Why would anyone want to be a chef?

Yes, I am trying to live up to my commitment to blog more for 2008! I will try to keep this going if at all possible. Eating has been ok for the week but not great. I guess the best thing is no fast food at all! Incorporating more vegetables and fruits is the biggest thing. We cleaned out the fridge and there is no more butter, cream, sugary and salty stuff. All of the best things. My wife asks why can't the things which are good for you taste like chocolate?? I have not exercised as much as I should. But have done some. Wednesday was a pretty good night. Will do a little something over the weekend.

I have come to the conclusion that I am just not a very interesting person with little valuable to actually offer or say. This does sound self defeating and a put down but that is the truth. I am not an articulate person. My aunt said she thought I would of been a world famous chef by now. These people are few and far between. The life of a chef is hard: The long hours and physical abuse we put our bodies through result in pain. The mental stress placed on a chef is just brutal and staggering. The tendency to lean on drugs and alcohol is tremendous most of the time. Divorce is rampant in the restaurant industry. Why would anyone want to be a chef?

It does get into your bones and blood and never escapes. Once bitten by this animal, you are destined to a life filled with so many of the for mentioned things. One chef I have really gained an appreciation for over the past few years is Anthony Bourdain. He is just like any other chef I have met; conceded, vain, outspoken, and a brat. I hate the fact that he smokes and is such a butt head but that is who he is. I actually have no idea if the man can actually cook, or I should say cook great or well.

But he is humorous to the core and have really enjoyed watching him on Top Chef and his travel show on the Travel Channel. If I had a better speaking voice, maybe I could of had more fame and fortune? I really think he is a good guy and is one person I would like to sit down with and have a chat some time. Even if he does come off as kind of a jerk.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to All!!

I tend not to make resolutions but this year, I am going to make a few, but instead of calling them resolutions, I will call them commitments. I will strive to commit to:
1. Blogging more often.
2. Eating healthier.
3. Exercising more often.
4. Making better use of my time, work and play.
5. Being a better husband to my wife! (This really is #1 on the list!)
I realize that most of that is cliche but this is what I am doing.

I started the year off today by sticking to my calorie count, exercising for 45 minutes, and had a great work day!

I may have never mentioned this here but Pink Floyd is my all time favorite band and musical act. Have a great appreciation for the musical and lyrical skills of David Gilmour! Do not get me wrong, Rodger Waters rocks also!! I first learned the joy of Pink Floyd at the age of 14 when I went to the "Midnight Movies" back in Richmond and saw The Wall for the first time. How many times I have seen this movie, there is no way to count. I did have the pleasure of seeing the group in 1987 in Providence, Rhode Island and would just about give my right nut to see them again! Probably not going to happen.

So my very first girlfriend wrote me a particular letter on a particular day, many years ago and concluded the letter with what I thought was the most clever quote. " Long you'll live and high you'll fly. Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry. All you touch and all you see is all that life will ever be." I thought it was just the most wonderful thing I had ever heard and she did say she wrote it just for me. And not too long after, was listening to Dark Side of the Moon, and what did I hear??

I was devastated! But life goes on.

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!