Resolutions Revolutions Absolutions Evolution Infusion Solutions

Perfectly poached eggs topped with parsley aioli and salmon caviar along with smoked trout on a garlic crostini with grilled plantains and mushrooms and a small salad are a New Years Day brunch anyone would love. 

Don't start the love till after you have had your "good luck" bowl of black eyed peas and collard greens - it just wouldn't be proper. Two quick tips: 1) black eyed peas cook fast 2) collard greens are best when simmered for a good long while to soften up and mellow out.

Recipes. I am often asked about recipes and on that same note I am often told how I should write a cookbook. This whole cookbook idea is nothing new to me here on the blog as I have mentioned it often. As much as I want to write a cookbook I simply don't feel strongly enough that there is a market for one more cookbook. This year I will give it the most thought I have ever given it and we shall see.

Innovations. Innovative cooking is all the rage. The curious thing about the word innovative is how loosely it can be construed. If you have never poached an egg before then you are being innovative. I am going to make it my mission to try to bring innovation to each and every one of you and do it in a way that is functional and feasible. Anything can be innovative and teaching is also a way of learning.

Lets grow together in the coming year. I have written this blog for a very long time now, 10 years to be exact. I have had waves of readers from the many to the few to the very many down to the very few. I have learned a thing or two along the way and I want to pick up a few more things to round it out. I am looking forward to your feedback and your help in 2015.

Catch Of The Day And A Little Plating Fun

No surf and turf here - this is all surf baby unless you count the potatoes and veggies as turf. Lately I have been experimenting with newer techniques to me and also trying to visualize plates differently than what is commonly seen. 

Experimenting with the techniques is the easy part but putting it on a plate is not.


I have a small assortment of fish here, I have a flounder roulade, a grilled salmon and a sesame crusted cod all cooked to their most juicy perfection.

My vegetables are green beans, a colorful carrot medley and both yukon gold and purple potatoes cooked in avocado oil with rosemary.

I plated everything up and garnished it with a little kiwi coulis and some sprigs of baby cilantro.


Simple foods cooked simply and plated elegantly can make all the difference in the world. Cooking With Color - I am certain it enhances the flavor.

I cook therefore I am - I ergo sum coquus

I dont know how many of you are aware how much I like the whole food process - I know its a given since this is predominately a food blog that the interest lies in that general direction but I need to tell you that this interest has been going on since I was in grade school, and I have mentioned that before too. Well, with all this history in mind I should say that I have gone through several plateaus in this quest of mine and I am happy to say that once again I have reached a new plateau. I love to learn, I love to grow and I love to change. If you are one of my friends on Facebook then you are probably seeing more constant posts from me than you are here at the blog - and if you arent one of my friends on Facebook I dont know how thats possible since I have over 4000 - and dont think I dont keep a handle on all of that - I am well aware that at least 1000 of them are Chefs in Malasyia and all points East that I barely interact with. Anyway - ChezWhat? will be getting a little more attention from me - I promise - Migrating Feast is going through another edit and hopefully those videos and that documentary will take things to another plateau and that about sums up my little sum up...here is a whole bunch of pictures taken with my phone.

I have been nice and busy and I love it and I hope it never stops I have been cooking and working and working and cooking in all kinds of settings in the last year and even more so in the last few months.

I have been making all kinds of fun and exciting things.

I made some "secret" ingredients

I made some salmon

I get 90% of it done on my bike

I have been all over this city....

...and when I get home I make a sandwich.

teach to learn, learn to teach

You have heard it "those that cant do - teach - and those that cant teach - teach gym" as the old saying goes but I guess those people already know how to cook. As old as I am I learn something new everyday and I mean every single day and as a constant learner I am now learning how to teach, how to pass on what I know to future generations.

Cooking is one of those arts that you can never stop learning, you may be good at one thing but you might need help with another so there is a never ending supply of things to learn. Today I taught a young student interested in embarking on a career in the culinary arts two of my favorite things to make. Eggs and dessert and what better eggs than Davidsons - Safest Choice, all natural eggs.

Brunch is a no brainer in my world and thats only because I've made it hundreds of times and since it is something so second nature to me it is one of the easiest things for me to teach since it is all technique, no recipe here. We started boiling water and separating eggs for the hollandaise while we thumbed our way through some pages of the Larousse Gastronomique.

While things were whisked and resting and english muffin toast was toasting we got our plates ready with some cucumbers, carrots, avocado and salmon.

Watching her do the "oh my god this is gonna be good" wiggle that some people do when they know they are about to taste something delicious was enough good feeling to last me for weeks.

This tasted fantastic, no doubt, but she has such a refined sense of smell and taste for her age it is exciting to think of the wonderful future she has ahead of her and to listen to her dissect the flavors was very impressive. She had two I had one - she liked it that much. Toasted english muffin with smoked salmon and avocado drizzled in copious amounts of hollandaise with a carrot and cucumber salad, you have seen this one before.

When we had our fill of eggs benedict we made a flourless chocolate cake out of the left over egg whites for dessert - this sealed the deal for the day. Chocolate, raspberries and cream foam how can you not like it? "Give a man(woman) a fish he(she) can eat for a day, teach a man(woman) how to fish he(she) can eat forever, show a man(woman) how to cook fish and everyone is happy" thus spoke Christo!

Did I jump the gun?

I am looking at 5 days before I and us actually have to impress my brother - his wife- and their child. Our hair still has a chance to adjust itself and our tans will have to be as they are, no matter what. .......shallow as we are we go deep.

oh phooey

My camera is still under investigation. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they will replace it, maybe its now really getting me upset. But then why would I need a camera when the internet has everything?

Last night was sushi night. So if you remember the pictures from before then you can visualize the dynamic inside out rolls and the the fantastic pieces of fresh salmon and mackerel, the slivers of cucumber and carrot, the perfectly ripe avocado and we splurged and got wild louisiana shrimp. The wild shrimp is so much different, it is actually sweeter and the flesh is more firm while not firm at the same time, hard to explain but the flavor is exactly the flavor you want shrimp to be. Two types of Sake, an unfiltered one, called a Nigori Sake which was excellent and a dry one which was normal and really good as well. Only problem is that everytime I make sushi I get a little better and a little more creative so the most recent one is always better than the one before. It looked a lot like this except more like enough for three. I dont think I could ever leave New York, I have become so accustomed to the food selection that living somewhere with out the variety would make me insane.


I also picked up two pounds of shark, yup the little guy saw shark and had to have some, it is such a different texture than other fish, it is like the density of a really good crabcake or something like that. And I once told the guy that you become the food you eat, for example if you eat goat then you are springy and jumpy like a goat, so after he ate the shark last night he became aggressive and forceful, usually it is funny but he got so mean tempered it was almost too much. The upside, he HAD to take a bath, yup he told me he HAD to take a bath, too cute huh?