It's the end of the world as we know it ...............

What is the best meal you ever had???

I have been asked this and countless other questions about my business and food by many many people , family and friends...even strangers at airports.

Easily one could say a holiday meal at their parents. My mom always made great holiday food..traditional thanksgiving was the best. I can still see the wood bowl with the cut up bread with poultry seasoning in it and sauteed celery and onions....mmmmmm I still cook her "recipes" for it to this day.


And there have been many many great meals I had in Toronto or at my brothers wedding rehersal but some of those are more the people I was with than the actual food.


But for me , the very best meal I have ever had was this past summer while vacationing in Montreal.

My best gal and I were in town on my birthday for a Depeche Mode concert. There is a placed owned but a wonderful chef named Martin Picard...Au Pied De Cochon( The Foot of the Pig). It is this sweet little place..oh sweet jesus I love the look of it. Open kitchen, wood floors, tight tables and only really the rumbling of the people rather than music drowning everyone out. Even the bathroom is cool.

But it is the food....mmmmmm so many choices. I swear Shelly either was afraid to order anything because of her tummy or just didnt want me spending money on it...lol But it was on my BF card .
I had the house ale and it was sooo good.
The bus girl dropped some fresh bread that with the beer they could have just kept coming and we would have been just fine.

Shelly had a very nice salad with pommes frites deep fried in DUCK FAT....YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.

Now  me....I had been thinking about what I wanted for a month( I am a  food geek after all) it was a toss up for the duck in a can( I shit you not) or pied de cochon.

The trotter won.....

Shelly                                           

                                                     

   Me in the mirror.....love this bathroom!!!

We both got the little deep fry package..and after "dissecting it" decided it was best left to the unknown mind since it was soooo tasty.


the best part were the potatoes...my goodness I have never tasted anything sooo fucking GOOD.
I wrote the recipe down...so will post that later but all i can say is that I had some leftover...brought it back from Montreal in a 6 hr car drive ( in a cooler) and ate it 5 days later and it tasted just as good the first time...

I recommend it to anyone......made my brother jealous.....

Femme Fatale

So.....

I am a female cook/chef/head lacky should be sitting pretty sweet after 24 years in the "Biz" ,right?


HA!

Being a female in food service, like any male dominated field, sucks. Not only do I have to prove myself time and time again but i have to do it with a smile and a baby suckling from each breast. Oh and  a clean house and fresh laundry.


Fuck that!!!

If I am going to be the big wig and earn the bigger bucks and work 7432984132431 hrs a week, then don't expect a Stepford Wife house . Sorry, but even a monkey can do laundry...haven't the time to even put it away sometimes.


Female Chefs are expected to pull their weight as if they are men. There are no accomedations when we are pregnant( read this as a women who was 8.5 months along with baby #2 and working the grill at Disney.) if we want to retain some dignantiy....what little we have left cause sister...who in their right mind wears makeup in a 100 degree kitchen. You can't look your best with sweat dripping from your forhead, your ears, your breasts etc. And the reality is you have to be a cunt( pardon my language)..you have to  be stronger than the " boys" at every step of the way.

And trust me...they may love having a pussy in the kitchen, but if your better than them ( and you probably are....even my own brother realizes this) christ...look out. These sweet nice men with toss your ass so far under the bus that the crossing guard will pitty you. And it gets worse as you get older because your deemed as a realic to some of these young hot shots with their frozen cream top avocado essence..blah blah.

And you know what is worse than men in the kitchen....another women. OH GOD NO!!!!
I rather eat hiss cockroaches than work with females in the kitchen( not on my staff more side by side) I work with a female catering director and while I love her to death...i swear one of us is going to knife the other during an event ( i say that with love and affection).

Oh and god forbide you want to have kids let alone sleep with someone other than a coworker( dont sleep with coworkers.....remember these people are your backbone as your side of line goes into the weeds and if the sex sucked well forget them setting your plates for you.) or have a life.At 38 I still have what only may look like a life....I have a partner and kids ...but I am social weirdo and inept.....

I think I did right by my sons and had them when I was in my early 20's. They grew up with my long crazy hours and sleepless nights as I tried to figuare out the meaning of fiddleheads. They realize that there are times when 5pm really mean 8pm and that mommy sometimes needs to veg out for an hour before her mind snaps back into reality of mommie mode before asking her "whats for dinner?"

Your body as a female chef/cook takes the real beating. Once were long slender limbs replaced with tree trunk legs and hobbit feet. My knees are blown, my feet hate me, i have burn scares all over my body, my finges..heck  even my hair hurts. Our bodies were not meant to haul 75 boxes of chicken but we do it( and blow out our backs the first time trying).


But i suppose there is no other way ...baptism by fire i guess. Funny enough the whole industry has gone very PC. You can't raise your voice or talk stern to an employee or coworker without someone crying foul espically to females. For me don't patronize me, don't call me sweetheart when i am trying to voice my thoughts, don't smack my ass( unless I am naked in private),i will scrub the grease trap as long as skippy does the same. You can call me a dumb bitch in german ,french yiddish etc..and guess what, I will understand you. I will smile at you while you try to fuck with me and you will never see me break...till the year later and I break and cry like a little girl at you after I have yelled at someone for asking me for the hand blender.


I will never be anyones bitch.....it is the one thing I have earned after 24 years.

I haven't forgotten you my little food bog...i swear!!!!!

will be beck on Friday...been under the weather of late. Many rants building up....giving me a headache!

Your telling me its in the skies well use your eyes.. .....

Go Green....

We hear it everyday from Auto Industry, Diaper Companies and the President. But really, can everyone really go green...totally green?

Well, probably not. Not unless you want to give up some things that frankly, I  for one don't want nor think I should as the impact on the earth and my carbon foot is relatively small.

But what i do think as a whole world we can do is to feed ourselves with local farmers. Every nuck and cranie has farms. There are dairy, fruit,vegetable,grain ,pig etc farmers everywhere. With in 50 miles of where you live there are probably 10 farms.

Sustainability is a key to our own survival. We have far to long raped the earth of its resources and now  have to sort of back track in our thinking about food sources in the long term way.

There is no reason to go all crazy and go vegan ...that's just nutters. We have the teeth we have for a reason. But that being said there is no reason to go all crazy in the other extreme and eat tons of beef. Like anything moderation is a key here ...think of it as a life cycle diet. You're born you live and you die....in between that time we eat and grow..in more than one way too.


But all the planning is fine and dandy on paper...it is the execution that fucks it all up.

To many chiefs and not enough Indians make for a bloody mess and then everyone is left wondering.."WTF?"
OR " I didn't do it." One voice needs to lead and bring people together to form some sort of coalition with farmers and manufacturers in order to process food products or food for the consumer that are free of chemicals, low in fats and are sustainable to the earth.
One group can not control everything if we are to replenish ourselves for future generations...the WHOLE world has to be on board too.

It boggles the mind that as a WORLD...we are not speaking to each other more and with better communication skills about food and such. We all have to eat...Each Country has specific locations that have weather patterns and growing seasons...why do we not work with each other to ensure we are ALL eating properly...(when i say this I mean that we as a world are sharing our food wealth...we can not force someone to actually eat the food...though i love to .)

We are a wealth WORLD.....instead of being dicks to each other , why not just shut the fuck up and do the right thing/ No one nation is better than the other. There is no one perfect out there. But there are a lot of people with good ideas that need to be heard.

What does not not kill you, only lets you marinate that much longer.....

My Pastry Chef made this for a friend of mine's boyfriend......it is a butter cake....Julia Child would be proud.

 

 

Show plates to impress a client.....we got the account.

 

 

part of the grain bar we do...

Lobster Bisque in Shot Glasses...I am nutters for using shot glasses ...everything is better in a shot glass

Making Spatzel

With a Squirt Bottle

Smokey Gazpacho with Creme Fraiche and Sourdough Cruton...mmmmm

More and More and More FOOOOOOD PORNNNNN!!!

Kosher Turkey with roasted peaches and cranberry glaze

Smoked Salmon Platters...mmmmmm

This actually looks and tastes amazing...though not so here...

Chicken Florentine with herb wild rice blend pilaf and butternut squash with wild flower honey and butter.

Paul being silly....as usual!

Bittersweet Chocolate Wafer Cake...i still have some in my fridge.

Seafood Cerviche in English Cucumber Cups

Lemon Meringue Tart Bits

Trio of desserts>Black Forest Terrine, Fresh Peach and Almond Tart and Fresh Berry Trifle

Turkish Salad Mix

Dinner Menu

It's still fall and it has snowed already.

close up of delish cake

 

More Food Songs...cause i have a memory that comes and goes.

Tart Tart
Judge Fudge>>>>>Happy Mondays
Jellybean


Candy> Morphine
Fried Chicken> Ice -T
I want a little sugar in my bowl> Nina Simone
Honey> Moby
Orange Crush> REM
White Chocolate Space Egg - Liz Phair
Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos
Constant Craving - k.d. lang