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.