---COMMUNICATION? WHAT'S THAT?????????

YA KNOW...

THAT'S WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT IS COMMUNICATING...SHIT...IT AIN'T THAT HARD...

THIS PIC IS A PRIME EXAMPLE AND A PRETTY COOL STORY...

BEFORE I GO INTO THE STORY, TAKE A LOOK AT THE PICTURE AGAIN. SHE KNEW WHAT SHE HAD-WHAT SHE NEEDED,-HOW MUCH WAS DONE AND HOW MUCH WASN'T!-WHO SHE NEEDED TO CALL AND WHAT WAS LEFT TO DELIVER TO WHAT CHURCH....

PLANNING FOR THIS LITTLE PARTY THAT CONSUMED NOT ONLY THE HOUSE BUT THE FRONT AND BACK PORCH (COCKTAILS AND SMOKING IN THE BACK), THE HORSESHOE PIT, THE FRONT YARD AND PORTIONS OF THE STREET AND ALL OF THE NEIGHBORS YARDS, EVEN IF ONLY ONE OR TWO PEOPLE AT A TIME...

SO ANYWAY...ON WITH THE STORY...THANKSGIVING 2005

LAST THANKSGIVING I WAS INVITED TO A THANKSGIVING DAY, BREAKFAST FOR SIXTY PLUS AND THEN DINNER, WAS INSURED BY MY HOSTS THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE A PARTY IF NOTHING ELSE...

SO, I JUST WOUND UP IN THIS BUM-FLIPPED TOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF VIRGINIA. I HAVE MY GUITAR, MY LAPTOP, MY DIGITAL CAMERA, AND I WASN'T FREAKING WORKING....HOW GOOD CAN THAT BE???????????????

SO, THE WOMAN THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK ME UP AT 6 IN THE MORNING, DECIDED IT WAS A GOOD TIME FOR A COCKTAIL, IT WAS THANKSGIVING AFTER ALL...

SO I SETTLED INTO HAVING A GREY GOOSE AND SOME KIND OF SHIT THAT I BOUGHT FROM HESS OR SUNOCO OR ONE OF THOSE GAS STATIONS OF MY CHILDHOOD...PROBABLY A FREAKING ORANGE JUICE....

THIS HAPPENED LAST YEAR, BUT I FOUND THIS PIC TONIGHT AND IT HAD A LOT TO DO WITH THE DILEMMAS THAT I AM HAVING PROFESSIONALLY AND I HAD TO WRITE ABOUT IT...

IT'S ALL ABOUT ORGANIZATION...

SO ANYWAY, I HAD A COCKTAIL OR TWO BEFORE I ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE DOWN ON RALPH STREET, PAMPLIN, B.F., VIRGINIA...

ONCE I WALKED INTO THE HOUSE WITH ALL OF THE OBLIGATORY HUGS, KISSES, AND HOWDY-DO'S AND I AM GLAD TO MEET YA'S, THIS DRY ERASE BOARD WAS ONE OF MY FIRST EXPERIENCES.THAT ROCKED MY WORLD!!

GO AHEAD LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND TELL ME IF YOU SEE AS MUCH ON THAT BOARD AS I DO. AND SHE'S A FREAKING HOUSEWIFE...I'M A CHEF AND I DON'T EVEN SEE OTHER CHEF'S THAT ARE THAT ORGANIZED...WHAT THE HELL?

WHEN I WALKED INTO THE HOUSE, THIS BOARD WAS ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS AND THOUGHT IT WAS A GREAT PICTURE... I TOOK SEVERAL SHOTS OF THE BOARD, I THINK I LIKE THIS ONE THE BEST...

BUT ANYWAY, LET'S DISECT THIS SON OF A BISQUIT...

HERE IS A WOMAN, LITTLE SUBURBIA B-F NOWHERE, VIRGINIA AND SHE IS COOKING FOR THE TOWN FOLK AND FRIENDS, DOING 60 PLUS FOR BREAKFAST PLUS GOT TURKEY'S ON THE SMOKER FOR TONIGHT.....

KEEPING FREAKING NOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHUNGACHUNGAFUCKINGBAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AFTER I TOOK THE PICS OF THE BOARD, SHE LOOKED AT ME LAUGHING (WITH COCKTAILS IN BOTH OF OUR HANDS AT 7:45 am)....

"CHEFFY BOY....WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

I COMMENCED ON ONE OF MY ORGANIZATIONAL BATTLES, LETTING HER UNDERSTAND THAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS WITH WHO I AM OR WHAT I DO... AND WHO I WORK WITH/FOR

WHOA HOO....CHEFFY JUST HAD A THOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

ORGANIZE YOUR MIND AND HARMONY WILL FOLLOW...

IF MY FRIEND "JUST" CAN TAKE THAT PHILOSOPHY AND TEACH IT TO EVEN ONE OF HER CHILDREN, I WILL BE BLESSED....

THANKS JUST...T'WAS A GREAT DAY...

LOVE ALWAYS,
YOUR BROTHER,
MICHAEL

Click On Photographs for larger picture

Miscellaneous Babbles covering August Stuff

I had Greg take this picture pretty much as a joke. It's pretty funny that as much volume that we do that we have such primitive equipment and this pic is of me making my weekly version of demi. Unfortunately, due to the size of our kitchen and our tools we are forced to perform tasks in a rather primitive way, such as this, making demi in 8 gallon batches instead of 20-50 gallons which would be my preference.












Due to the lack of us not having a baker, our Corporate/Executive Chef Tom has been doing 99% of our baking and wedding cakes. He really has been doing some nice stuff.






My Buddy Chef Scott came into town for a few days to come hang out with the Cheffy Boy from Greenville, SC and as always there were the endless babbles about our passion for food.





While Chef was visiting, of course I had to work, here is a stuffed tilapia dish that we came up with for a function of a hundred plus

Tilapia stuffed with Shrimp and Scallops topped with Sauce Newburg.

Chamber of Commerce Event at Dara's Garden

The Boys Get To Play!!!



The Premise

The opportunity arose for us to showcase some cool food at an event at our new facility Dara's Garden. A bed and breakfast type setting with 20 acres in Maryville, TN.

Beautiful home and property set up primarily for hosting weddings and high end functions. So we got together and brainstormed on menus and logistics to host an event for the Knox County Chamber of Commerce, 300 people and the food was our choice.

Organizing the food end of the event was somewhat of a fiasco. I originally had suggested sushi and other action ethnic stations, everyone agreed so we set forth and tried to come up with something kick ass for us to do based around the ethnic action station idea.

The original menu-

Asian/Sushi Station-

Various Vegetarian Rolls Display
Two Action Stations
Ice Glows with Mise en Place and Sushi Display
Portabello Skewers with Peanut Sauce
Napa Wakame Salad
Asian Noodle Salad with Tofu

Mediterranean Station-

Tomato and Boccoccini Salad
Melon Balls with Midori
Caponata
6 foot sub

Decked out Spanish Station

Cuban Pulled Pork
Fajita Chicken
Black Beans
Spanish Rice
Mole
Chile Ancho Sauce
Roasted Corn
Pico De Gallo
Salsa Verde
Salsa Rojo
Salsa Tomatillo
Grilled Jalapenos
Assorted Shredded Cheeses
Tortilla Chips
Guacamole
Shredded Lettuce
Diced Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions

Hand Passed Hors D'oerves-
Assortment of items chosen off display as hand passed hors d’oerves

Southern Comfort Smoker/Grill-

Grilled Pork Shanks
Beef Brisket
Carolina BBQ
Honey Chipotle BBQ

Shrimp and Grits Action Station
Italian Polenta topped with Shrimp Scampi

Sorbet Station-
Assorted House made Sorbets to include Pineapple, Peach and Cantalope

Wedding Cake display


















OK, that would have been nice, what wound up of being a pretty kick ass event got really scaled down, still was a nice event but not what we had planned on to begin with.

The Final Menu-

Asian Station
Action Station with Sushi and composed salads
Sushi with cooked seafood only-grilled salmon, smoked salmon and crab
Wakame Salad
Pan-fried Asian Noodles with Tofu

Mediterranean Display Station-
Fruit Display
Marinated Vegetable Display
Gourmet Cheeses and Artisan Bread Display
Shotglass filled with Cinnamon Shrimp with Traditoinal Cocktail Sauce
Shotglasses filled with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Italian Flat Bread Breadsticks
Shotgleasses with Chipotle Ranch and Wedge batons of Carrots and Celery

Hand Passed Hot and Cold Hors D'oerves

Hand passed strawberry, peach and pineapple sorbets

Wedding Cake display

WTF?

The classic face...

"Pardon Me, but can you kindly explain to me what in the hell do you think you are doing?"

Cheffy Rant #276432

Cheffy Rant #276432

This business is really screwy…

Sometimes you can be dancing on the clouds, and other times slinging through the mud…

Are we drawing the lines or defining them? Or worse yet, are we sacrificing ethics for the sake of greed.

Definition. As a chef, it is necessary to have definition. We need to define all that is a part of our world, from service to cost analysis’ and P&L’s to the locations of the trucks and knowing what is on them to “ah, shit, I have to jump in the dish tank…” for one solo purpose, we HAVE to make it happen…

We must:

Define all things that in our mind we represent and expect. Especially Quality!!

Define the spirit of your heart and the harmony of your staff. Unhappy people make shitty food…

A bad apple can spoil a whole bushel; regardless of what we do other than consume the apples….

Waltzing in the midst of Rocking and Rolling is never an option, nor is failure.

If you wake up in the morning and fix a bowl of cereal and the freaking milk is bad, do you put it back in the fridge and hope that is better tomorrow?

I don’t fucking think so…

Sometimes it is a thin line between the passion for food and the greed of money…

Welcome to the Western Hemisphere…

And to my current world…

When there is no communication, you lose…bottom line…

People, departments, managers, staff in general need to freaking communicate, how in hell can you ever expect to be successful without having 100% understanding of what to expect out of your peers, employees, employers and of your freaking day…you can’t, you won’t and when this happens you are only asking for drama.

Prevent fires, don’t wait to extinguish them. It’s not bio-chemistry or rocket science, analyze the events and open mindedly discuss the events occurrences, especially the less than perfect occurrences; it is the only way that we learn.

Sometimes I just don’t get what is so fucking hard about that...

If you don’t give a shit about what you are doing, then do me a favor and get the hell out of my world...It won’t be the first husband, wife or child I pissed off, and probably not the last.

I have a major issue with sacrificing ethics. I like traditional sauces and methods of cooking versus the world that our profession has become, although I am pretty well known for taking my classical knowledge and adding a little CheffyTwist to it. It is just that non-conformist boy in me I guess. But dollar to dollar, not only am I freaking your taste buds out, I am also making a living doing it, hurrah for me right?

Not really…

So many people have gotten away from the food…

Several years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Chef John Fleer of Blackberry Farms in Townsend, Tennessee. Chef explained his philosophy about food and how important it has been in development of mankind, from the world’s greatest decisions to the simplicity of a family meal. His love and passion were very inspiring. Chef refuses to compromise his ethics in any way, shape or form…now to me that is life.

It’s always been about the food.
Always has been.
Should always be.

Why is that so hard to understand?

From the inquisitive mind of the Cheffy Boy…
No Passion---No Love