my favorite bar here makes an "irish old fashioned" - it's simply jameson's whisky, a guinness reduction, and a bit or brown sugar. soooooooooooo good! it's my all time favorite drink
hahahahahaha lose weight eating nothing but foie gras. I love that, I'm marketing it as the newest fad diet. animal rights groups will love me!
mandyeats - you are so delusional, it warms my heart to know there are such simple people in this world. calories are what matter, have you not heard of the guy who did a twinkie diet? just restricted the amount he ate and BAM lost weight. Carbs are not "evil", eating potatoes will not make you fat simply because you ate potatoes - how much you eat on the other hand, and how much exercise you get.. that's the real story.
everyone also seems to forget that as a chef you're on your feet for at least 8-12 hours a day, standing on a hot sauna like line, constantly lifting and moving things. We naturally use more calories in the run of a day then someone who has a desk job. And while we are required to taste so many things - being surrounded by fancy fat laden foods not does mean we are cooking up massive steaks or slabs of foie gras for ourselves since we're worried about a little something called food cost.
Making it sounds like there is some huge secret to chefs not being incredibly overweight is the same as looking for any dieting secret. You want to eat like a chef and stay skinny? become a chef!! you'll soon figure out why these things work for them and not for everyone.
sorry for the rant - but I've seen alot of these stories lately, and they all seem to forget the environment that you are in when you work in this industry.
A man walks into a doctor’s office. He has a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his left ear and a banana in his right ear. “I don’t feel so good - what’s the matter with me?” he asks the doctor. The doctor replies, “you’re not eating properly.”
Having worked at many many many pizzera's in my day.. I can tell you 100% I care who makes my pie. The thickness of the edge crust will differ, the spread of sauce - sometimes different people at the same place will put ingredients on differently (onions on top or bottom of cheese), so many variables in place based simply on the person stretching the dough, topping it, moving it around the oven if need be based on hotspots or leaving it in one place to char more on one side.
And it's not that the people making pies not to my exact liking aren't passionate - sometimes people just have different "ideal pizza"s in mind when they're cooking and it may differ from mine.
Up here in canada, one of our supermarkets has a store brand of chips that come in flavours like "piri piri" "cheeseburger" "ballpark hotdog" "loaded baked potato" "tandori" - the list goes on. I've had so many "weird" chip flavours in the past year or so nothing will make me bat an eye.
I carved the alien from the simpsons this year, would share the pic but I need to figure out how to get it of my phone...
loooove roasted pumpkin seeds - try candying them in maple syrup!! sooo delicious
I often make a dessert pizza when I'm making pizza at home. normally I take my batch of dough then split it in half - the first half makes my pizza, the next half is again split in 2 - 1 piece for garlic fingers (please tell me the states have garlic fingers??? I was in montreal recently and couldn't get them ANYWHERE leading me to believe it's simply an east coast thing), and then the last piece is for dessert pizza - apple, or berries, or just cinnamon and icing. the possibilities for dessert pizza are just as endless as the possibilities for regular pizza!
my first job was in a pizza shop, I was 16 - took my resume to the Syrian man behind the counter. He sat down to speak with me and I hardly understood him, I smiled when he smiled and looked serious when he looked serious. Before I knew it I was behind the counter myself, hand tossing pies. Even know 10 years later I credit alot of my cooking skills to pizza; bread making (dough), flavour balance of sweet/salty/sour/spicey (pizza sauce), knife skills (ohhh the days of chopping everything by hand), knife sharpening (keeping the blades sharp to slice donair meat from the spit ever so thinly), emulsion (donair sauce), and so so so much more. Pizza was a huge game changer for my life, it opened my eyes up to a world of cooking professionally - and I may be working in fine dining now but you better believe I make the best damn pizza when it's my turn to do the staff meal!
basketpam - I'm saying no UNLESS it's televised in front of crowds of strangers, so there.
@hotcookies you can get Anne of Green Gables cherry cordial here in the stores (I'm out on the east coast though)
oh! if you use sheet gelatin (that's what my experience is with) I usually use about 3 sheets per cup of liquid for a more liquidy jello, and 5 or 6 sheets per cup for a firmer one (that can be cut into shapes using a cookie cutter! try stars :) )
grab some gelatin (or agar agar) and use natural fruit juice to make jello/jellies. make them firm and cut them into shapes - my mom used to set the jello in layers, you could use blueberry juice, strawberry juice, and white grape juice for a red/white/blue theme if this is for a fourth of july event!
cherry tomatoes sound great
I have friends who have rigged up a similar set-up to that link - using empty pop bottles and rope. I may attempt it myself!
whenever doing large batches I usually peel them then let them sit in water in the fridge for about an hour. helps chill them and bleeds out some of whatever it is that gets into the air and makes your eyes water.
make sure you use a good espresso, also get good quality marscapone (if choosing between two - choose the higher moisture content). Also don't be afraid of making your own ladyfingers if you can't find them at the store (I couldn't when I had to make tiramisu for a party of 50 at work, my chef said the homemade ones were way better than any boxed ones he had tried anyway)
oh! marsala is a must. don't substitue for anything!
at work I'm guilty of grilling bread (slathered with ghee), then adding shaved park and siracha to it. guess it's not too weird.
when I first lived away from home I would put rice krispies and brown sugar and peanut butter in the microwave. kindof like a weird puffed rice pudding in the end. extra awesome if I had chocolate around to add to it.
to make this food related - take a cooking class
pick up some frozen puff pastry - slather cheese with jam or throw in nuts or berries - encase all in puff pastry. bake. enjoy :)
i am also with you on the not-liking-plain-eggs boat! though I CAN do omeletes or scrambled eggs, but only if it involves cheese and plenty of ketchup (ahhh ketchup, the sweet sweet flavour masker)
hleathy and fast? I always have some spinach or nice lettuce around, keep a few veggies on hand and throw together a salad. pasta is cheap and easy and you can just about anything you can dream of to it! stirfry's are also a big one at this house too - look for the big bags of frozen veggies on sale - we snagged a 2.5 kilos of mixed veg (carrots, broccoli and califlower) for 5$ the other day! they can be strifried, added to pasta, simply steamed or boiled as a side. I like rice but find it time consuming.. you could always get the ben\s 5 minute stuff though.
also if you have a few free hours - do a big batch of something. soup, chili, etc. that can be frozen and reheated. Also look for sales on things like whole chickens - I\ll often have a day off where I do a roast chicken dinner, then leftovers can go in casserole or stirfry or on sandwiches, chicken salad etc! Then I use the bones to make a broth for a soup.
also - consider investing in a slowcooker. you can throw together meals in the morning and eat them later when you\re tired and don't want to bother with the kitchen haha.
quick easy breakfasts? bake a batch of muffins to have around :)
my daily schedule involves waking up at noon - breakfast around 1, work by 2 and then home by midnight. So my dinner time is around midnight and yes I eat! haha. The other night we had a full roast chicken dinner at 2am
my first job was at a family owned pizza shop - the owner was sierrian and had such a thick accent I could never understand him, I just smiled when he smiled, looked stern when he looked stern. We got along fantastically. I worked there during my last year of high school, and then just on weekends while away at college. I still go visit him often as he is like family now.
In my second year of college when I ran out of student loan money I picked up a back shift job at a 24 hour Subway. Right next to the ONLY bar in a small town. It was a lousy job. I always smelled like subs. I quit after a couple months. Decided I was done with food. After bouncing between various bouts of post secondary education, random jobs like working at a bridal shop, selling computers, etc, I always would end up cooking again.. mainly pizza shops, but lebanese food, swiss chalet, and pub places too. It was only a couple of years ago I applied to a local BBQ joint and the guy called me back and said "from the sounds of it, this may not be what you're looking for anymore, Our company also owns some other properties - I've set up an interview for you with our executive chef". A week later I found myself at one of the top restaurants in the atlantic provinces (Onyx, we're one of only 3 places in Halifax NS to hold a 4 diamond rating from the CAA/AAA). I knew nothing about fine dining starting out, but I stuck around and am now the sous chef there, After years of drooling over pictures of dishes from places like the french laundry I now make dishes in the same style. It's been one incredible journey!
my only regret is I only wish the industry paid better. but the bf just finished university, so hopefully he'll roll in the big bucks soon and I can keep doing what I love!
Lili13 - you weren't eating enough calories to sustain yourself and your body decided it needed to rest. so your plannign was very poor, simply watching calories doesn't help you unless you watch what those calories are. swapping nutrition for alcohol is going to be very detrimental to your health.
Try just planning for a drink or two. Or eat normally and maybe work out for a little bit longer that day and the next day. I try not to get too worked up over strangers lives - but the way you were planning was very very unhealthy.Malnurishment and deficincies are not fun.
a selection of local beers and/or wines and/or spirits - might as well take advantage of being able to try new things!
cheese platters galore with nice bread and crackers, a chocolate and sweets tray, jelly belly jelly beans - NO LIQORICE flavoured ones!
While I dream of having a backyard to plant things in, i have to face the reality of living in a small apartment with little light (two sides of the apartment have windows, but they are on the north and south sides). Sadly the plants that I love all require lots of light. Can anyone recommend things that will grow with partial sunlight?
crazy study just released about how sugar decomposes - instead of melting. suggesting that instead of reaching a high temperature you can instead hold sugar at a lower temperature for a predetermined length of time to get better results.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110725123549.htm
So my boyfriend and I are celebrating our anniversary tonight, of course I'm in charge of dinner.. he has been going on about wanting lobster for a while now (I honestly detest seafood) but I was thinking if I put together a pasta I could simply add some poached lobster to his and leave it out of my own.
Now I know by all the rules seafood (and lobster especially) should be paired with a white wine, but we both prefer to drink red. I had the idea of making an alfredo with a red wine base as opposed to white so we could enjoy a red wine with the meal.. but I'm worried about the meal ending up a total flop. Has anyone tried this? Will I ruin the taste of the lobster by going with red? any input would be much appreciated!
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at home it's panfried hash browns, bacon, sausages, eggs of some sort (scrambled, omelets, quiche etc). toast, or french toast, or pancakes. I'm a big fan of breakfast sandwiches - with lettuce and tomato and cheese - on english muffins or bagels. basically I love anything breakfasty.