What exactly is a diet?

Ever since I was a small child, I have been on some type of diet. Dieting has just been a way of life and I have been a complete and total failure at "diets". Even today, there are people who ask me my opinion about Weight Watchers, The South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, and whatever the particular flavor of the moment is and I really have no feeling about these diets at all except they are a way for companies to take away our hard earned American dollars.. I guess "diet" is what ever nourishment you are supplying your body at a particular moment. This can be good and this can be bad. How can we make any sense of anything at all when it come down to being on a diet.

I am NOT the first person to say "diets" are a horrible idea. All a "diet" does is set us up for failure and thus begins the YoYo cycle. We start and lose weight. We stop and gain it all back plus more. We start again and lose weight. We stop and gain it all back again and so on. This is terrible for the body but what most people that have been on "diets" are used to.

What to do then? I am still trying to figure this stuff out but I have come up with a small idea. Instead of being on a "diet", why not try to eat better, exercise more, and just make better decisions. When we slip up, that is OK and we are right back into the saddle again. Depriving yourself of life's simple pleasures is a big mistake and one of the main reasons we fail each and every time.

I have put together a plan and I call it... "The One Page Guide to a Healthier You". That is right, everything you need to know is right on a one page document. You print out the one page in the form of a Word document and everything is right there for you reference as you start your way towards a healthier way of eating and living. One thing; I am not doing is blowing smoke up your hind parts! There are things you will have to do to make the plan effective and it will take some work on your part. If you can be honest with yourself, accept the fact that you will slip up from time to time and this is OK, and you are willing to make lasting changes in your life, to improve your over all health; this "One Page Guide to a Healthier You" may just work. If you are looking for a quick fix; this will NOT work for you. This is about make long lasting and permanent changes in your eating and exercise habits, making better choices to improve your overall health.

So how do I get "The One Page Guide to a Healthier You" and how much does it cost? Honestly, I am not out to make a dime off of this project. If you would like it, then you can email me, chefbland@yahoo.com, and I will send you back a copy with a smile. You will have to print it out yourself. Once again, realize that it will take some effort on your part to make this work for you. All I am trying to do is simplify an idea while making it realistic to follow. Most of this is common sense! I am probably not telling you things you already did not know or have not heard before.

Good Luck!

Time and Turkey

Can you believe Thanksgiving is here and gone and we are now moving on to the Christmas holiday? Where does the time go? I guess this time thing is all relative so thank you Albert for helping us to understand this whole relativity thing.

With that said, there is just not much time to blog. I wish I would blog more often! I am not very articulate and really not a writer so why even bother? I actually do this so little, why even bother some would say.

Many things have been going on the past few months. There is the new job which I absolutely love! It is the greatest job ever and love what I am doing so far. I am on the road quite a bit and have been on some pretty intensive training but everything so far is just awesome.

We have a new addition to our family, Mudgie the cockatiel (formerly Sushi). We have had her for a few months and she is a talker! Here is a sample of he avian vocabulary so far: "Pretty bird", "What ya doing?", "What ya doing Mudgie?", "Scratch your head", "Are you a chicken" ( and then she makes a clucking sound like a chicken), "Peek a boo", "here kitty kitty kitty", and there are other numerous phrases which we can not figure out so far. She also whistles the theme song to the Andy Griffith Show, over and over and over! She is a good bird but a pain in the rear parts. Yes, she is already spoiled!

I hope you had a most excellent turkey day! Me and my wife are trying to eat better so we went with a smaller and lighter holiday dinner than usual. We did have turkey but we also had roasted duck along with roasted red potatoes, steamed asparagus, and some nice dinner rolls. No butter, no gravy, salt was limited, and there was just a little lemon pie for dessert. Actually was really a great, simple meal!

Yes, I did say we are trying to eat better and exercise more. She is doing a better job than me so far! See, I am a food junkie and pretty much addicted to food. I sneak foods when I can, and pretty much just over eat. I am not really big into moving my fat butt around and that makes for a dangerous cocktail of fat around the belly with all of the problems of obesity which go along with all of this. I need to get moving!! NOW!

Will keep the progress of my efforts here, and hopefully a little more often!

Yes Deer...

I was running some errands this morning and returned just a short time ago. Was just sitting down to check email when Elmo the dog started barking like crazy. She usually barks like this when some one is walking a dog so I really did not pay much attention to her antics. After a few more seconds, I looked up to see 3 deer walking through the front yard. There are plenty of deer around here but we rarely see any, just every once in a while. This was a real treat!

Last week, we went to Natural Bridge Zoo to visit the mountain lions, tigers, camels, elephants, and my favorite, the giraffes! Giraffes are my favorite by a log shot. They are so tall and graceful and so goofy at the same time. At one point, I had four eating right out of my hand. How great is that? It is a small zoo but is a great day trip if you live anywhere near the Roanoke valley.

One more positive note: I got a new JOB!! I am really not going to talk much about my employment situation on a regular basis. I would like to say I am very excited about this opportunity! It is with a large food related company out of Salem, VA and I had been interviewing with the company for about a month. It is not very often a true career opportunity and a new home for employment comes along. This is just about my dream job! The only thing better would of been teaching at a culinary school, but I will say that this comes in a very close second!! I will still get to do plenty of teaching with this new position!

Wish me luck as I start out in a new direction!!

Crime and Sushi

I moved to Roanoke in 1999 with hopes of making a new start in life. You know, going back to school, new job and career change, and just starting anew. It was a great prospect and I was happy with the decision, especially when I met my wife, got a dog and other pets, and we moved into the house. After being in the city for 2 months, I was a victim of a violent crime. Two butt heads stormed into my apartment and stole everything I owned, not to mention beating me, tying me up, and terrorizing me so to this day, I am still no over the incident. A few years later, my pickup truck which I had owned for just two weeks was shot up in a gun fight between drug dealers. Roanoke's "finest" was unable to solve either of these crimes which I find hard to believe but considering that there are murders and other crimes that have gone unsolved, I guess I really have little to complain about.

I have been off from work for a few weeks, trying to recuperate from the long hours put into the restaurant over the past five months and on Wednesday, I decided to take advantage of a cool spell and do a little yard work. I go out to the shed to pull out some tools when I notice, they are almost all gone. Pressure washer, chain saw, hedge trimmers, and who knows what else is missing. They were there in May, and probably in June but I really can not be for certain, but they are gone for sure. The most frustrating this is that I was ready to go and I could not get anything done.

I was really considering calling the police about this but why? I did not keep any of the receipts for these things, no serial numbers written down, no real record of anything so it seems it really would not do much good. Plus I have no idea of when this happened. What do you think? Should I make the call?

We picked up Sushi last Sunday. No, not the Japanese dish made with sticky rice and seaweed, but a cockatiel and we named her Sushi. She is a sweet little thing and we have had a blast with her so far. She is very vocal so far but is not talking yet. It will take a while for that to happen but before we know it, she will be talking her little beak off. Owning a bird is a large responsibility! A bird of this size can probably live between 1o and 15 years. Large birds can live
50 to 75 years or even more so that is a life time commitment. We do have 3 cats and a dog and so far, it looks like they are getting along OK.

Hope the cats do not like wasabi!!

HELP SHARK!!

Yes, I am a chef and love to cook; One of my greatest passions for sure! Not very often, but just every so often, chefs run into moral dilemmas like the recent issue of foie gras which prompted Wolfgan Puck and many other notable chefs to stop utilizing the fattened duck or goose liver in their dining establishments. Many years ago, there was the outcry about Chilean Sea Bass (also known as Patagonian Toothfish because who would buy that?) and chefs around the world were bringing this ugly white fish to the brink of extinction. We still hear about this along with dolphin safe tuna, rock fish, swordfish, and many other things.

Now there is the issue of sharks. I am not talking about killing sharks for consumption of their flesh, but just for their fins, a cruel process called "finning" in which the fins are cut from the live shark and the body is discarded, still alive, and thrown back into the ocean to die. The people and groups are doing the finning because the fins bring in excess of $300 a pound; no need to bother with processing the rest of the shark because that would kill profits with extra labor and storage space. Easy money I guess and everything boils down to the mighty dollar. If anyone caught "Shark Week" on Discovery Channel this past week, you would of seen a heartbreaking example of finning. The Sharkman episode was quite inspirational.

All of this is for soup of course; shark fin soup. This has been a delicacy for hundreds of years in the Asian regions of the world and demand is driving the finning of sharks, as one cup of this elixir can cost $100 or more. By cutting the demand for shark fin soup, eliminates the finning of sharks, thus sparing millions of sharks from this butchery, and also helping to save the world’s oceans and eco systems.

Simple concept I guess? I am but one chef, one person, and but only voice a small opinion on a little blog. Please understand, I am not a card carrying member of PETA (I often refer to as People Eating Tasty Animals) and never will be, but this is an issue which can not be ignored! I call upon the International leaders of the world, and especially the leaders of Japan, United States, Britain, Canada, and China to ban shark fin soup and place a moratorium on shark finning immediately.

I am but one chef, one person, but we need to something!

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Employment and Books on CD

Has been such a long time since I have had time to even attempt to blog. Imagine every waking moment of each day being dedicated to your job. Because of this, your life begins to suffer in every way possible. Relationships break down and I miss my wife and dog, the body breaks down and burns out, the mind can not function because of exhaustion, and there is not much enjoyment in anything you do because you are just so tired from the constant work. I estimate I have worked more than 6 months in a 3 month period of time. I like being a chef but I love my wife and life; I miss being home.

So if you look at my web site, http://www.chefjeffonthe.net, you will see some apparent desperation as I have posted "Chef Jeff needs a job!" so I hate to show that I am desperate for a job because I am really not; but I do want to work.

So has this been enough complaining? Through all of this, a really great discovery has come into my life, Books on CD. Please know this about me, I am not a big or great reader and never really have been. Maybe a little strange since my mom, father, and sisters are all avid readers. Have just never really enjoyed sitting down and reading for some reason. In April, I did hear a story on local NPR about a local English professor and his discoveries of books on cd to occupy the time between a weekly long commute.

Books on cd?? HHHmmmmm, I thought to myself, that could be very interesting. So the wife and myself headed to the library to check out the selection. How great are books on cd!! I just love listening to these stories and it makes the hour commute between the lake and Roanoke a breeze! Am now a big fan of Dean Koontz and have really enjoyed just about everything I have checked out.

Favorites so far are: "The Husband" by Dean Koontz, "Lunar Park" by Bret Easton Ellis, "The Zero Game" by Brad Meltzer. Right now, I am listening to "The Wrong Man" by John Katzenbach. There have been a few others but these have been the best so far.

I can say that if it was not for the drive, it would be very hard to listed to the books on CD. Would not be my cup of tea just to sit there and listen. I need to be driving to listen to these. Maybe I will start reading more and more soon?

Is almost time for me to take a break from daily life at the restaurant. It has been a great ride and I really love that place. I am tired now and need to rest from this all.

Soon!

The Dog Days of Spring

One of my favorite quotes is as follows: "When mama's not happy, no one is happy!" Have you ever heard anything so true as this?

So my wife calls me on Wednesday afternoon to inform me that the local animal control has come by and left a notice about a complaint on our dog for barking and howling while chained up in our back yard, I was taken back just a little. So I guess you are thinking that my dog must be this large and vicious creature, foaming at the mouth, jumping and trying to attack anything which might come near? Yes, our dog is protective just as any loyal canine is and yes, she does bark. Isn't that what dogs do? More on this later...

So my wife was mad, no, irate because of this yellow notice she found on our door as she came home from work. We have tried to call the animal control more that 4 times leaving message after message with no response. When she is upset, this makes me angry as well. I love my wife and hate for her to be up set. Especially over something as trivial as this.

Do neighbors not have anything better to do than sit and call the authorities about a barking dog? So now you are probably asking yourself, I would just love to see this horrid beast which sits and barks for hours on end, terrorizes the neighborhood, and would rip to shreds any person which comes within 10 feet of our propriety. Warning, this picture is not for the timid or faint of heart. Here she is....Elmo the wonder dog:





Yes, that is our 5 pound Chihuahua Elmo. Sure she can bark and can be annoying at times but she is the sweetest thing. We do not keep her chained up in our back yard. She does go outside to do her business and she does chase the occasional rabbit with no success. She is rarely outside for more than 10 minutes at a time and Elmo has never met a stranger.

One of our neighbor does have a dog named Spotty. He is a mixed breed and he is a dangerous and vicious dog. No one can get with in 10 feet of their fence with out being terrorized buy the animal. It can be very difficult for me to even cut the grass. He barks for hours and hours on end earning his nickname name, "Mr. Woofy", yet we have never complained to the authorities. If I really had a problem with this dog, I would go to the neighbors first. I fear for Elmo if Mr. Woofy ever got out of his fence and she was outside at the same time. These neighbors have tried to stop some of the barking by attaching one of these electric collars to the dog, with some success. I do hat that they have done this; am sure that must be very painful. We live near an airport and it is funny to watch Mr. Woofy jump at the airplanes, trying to snatch them from the sky as they fly above.

I know who conplained so is this a case of mistaken identity? Was Elmo really outside barking for hours and hours? Stay tuned my peeps for updates from this exciting saga!

My Wife and Restaurant Stuff

So my wife and I have both been sick. Me for 2 weeks and she for a week. Am sure I have passed on to her what ever I had so things are not looking great here at the house! I hope she feels better very very soon! I hate to see the love of my life in agony and pain. We are both stubborn people so we can clash like that from time to time. She wants to help me and I want to help her yet neither of us wants to be helped. We have an awesome relationship!

The restaurant is moving along. There have been set backs and that really hurts but things are progressing! The roof is finally going on but there is rain tonight. The art is just about complete. The stone counter tops were set today. The tile floors in the dining rooms are just about done; we are waiting for the grout to dry.

We want to get into the kitchen and start cooking. Hope it will be in just a few days and I can start training my kitchen staff and we will hear the sounds of knifes tapping on the cutting boards, the sound of steaks sizzling in the oven, and the smells permeating the dining room driving the staff and customers crazy! Stay tuned for more updates!!

The Restaurant, Wife, Furnace, and the Flu

The restaurant is coming along very nicely. Paint is on the walls, they are getting ready to put down the tile, and the kitchen is almost complete. We had our first training class this past weekend and think it went pretty good. Very long, long day. It is really starting to get exciting!

I have been out the past few days because of the flu. Yesterday, the furnace went bad so we are getting a new one today. So the wife is mad at me because I am sick, the furnace, because I am an idiot and am sure for any other thing just because. She called a bit ago to ask me a favor and the disdain for me in her voice was so obvious, it really cut like a knife. I did not ask for the flu or the furnace and I can not help being an idiot so what is a man to do?

Looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. Will be so glad when opening day and week has come and gone! If you live in the Smith Mountain Lake area of Virginia, would you like a job?

Time for more medicine!

Restaurant Update

Hello fellow bloggers and Foodies:

This is a bitter sweet time for me as I am finishing up my final week of work at a job I have had for almost 7 years. I like and enjoy my job very much so it is with some sadness that I am leaving this place. I will miss the people I work with every day, but I will not miss the job, lack of respect and appreciation, and being taken for granted. That is the bitter part.

The sweet part is the restaurant is coming along and looking great. The were supposed to finish hanging the dry wall yesterday and they have started on all of the stone work. Once the exhaust hoods are up, everything else is pretty much cosmetic and all of that should just move along like a bullet. The menu is pretty much complete and finalized and we will be posting that soon. We also interviewed our first employees last weekend. Things are really starting to come together!

Our web site, Tasting Room Bistro is now up and going but so far, there is not much there. Look for much more information coming to the site in the coming weeks. From here on out, things will start to get crazy and fun. It is going to be quite a ride, that is for sure!! Cheers and have some fun!

Chef Jeff

PodCast??

I am currently working on putting together a podcast for my little web site and wow is this a perplexing task!! Why would some one want to put together a podcast about cooking, culinary arts, and food when all of these things utilize all senses other than hearing (except for fajitas and rice crispies)? Guess that some one is me and I would like to make it some kind of interesting. So what is next now that I have decided to undertake this unusual task?

The first thing I need to do is find a recording device to get voice from my mouth to the computer. Guess this can be done with a microphone but what if I want to interview "people" about certain culinary topics at a mobile location? I really can not carry around a desktop computer in my back pocket. A hand held digital voice recording device seems to be the way to go so I will be looking for something like this on the next few weeks. Looks like the cost will be around $150 for something half way decent, and the ability to transfer files to a computer.

I already have some background music thanks to Hoppie Vaughn from "The Fat Daddy Band" and Dave Harrison from Bluz N da Blood has helped out with some on the more technical details like mixing, equalizing, hosting, and promotion.

Right now, "I think people is going to really be the story" if I can find people in this Southwest, Virginia area who will be willing to put their voices out there about cooking and their own culinary experiences. I will probably babble on about some culinary topics but how boring would that got over time??

So, what would you like to see in a culinary podcast?

Why my web site? and links...

Welcome to my new blog by Chef Jeff. You will find my culinary ramblings here and information about me and my site, http://www.chefjeffonthe.net and other things going on as well!

A few years ago, I came up with the not so brilliant idea of starting my own web site about cooking, culinary arts, and putting in some weight loss information (From time to time, I jump on a diet kick, and I really need to do this now and stick to it!!) and call it onefatchef.com. That was short lived but it was fun. Turned into a really big site but was just to much to manage so I closed it down. A few years later, I started the chefjeffonthe.net site hoping for bigger and better things. I really like the way this site looks now and am trying to add more content all of the time. But why would a person go to the time and expense of starting a web site with no motivation for making the all mighty dollar?
The answer is I have absolutely no idea!! Some might call it dangerous to put information about yourself out there for the public to see, and it probably is dangerous. That really does not scare me. I guess I created this site because if you do not toot your own horn, no one else will. I also enjoy the creative aspect of web design and graphic arts (even though I am not really very good at this stuff); as I find it challenging and very thought provoking. There really need to be some serious organizational skills to pull of a web site I guess. Not making money off of a web site really does not bother me. What do I really have to sell? Considering I have never written a cookbook, do not own an equipment line, a series of sauce and rubs, or any other provision which most people will try to put out on a whim to make a buck. I am happy with not making any money off of my site. Maybe some day that will change but for now, I am very cool with it.

I am very surprised that there are not more sites like mine out there, at least for little known chefs. Sure, Emeril, Bobby, Mario, Anthony, yadda yadda yadda have their own little hubs where you can go and find information and purchase their latest non-food creations, but what I am talking about is the small time chef like me. If all of these other celebrities can self promote, then why not me and all of the other "Little" chefs out there? I want to add some chef links to my site. The "Big" chefs do not need any more promotion; I want links to chefs like us so if you have a link, pass it along! If you live in Virginia, that is even better but I will take links from any where they come from!

Life is better with chocolate and wine!