Desserts

Chopping Block…chopped from NBC

When I heard that Marco Pierre White would be hosting a reality show, I have to admit that I was a little bummed. It's Marco Pierre White! I love The Devil in the Kitchen and his bad boy chef attitude. How can you not respect the drive he approaches his cooking with, and his huge move to give back his 3 Michelin stars when he left the kitchen?

I watched some of Chopping Block, mostly to support MPW. It was an okay show. Only three episodes aired and then saw this article this morning saying that NBC has pulled it. Now, it says they may air the show at a later date, but who knows. There are so many cooking reality shows on the air now, what does it take for a show to succeed? Drama? Highly attractive characters? Good food? Talented chefs?

They all seem formulaic to me. Now, I do watch some of them, but they are all similar. With some backstabbing by teammates. Strong willed people. Drama of all kinds. Finger pointing. What about the food?! It makes me wonder what the next cooking show will look like. They are entertaining, but is it really ever about the cooking or finding the best chef? 

On another note: As we discussed some of the cooking shows at work the other day, I stumbled on to an interesting thought that has since been bouncing around in my head. One of the cooks on the line said to me in regards to MPW and others who have taken on cooking reality shows, "don't we all sell out?" It's really made me think, do we all sell out at some point? 

I don't know what selling out would be for me. I don't want to define it and box it in to one or two things. It's something that we have to evaluate at each step we take in our careers/lives. Let it bounce around in your head for a little bit and let me know what you think.

Till then, read The Devil in the Kitchen. It's an amazing book, even if you don't work in a professional kitchen.

Song of the Day: D Is for Dangerous by: Arctic Monkeys

The Feast (Part 1)

I am friends with a group of amazing chefs, and yet, after 4 months of running around together, we haven’t really cooked much together outside of work. Perhaps it’s because we have all fallen into a rut. We go to work and do the same thing day in and day out. I’m grateful to be gainfully employed, don’t get me wrong. However, we definitely do feel a lack of inspiration on most days and an outlet to plug in that creativity. 

So, after a late night snack that Asian Al made for us, Mlle Vino and I decided that we should have a feast. And feast we did!

Mlle Vino, Asian Al and I ran to the Asian market and then to BevMo. We returned and our good friend and fellow chef, Guy, was waiting for us with an extra two bottles of wine. 

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This is the beginning of a mushroom soup.
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Some of our treasures from the Asian market and the mixer and robo coup Asian Al borrowed from his mom for me to use.

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Asian Al did most of the cooking. Guy and another of our friends, Big Bear, helped prep food, but it was mostly AA. What did we do while he cooked? Well, I took a ton of pics and Mlle Vino, Guy and I sat on the patio drinking wine. 

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(It’s not blurry, it’s artistic. Ha ha)

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Ox tail

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Prepping the ox tail.

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Sake anyone?

Lenny

I went to the bathroom at Loco yesterday and this was written on the
door. It reminds me of a guy I used to work with in Las Vegas. His
name is Lenny and he is one of the funniest people and highly talented
graffiti artists I’ve ever met. One of his catch phrases is “Thug
Life” and when I saw it on the door yesterday, I knew I had to snap a
pic!photo.jpg

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