking with gale-like winds and the rain was hitting the windows like automatic gun fire.  I live on the south side of the island and the winds tend to hit there more often.  On the North side where I had to catch the ferry, the wind was still howling, but not as fierce.  Now, in the channel the ferry is steady over the small white caps.  It could get worse before the voyage is over though.  It is still grey outside the windows; more wind and weather than predawn conditions.  It looks like we will be in the dock later than normal.  I will be alright for time though.  I do not have to be at my client's home for till afternoon.  Shopping is the order of the day until then. Still, I hope I can catch the 9:30pm ferry home.
    Perhaps the weather will keep the Black Friday crowds to a minimum.  I hope so.  I hate town on busy days--it is not laid out well enough for traffic to flow.  It will be a zoo.  A problem for those of us trying to take care of business.
    Trying to catch up on my mountains of reading this morning.  Lots of trade journals and some cooking magazines.  They are all a jumble in my head.  In reading my  IACP Food Forum I am both excited and befuddled.  All the ideas and dreams I have are jockeying for position inside my brain.  Once again I am Promethian bound from tackling the least of my ideas.  Ideas are all well and good; but it is opportunity that matters.  Cooking show, cook book, culinary school with hotel and gift store are all inside me--but where and how?  Contacts.  It turns out the business cards I handed out at the Food show a couple of weeks ago may have backfired.  Instead of getting calls for business and job opportunites I am being solicited by companies who got hold of my address.
    The swells are stronger now.  The ship shudders as we plow through trough and crest. The foaming caps writhe around us, visible as far as the murky weather allows us to see.  The shipping lanes we are crossing are devoid of traffic--is it the holiday, or the weather.  This is a big ship but like a cork down a rain swelled gutter tossed we are. 
    We will dock soon enough.  Starbucks and breakfast sound good right about now. Nothing too extravagant. Of CoUrSe I mAy NoT Be HuNgRy WhEn We ArRiVe WiTh ThE PiTcH aNd YaW oF tHe ShIp.  It is one thing to sit still, but the idiots who are trying to walk around are hte funny ones--tossed about.  I suppose the voyage will be like this for the next 3 months of the winter.  My wife, a life-long islander, hates this weather.  I find it bracing--after all something is bound to happen: good or bad, it is always different.  The wife wouldn't be caught out here now for anything--even a job like the one I'm going to.  It's not the danger, but her own fragile stomach.  Something about tossing around in the sea salt chuck screws up her gyro in ways I can't understand.  I have been air sick once--one hot day as a kid when my father was stall testing a small plane and I begged to go along.  I have been sea sick once.  On the Block Island ferry during a summer scouting excursion to the island, the ferry went out in weather it shouldn't have.  It was smaller then the craft I am presently on and the waves were very much larger.  I was, being a kid, stuffed to the gills with chips and burgers.  I am happy to say my constitution is much stouter these days.  Now I just, on occasion, drink myself sick.  Don't understand how it happens----we just rolled waaaaayy over, about a 35 degree angle and I'm left wondering if I set the brake on my car, and if the uhaul truck I parked next to has slid over into my taurus------I'm drinking and having a great time and on my way home I'm ill.  The last time it was definately due to bad Creme Brulee.  I knew I should have finished the meal out with cheese and fruit like my buddy.  The whiskeys, pints of stout and bottles of vin rouge were not enough to over power the festering bacteria growing on the luke warm dessert.  I was left outside my cottage in Ireland as wretched a figure as you could imagine.
    The journey is at an end.  More later.

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

The week has flown by.  The weekend was pretty much useless.  We watched way too much TV and got nothing done.  It didn't help/hurt that it was bitter cold outside and raining.  The yard is a sea of mud.  I was pleased, yesterday, though when I went out to feed and check on the chickens--remember those cute chicks from a few weeks ago? They're now feed guzzling teenagers--that there is still a ton of Chard, and some bok choy doing well in the garden.  I'll have to go out and harvest that.  I was also amazed to see, in the chicken yard/orchard, that there was some overgrown salad mix tangled in with the weeds.  I must have thrown some salad greens from the garden to the chickens as the greens were going to seed.  A bit of fertilizer and hey presto a bunch of salad I didn't know I had!  I think I will use it to decorate the turkey platter or some such.
We usually have friends over for Thanksgiving, or do something quiet--just the 7 of us.  My family lives too far away, and my wife's too close.  We have done the 4 families together thing, but as none of us has a large enough house it becomes absurd.  In day's past it has been a bit of a bother too.  Everyone cooks something and brings it.  With not enough space to keep food hot it ends up being a cold buffet, which is fine because most of the food is overcooked anyway.  Any more heat and it would be dust, or slime. 
One year we had Thanksgiving at our house.  I insisted on cooking everything.  So far so good.  The menu was expansive and the food was great.  Except that it was a total waste on the 10 kids, and half of the adults.  Most of them didn't want to try anything because it wasn't what they were used to.
This year, forget it: Stouffer's stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, canned pumpkin pie mix--rural America at its best.  Apperently in my attempt to come up with holiday traditions for my own family--like real food which tastes of something (and I'm not talking about Marth's vision of Betty Crocker World, either)  I strayed too far away from the tradition of the crappy holiday.
As a kid we had traditional stuff at Thanksgiving like everyone else, but the entree changed from time to time--and who wants to stick with the pureed Brussels sprouts and other horrors of the 70's?  I think the traditions come in what we do, not what's on the table--that should change with the times, the people and the mood. And least of all what is available and fresh.  I can do with out the tradition of taking a bean out of a hat and saying what I am most and least thankful for in front of people I hardly know, nor want to know better.  In that case, what I'm most thankful for is that the dinner will be over and I'll be headed home ASAP.
    So tomorrow I'll be getting up late (I hope--at least after 7am) and having a late breakfast, most of which I'll prepare tonight.  And then I'll light the outdoor wood-fired oven and roast two turkeys.  The wonder of my oven, which I am soooo happy I built, is that it not only turns out the best breads we can bake, but I can roast an entire dinner in one go in record time.  The two turkeys should take roughly 2 hours with maybe an extra half hour keeping them warm before serving.  600 degrees can work miracles.  And these aren't going to be singed, or dried out either.  Smokey, roasted, moist.  For get the deepfried thing--that's a bit too sunburnt for my tastes.  Gravy and stuffing is also on my plan for tomorrow--at least the protein for the meal will have flavor, etc.  I don't know who else is doing what.  The bread rolls were farmed out to my sister in law, even though we usually make hundreds of them to sell for Christmas, so who knows what they'll be like.  Good ammunition in a bun fight is my guess. 
I will splash out for these people I guess.  I've got a $5 bottle of Cote du Rhone I'll deglaze the pan with for the gravy, and I'll make the store bought, crouton-like stuffing with double strength chicken stock and fresh herbs from the garden.  Make the best of what we have.
I am kind of relieved we're not doing more for Thanksgiving.  I am off on Friday morning, to the mainland to cook for some people.  I'll be gone 20 hours to work 4.  Not to mention, having to fight the crowd of Black Friday. 
I should probably head off and do some mental prep work for Friday now, so I don't have to think about it too much tomorrow.  If Thurday is the low table, with elbows on and napkins tucked; then Friday is the high, with chargers, full service and warmed plates.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Friday, November 21, 2003

    The New Year's Eve saga continues.  I got the call the other day.  A tentative voice on the other end, obviously afraid of sparking off this tempermental chef, hedged a bit and danced around the fact that $21 was just too high a price for people to pay to go out for dinner, (the one night around here they do go out and spend money) when it is a fund-raiser situation.  ARRRGH! The people need a severe dose of reality.  I mean, we're not talking the projects here.  Property is easily $150, 000 an acre avg.  For 80% of the people who live here, it is a second home.  Retired professionals who made it big moved here, but still attend the theater, symphony, etc regularly in Seattle.  So all factors considered at the lowest, the per capita income is $75,000 avg.  This is not a place where $50 for a couple to go out and have an excellent dinner once a year should hurt.  But the over all impression of the island is that $15 for a 3 course dinner is more than enough. 
    Apparently that is what I have done it for the past 2 years--Fool that I am.  Now that I am totally legit and run a business with some clout and costs, I can't afford to give away food any more.  Still $25, or $21 per person should not be a hardship.  I usually charge around $36 per head for smaller dinners along the same lines.
So the voice at the other end of the line, the one I was dying to blast with a withering dose of reality, was utterly suprised by my calm, cool manner.  For, you see, I had a back up plan all along.  I knew, although I hoped otherwise, that the cost would seem too much to these penny pinching tightasses.  I bit my tongue and swallowed my pride and chose my battle.  My solution was $15 per head for a gourmet pizza party.  I am still waiting for the result of this decision.  Around here pizza is a big deal.  I am the only one who makes it, and when others do it doesn't compare.  So, people don't have pizza unless I make it or they make it themselves, which I am sure doesn't happen that often.  I will loose about $600 profit from the other menu, but the cost to profit ratio of the pizza is higher and it is tons less work--it will take me two instead of three days to prepare the food for 100.  There is still a twinge of concern about how I will cook and serve all of this pizza from little more than a shoebox sized apartment style kitchen, but hey! what is life without its challenges.
    Meanwhile I have picked up two other jobs which should make up the lost income so I can meet my cash needs before the end of the year.  Which means I better get my Christmas Eve menu done and sent to the client today so I can work on this new stuff.  More about the saga of a traditional Italian and Polish, vegetarian menu when I return.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

    So, I resubmitted the New Year's eve menu.  Took away the salad and simplified the dessert.  Lowered the price to $21 and now I wait to see if there is a problem with that.
    All this is a pain to return to.  My stay in the city was very nice.  Visited some friends from the island who work in Seattle.  Went on a tour of the city, shopping for dinner on Saturday.  Here's what we ate:

Monday, November 17, 2003

Just a quick post.  The wrath of the winds has finally settled down here on the island.  I think we are between storms.  I drove back from Seattle yesterday in a driving gale.  My brother-in-law's vessel assist boat broke free and crashed against our shore.  He has a heavy day of sorting out the damage before the next storm.
    I've come back from three days away to piles of mail, email and problems.  Just for once I would like to be away and have my homecoming more exciting than the leaving.  My plan for New Year's eve was squashed.  The people in charge of the event didn't like the $25 per person price, or the menu.  They want simpler, family fare.  The want a kick up the ass into reality. More venting about this later, I have to restructure my menu and cost to salvage something for the evening.  I have three more events two plan for pronto.  Two of these I got through my trip. 
    I was able to make several contacts through my Seattle trip which should be great once they pay off.  Networking. 
I've got to get my thoughts down to the New Year's Eve committee before all the vitriol goes--later.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

    Things are beginning to fall into place for my trip to the food show.  There is probably many things I should be doing instead.  I look out of my window on a pile of cedar decking which I placed haphazardly months ago.  The half-finished deck has a nice layer of frost on it--why didn't I finish it when I had the weather?  Oh, ran out of nails.  That's just the thing about living on the island.  No access to materials.  Not like I could stop and run down to the lumber yard for more fasteners.  No, a day long trip to the tune of $50 when all is said and done.
    There sits the deck, framing the mist covered waters of the bay.  And I need to find time to assemble the materials to expand the dog yard.  As the mink infiltrate the shore his barking all the time is becoming annoying.  A bigger area, paved will be great.  Less of a trial to bring him in the house, less mud.
    Got a hellofa shock when I looked at my credit card statements the other day.  I thought I had paid them all down, but no, back up to almost a grand.  Where does all the money go?  That is the price of business I guess.  It would be nice if the money were coming in to cover the outlay.  Still, not bankrupt yet.  Though, my impulsive trip to London is begining to take on ludicrous proportions.  I have only paid for the ticket and I am seeing that that money should have been spent elsewhere.  I can't buy all the seasalt I was going to because it just seems foolish to spend money on it.  Fancy, desirable, tastey and very high end gourmet, but not practical to buy in bulk at the moment--too bad.
    I wish I was in Dublin tonight.  Tomorrow is  the reunion of my cooking school class.  My mate is flying over from London to join in.  Has all the earmarkings of an mighty party.  I will have to live it from afar.  I'm hoping to get the full day-after report.

    I am sitting here thinking about all of the cooking I have done recently, and the jobs I have coming up and the rewards of it, and I must admit I am at a loss as to why I do it.  There is always the angle that the money, even if it isn't steady, is great.  I am, also, my own boss.  And then the huge ego boost when a meal goes well and you hear people talking about it days afterwards and a job comes down the line via word of mouth.  But the effort.  It's not the same as going to an office job, or showing up on a jobsite and barking commands at a mindless crew who've partied to much the night before.  Yet is has all the pressures of building million dollar houses, and deadlines.  And then there is the logistics of workin always in different, unfamiliar circumstances to pull off something from thin air.  Moving in my own equiptment, moving it out and storing it for the next time.  Oh, it would be great doing this if I had the jobs to support a team, but just me--broken back and all.  It must be fun, I must enjoy it.  Or so I tell myself.  I think it is the only option I have left these days.
    It would be different on the mainland.  Easier maybe, maybe harder--certainly more competition.  It is nice being the only game in town.  But also, I fear, easy to get tired of.  Although, I heard someone complaining last week that they had been sick and couldn't attend a party which I cooked for.  They heard what a great time everyone had and how great the meal was.  Too bad.  They missed a brief moment of relief from this vale of tears and I missed about $60.  No one wins.
    I feel like I could stay at this all day but you would get tired of reading my drivel--if anyone is reading, and I'm already getting tired of typing.

Monday, November 10, 2003

    Well, after a week of clear, beautiful crisp weather--the kind I used to love when I was building houses and it great to work outside in--the rains have returned.  It is a flood outside right now.
A fine punctuation to a weekend of disasters.  Our Asko washing machine blew it's fuses and then when I replaced them, blew a capacitor.  Now I have to wade among piles of laundry all week until the replacement parts can be shipped to me.
    Also, the wife decided my trip to London was ill planned and ill advised. It caused a small amount of friction over the weekend to which there was no relief.  Fortunately I will be staying with some friends so it won't be outrageously expensive.  And meanwhile, at our friend's going away party I was asked to make a speech about how much she would be missed, etc.  It was a spur of the moment thing for which I was not prepared.  As I got into my stride and was actually heading somewhere with my commnets, and had the attention of the whole audience, our friend's odious landlord heckled me by making some rude comments about something I was saying.  I couldn't believe it.  It left me speechless that someone could be so rude in front of a group and expect to get away with it.  I was bowled over and forgot everything I was saying and had to wrap up my speech and leave to control my rage.  I was so gobsmacked that I didn't even give out to him with any of my usual terse wit.  I half expected him to come up to me later on and say something where I could have fileted him in private, but I decided not to wait around and cause a scene, no sense stealing our friend's moment like he had.
On a better note I finalized the two menus I was working on.


Not exactly what I want to do, but given the budget and the kitchen space I have to work with, very doable.


Now I just have to work on my early Dec. Christmas party and a cooking class, and a Xmas Eve party. On top of finding a way to attend a food conference and drum up new business.  Not a hectic schedule, but as much as I can handle from the island.

On with today's activities.

Thursday, November 06, 2003

    Here I am again.  Just stalling before I begin to make dinner.  Not the dinner I want to make, and probably not the dinner my family wants to eat, but the fridge is busting with leftovers.  The night before last we had Braised Lamb Shanks with Winter Beans on a bed of Yukon Gold Mashed Potato.  It was not a hit, mostly with the kids but also with a wife who hates test kitchen mode food and lamb.  Last night was a neutral dinner--Pasta with Ragu. 
    Tonight, however, is the most likely unpopular dish of Shephards Pie--leftover lamb and mash with a few things added to try to disguise the fact that everyone ate this meal a few days ago.
I'm still trying to find a meal for New Year's.  I did a bit of work on it today, but didn't get far.  I think I'll cook game hens tomorrow with barley in cider with glazed winter vegetables and see if that will pass the taste test.
    Meanwhile, I almost had a menu for my next upcomming dinner, but the host wasn't keen on Rabbit so it is back to the table with that plan.
Next Friday is  a Gourmet Food show in Seattle, so I'm hoping to head to that for 3 days.  Not too sure what the wife will say.  Initially it was okay.  But I just bought that ticket for London--she hates flying and was disinclined to go--for a week by myself.  Hopefully the trip will be business related--I plan on dropping in on collegues and checking out some food related venues on the South Bank.  However, the Mrs is not keen on taking the time off work to be with the kids, nor the expense of the trip and her loss of wages.  It is a dear place.  When we were there last spring I was amazed at how expensive things were.  Of course that was because we didn't have plans and had been robbed of everything in Ireland.  We salvaged our holiday, but it cost us more than we should have because our itinerary was blown.
    No word on work in San Fran, or another job agency I've applied to in Calif.  Roving Chef--should be a Food Network show or something.  I know I'd be good in it (modest aren't I?)  What will I find to cook in your fridge tonight if I turn up with my kit of spices and herbs? Not to mention my team of food stylists, cameramen, technicians, and producer who all want a fork full of that plate of food I just made for you and your family who have been squeezed to the recesses of the house by our equiptment--sounds brilliant, doesn't it?
    Oh the stove calls, and there is a party on the island tonight.  Our best friend is leaving the island to find work and get married--the man she has, the job not.  I made Tea Bread and Ale Cheese muffins for the fete, not knowing what else to make on short notice, or having anything to use en masse.
Tickity boo.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

    Here I am, almost one week on, with out many posts.  I have been busy in the "Test kitchen" trying recipes for my up coming events.  Chantarelles were back in the market on Saturday last when I went to the mainland.  Lamb Shank was also on sale--I do believe it will be the centerpiece of my New Year's Eve menu.  I will post this and the three other menus I am currently working on, as soon as I have them complete.
    I have a rather tricky job on Christmas Eve with a party for about 20. It wants to be traditional Italian, and while I am well able to do just that it also has to have a Polish twist and be vegetarian/seafood on some pretty strict levels.  So much for standards--I'll be making up somethings as I go on this one.  Nothing like a challenge.
    Meanwhile, up jumped the Devil.  British Airways has just sent me a phenomenal offer for fares to London--almost too good to pass up--I think I may just have to find an excuse to go (as if anyone needed an excuse).  Perhaps after the first of the year.  It has oly been a year since I was there, as of Jan 1. Great time for me to go, because it is so slow here catering wise, but poor financially.    I am definetly going to have to consider this one heavily.  Now I've got myself wondering what sort of arrangements I can make once I'm over there?  Friends to stay with--no prob.  Activities--well, not so much a problem, except London is soooo bloody expensive.  Cooking, etc would be nice.  I must get off some e-mails to see what sort of practical experiences I can wrestle up.  As if I didn't have enough to do right now. 

It's no good.  London is stuck in my head now.  I'm going to have to get busy and writing.  I'll let you all know what's up.