NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION

I am preparing right now the foods for the big day tomorrow. My gas range is full and foods are ready to go right now. My restaurant business is busy right now for the last minute orders from our valued restaurant goers. For the new year, I will be preparing 8 dishes because in the Chinese belief, 8 is a lucky number. We have to make the new year right and the number 8 will bring prosperity to my business and my career as a chef as well.

I am using an eight plate burner and the gas range that I am using in my restaurant is the best since I can cook several dishes at the same time, non-stop. My friend chef envy's my gas range because that was the last type produced by the manufacturing company before the production stop to focus on the 4 burner gars range.

In my calculation, I will be through with the cooking by 10 pm and I will go to the church and hear the mass before going back to my house and wait till the clock strikes 12:01 in the morning. The new year's celebration is considered one of the most awaited celebrations in the year. As believed in many generations, the more food you place on your table, the more blessings you will receive the coming year. No wonder many of my customers called me and told me to cater them for the dishes that they will be placing on their tables. Well, chefs don't let go of this kind of offer.

UNFREEZING THE MEAT EASILY

I am using a high freezing machine in my restaurant. It is because it preserves the freshness of the meats that I use and cook in my restaurant. Many of my customers would ask me about how to unfreeze the meat easily, considering that I am using this type of freezer in my restaurant. As an expert chef, I learned this strategy of unfreezing meat easily by my own experience. This I would share to all.

The trick of unfreezing meat is easy. Others would submerge the meat into the water and let it stay there for about 20 to 30 minutes until the meat unfreezes. That kind of style of unfreezing meat is also good. But it would unfreeze faster when just putting it in the chopping board. Let the meat stay there until the meat unfreezes. The style is faster compared with the submerging style into the water.

Now you know, the best way to unfreeze meat is just placing it on top of the chopping board. There are others more to unfreeze meats. But for me this is the best way to do it. By this, you can cook immediately without any delay to your restaurant customers.

A GOOD CHEF'S ADVICE

When I was in culinary school, my classmate always tell me about the saying: The pot tackles the misery. I never get to understand that until now. I met her again this month and saw her beautiful restaurant that she handles. Just like me, she is also a chef and has a great career in the cooking world. Her restaurant focus on baked goodies. She was also the one that helped me in the cooking event that I joined.

We had a short chat, just giving advises to one another. After culinary school, she went to the USA to gain more experience in the baking industry. Two years of study there, she went bake and opened a bakeshop. She is now a master baker. Her shop has the best cakes in the city right now. She was also the baker commissioned to bake for the birthday of the president. She is really big time right now.

I invited her in my restuarant and she said a positive response to my request for her apprearance. Way back, I remember her being a simple student, with lots of ambition in life. She has really achieved her dreams of being a chef and a baker as well.

TASK COMPLETED

I just completed the final stage of my baking mastery. I am now prepared for the coming baking contest. My friends are all excited of the contest because they supported me all the way in this endeavor. I will be submitting 3 bake products to the baking committee on Monday, as my final entry to the contest.

I also would like to thank several chefs that helped me in the baking lessons. It was a crash course and I think I passed with colors, considering the time spent just few days. In culinary school, we have to master the baking lesson for about 3 months before we can move to another stage of the course. But I completed the baking in just few days of practice in my restaurant and in my friends bakeshop.

I also got a food coupon from my friend, who owns a restaurant in the downtown area. According to my friend, the coupon was a price in her recently concluded party and she want me to have one. She gave it to me because, she wants me to taste the foods that she prepares in her restaurant. According to my friend, who is also a chef, said that the food in the restaurant id excellent. Many customers come back again because of the dishes prepared. I think I need to taste those foods myself.

GLAZED HAM WITH PINEAPPLE CHUNKS

This yuletide season, prepare something special for the family. The most common food on the table would be the ever favorite glazed ham. For this dish, you will be needing the following ingredients and things that you will be needing for the cooking proper of the dish. The ham preparation would take around 45 minutes and cooking time would be 3 hours. So let's start the pan heating and follow the direction properly.

1 half ham - fully cooked (8 to 10 lbs.)
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, slightly drained
Container: roasting pan and rack

Directions
* Preheat oven to 325°F. Trim the skin and some of the fat from the ham, leaving some fat to provide moisture to the ham while cooking.

* Place the ham cut side down on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Add the water to the roasting pan and cover tightly with foil. Place in a preheated oven and roast for 18 to 24 minutes per pound. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time the glaze should be applied.

* GLAZE: Raise the oven temperature to 375°F. Score the fat by making diagonal cuts in one direction approximately 3/4 inch apart. Then make diagonal cuts in the opposite direction to form a diamond pattern. Make the glaze by adding brown sugar and pineapple (slightly drained) together and stir until well mixed. Spoon or brush glaze over the ham.

* Return the ham to the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Watch carefully because the glaze can burn easily. Ham is done when the glaze has caramelized and turned golden brown. Remove from the oven and carve.

Glazed ham is one of the dishes that is easy to prepare. There are lots of different hams in the supermarket and you have to choose with you would like to prefer. Ham is already spiced and ready to cook. You will find this recipe in my recipe book that will soon be out in the market.

COUNTING TO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON

Many people are busy right now because in the eve today will be Christmas already. No wonder my restaurant received so many food orders today. Just this morning, I got 100 orders for my crispy pata and kalderetang kambing or goat's meat dish. My assistant chef already told me that the volume of food orders are above our daily production or cooking. I told her that me might extend up to 7 pm for more food orders. Usually foods are for take out. No more dine in right now.

My food kiosk also receives volume orders and the single chef assigned there told me that he cannot control the orders right now and he will be needing more assistance in the kiosk. Food orders are many and few are cooking the dishes ordered. I think I need to close the kiosk operation early and the restaurant will also be close around 8 pm this evening.

I am also busy cooking right now in the kitchen and I will assist in the restaurant maybe later on this evening. I have to finish cooking the dishes that will be served this midnight. Few more dishes to be prepared and then I will immediately proceed to the restaurant for assistance for my other chef.

PREPARING FOR A CHRISTMAS FEAST

I got a visit this morning from a big family here in our city. The family is hosting a big event this Christmas and they want me to do the cooking in the kitchen. According to their organizer, they want us to cook around 30 dishes and that will be divided as appetisers, main dish and the finishing touches for the celebration. If there are add-on, they will just tell me what dish they want me to prepare. This feast will be feeding around 500 to 1,000 people in a garden venue. For me this will be exciting to do.

I have already prepared some dishes and I am still looking at my recipe books for more dishes to cook. 30 dishes is already something to think about. But I am no amateur in this kind of occasion since I have already cooked for around 1,000 more people. It was a wedding and I was told to do the cooking for the wedding. Even though I am not new to this kind of events, I am still not letting down of my guard. I want to be prepared for the event. My recipe books will be a good help for me.

I was also told that they want chefs around the kitchen and not just some simple cook. For this kind of occasion, I think 5 chefs will be enough to do the cooking for such a big event. We chefs were trained for this kind of situation and we don't choke. We need to stand up and be noticed for every dish that we prepare and cooked. The cooking school will truly be proud of this event.

IMPROVING MY BAKING SKILLS

I was very busy this morning because I was going through my cooking notes or my baking notes from the culinary school. I have to prepare myself because I will be joining a baking competition this end of December. I am studying to bake several cakes and breads that I will be submitting this to the board. I have to prepare myself for the event. I also got some help from my classmates in the culinary school. They lend me some of their precious notes and I have to read these notes.

I also thanked my chef friend for allowing my to use her baking equipments. I have few of these in my restaurant because I focus on dishes and not on bake goodies. The whole day I was in her bakeshop. She also taught me some baking strategies and dough preparation for the breads that I will be baking in the contest proper.

In the icing department, I approached my baker friend and he told me some pointers in the icing making. Icing make is easy to see but hard to do. It is because you need a steady hands in the decorations. According to the committee that the board will not allow ready made flowers in the icing. They want made it on the spot. Few more days to go before the contest proper. The restaurant dishes are now handled my assistant chef in the restaurant. I also look after the food presentation even though I am preparing for the baking needs.

MY RELATIVES ARE COMING TO TOWN

I was called by my cousin and told me that they will be coming next week the Christmas celebration and the place where they are going to stay will be on my house. Along with them, is my aunt, who by the way is a retired chef from Australia. She is my favorite aunt because she teaches me well every time we meet. I discover new dishes from her and which I also share to my customers in the restaurant.

According to my cousin, my aunt is looking for me this past few weeks because she heard that I have a restaurant already. My aunt before retiring, she was the head chef of Marco Polo Hotel in Hong Kong. After she retired early, she went to Australia to accept a new chef offer there. She went on for another 5 years and totally decided to rest her pots and woks for good.

Every time we talk on the phone, my aunt who tell me recipes that she discovered and would like to share it with me. She also told me that I can work in Australia as chef there. But I always said to her that I am happy with the restaurant that I own right now and working as a chef in Australia is a great offer and others would be grateful to have it. I am contented with the chef I am right now. I discover recipes and I have a customers to share it with.

NEW KITCHEN UTENSILS

I have been operating since 2004 and my first utensils that I used are still with me. My old wok and pans are still with me in my quest for domination in the restaurant industry. maybe I really just wanted to be old fashioned with all the things that I used in the kitchen for my restaurant operation. As they say: why fix it when ain't broken!

But seriously, I am really planning to change the utensils that I am using in the kitchen in the coming days. My old utensils, I will give it to my cousin who operates a small kitchenette in the downtown area. The old utensils that I have will surely be useful in her operation. I would say that changing my utensils will be a good move for me since it will bring fresh image on my restaurant.

Only the utensils will go and not the dishes that I cook. For the past 5 years of operating and being a chef in a restaurant, there some original dishes that I cook before and until now. This dish is the adobong chicken and pork. Most of my customers look for the adobo in my restaurant. Aside from adobo, my chicken honey roast is still with me.

CHEF DON'T EAT TO MUCH

I have observed this after I became a full pledge chef, I no longer eat too much unlike before. Maybe because I am too much expose to the cooking aroma and that tends to remove my desire to eat. Years back, I was admitted because of ulcer. The doctor told me that I am a chef and my sickness is is ironic to my profession.

Sometimes, instead of eating in my own restaurant, I would go out and buy foods at eat it at my home. This I find very strange about me. I also asked several chef friends about my condition and majority told me that they also share what I am experiencing right now.

After cooking the dish in the restaurant, I would go out and seek the fresh air outside. it is because when I stay longer in the kitchen, I will totally lose my appetite. My assistant chef in the restaurant would cook something for me so that my ulcer will not visit me again. Just this evening, I forgot again to eat because I have no appetite, especially foods that I cook personally.

NEW COOKING STUDENTS

I received a letter from a local cooking school just this morning. The letter was all about the school's students are requesting if I could lend them a hand in the final examination in the school. I always welcome such requests because I believe, cooking is a skill and it has to be nurtured and developed properly to make a person better. The schedule of visit will be after the business hours of my restaurant because I prefer that time so that I can still monitor the restaurant's operation.

I have some old recipe books that I will be using ones the students arrive in my restaurant. I also prepared some of the woks and pots that we will be using as I make a demo cooking for these students who are going to visit me after the restaurants operation hours. As I read the letter, they want me to teach them the proper ways in cooking. I think cooking is an art of making simple things taste good. Everybody can cook and it would only take awhile for the person to know the tips on how to cook.

The recipe that I will be showing to the students will be the Pochero con Baka. This is a very simple recipe that I usually teach to my students in the culinary school. With this dish, student will get to know the secrets in cooking. I am just happy to be selected to teach new students how to cook the right way.

INTERNATIONAL CUISINES

My friend, who works in a cruise ship, is presently working as the head chef of the cruise ship. I remember her during our culinary days that she was very particular in the preparation of the foods that we cooked that time. She would prefer international cuisines rather local ones. She was our best representative when we competed in a cooking contest in Singapore and in Malaysia. We were three that time and she was our team leader in the cooking contest. We bagged that prestigious cooking contest and went home with the bacon.

I would say that it was her specialty in cooking international cuisines and food preparation and presentation was also her forte. No wonder she landed as the head chef of the cruise ship because of her expertise in international cuisines. In my opinion, international cuisines and local cuisines are all the same. The difference maybe will be in the presentation of the cooked dish.

In local cuisines, presentation is less emphasized compared to the international cuisines. Foods are prepared in neat manner that it looks delicious when just looking at the dish. I have seen ans studied so many international cuisines already and I also tried to incorporate some of the dishes in my restaurant. But most of my customers prefer local cuisines rather international ones.

THE SIMPLE RECIPE IS THE BEST

I just represented the restaurant in a cooking competition. The competition was organized by the culinary school and most of the contestants were former students in the culinary school and now already chefs in their chosen fields. We were around 20 contestants and it was trimmed down to 10 for the finals.

We were required to submit our own recipe to the committee, the food that we were going to prepare and then the cooking started. Most of my rival chefs were preparing European dishes and they were using the European style of cooking. But Prefer the simple one but has a tested outcome. I have been cooking the recipe in my restaurant only and only for those special customers in my restaurant.

Were given around 30 minutes to cook the dish that we submitted. Most of my rival chefs were cooking dishes that require more than 30 minutes to cook and that was the problem for their selected dish. My dish was only 20 minutes to prepare and the result was an immediate impact to the tasting audience judges.

I bagged home the major prize for the competition and I was told that I have to come back next year to defend my crown. I just so happy to get the award. Cooking is really my passion and from cooking, I was able to get what I want and was also able to establish my own business out of the cooking skills that I acquired from the culinary school. The culinary school congratulated me for winning the award. I guess the culinary school really molded my skills in cooking to be the nest chef around the metro. For information, I cooked bacon delight in the cooking competition. This recipe, I already written in my own recipe book that will be soon in the stores by next year.

A NEW RESTAURANT FOR THE COMING YEAR

I was told by a chef friend to visit her in at the restaurant that she operates. Her restaurant specializes in American dishes. Her restaurant has been around for about 5 years also. I believe we started the same year when I opened my restaurant. I also remembered that we both did shopped together and bought the kitchen utensils, woks, pans and other things that are essential in operating a restaurant. We also shared recipe books. I always borrow her recipe books because it was so unique and she likes to buy limited edition recipe books.

My friend told me that the American dishes that she prepares in her restaurant were not enough to get a large market share in the restaurant industry. She added that she wanted to co-own a business with me as her partner. But since I do have a restaurant, that idea was not longer gonna make it to reality. Instead of co-ownership, I suggested that she needs to adopt to the trends of the eating public. Introduce new foods in the restaurant, innovate and not duplicate what others already did.

Out of the blue, she made a decision to open a coffee shop and cake station. That was a good idea I told her because during our schooling at the culinary school, she always excelled in the baking sessions that we undergo in the school. She makes cake like magic and no other one can duplicate what she can do in the baking department. I am so happy to have helped my friend. She might open the coffee shop next year and I am excited to see that soon.

SPICES MATTERS

The whole day, I have been trying to study a recipe in my recipe book and learn how to cook it. It is a Thai food and I am very interested to learn how to cook this type of dish. My friends would told me that Thai foods are unique and requires so much of spices that makes the food hot. No wonder Thai foods are known for it's hotness in every dish. Maybe that makes the dish unique among others.

People who are already accustomed to eat Thai foods would say that the food is not hot, it is very hot actually. My friend chef last week invited me to dine at a restaurant nearby. The restaurant is known for it's Thai foods and other foods also. But the restaurant is marked as Thai food restaurant already. For my chef career, it was the first time for me to eat Thai foods. They are really hot.

I am learning to stude the Thai dishes because I want it to be incorporated in my buffet restaurant so that my customers would also taste what Thai foods are all about. I really needed to learn the dish. Maybe I will visit Thailand and learn how to cook their proud dishes that are majority are hot. The recipe books would suggest that to place hot peppers to make the dish taste good.

NEW RECIPE DISCOVERED

I was doing my regular cooking task in my restaurant when suddenly I thought of something new for the restaurant. The buffet style of dining was indeed a big hit for my restaurant. Cooking for several people was something beyond every chef's dreams. Many of my customers were amazed when I implemented the buffet type of dining.

In a buffet style kind of restaurant, you need to prepare several dishes for one hundred customers every meal time. That's right, every meal time because you don't your customers feel that the foods that were prepared in the restaurant are all redundant. Good thing I have an assistant chef with me to help me with all the cooking for the restaurant. We implemented the buffet style of dining and results were positive.

But there is one new recipe that I am planning to serve in the restaurant and that is the crispy pata. I just think that this dish that I will be preparing will be a sure hit to my restaurant customers. I already consulted my assistant chef and she agreed with the idea for the restaurant.

TREATS FOR MY FREQUENT DINING CUSTOMERS

It's been 5 years now when I first started to cook for people aside from my family. After graduating from the culinary school, I immediately opened my own restaurant and try to practice what I learned from the culinary schools and the recipes that I practice often in the kitchen. 5 years in the cooking and restaurant industry is already a milestone for a chef like me.

Now in my 5 years in the business, I think it is about time to give something back to my loyal dining customers. I am proud to say that I achieved something every chef in the world wanted and that is the frequent customers that visit the restaurant and dine there. Complements are are icing on the cake of a chef. For this year's anniversary, I will be giving out Food coupons and Restaurant Coupons to all of my loyal customers. I am still thinking of the mechanics for winning the coupons in my restaurant. Aside from the coupons, I will also be giving out away some free goodies in the restaurant such as recipe books and delightful dishes for free. I think that's the best way to thank all my loyal dining customers in my restaurant who never stop patronizing my cooking style and the dishes that I prepared.

Aside from cooking and reading and practicing almost all the recipe books that are available in the world, I also am a fan of site that are related to cooking. You will find Restaurant.com a good site to visit. In here I learned a lot from the cooking styles and techniques that are widely used by chefs around the world. The idea of sharing something back to my customers were ideas from the cooking site that I mentioned.

But I still really need to iron all the necessary thing before I will be disclosing the restaurant promo to all my customers. I think I really needed to read more recipe books right now and practicing cooking all the recipes that I find fascinating in the recipe books. For more days and the cooking in my restaurant will be something to remembered.

CHEF CONNECTIONS

Most of my classmates in the culinary school are now owners of their own restaurants and food related businesses. We make it sure that we stay connected with one another. That is why every Sunday, we make it a reunion day for all of us. Our venue of of chef gathering will be done in our homes. The food is not a problem because we bring foods as we meet one another. It is a potluck system in our gathering. We call each other and ask what food we will be rbinging so that there will be no food repitition upon our meeting.

Aside from our classmates, we also invite other people that are close to our batch and last week, our dean in the culinary school was our guest. During our meeting we usually discuss our future plans in our careers as chefs and our plans foir our businesses. But the most important among all is that we get to meet each other other again. Our bonding in the culinary school was very strong that we would miss each other after graduation in the culinary school.

We also decided to make a website about our desire in cooking. Most of us will have an access to the site and post things about us and our each daily happenings in life. We can also post new recipes that we created and other things about the chef life that we are all in right now. During our meeting last week, we were told that Carrie, our chef friend will be moving to California toi work as a chef in a hotel there. The chef connection and the camaraderie that we share will last as long as we live.

PREPARING SEVERAL DISHES FOR THE FEAST

I was told that today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Many parishes are celebrating this occasion and since I am a chef, I prepared something to make the celebration meaningful. In my restaurant, I prepared several dishes for all of my customers. By the way, I have already change my restaurant style for the serving type to the buffet style of dining.

The dishes I prepared are the following: Adobo pork and chicken, Lumpia Shanghai, roasted duck, lechon biik ( sucking pig), sweet and sour lapu-lapu, pork and beef steak, fried shrimps, alimango sa gata, kinilaw na blue marlin and the most favorite of all, tuna panga. When my customers saw the dishes prepared, most of them were amazed of the dishes that I prepared for them. All of these dishes were from my recipe book and I just follow the ingredients and the style of cooking.

I would say, for my 5 years of being a chef, I had encountered almost all the types of recipes around the world. I have experience cooking with the best chefs of America and Europe. The only thing I am still hoping to experience is to compete in the Chef America challenge. But I know that is still a dream that I have to conquer later on. But for now, my kitchen will serve as my stage and feed thousands of people in my restaurant with the dishes that I cook. The chef style!

TRADITIONAL RECIPES COINED

When I was young and living in the province, I remembered my grandmother telling me about this recipe that has been handed from one generation to another. The recipe was about the goat caldereta. The recipe has not been change ever since they started cooking the dish. The recipe has not yet been written in any recipe books because our family wanted to keep the family tradition alive and stayed original.

In cooking caldereta, the secret lies in the goat's meat. Instead of buying the meat in supermarkets, they preferred to do it themselves and butcher the goat into desired meat size. According to my grandmother, they let the goat drink vinegar before putting it to rest. The vinegar serves as a counter against the smelly odor of the goat's meat. Usually the cooking proper last around an hour before moving to the next stage of the dish. This is how meticulously they prepared the dish. No wonder it was so expensive to buy a serving of the dish.

In culinary school, we were told that goat's meat requires extra care in preparation. A single wrong move would lead to the failure of the dish that was being cooked, especially using goat's meat. I know my grandmother would disagree with me when she knew that I have already written it in my recipe book that I am preparing right now. I want the secret of meat preparation when it comes to goat meat be known to others. I believe this will be my main contribution to the culinary world and many chefs would agree to my idea.

CHIKEN CURRY - PINOY STYLE OF COOKING

I was moving things in the stockroom and found this recipe that my mother taught me how to cook. I really love this recipe and this was the first dish I cooked when I started cooking in the kitchen. This is an all time favorite dish. The taste of curry and the tenderness of the chicken really blends well in this dish. For this recipe, here are the ingredients:

· 2-3 tbsp. oil
· 3 potatoes, peeled, quartered and fried
· 1 lb. chicken, cut into serving pieces
· 3 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 large onion, quartered
· 1 tbsp. patis (fish sauce)
· 3 tbsp. curry powder
· salt and pepper
· 1 cup water
· 1 red bell pepper, cut into big squares
· 1 green bell pepper, cut into big squares
· 3 celery stalks, cut into 1-1/2” long
· 1 cup coconut milk
or evaporated milk

So lets start the cooking process of this dish. Just follow the procedure and you will never go wrong when cooking chicken curry, Pinoy style.

1. Pan fry potatoes. Set aside.

2. In the same pan, fry chicken pieces and brown a little.

3. Add garlic and onion. Sauté for a few minutes until soft.

4. Pour in patis and season with curry powder, salt and pepper. Stir for 2 minutes.

5. Add water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat; add celery, bell peppers and fried potatoes. Simmer for 3 minutes or until half done.

6. Add milk and stir occasionally. Cook for another 7 minutes (or lesser when using evaporated milk because the liquids will curled).

7. Remove from heat. Serve hot.

BUSY AT THE RESTAURANT

I was not able to check some of the things that I do regularly because I was so busy at the restaurant. Yesterday, there was a function held in the restaurant. I was catering about 200 persons inside my restaurant and I prepared about 20 dishes for them. They are just not regular customers but diplomats from different countries. They were having their annual diplomats meeting and my restaurant was their chosen venue for their meeting.

I prepared for them 20 different dishes that I cooked myself. It really pays off when you have so many different recipe books with you. Like me, I have almost 50 recipe books, dishes all over the world. Before their meeting, I was learning their cooking ways and I was so happy that I made it right. I also would like to give credit to my kitchen staffs and my assistant chef in the restaurant for their undying support to make the function a success.

I was told that the next meeting will be held in other area and they still want me to do the cooking for the occasion. As a chef, having this kind of praise is really heart warming and it really feels good as a chef to receive such acknowledgment. If the will push through next year, I will be preparing not just 20 dishes but around 40 dishes to cater to 500 people. I think I really need to start to collect more recipe books this time.

COOKING INVITATION

I got a letter from my friend who is now working in Dubai. The letter was all about a cooking invitation for me to go to Dubai and cook there for 3 months. I never said no to any offer before. But this time is an exceptional. The cooking invitation is good and will open new opportunity for me abroad. But the time has changed. I have my business to look after here and besides, I have already experienced working in Dubai as chef.

To elaborate more about the invitation, there is a good compensation awaiting for me if I accept the offer to work there as a chef. But I am really having doubts about the cooking invitation. if I accept the offer, I have to fly to Dubai by Saturday next week and start cooking there immediately. My classmates in the culinary school are majority working in Dubai as chefs.

My classmates who are now working in Dubai as chefs always send me new recipe books and cooking materials because they really now my favorite and my passion and that is cooking. Most of my things in the kitchen were given to me by my classmates in the culinary school. I think I will decline the offer and would recommend others to have that great opportunity to work in Dubai as chef.

GOING FURTHER IN COOKING

Sitting at the benches of my restaurant, I suddenly realized that I need to make a major adjustment in my culinary profession. I am not saying that I gonna close down my restaurant, no, I think I need to further my knowledge in cooking. In order to do this, I need to have a masters degree in cooking. I told the culinary school about the plan and they think that it would be great to see me again once more in the halls of the culinary school.

The administrator head of the culinary school is very much willing to accept me to one of their chef instructor for the school. By accepting this task of being a mentor to students is a very honorable profession. In culinary study, there is a procedure that is being followed like a module or a lesson plan. According to the dean of the culinary school, there vacant position in teaching is the international cuisine cooking. I would say, I am good at that style of cooking.

I have already told my batch mates that I will be teaching in the culinary school and all of my chef-friends agreed to my plan to teach in the culinary school. Considering that I have been studying international cuisine abroad and with my international cooking experience abroad, I think I am the right person for the job in the culinary school. I think I really need to file my recipe books starting now, for references to my future cooking students.

MEATY OR VEGETARIAN DISHES

Many of my customers are meat eaters. They prefer eating meat dishes because for them nothing beats the meat and the nutrients from it. But there are also others that prefer the vegetarian diets or foods. Sometimes they are called the A vegetarian leaks. For they think that vegetarian food rule supreme the culinary adventure.

In my 12 years of being a chef, I have encountered so many dishes and learned each one of them on how to cook this dishes. It can be vegetarian diets or tasty meaty dishes, just name it and I will cook it. But sometimes vegetarian food are more meticulously prepared compared to the meat dishes. For the reason of vegetarian customers can sense the presence of meat taste in their food. But so far in my restaurant, I have not received any comments or complains for that.

I had collected so many recipes books and studied cooking the right vegetarian foods. Way back in the culinary school, I won first price in the vegetarian contest cooking and the school would recognize me as the best chef to cook vegetarian dishes. For those who are eating meat dishes, I call them meaty lovers. I just name them in my own culinary way.

NEW STYLE OF COOKING

I was attended a cooking jamboree and I was amazed of what I saw. The usual pots and woks are extinct in the place where I went to. Instead of this modern cooking pots and woks, they are using bamboo. Yes, that's right bamboo. What they do is the stuff the bamboo with the ingredients and they heat it on fire. When the bamboo side is burned, that means that the meat inside is perfectly cooked.

I never saw this kind of cooking before only in the place where we went to. I was thinking that there were other cooking styles that are hidden to the urban world. I think incorporating these style would create more customers customers to visit my restaurant and taste the new dishes that I will be incorporating. The are also new recipes that I had discovered during the cooking jamboree and I will disclose these things later on.

In the update of the chefs gathering, everything is okay and ready to go. More and more chef classmates are now arriving from abroad just to attend the chefs reunion. As the organizer, I am very happy about this idea and I already had received several congratulations from other chefs because of the upcoming successful party this coming Saturday. I will be cooking for the event is the double roasted turkeys with honey dip. I researched this recipe using my recipe book that I bought during my culinary adventure in Italy.

COOKING ENGAGEMENT

Next week will be a busy week for me. Aside from the regular cooking in the restaurant, I have a cooking engagement in one of the major hotels here in the city. This engagement was contracted last year after my birthday celebration. The hotel chief executive office visited me on the day of my birthday and offered me a job to be the head chef of the hotel just for the month of December.

The role of the head chef is very crucial in the kitchen operation. It is because the head chef will supervise all the cooking activity in the kitchen. All dishes cooked must meet the culinary standards of the hotel and the hotel itself must approve all the dishes cooked. The head chef must also see to it that the dining area is presentable and the guests are well provided with the food that they ordered.

This cooking engagement is also very important to me because I will earn the necessary experience once I go for abroad to work. But working for a sum of money is really not important to me. It is just will have the chance to earn more experience and to travel as a chef and experience many culinary style in every country I will be visiting. I would say that studying in a culinary is a must for those who really want to take cooking seriously. The recipe books that I have are very important in my kitchen. I cannot reach where I am right now without the help of the recipe books and other cooking materials that I am using right now.

COOKING ADJUSTMENT

The world is getting smaller everyday as I look at my kitchen right now. My recipe books are all over the area and some of my cooking notes are everywhere the kitchen. Good thing I am the only one doing the kitchen cooking or else these important recipe books and cooking notes will thrown away.

I also received a call this morning informing me that some of our batch mates abroad are coming tomorrow. They are also chefs abroad and they are all excited to come here again just to attend the chef's reunion this coming Saturday. All of the important details are already prepared and I guess the chefs reunion will be a success. Some of my chef friends are also researching for the dish that they will be cooking for the event. A chef friend called me and asked me about the dish that I will be preparing. I told her nothing since that is a secret for me. Instead, she borrowed one of my recipe books and she told me that she just return it during the event.

The culinary school also informed that the place where the venue will be held is already prepared and ready for decoration. I told the decoration committee to proceed immediately to the place to make the necessary decorations for the chefs reunion.

I am still busy practicing the sea food recipe here in my house. I need to rearrange my kitchen to maximize the space that I have. The cooking continues in my kitchen and tomorrow I will be doing the cooking again in the restaurant.

INCORPORATING MORE DISHES

After I attened the cooking seminar for two days, I was told of my chef assistant that many of my avid restaurant diners were looking for their favorite chef. More flattering as a chef to receive such compliment from the end people who liked my dishes that I personally cooked in my restaurant's kitchen. Receiving such compliments, as a chef, it really brings good impression and others more. The seminar was just two days. But I will start cooking again this coming Monday. It is because I have to review the recipes that were taught to us during the seminar.

I will also be reading the recipe book that were given to the cooking seminar participants. I got mine and I will be reading it and practicing to cook some of the dishes that were listed in the recipe book. I also noticed that there were some ingredients that are hard to find. That is why I am thinking of replacing some of those ingredients that are hard to find or seasonal. As a chef, I learned that from the cooking or culinary school. Ingredient replacements are often done to avoid the missing ingredients in the dishes that are being cooked. As a chef, I need to be creative and put a signature in the dishes that I cook.

Cooking practice will be done in the kitchen of my house. I will do everything and without kitchen assistants to help me in the kitchen. As overall, the recipes in the sea food recipe book are easy to cook. Fishes and other shell dishes are easy to find. But I need to innovate the dishes to make it my own cooking creation.

SEA FOODS WILL SOON BE SERVE

In the beginning of this year, I was already contemplating on doing a big change in my dishes in my restaurant. I was already thinking of innovating it by introducing see food dishes in my restaurant. After the sea food dishes seminar that I attended for two days, my plans of introducing sea foods in my restaurant will soon be happening.

The seminar was very useful for me and helpful too. I was able to gain more knowledge in cooking sea food dishes and I also got a recipe book for all the types of sea food dishes. Aside from the the sea food recipe book, I also received Olive Garden coupons and Red Lobster coupons. This will be very useful as I venture into the sea food business. My avid customers were also excited about my plans of having sea food dishes in my restaurant. After receiving all the give aways in the seminar, I browsed the recipe book that they gave me and it very interesting once I start cooking the recipes listed.

The seminar was hosted by Food Info and there were also other sponsors that were behind the organizing of the seminar. I saw some old friends who are also chefs in other restaurants who were invited for the cooking seminar of sea foods. I will be testing some of the dishes in the cook book or recipe book that was given to me.

In my first sea food dish, I will be cooking lobsters in the restaurant. This is just a test cooking and the finish dish will be tasted by the customers who will be dining in the restaurant tomorrow. The cooking seminar was a good start as I start cooking sea food dishes in my restaurant.

SEA FOODS GALORE

I was invited this morning to attend a seminar, a cooking seminar, along with my friend. The seminar was all about cooking sea foods. Since in the culinary school, sea food dishes are my favorite because they are easy to cook and more people right now prefer sea foods rather than pork and chicken dishes, for health reasons. The seminar will be done in a hotel and will be attended by restaurant and hotel chefs around the city.

What is unique about the seminar is that not along can join. Few are selected to join and I was just lucky to be one of the selected chefs to join the seminar. The cost of the seminar is quite expensive but the seminar will be giving out free recipe books and all the recipes inside it are sea food dishes. The seminar will start at 9 am and 3 pm. It will be for two days of cooking that will be held in the hotel.

I don't have to bring any things with me, except my personal belongings and some writing materials for the cooking demo notes that I will be doing. The restaurant will be managed by my assistant chef and the kiosk will be the same. This cooking seminar is very important because I am planning to open a sea food restaurant business. The lessons that I will be leaning in the sea food cooking seminar will be useful in my plans. As they say, a chef needs to learn some cooking everyday.

THE COOKING MASTER IS COMING

Its been awhile since I last saw my instructor in the culinary school. I got an important call from my classmate informing me that our teacher in the culinary school is coming back this December to attend our grand reunion of chefs. This is a good news for our batch since we were the first and only students that he encountered since he live in Finland.

He is coming to the reunion upon knowing it from the dean of the culinary school. he will be arriving in the first week of December and we are all excited to see him again. In my stay in the culinary school, he taught as so many dishes and the pointers in food preparation and more. He told us that a good food must also come in good presentation.

I think that is the most basic rule in cooking that food preparation must always be good or else the food won't have a good impression. Today in the restaurant, I was preparing all the events that will be done in the reunion. I believe that when we work together, chefs, we can make things possible. I am now finalizing the menu for the event and the recipes that will be used for the cooking contest.

THE CHEFS REUNION

Last week in our class meeting, we decided to have a grand reunion of all the graduates in the culinary school, from batch 1 up to the present batch 15. Instead of paying a sum of money, we decided to bring food that we cooked ourselves and bring it to the party venue so that other chefs would be able to taste the food that we cooked. Aside from that, every party is a show off in the cooking skills that we acquired from the culinary school.

The venue will be shouldered by the culinary school. There will also be games and cooking tests that are going to happen in the grand reunion of chefs. We already told the chefs that enlisted to prepare their specially cooked dish and bring it to the party-reunion. They were all excited about the event and looking forward to the reunion. Other chefs that are working abroad will be coming home just to attend the grand reunion of chefs.

This event is the first to happen. Batches will gather and meet one another. The dean of the culinary schools also gathered sponsors for the event and ingredient suppliers are also excited for the event. Actually right now, I am contemplating what type of food I will be bringing on the reunion. I have to be unique and stand out among other chefs that will be attending the chefs reunion for 2009. I still have 2 weeks to prepare and I am very excited too for the event to happen. There are also recipe books that will be given away and for those who will win the cooking contest will receive a one year supply of macaroni pasta. A big prize for all chefs that will attend the reunion of chefs.

ASIDE FROM COOKING

Most of my friends are graduates also of the culinary school. Maybe the passion for cooking runs in our veins and cooking is the link for all of us. Some of my classmates are already recipe writers and others are no longer in the country because they are abroad working as chefs in restaurants and hotels.

But during our last reunion, one of our batch mate have something unique business that he operates. He sells buick supercharger and also has a restaurant and he is the chief chef. Many of his customers in the restaurant were pleased about the product. My friend, he has 5 years experience in the culinary world in one of the top restaurants in Dubai. He also has a teaching experience when he was part-time cooking master in the culinary school where were graduated from. he told me being a chef is a lasting profession and he will never leave the cooking world and the culinary school for anything. He profession as a chef does not stop there and that is why he also sell to his restaurant customers the supercharger. The delivery is free when you order this product.

He added that his capital sprouted from the restaurant business that he owns and managed. Being a chef is a lasting job and he will never trade it for anything else. He also told me that he will be going to London to experience something new as a chef. He will be cooking for the royal family of London. He was commissioned to be the chief chef in the palace. Everything started in cooking and he has something more to offer aside from being a chef. This is something that I am also thinking about. Expanding my chef profession and be somebody else. But my restaurant will continue to operate.

MY NEW KITCHEN ASSISTANT

I would admit that my restaurant business is doing well right now. The volume of daily customers is increasing and my time is not enough to cater to all the customer orders. Aside from me, there two others helping me in the kitchen work. But I alone do the mixing in the wok to make the dishes prepared uniform, quality control purposes. But it is very hard to do all the job in the kitchen.

I decided to hire a new chef for the restaurant. Luckily a chef, a graduate of the same culinary school where I am from applied this morning in the restaurant after I posted the hiring post in the culinary school. I already talked to the chef and she will be in probationary starting tomorrow. i know that the new chef would stay long in the kitchen of my restaurant because she already told me that she had applied for work abroad as chef also. But that's fine with me since I needed somebody who can assist me in the cooking in the restaurant.

According to the culinary school, the chef that I newly hired is a top rated chef and has been connected with 5 star restaurants before working with me. They added that she won several cooking contest held in the culinary school also and memorized various recipes in the recipe book in the culinary school. With all these things said about my new chef, I think I made the right move in hiring her temporarily for the restaurant.

COOKING WINNERS

I just remembered when I was in the culinary school, there was this cooking contest that the culinary school organized to be participated by the students. The cooking contest was also a ticket for the student winners ti be famous since there will be several guests invited, local and abroad. Our class was the graduating class that time and we were equally divided into four groups. The groups formed were the ones going to compete in the cooking competition organized by the school.

In our group, we were just 5 of us and very eager to win the prize that was at stake. The was no theme and only the rule was to cook the best dishes that we know. It must be unique and delicious. I was the one assigned to cook the chicken dish. Three days before the cooking contest, I was already going through the cookbooks and recipe books that I have so that I won't get lost on what I was cooking. I was thinking about the simplicity of cooking the chicken dish. In my mind, I was thinking chicken steamed with soy sauce. It was a Chinese style of cooking that has rooted in ancient China.

During the cooking contest proper, I decided to change the style that I was thinking for the chicken. Instead of steamed, I made it the all time favorite, chicken adobo. Chicken adobo has so many variations depending on the chef cooking it . I want it to be unique, so I made it my own style chicken adobo. No recipe books, only talent in cooking. At the end of the cooking show, we were the second place. It was a good experience for our team. Now that we are all chefs, we always laugh about it when we recall the cooking show. In some way, the cooking contest helped us develop more our culinary creativity and mastery of the dishes that we were cooking.

LETS GIVE BREAD A TRY

I was with my classmate in the culinary school this morning and we went something new for the both of us. We attended a bread making seminar that was hosted by the culinary school. I thought we were going to deliver another speech to the upcoming chefs. But we were stuck in our chairs and just listened to the bakery master. I have been acquainted with bread making and in fact this is not my first to attend such a seminar in bread making. Our family business was a bakery and until now, it is still in business.

Baking and cooking are similar but has a different audience or customers rather. In baking, it is hard to adjust things. Unlike in cooking of dishes, you can alter somethings that are written in the cookbook. You can add your personal tough in cooking. But both of field must entail persistence and dedication to what you are doing.

I may say that I was able to learn baking first before learning how to cook. My parents were bakery master and they personally do the bread making and placing inside the oven for baking. I also had my share in the baking process. I was the one who had tasted the bread first before it will be displayed in the display stand. But my passion for cooking emerge more superior than baking. Because in cooking you are like a painter, painting a wonderful portrait. Maybe that is why I enrolled myself in the culinary school because for the love of cooking and now I am already a chef.

PERFECT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THE MARKET

My friends usually go the grocery or supermarket to buy the ingredients that they need for their cooking. But I prefer to buy the ingredients in the market. Many would really ask me about the market thing and I always tell them the market is complete than in the grocery store or in the supermarket store. As a chef, I learned to be thrifty and be budget conscious when it comes to buying of the ingredients for the dishes that I cook in my restaurant.

Many restaurants right now are buying in grocery stores. They think that they made the right choice but actually they are not. Grocery prices are high compared to market prices. There is a 20-30% price difference in comparison with the market price and the grocery price. Before cooking the dish that I find in my recipe book, I must scout for the ingredients first before cooking it. In that way I can price the dish in a more affordable way compared to my rival restaurants. In cooking for a cost, price really matters. Given that most restaurants right now hire chefs to do the cooking in the kitchen.

Aside from the price, freshness is also an important thing to consider why I do the market job. Maybe that is the most important matter to consider when buying in the market. To make the cooking job easy, first, you must complete all the ingredients first. make sure that the ingredients that you use often are in plenty but do not overstock. Second, all the dishes that you are preparing are easy to do. Do not buy ingredients that are hard to find. Cooking is easy when you have all the ingredients with you. Third, base all the ingredients on what is written in the recipe book. Follow the recipe book religiously and you will never go wrong in cooking.

CHRISTMAS DISHES READY TO SERVE

The Yuletide season is fast approaching and when we all know it, it will be Christmas already. That is why I decided to prepare the recipes that I will be cooking for the season. I will be preparing 7 dishes for Christmas. I have solicited recipes from my chef friends so that I know that the dishes that I will be preparing comes from the heart. Dishes that made by chefs are made special because it is originally done, from the heart.

For this Christmas, I will be preparing 7 dishes these are the following: roasted turkey, shanghai rolls, afritada, meatballs, arroz valenciana, paella, ans fried shrimps. I am still thinking of adding more to that. It has been a tradition in our family that the gathering will be held in my house. My relatives really trusted the way I cook, they don't call me a chef for nothing. Because of the high expectation, I don't want to let them down.

Aside from my relatives, there will also be others coming to dine and celebrate the season with me. My friends, mostly chefs, are coming to my house. Annually, it is like a reunion of old friends. We make it sure that we spend time for each other, regardless of the busy schedule that we had. I am just excited for the coming Christmas. The recipes and the dishes that I will be preparing will surely be hit for all.

COLD MEALS FOR THE NIGHT

I woke up very hungry. I thought it was already 8 am but I was just dreaming. It was still 3 am and I already started moving things in the kitchen. My housemaid was unaware that I was already awake. I checked the refrigerator and took some cold cuts, sandwich spread and wheat bread. I was preparing breakfast at 3 am.

I was very hungry that I can eat just anything that is place in front of me. I remembered before sleeping I only ate a small cup of rice and some meat. I never expected that I will be hungry at 3 am. They say that eating heavy meals at night should be avoided so that we don't gain weight and that is what I did. But the impact on my stomach caused me to wake up at 3 am.

I have to utilize the foods that are in my refrigerator or else I would starve. My chef profession really is a life saver. I prepared cold cut sandwiches for myself and a hot milk for 3 am. I did not heat the pan and cook. I just made sandwiches for myself and watch television until my sleepy eyes started to call. By 5 am, I was already ready to sleep again. I hope the sandwiches that I prepared was enough to full my hungry stomach. The sandwiches that I prepared were based on my recipe book that I often use in the house. Having a recipe book near you can be very handy in times of being hungry.

I LOVE TO EAT IN A BIG EVENT

My friend chef told me that he was having a food taste in his restaurant and I am invited to be there. He prepared several dishes for about 200 guest. This is in connection with their restaurant that will be opening soon. I told my friend that I am coming to taste the food that he had prepared. My friend is also a chef and a gradute of the culinary school where I also graduated from. He owns a restaurant and the one who do the cooking in the shop personally.

Every time my friend has an event, I am always called to visit him and see hows it goes. I remembered before when the booth of us were chefs in a restaurant in Dubai, we always share to each other our recipes and share opinions regarding the foods that we were preparing. Our Dubai work as chef was the link that build our friendship, more than brothers but chefs as well.

Since I am invited for the event, this means that there will be lots of eating that is going to happen. last year, he also invited me and the dishes that he prepared were the best ever. We always compliment each other. There are time also that I will call him and asked his special recipes that I can use for an event. My friend always help me in all the things I need, especially in the cooking side.

DINING IN A FIESTA

I was invited just this morning to a barangay fiesta. According to my friend, their barangay is celebrating their foundation day and he added that their house will be the host of all the eating that is going to happen. He invited me as guest and not as a chef. I think sometimes I deserve to be the person lifting the spoon and fork rather than doing the cooking. Their barangay is close to ours and I don't need to ride. I only need is a good shoes and that's it.

My friend told me that they are preparing several dishes for the fiesta. There is lechon baboy, kinilaw, adobo, pancit, lumpia and others more. The fiesta focuses on local dishes of their barangay. There are no chefs of people with culinary background, except me. But I will be going as guest and not as a chef. The event happens annually and as I recall, I never missed their fiesta. I am always present to eat their dishes that they prepared for their guests.

Before their actual fiesta, my friend borrowed my recipe books and he told me that he wanted to study the dishes so that he can cook it in their fiesta. My friend is very thankful that I lend him my recipe books because he was able to prepare dishes that are made by chefs. The recipes in the book are very easy to follow. Just reading it, you don't need a chef's schooling in order to understand the terms in the cook book.

DAY ONE IN THE RESTAURANT

I never expected that the customers will be these plenty. Yesterday, I closed my restaurant operation so that I can make the annual inventory in my kitchen. I did not accept any customers in my restaurant. All the dishes and recipes that I follow were put into halt. I remembered my security guard told me that many of my customers in the restaurant were looking for me and wondering way I did not open.

At exactly 10 am, I opened the door in my restaurant and was shocked of what I saw. Customers were waiting outside of my restaurant and all of them were hungry and was in a hurry to place their order. I immediately told my dining in charge to prepare the kitchen for it will be a war inside the kitchen. Most of my customers today were ordering pork steak and beef steak. Aside from that recipe, one customer ordered a whole lechon for his birthday. I called up the other chef in the kiosk to come help me in the food preparation as customer flock in to eat inside the restaurant.

I finished cooking around 7 pm. I would say it was a marathon cooking for this day. Total customers served were 500 satisfied customers. Usually, I only served 50 customers. But today's event, I was able to accommodate more than the usual number of customers. I am very tired right now and I needed to rest. For tomorrow is another day in the restaurant.

MY LITTLE NIECE FAVORITE FOOD

I often visit my niece in the next city. She is my first niece and only 2 years old. Every time I visit her I always make sure that I prepare for her favorite, chicharon. Chicharon is a simple merienda dish that is made from pork skin. The pork skin is dried and then fried in oil, seasoned with salt and garlic and that's it.

Every time I bring chicharon for her, she always make a smile and then take the pack of chicharon that I cooked for her. Cooking chicharon would take around 5 minutes. My niece likes her chicharon to be crispy and crunchy. I lessen the oil so that she won't feel or taste the oil that I used. Sometime when cooking chicharon, you need to lessen the oil so that it would be too oil to eat. Do not also overcook the pork skin for it might change the taste of the outcome chicharon.

Chicharon is a delicacy of some cities and they have their own type of chicharon, distinctively in their city. Chicharon is available on packs but I prefer to cook it myself. By next week, I will be going to the next city again and a chicharon is readily available for my niece for she loves chicharon. It makes her happy to eat chicharon.

CLOSE FOR INVENTORY

My restaurant was close the entire day due to inventory. I annually do this inventory to check the status of my kitchen utensils and things that I used in the kitchen. From the recipe books down to the fork and spoons were accounted. My kitchen crew were very helpful in assisting me in the inventory.

The guard of my restaurant was asked by several customers about the inventory and when will the restaurant operate again. He just told them that tomorrow, operation will resume and dishes will be cooked again in my kitchen. At the front of my door, I placed the sign "Close due to inventory". Many were curious about the inventory. Usually, inventory would take half day and then I will open in the afternoon. But this time, I decided not to open the whole day. The kitchen inventory was completed around 6 pm.

This inventory was very helpful to me.From the recipe books and all other cooking stuffs very account properly. Aside from the kitchen inventory, I wanted to have a day off from cooking that is why I totally ceased to operate today. Some of my loyal customers went to my kiosk and bought their food their. The recipes cooked in my kiosk are all the same in my restaurant. Tomorrow will be another battle in the kitchen to cook the dishes that my customers ordered.

RECIPE GALORE

I was told by my friend to come to their house to have some cooking fun. He told me just to come in a casual attire and not wearing the normal chef clothes that we often use in the restaurant. I was wondering what the heck my friend was cooking this time. Well, I guess I have to visit him in his house ans see whats cooking for me.

When I got there, my friend welcomed me and several others into his house. We stayed in the receiving area of his house and there were some finger foods prepared for us. After seveal minutes 2 American chefs went into the house and greeted us warmly. My friends introduced us to them and told us that these chefs are looking for local chefs to endorsers of their cook book. After the brief introduction, we started the ball rolling by preparing things in the kitchen.

It was a cooking demo for all of us and the dish that we were gonna cook were the recipes that they wrote in their cook book. I was very happy to accept such invitation because after the cooking, several cook books were distributed to us and it was our own copy, signed by the author chefs that wrote the recipes. The cook books will be very useful to my restaurant since I wanted to introduced new American dishes into my menu.

DINING WITH OLD FRIENDS

After watching the fight of Pacquiao and Cotto, I was called by my friend and invited me to a dinner for tonight. I accepted the offer since I am not doing anything on a Sunday. I was also thinking of spending time with old chef friend of mine. This guy is already 56 years old and still active in the culinary profession. Aside from cooking at a hotel, he also works with the culinary school and teaches students how to cook and do things in the kitchen.

As I got in his place, he immediately welcomed me and showed his house to me. He also showed me his kitchen and some cooking recipes that his family kept along time. This recipes were handed to him by his parents and he is planning to hand it down to his son, who is now in the culinary school.He told me to keep an eye on his son and guide him through the culinary school. By January, his son will be finished in the culinary school and that is the right time to give the recipes to his son.

The recipes is all placed in the cook book. It is already old and have some dust on it. The recipes inside were very delicious and simple recipes. The dishes are very ideal for a restaurant and even in a hotel function. No wonder my friend is the top chef of the restaurant that he is working in.

RECIPE FOR A BIG FIGHT

Today is a fight day. My relatives are coming to my house to watch the fight of Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. I am estimating around 15 people in my house and the food must be able to feed these number of people as they watch the fight in my home. I thinking of the hand foods like cookies, brownies, roasted peanuts, barbecue and foods like being grilled since this is perfect for the event of watching.

But since the event would last beyond lunch time, I am thinking of cooking something for them. Grilled tuna panga is what in my mind right now. This kind of dish is very easy to cook. I had already marinated the tuna panga and placed in on the refrigerator to make the marinated sauce get into the fish part and make it tasty when eaten by my relatives. This dish, I learned when I visited a nearby city. Tuna grilled panga is their proud recipe and this dish has been handed from generation to generation.

I guess I have to make it fast before my relatives arrive here. I already heated the oven and the brownies are already in place. Roasted peanuts and cookies are already prepared. I guess the steamed rice will be later so that I will be able to maintain the freshly cooked rice. I am very busy cooking early for them.

COOKING CLASS INVITATION

I was invited to witness students in their cooking class. The school that invited me is owned by my classmate who is also a chef and a proud graduate of the culinary school where I also graduated from. The cooking class will be on Monday afternoon. According to my culinary friend, the cooking or baking rather will focus on pastries and cakes. He also told me that I must prepare something inspirational for the students as they do the baking demo.

The students will be doing the entire work in the kitchen, I will just look at them and taste the cakes that they will be baking. After that, the students have something for me. I really don't get that idea that something will be given to me. My friend added that I will also do some little cooking and show it to the students. I never expected that my chef friend will be opening a cooking school. Like most of the chef classmates, we opened our restaurants and food businesses. But my friend opted the other way.

Monday's even will be very interesting for all of us. This will be my first baking lesson class that I will attend, aside from the culinary school where I graduated from. There will be 7 classes that will be baking their hearts out! Got the idea! I am just excited to see these students in cooking to their best in the baking schedule.

KITCHEN CLEANING AND THE NEW RECIPE

I just finished cleaning the kitchen. I started cleaning around 8 pm and I washed all the pots and woks that I used in today's cooking in the restaurant. I usually let the dish washer do this but I just want to do something that is why I did it myself.

My friend called me this evening informing about the recipe that I am looking for. I really wanted to cook turkey, since Christmas is coming. I want to incorporate the recipe in the menu that I offer to my customers inside the restaurant. My friend told me that he found the recipe that I was asking him about. I saw my classmate cook this during the last day in the culinary school and the recipe garnered high remarks from the culinary school. What I like about this recipe of turkey is that it is very simple to cook and the end product is a tasty and healthy meal.

When I first tasted the turkey meal that my classmate cooked, I realized that this recipe will be very famous when it goes to the restaurants around the metro. After our graduation, I asked my classmate if I could have a copy of the turkey dish that he prepared. By the end of this week, I will try cooking the turkey using the recipe that my chef friend gave me. I am just very excited about it. I will be posting the information about the turkey recipe later on.

INVITATION TO COOK

I got a phone call this afternoon from a person whom I didn't know. According to the guy, he has my calling card that he got from the birthday celebration of the mayor. I remembered distributing my calling cards and maybe he was one lucky recipient of it. He told me that he wants to meet with me in person so that we can discuss matters with regards to his invitation to cook.

I agreed about the idea and I told him to come visit me in my restaurant so that we can talk seriously, not just over the phone. He agreed about the idea of meeting in my restaurant. He added is I could cook some dishes for tasting such as relyeno, lumpia, pork afretada, lechon manok, pancit canton and other dishes. I told him that I cannot cook these dishes since we haven't meet in person, and he understands.

The reason why he wanted me to cook was he wanted me to be his commissary in cooking his dishes that he sell in the mall dining area. I idea was good but I really needed to be sure, especially when I do the cooking. Our talk was cut because of the line interference in the restaurant and besides I have to many things to do in my restaurant. I have preparing several dishes for a wedding reception. The recipes were given to me and I have to prepare small sizes of it for tasting. The cooking invitation might be decided tomorrow after we meet in person. My culinary mastery goes beyond everything. This is the chef's point of view.

FUTURE PLANS WITH THE COOKING

I was talking to my chef friend and we were planning to give scholarships to those students who are interested to enter culinary school. It is a fact that many students who are enrolled in HRM are intersted to enter culinary school. But because of the lack of fundings, these dreams of becoming future chefs will not be materialized because of that fact. To ease the problem, we are offering scholarships for 5 students who want to have a further studies in cooking and enter into culinary school. But we still have to iron the details with the culinary school administrator for the details.

I had already contacted 7 chefs that will be going to Finland to further studies in the culinary dishes of Finland. These chefs are my friends, they have been working for huge establishments are with years of experience in cooking. One of these chefs, was the official chef of the Bukingham Palace in England. When it comes to experience, they have everything to offer. By next wee, 7 chefs and me will be going to Finland and study dishes local in Finland.

My restaurants will be managed by my brother while I am away for the further study in cooking. The Kiosk will be supervised by the chef there. I had already prepared everything before I go to Finland to further my studies in cooking dishes local to Finland. The trip might be in the end of the month, depending of the schedule of the Finland chefs that will accomodate us when we get there.

FROM A CHEF TO A CHEF

I got a call this afternoon from a chef friend of mine. He was asking me about the restaurant that I am planning to open. This friend of mine was a batch mate of mine in the culinary school. He is also a to calibaer chef and has gained a number of work experiences here and abroad. I told him that I am still planning to open a restaurant but the day of opening is still unknown because of the business papers that I have to comply. My friend of mine presently connected with a restaurant hotel. He is the herad chef of the restaurant. He has been working for the restaurant for 2 years now and he is also doing well there.

My friend chef plans to transfer to my restaurant because he wants to gain more experience in a stand alone restaurant. I told him the I am still not sure when to open the restaurant. Definitely I will be needing a chef in the restaurant to do the cooking and the management of the restaurant operation. I want a chef to do the cooking to make all foods in quality standards with the culinary policies in cooking and food preparation.

I told my friend that I want him to join my team in the opening of the Finland restaurant. He will be one of the chef there and will go to Finland to have a further studies in Finland dishes and foods. He agree of the idea to be one of the chef for that restaurant. I have few days left to find all the chefs for the restaurant.

DINING OUT IS A GOOD EXPERIENCE

Instead of doing my routinely job of cooking in our house, I decided to change that. I did not cook for tonight. I decided to dine out and proceed to another restaurant that is owned by my good friend who happens to be a chef also. I ordered crispy fried shrimps, crispy pata, lobster boil and lechon kawali.

I know that those food is too much for just me. That is why I brought with me my niece and my cousin who happens to be living in the neighborhood where I am residing. The dishes that we ordered were superbly cooked by my friend chef. He was my batch mate in the culinary school. In fact, he was the valedictorian of our batch. He used to served as a chef in a cruise ship before he decided to open his own restaurant. He also earned a masters degree in culinary arts in USA. I has all the skill that a caliber chef must have.

After dining, I talked to my friend chef and congratulated him for a wonderful meal that he prepared for us. Thanking the chef is very important every after meal because it develops a good friendship between chefs. I promised to treat him when he visit my restaurant. It is like returning the favor. As a chef, we need to make friends with other chefs that are around us. We are planning to make an association of chefs. This will make us all chefs in the country as one. But that is still a plan. I experienced another culinary great courtesy of my chef friend's cooking style.

NEW PLACE FOR A RESTAURANT

My restaurant manager called me up early this morning, informing me that there is a very ideal location for a restaurant. I was planning to put up a branch of my restaurant to expand my business empire. I know that is early to call it an empire but someday. I will still open a restaurant because the food industry is very ideal to all who are looking for a business engagement.

if my plan of opening a business will pursue, I will hiring another chef for the branch of my restaurant. The kiosk operation is doing well. I want to be sure in the branch operation that is why I am hiring a chef for the restaurant. I will stay in the main, cooking the dishes. From time to time, I will be visiting the operation of by expansions.

Expanding my restaurant was really not in my mind before. There are so many things to consider before opening a branch of my restaurant. I was told that a cook will do good in the kitchen. But because I wanted quality in every food that is prepared in my restaurant, I hired a chef to do the cooking in the store (kiosk). The upcoming expansion might happen by December. I really need to to think about the expansion, especially the cost involved. For the meantime, back to my chef duties in the kitchen.

TEACHING KIDS TO COOK

I was roaming around the village when I noticed several kids playing cooking in their garage. As I approached them, they immediately told me that I can join then if I want to. The offer was quite tempting but I declined. Instead, I open a cook book and tought them something that they will never forget.

Since it was already 3 in the afternoon, I realized that these kids need something to eat. I called their attentions and told them a cooking food for their merienda. I thought them how to bake ht cake. The kids were very attentive towards me and participative in asking questions regarding the hot cake that I am teaching them to bake. After giving them the things to do, they were thankful to me and gave me a hug before they left. Cooking can easily be absorbed by kids. Adult encounters cooking when only he/she is already hungry.

I was also invited to join a summer camp. I will be the teacher in the kitchen for my students are small kids who are interested in cooking. I can see talent when I see one. The summer camp in cooking will start by February and will June, before the formal class begins. It is really nice to teach kids about cooking for soon, one of these kid will be a chef someday.

COOKING WHILE SLEEPING

They say that our mind is more imaginative when we are sleeping. I an attest to that! I was sleeping the other night when my room mate told me that I was talking while sleeping. He added that I was calling people and gave instructions to bake the cookies and grill the pork and chop the necessary ingredients before the cooking proper to start. I was dreaming!

I just want to defend myself about this matter. As a chef, I must research a lot and try to experiment on new dishes to cook, the right spices to the existing foods that are ready to be cook. In my dreams, I get to cook food and then when I woke up, I immediately cook the food that I was dreaming about. My friends would ask me about my style that I cook foods in my sleep. Doing this strange thing of cooking in my dreams somewhat helped me create new dishes that many of my customers would asked how I did it. It's all in the dreams baby. I am not a chef in the real world, but also a chef in world of dreams.

I realized that there was a time that I cooked rice as early as 3 am. I was dreaming that time that many customers were in my restaurant the rice was not enough for all. That is why I cooked rice in 3 in the morning. I will never forget that they. My brothers were witness as I did the cooing as early as 3 am.

THE DISH LOOKS AND TASTES FAMILIAR

As a chef, I really needed to go to other places to experience new things, like food and dining experience from other restaurants. I remembered one day, I was going out with some friends and decided to have a quick dinner a near fine dining restaurant. Most were unanimous about it and went to the restaurant immediately. We were all quiet about our professions, that we were chefs. We want to experience being customers rather than the chef of the house. We were already sitting at our own respective chairs, when the attendant took our orders. We placed our orders and waited for couple of minutes before the food was ready and delivered to our table.

5 chefs sitting at a restaurant and waiting for our order to arrive. At last, the food was on our table. As we ate the food that we ordered, I come to noticed something different from the food that we were having that time. I am quite sure that I already tasted the food that was served to me. I thought I was the only one to noticed, but my chef friends also noticed the distinctive taste of the food.

After eating the food, were curious about the chef that prepared the food that were served to us. We called the manager and instructed to call the chef so that we can thank him/her for the wonderful food that were cooked for us. As the manager went to the kitchen, we were all surprised to see that the chef that prepared the food for us was our class mate in the culinary school. No wonder, the food tasted familiar.

We were all high fives and happy to see our batch mate again after 4 years of being apart from each other. He owns the place and he personally cook the food that are served in the restaurant. It is really nice to meet old friends once again. I took his number and we bid farewell to him.

DAY AT THE RESTAURANT

I spent the whole day doing all the cooking in the restaurant. I started around 7 am until 7 pm, cooking and mingling with my customers. I always thank my customers when they come to my restaurant to eat. I have some regulars, who always visit me during lunch time. They really like the way I cook. As a chef, that is very flattering to be able to satisfy my customers as they eat in my restaurant. I always receive compliments from my customers. When customers thank you, a chef's ears really rings!

By December, I might open my kiosk store along boulevard. I have already prepared all the necessary business papers for the kiosk that I will be opening. The kiosk will offer ready to eat meals or food. There is one chef that I hired to help me in the kiosk operation. But I still have to visit the kiosk daily to see to it that all the standards are implemented. The food in the kiosk is just the same with the foods in the restaurant. The only thing is that it ready immediately for customers who want to eat and go.

I am having second thoughts on the restaurant that I was selected to manage. It is because I also have a restaurant to manage. I need to study the Finland recipes and dishes and the study will not be near. I have to go to Finland and study there. I am thinking of my food business. I think I will assign the opportunity to my close friend, who is also a chef in a 5 star hotel here in the city.

A TASTE OF A NEW DISH

I visited a good friend of mine who is residing in another city, just few hours away from my city. I arrived in his house around 2 pm this afternoon and told me to stay for awhile because she was preparing food for dinner. My friend used to work in a cruise ship as the chef of the ship. She has been working their about 5 years before she decided to leave her work as the chef of the ship because she cannot sleep well in the ship, especially when at night. For 5 years of working as the cruise ship chef, she has studied almost all the foods around the world and she knows how to cook it.

This friend of mine was ahead batch in the culinary school. I met her when she was the guest speaker of the culinary school when I graduated in that cooking school. I personally met her when we both applied for that cruise ship that she was working. She got the chef job while I was told to just come back next month for the reservation slot in the cruise ship. Since then we treat each other special and the closeness continues, most especially when we both knew that we graduated at the same culinary school.

For tonight's dinner, she prepared duck for diner. I never tried cooking duck because this type of food is rarely ordered in my restaurant. That is why I never place it in my restaurant's menu. I also thought that ducks are dirty when cooked because of the smell that the duck meat produces. Aside from that, ducks are dirty eaters. They eat all types of things. I never expected that duck taste better than chicken. According to my friend, she got the recipe from a Turkish national. That Turkish national gave her the ingredients and procedure on how to cook ducks.

I would say that it really taste good. The meat was well done and I never tasted anything strange or bad. It was plain duck and it taste good. She made it Patotin, a tasteful dish and is widely prepared during fiestas and other monthly celebration. I just have to request for the ingredients of this dish because I like the taste of it.

THE CHEF'S AGENDA AGAIN

It is my morning routine to cook for for breakfast and prepare the table for eating. I prefer to do this alone because I want the food the I cook to be perfect for the people in our house. This morning, I prepared pork adobo and vegetable salad. I also cook rice and prepared some milk and cheese for breakfast. I usually prepare a heavy breakfast because most of us here in the house are working.

My friends also are coming this after to visit me and congratulate for the successful cooking marathon yesterday. Most of my friends are chefs already and according to my friend, they will bring some food they personally prepared. Yesterday's event was very tiring for me and my chef companions. We have to prepare all the foods for the celebration and I have to meet some culinary chefs from Finland. But I am just thankful the blessings that come to me this year.

By the end of the month, I will be going to another city to witness the opening of my other chef friend's restaurant. Most of our batch mates in the culinary school will be going to the opening of the restaurant to give support to our friend who is also a graduate of the culinary school. After the opening of the restaurant, I have to make up my mind whether I will go to Finland and study for 3 months of their dishes before the restaurant will be opening. Aside from that, I also have to select from my friends who will be participating in the culinary study in Finland. This is the life of being a chef. I really need to prepare my schedule for the coming days of this month.

COOKING SUCCESS

Thank God that the cooking marathon is now over. I would like to thank the chefs that helped me through out the cooking marathon. The party has already started and the guest were on-time for the opening prayer for the birthday of the mayor. The actual cooking started around 2 pm this afternoon. I would really suggest to all that when cooking for a big feast, it would be best that to prepare all the ingredients in an early so avoid cramming during the cooking proper.

We were called before the feasting started and were introduced to the guests that were around. The party was well attended by politicians, colleagues and friends of the mayor. Cooking for this kind of event is really big for us chefs. It is because this is the time where we get to be known in the community. As we went down the stage, our numbers were taken by some guests.

Right after the introduction, I went immediately to the culinary school to meet the chefs from Finland. The meeting was for the plan of the Finland chefs to operate a restaurant here in our city. They want products of the culinary school to administer the restaurant. Many Finland nationals are now living in the city. The restaurant will concentrate on Finland's dishes and other foods cook by chefs residing here in the city. But before the restaurant will start, chefs that qualify for the restaurant operation will have to go to Finland and specialize in the dishes of the country for about 3 months. I said to the culinary school dean that I will talk this over with some friends before we fly to Finland for the mastery of their foods and dishes.

COOKING SCHOOL CALLED

I woke this morning because of a call. I was not expecting it to be the culinary school calling me early in the morning. I was told by the culinary school director that I have to meet some chefs from Finland, who are visiting the school this afternoon. This is such a very important matter for the school because our culinary school is funded chefs from Finland. With the appointment that I have today, I think I really needed to insert the meeting in my schedule. I don't want to give shame to the culinary school that I graduated from.

I need to,assign some of my cooking task for today to my chef friend who is with me in the cooking for the birthday of the mayor. According to the director, the chefs from Finland would like to meet me personally and want to discuss some matters with me. As I observed, the cooking in the house of the mayor would be done by 4 pm and I think that is the right time to meet the chefs from Finland.

The cooking is starting right now, the dishes that we prepared are all ready to be cooked and serving will be done by 5 pm. The catering services that the mayor hired to assist us was very cooperative in giving us a hand in the kitchen cooking. The roast beef is now on the turning and fire is heating the kitchen right now. I think I need to get back to my cooking duty.

COOKING KALDERETA

Kaldereta is local dish that is widely cooked by Ilocano and Ilonggo people. The main ingredient of the kaldereta dish is the goat's meat. The preparation for this type of dish requires extra care and diligence when cooking Kaldereta. It is because one false move and your dish is done, means not good to eat. Experts of cooking kaldereta would personally slaughter the goat themselves. They don't use knives to kill the goat. The best thing to kill the goat is to let the goat drink vinegar.

The goat's meat is different from beef and pork and even from the chicken. It is because you will need to remove the smelly part of the meat, they call it "langsa". A smell that is inherent to the goat's meat. They use vinegar or suka in order to get rid of the langsa smell from the goats meat before they cook it. The vinegar absorb through the veins of the goat would enter the main stream and the langsa smell is gone. The gone naturally sleeps because of the vinegar intake. After the goat sleeps or looses it senses, they the throat and let the blood out from the goat's body. They cut the body into their desired parts and the meat is ready for cooking. Culinary experts don't know how to to this because they are much concern of the end product of cooking which is the fine taste of the dish.

When all the necessary ingredient are prepared, cooking Kalderata will be easy. That is why this type of dish is very expensive in a restaurant because of the manner and procedure of acquiring the meat of the goat. This dish is very delicious and tasty, rich in protein meal. For those who are wanting to have a beautiful and sexy body, Kaldereta is the best food for you.

COOKING MARATHON

Marathon is the correct word to use for today's activity. By 12 pm this afternoon, I will cooking for the birthday of the mayor. As expected, the crowd will be around 500 to 1,000 people attending the birthday party. I had already bought all the necessary ingredients for the cooking marathon for today. My companions in this marathon are my batch mates in the culinary school and some kitchen attendants from a local HRM school.

I want to start the cooking early because the party proper will start around 6 pm. By that time, I want all the foods ready and prepared for the visitors who would wish good health to the mayor. For today's cooking, I assigned people to do the main dish and the salads. I will be supervising all the activity in the kitchen. I was inspired by the Iron Chef America after watching it. I want to apply it in this cooking marathon. The mayor also called me up yesterday and asked me about the food preparations. I told him that everything is okay and ready to go.

In my schedule, I will pick up all my friend chefs so that we can talk and do the right thing in this cooking marathon. But I am very confident that nothing can go wrong. I had with me all the best culinary experts in town at my team. As expected will be through by 5 pm. I will just place the foods on the heater pan. The presentation of the foods will be handled by my best buddy in the culinary school. I am excited and eager to let the pots and woks boil.

HELLO CULINARY SCHOOL

Its been quite sometime now since our graduation from the culinary school. My friend, who is a chef of a 5 star hotel, took the initiative and called for a reunion of our batch. It is because after our graduation from the culinary school, we went our own separate ways and proceeded with our plans. Most of my classmates in the culinary school own a restaurant and others went abroad for further studies in the cooking field that they want to master.

The culinary school is the school that I will never forget. I enjoyed cooking and learning in the culinary school. But I never thought that I will enter a culinary school. After finishing my basic HRM course, I was told that there is a great opportunity once a graduate of a culinary school. But I am very lucky that I opted to go to the culinary school. It is because I learned so much and I would say that I can cook special foods and even baking. The reunion will be on the following month and each of one of us will bring food that we personally made or cooked. Potluck, as they call it. Cooking was very much fun in the culinary school. I learned so much and I would suggest to those who are interested in cooking or even in baking, the culinary school of cooking is the best place to learn proper way of cooking.

COOKING SHOWDOWN

I was doing my grocery this afternoon and I was told by the store attendant to come to the activity area of the supermarket. I thought there was an activity but to my surprise I called to witness a cooking contest or showdown in the activity area. But it did not stop there, I became an instant judge in the contest. To my surprise, some of my classmates were there as judges and me was a mere spectator.

The cooking contest was hosted by the supermarket. There were 4 competing contestants for the prize to be called the best in the dining and food industry. There were four dishes to rate, 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. Out of the four dishes, I only tasted 3 dishes because the other was already consumed by the watchers who were also invited to taste the dishes cooked by contestants. All the dish that were cooked were based on chicken meat. The dishes cooked were chicken adobo, cream chicken, chicken asparagus and mushroom chicken.

I realized that being a judge in a cooking contest is not easy. I have to determine all the aspects in their cooking and the dish that they cooked for the contest. After casting my vote, I went back to my grocery job. Preparing for the cooking for tomorrows event as the city mayor celebrates his 60th birthday. The menu is already finalized and everything is ready for tomorrows event as I start cooking for the big event.