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.