Happy New Year & Welcome to 2010 ....

Wishing all of you an amazing 2010 - let the resolutions begin...

Oh sure it sounds easy enough, but unfortunately, most of us will not only fail but ultimately not even attempt the 5 ridiculously adolescent resolutions that we have committed ourselves to, after consuming several ounces of a potent liquid that not only alters our thinking, integrity & social skills but also creates the feelings of a heroic law abiding super hero capable of loosing weight, getting fit, who becomes organized and no longer smokes or drinks... What are you thinking? This is a resolution??? This is not a resolution, this is a death sentence "I'm dead and have nothing to live for, let me quit all that brings me joy"... pathetic!!!

This year instead of setting yourself up for failure, resolve to live! To have more fun, to laugh more - stop taking away from yourself and your life and add to it.

This year I will go dancing , get a tatoo, take a class, hug a stranger , call in sick - just because, eat something disgusting, get drunk with a friend, sing in the rain, wear your pajamas to the supermarket, be inspirational to others.

Stop beating that darn dead horse,and live a little before you die... yes , it has now really turned into glue.

My first resolution of the year was to take the polar bear plunge, I did it ... I'm a fool, it was cold, my UGGS are full of sand but that one is now behind me, on to the next one.

I hope that I have inspired you , I won't take it personally if I haven't...

Your life,your regrets... Only you can make things happen... or not!!!

Swimming with the fishes

Just in time for the holiday's and according to "Wikipedia" - Italian Americans celebrate Christmas Eve, also known as the vigil (La Vigilia), with a Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci). The feast is largely believed to be an authentically Italian tradition but, while it is true that many Italian families choose to enjoy a meatless dinner on Christmas eve, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is not a known tradition in Italy.
It is a meal that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. Some Italian American families have been known to celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 different seafood dishes. This celebration is a commemoration of the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus. The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates from the medieval Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence—in this case, refraining from the consumption of meat or milk products—on Fridays and specific holy days. As no meat or butter could be used, observant Catholics would instead eat fish, typically fried in oil.
There are many hypotheses for what the number "7" relates to, one being the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Another theory is that seven is a number representing perfection: the traditional Biblical number for divinity is three, and for Earth is four, and the combination of these numbers, seven, represents God on Earth, or Jesus Christ.
The "Feast of the Seven Fishes" is said to have come from Southern Italy, but today is a completely Italian-American celebration. A dinner on Christmas Eve is celebrated with meals of fish and seafood, but there may be seven, eight, or even nine specific fishes that are considered traditional. The most famous dish Southern Italians are known for is Baccalà (salted cod fish). Reasons for celebrating with such a simple fish as Baccalà is attributed to the greatly impoverished regions of Southern Italy. Fried Smelts, calamari, and other types of seafood have been incorporated into the Christmas Eve dinner over the years, and sensationalized with the American version of "The Seven Fishes."

Thanks "Wiki" for clarifying this for all of us. And in keeping with my own family & cultures tradition's, we too will be enjoying our own take on "the feast of seven fishes" - the menu will include Baccalà, lobster, shrimp, calamari, mussels,and clams just to name a few of the underwater delicacies. Our dinner will begin at sunset, and go on until the fat lady sings or Santa lands on our roof (whichever comes first)...

Wishing you & yours a joyous holiday season, from my family to yours, "Feliz Natal" - "Merry Christmas"!!! Ps. And in speaking of traditions - the Portuguese have a very interesting New Year's Eve tradition - at midnight , you must consume 12 raisins, step down off of a chair with your right foot first while wearing blue underwear!!! (clothing optional) Not to break tradition but I think I'll stick with a kiss and a bottle of bubbly ... See you in 2010, Happy New Year!!!

I'm back to the cutting board & stirring up the pot!!!

I'm back to the cutting board and stirring up the pot. After a much needed break, I am back in the kitchen & back to blogging. New blog posting will be up in a few weeks and until then, happy good eats!!!

Coq au Vin

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coq-au-Vin-104595

Blog,blog,blog ... And now on Blogtalkradio.com

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/turnip-the-heat/

Me, My fork & I ...

How did I arrive at this place called love?

Love of food that is...

I've always been a foodie, my mother tells stories of when I was a child- I would make mud burgers in our backyard - I would mix in grass - in a parsley/fresh herb sort of a way ...

From there, the tasty obsession grew.

My father is a self made chef with informal professional training. Through the years, I would learn everything there was to know about being a restaurateur ... I enjoyed the kitchen but we (my sister & I) were never allowed in the kitchen - not to cook anyway- as a means of punishment, we would often end up on pot scrubber duty but the kitchen was my father’s creative baby ... and still to this day, it is amazing what he can do with a lobster. You will for the first time in your life have a "palm licking good" experience.

My moment would come later, much later - I didn't want to be a chef/cook ... I wanted to be a music producer. I applied to "The Art Institute of Dallas", I was going to study music production, become a producer. I had been accepted. I was moving. That was the plan.

But daddy cut off the cha-ching - his way of keeping me close to home. I was still very determined on moving to Dallas & following my dream - I decided to take a year off & wait tables- the beginning of the end - I was no longer interested in my education , I had my own CASH.

Cash was GREAT ... it paid for freedom, it bought fancy dinners, exotic drugs & loads of friends - who needed to move to Texas, life was awesome - one big party. I would soon find out that "back of the house" (kitchen staff) people and "front of the house" (dining staff) people didn't mesh but that "back of the house" had more fun & better drugs...

It was a lifestyle.

Then one day, a disgusting, dirty apron wearing, greasy hair line cook sent out a dish of what looked like slop. I was too proud and repulsed to serve it - in the trash it went and at that moment decided that no doubt "I could do a better job”...

Six weeks later I was enrolled in culinary school, on a mission and out to prove that I could do a better job because I had pride in my work.

What I didn't realize was that I had a genuine talent and gift ... I could cook & it tasted great!!!

That was how me, my fork and I started this love affair.

I love food & it loves me...

On Facebook- become a fan!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stamford-CT/Turnip-The-Heat/99483271150?ref=mf

" table for two please" ...

One of the most enjoyable experiences of breaking bread is that when doing so, it is with someone who loves food- a.k.a. a "foodie".  "Foodies" can see that food is more than nourishment, more than a source of fuel that keeps us going. James Beard said it best “food is our common ground, a universal experience".

 

I have two favorite foodies -who will remain nameless for now (but you know who you are). 

 

Every culinary adventure that I have shared with my favorite foodies is always one to write home about. Usually, the food is the least important item brought to the table- so to speak- the addiction to the ritual is in part, what makes us foodies.

 

First we seek out our drug of choice - (tonight its) steak tartare! Then, where can we "score" some... hmmm French bistro? We make "THE" call "do you have any? Do you have steak tartare this evening? “GREAT ....we'll see you in 20minutes... Before we walk in the door and order our first Martini, adrenaline runs through our veins -as if it were heroin- in excitement of what is to be served... raw meat , topped w/ raw egg and toast points ... 

 

Thank you my foodies- your exquisite taste in food makes it possible to be the foodie that I am.

That was disgustingly delicioso ...

It must be difficult being disgustingly delicioso (delicious) - stewed chicken feet, blood sausage, and/or tripe with beans - a staple food my family enjoyed EVERY Sunday. (As if it were eggs w/bacon) 

 

Organ meats may not be your thing but I was lucky enough to try everything at least once -monkfish liver, codfish eggs and how can we forget lobster tomalley-the green mushy stuff. The list goes on and on and the possibilities are endless... 

 

So why am I telling you about all the "disgustingly delicioso" food items I've tried? To hopefully entice the idea of trying something new - no, it doesn't have to be organ meats but something different and new or should I say new to you. Something outside of a safe space- grandma's kitchen ... live a little, add a little spice. (Hot sauce makes everything taste better) ;-)  

 

From my kitchen to yours - Turnip the Heat 

 

In a world of ego's ...

As the years pass my ego shrinks and I realize that I've exchanged it for wisdom.

A zillion years ago when I was in culinary school we all obnoxiously called ourselves "chef" - some had never even boiled water, others would never learn to boil water but yet we were all called "chef" not because we were, but because our ego's needed it.

Why was it so difficult to accept being "only" students? After all, we are students of life our entire lives. Every day, we hopefully learn something new and are accepting of our new knowledge.

Chef (Wikipedia) -

"A chef is a person who cooks professionally. In a professional kitchen setting, the term is used only for the one person in charge of everyone else in the kitchen, the executive chef."

Our ego's scream “look at me, look at how GREAT I am "... Imagine the possibility of screaming from a place of love and not of ego - how amazing our world could be?! Living in the truth of who we are - will open up our world of becoming who we want to be.

In a world of ego's , I have certainly earned mine - I have paid my dues , crossed my t's, dotted my i's, done enough prep work to last three life times - that's where the wisdom comes in. Great leaders make GREAT leaders & too many cooks ruin the soup...

No matter what you do, never be afraid to be a leader "Chef" - just another title that our ego seeks- do your best, be your best and the rest is "canja" (chicken soup)