Thought For Food

Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human.

A Chef At Large — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:21:28 +0000

I may be biased on at least two accounts, but Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham is an astonishingly well done piece of work. I say two counts of bias because not only am I a lover of every single scrap of food and cooking lore or fact I can devour; [...]

A Chilean Country Drive

A Chef At Large — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:43:53 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6081ZPcuWg TY and I had a late night flight on our day of departure and Hass avocado was offering a free avocado tour. We thought it might be a promotional thing and maybe not so much fun, and considered a paid a city tour instead; but finally decided that free is a pretty good price and [...]

Adios WACS Chile 2010

A Chef At Large — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:27:07 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I6BAIiqr0I The final day of the 2010 WACS congress in Santiago Chile started out with something of a dust-up. President Gissur Gudmundson opened the floor for Q&A and right out of the gate, Michael Ty, President of the American Culinary Federation challenged the vote of 4 bylaws suggesting that given the quorum of 60 they votes [...]

La Vida Loca

A Chef At Large — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:23:45 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tIvaC7SrP4 It is the third day of the congress and everyone is beginning to wear down. The long travel miles, jet lag, extended days (usually out and about from 7 to 11) the rich meals and the pisco are starting to take a toll on your intrepid delegates. Nonetheless, TY was off again early to observe [...]

Count your blessings, engage in the world and work or the benefit of others.

A Chef At Large — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:02:04 +0000

I am very jealous of TY. Not only is she young smart and energetic, with a world of opportunity and adventure ahead, she was able to spend her second day of the congress in the local culinary school in concentrated study of butchery, foods of the world and other such aspects of the encyclopedia of [...]

The discovery of a new dish is more beneficial to humanity than the discovery of a new star. ANTHELME BRILLAT-SAVARIN (1755-1826)

A Chef At Large — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:00:14 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TgZykndUA www.youtube.com/watch?v=e85N2IXTNeQ www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oenb1h-iRU4 Our first day of the 34th WACS congress started off very early. With just enough sleep to clear the Pisco from our brains, TY was out to a wonderful market visit at six am and I was off to our continental meeting at seven. The continental meeting was good, unfortunately for us our Director John Sloane [...]

Habla Cantonese?… Que?

A Chef At Large — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:25:16 +0000

The arrival in Santiago de Chile is really quite a delight. The immigration and customs staff are fast, professional and well skilled, making the entry a simple event. After a long southern over-night flight (similar to HK to NZ), arriving at dawn,this is very welcomed. Equally welcome was the room ready and waiting. Chilean service [...]

A busload of chefs walked into a wine cellar…

A Chef At Large — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:58:30 +0000

A busload of chefs walked into a wine cellar. This seems like the perfect lead-in to a one-line joke. And, one would think a soviet era bus, packed full of chefs on a road trip to a warehouse-cum-winery, itself set in the deeply industrial area of Aberdeen; would be an excellent source of humorous anecdote. [...]

Molecular Gastronomy a system of knowledge.

A Chef At Large — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:38:49 +0000

Dr. Hervé This, would not be conducting a “cooking show” during his seminar on Molecular Gastronomy, presented at the HITDC in Pokfulam. In his clear words he does not pretend to be a cook.

What’s One Opinion More Or Less?

A Chef At Large — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:29:28 +0000

A significant portion of the dining community and more than a few members of the professional food and beverage community are up in arms over the recently published Michelin guide for Hong Kong and Macau. To be certain I agree with at least one sentiment expressed in that we all seem to know of one [...]