A week’s menu

A widow has asked me recently to prepare a week’s menu for her since she is  very busy at her work as a top level executive in a manufacturing company.  So she hoped I was a godsend to help her out.
So here is the menu I cooked for her:
Day 1
Braised Red Snapper
Stuffed tomatoes
Day 2
Beef shanks with pearl onions and mushrooms
Shrimp Creole
Day 3
Roast Chicken with cabbage
Ratatouille
Day 4
Braised Lamb Chops with tomato sauce
Brisket stuffed peppers
Day 5
Sauteed chicken a la Grecque
Crab Cakes
Day 6
Ligurian Beef stew
Bacon and mushroom casserole
This woman’s kitchen was well stocked, with all the condiments, seasonings and herbs and spices, so I really did not have a difficult time altering the menu a bit. She even has dried herbs from Jamie Oliver’s Kitchen series! And the different kinds of oils all on one rack. Sesame, herb infused, EVO, grapeseed. I would really love to spend one whole day in that kitchen and play around with ingredients until I have assembled my own Box-of-Tricks.
The portions had to be adjusted because she proudly has two strapping boys in her brood. It turned out ok, as the food was simple and straightforward. They particularly liked the red snapper and the brisket stuffed peppers.
What is special about this particular booking is that the client is a culinary graduate of Le  Cordon Bleu Paris, and one of the daughters is currently enrolled at Enderun. So they are very particular about the menu selections. It did keep me on my toes, but I had to be careful not to go overboard on the complexity, since the menu had to be transported cooked and with minimal assembly at the site.
Hopefully this dinner will lead to another booking. I do hope I have made her week a little easier.

Now I can blog offline

I recently came across a handy little tool to help me blog offline. Windows Live Writer allows me to write up anything, in my own format, design, settings, all without having to connect to the web all the time. Really convenient when it takes me a while to write up an article.

According to the literature, uploading photos is a breeze, but i will have to see about that.

I am still going to play around with this software. At least now I can save my drafts and it would allow me to make my blog posts more professional looking. I will update you if this is a godsend.

More indulgences to have

It is only befitting that in these trying times relaxation comes to fore, and after a hard day's work, a good relaxing massage is sometimes a necessity. Through some fortuitous events, I have had the opportunity to meet the owners of Caprichosa Spa. Their services are in league with the best there is and they have gone a step further where no other spa has tread before. They will bring the spa service to you. This concept does have its merits. Can you imagine, when you get home you have a full spa service waiting for you without having to lift a finger.
The idea is so good, I wanted to get in on it. They have a spa party package that includes my services as well. So you can have a massage, a relaxing winding down, then gourmet food afterward.
Check it out. It really is about time.

Notes on Swine FLu

After having discovered that there are 10 confirmed cases of the dreaded H1N1 flu or Swine Flu in the Philippines, I decided to look into it more thoroughly since this would be important for all my clients.
Apparently it spread through coughs and sneezes from people who are infected. Currently there are no vaccines against this virus.
For more details, please visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for an update on what is happening.

Got the passion fired up?

A few months ago I felt like I was in limbo. I really did not know where I was going, did not know what I need to do, nor have the drive to get myself out of bed. As one person called it, I was in a bad funk. It was not depression. It was a feeling like I lost my groove, and I want it back.
The past few weeks things started changing. I am starting to feel the purpose again. I am starting to see the need to update myself. To reach out and sponge up as much info as I can. I am now more enthusiastic every morning, because it is a NEW DAY. The morning sun is more of a stimulant than a harbinger of the day to come.
Have I got the passion back? Only my cooking will tell...

In the still of the night...

at 1AM, everybody is obviously asleep. I can't sleep. So many things going on around me and not many things happening around me, and things just going out of control. It is 1AM, and I am looking up recipes for crab cakes because my client didn't like much what I made for her family. It had to be something that people from Maryland would enjoy.
As I search through the mess of recipe websites, each with their own subjective offerings of the best Crab Cake recipe, I wonder what I am doing up at this time of night. It's quiet out on the street. The cat is purring next to me, asleep and very warm against my leg in this humid weather.
Is it because I have to find this recipe? Is it because I want to improve on myself. Aren't we all? Are we not supposed to be progressing, not regressing? Isn't it true that we all make 5-year plans the moment our first employer asks us that inane question? Too much reflection. Have to get back to the search...
Been trying to expose the Personal Chef Service to the market in a myriad of ways, and I am still dwelling on how to get maximum exposure. Without of course the expense of paid advertising.
Right now I have a few ideas:
1. Bumper stickers
2. T-shirts saying "Stuffed by COOKIES Personal Chef Service" to be given to past clients
3. Village bulletin boards
What else?
At this hour, my brain has further disengaged, and would need to recharge my slowly depleting batteries soon. I will crawl up next to my daughter, whisper "I love you", and hopefully all is right in the world when I wake up in a few hours.

Weekends do not belong to us

It is amazing that the week can either go blazingly fast or crawl at a snail's pace on dope. But to us in the culinary profession, weekends do not generally belong to us.
We are in cramped cockpit sized kitchens amidst the searing heat and dangerous knives, during nights and weekends, when the rest of the world has clocked out and enjoying the cosmopolitan they have worked so hard for. It is mostly a thankless job, as 99% of our guests do not even bother to know who cooked that monstrosity of a well done steak.
But we cooks trudge on, because we love creating things with what nature has bestowed upon us. Even though we will never be rocket scientists, but we will be able to cook food like no other professional, we can raise all manner of emotion and feeling in every bite, slurp and gobble. A simple tomato can make you wince with pleasurable acidity in a well made pomodoro, red snapper so tender that the flakes are still steaming on the fork. Rich sauces that could enhance the flavor of special meats, tender briskets made possible through careful braising.
In all, I think the cook lords over the fate of your evening, because it is the food that makes it. On the weekend, weeknights, days, holidays, every time a plate is in front of you carefully crafted for your enjoyment.

A new image for the personal chef

I have recently uploaded a more attractive logo for the COOKIES Personal Chef service. I thought the design would appeal more to the foodies in my market base. It's cleaner, more mature, and goes well with veal. (hyuk hyuk)

You may also see COOKIES Personal Chef service on facebook, and see some of my satisfied clients.

So if you have any comments on the new logo, please let me know. Or forever hold your peace.

a simple honey mustard chicken recipe

The honey gives a golden hue to the chicken, and this recipe is contrasted by then piquant flavor of mustard. I prefer to use Dijon mustard. I find the honey from the Palawan islands really good, but any honey would do.

1 Kilo Chicken thighs
5 g salt, iodized
2 g black fresh ground pepper
50 ml grapeseed oil
60 ml dijon mustard
60 ml Honey
15 ml soy sauce

Rub chicken with salt and pepper thoroughly. Set aside
Fry chicken pieces in oil until crisp and golden brown, turn over to cook all sides.
Spoon off excess oil and lower heat
whisk together mustard, honey and soy sauce in a bowl thoroughly
Pour slowly over chicken.
Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Make sure to spoon sauce over the chicken occasionally to prevent drying. If sauce has gotten too thick, just add water little by little.

This kind of chicken is great with steamed rice.

What if the client is a better cook?

This personal chef gets to meet different kinds of people, from almost all walks of life. But what if the potential client turns out to be a graduate of a French culinary school?
I never professed to be the greatest cook in the world, but I do try everyday to improve my craft. What do I do when a possibly great chef calls me to cook dinner for her family? For a week? It would be great in many ways if I do get to cook for her: If she likes my service, I get another customer on my list, I get to be recommended to her friends. If she doesn't, I am marked.
Perhaps I should develop the menu so much do that in the worst case scenario I do not crash and burn. But where is the adventure in that? I learn new stuff everyday, I see Jamie Oliver reinventing himself constantly!
I can do this. No I can't! Yes, I can! No, no, no...Slap!

An easy way to cook fish, with no pretensions

Red Snapper al Vino Bianco

2 kg Red snapper
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon sliced
1 glass white wine
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

Clean the fish
Dip rosemary in vinegar, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place inside fish
Coat ovenproof dish or braising pan with half the oil
Place fish and cover with the lemon slices
Season with salt and pepper, then pour in the rest of the oil and white wine
Place in 200C oven and braise for about 20 minutes, basting frequently with the cooking juices.
Fish is cooked when internal temperature has reached 120C or the flesh can easily be flaked off.

Sorbet, Sherbet, whatever your call it....this is good!

Sorbetto di Uva
Grape Sorbet
A Tuscan recipe perfect for a sunny day. Relatively easy to do, but needs patience. I find this recipe versatile enough to substitute grapes with other berry fruits. Though an ice cream machine would make things easier, a freezer would do well enough.

1.5 kg red grapes
225 ml water
125 g sugar
3 tbsp sugar
1 egg white

Place grapes, destemmed, into a pot with the water and sugar. Over low heat, let simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until soft
Remove from heat and let cool for about 2 minutes
Place grape mixture in blender and pulse until smooth
Stir in the lemon juice
Place in an aluminum tub with lid if not using an ice cream maker.
Place tub in freezer and allow enough time to harden
When frozen, break into small chunks, and then place in a food processor or blender.
Add egg white and blend until creamy.
Refreeze and serve.

A delightful soup for the rainy afternoons

Crema di pomodoro
Eggs with tomato cream

This recipe is for a rich tomato soup, a recipe originally from the Piedmont region in Italy.

If ripe tomatoes are not available, peeled tomatoes by the can may be an adequate substitute. Marjoram leaves are available in most groceries. I tend to drive away from the dried herbs in little bottles since they are nothing more than mere sawdust. But that is my preference.

1 white onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
50 g butter
1 kg fresh ripe tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper
1 handful fresh marjoram leaves
450 ml milk
3 hard boiled eggs

Chop onion, carrot, and celery and cook in butter over low heat until tender, about 3-5 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes to the pan and season with sugar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle about half of the marjoram. Let cook for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes have softened and are starting to break up at the edges, stirring occasionally.
Pour in the milk and stir to distribute evenly.
Remove from heat and let stand for about 3 minutes to settle.
Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Cut eggs in half lengthwise and place in the center of each soup plate, yolks facing up
Reheat the puree, and then pour the soup around the eggs.
Garnish with the rest of the marjoram

I have foound a very good culinary mag, and it's not available here

Browsing through some storage space in Rockwell, I chanced upon a magazine that at first glance looked like some overstuffed pretentious fodder. But closer inspection of the cover revealed caricatures of accomplished chefs.
January 2009 issue of Cuisine and Wine Asia captivated me from cover to cover. I was able to glean some great recipes, and got first look, albeit remotely, on the famed The Big Fat Duck Cookbook By Heston Blumenthal. The 6 kilo book would be such an amazing read.
Other articles were about fusion cooking, and the great chefs who excelled at it, particularly in Asia.
Will read some more. Subscription is steep at USD68 for 6 issues, but the information in it is hard to come by in our local publications.

The Personal Chef gets his own blogsite

I recently got the inspiration to start a blog that pertains to the travails of a personal chef making his bones in Manila's society. Why did I not think of this before?

We start with a new URL that can easily be remembered. Then topics related to my adventures can easily be logged. My culinarytech blogsite could only do so much for the personal chef. Now we go into high gear.

From this moment on I will write down my thoughts, recipes, rants and raves on this blog as I move through life as a personal chef. This will not be a commercial sellout, but instead a journal on what happens in my culinary life and in the lives I touch with my gastronomic experience and my stabs at culinary excellence!

So please, feel free to read on. You are most welcome as I want you to be part of this world too.

Personal Chef for hire in Manila

It is to my understanding that hiring a personal chef is something of a necessity nowadays. With everything going on around us, even with the time saving gadgets we have dripping out our ears, we seem to have less time to sit at a table enjoying a great dinner.

There are a lot of chefs-for-hire in Manila. A lot of them have already made their bones in a hot sweltering cockpit of a professional kitchen. Before attaining the title of Chef, they probably have battle scars all over their arms, nicks, bruises, boils, stitches, and the occasional minor amputation. They have experienced 14-16 hour work days, drenched in steam and soot, jabbing at co workers yelling at the top of their lungs at the frustration that some schlub decided to desecrate a perfect Prime Rib eye by asking it to be cooked 'well-done'. And you know what most cookies would do? They would chuck that meat into the deep fryer until its cooked through, then sear it, drain, and serve it to the unsuspecting moron who thinks that the cow died to end up as a piece of hockey puck.

I digress. A personal chef has already got the balls to get out of the professional kitchen and into the inner sanctuaries of strangers to cook a meal for them. All for the love of cooking. I have met some of these chefs around Manila during my tour of duty a few years back. Some of them have restaurants of their own. Some of them has sold themselves to commercialism and are now hawking refrigerators and kitchen knives. But the true artisan? An excellent cook? a creative culinary genius? That still holds true for a handful of cooks who still vie for that holy grail of gastronomic orgasm, and they still do personal cooking just to get there. I am one of them.

As a Personal Chef for hire in Manila, I try to bring my culinary experiences, my travels, my loves, to your plate, with all my heart.

The Personal Chef with a famous blogger!

Yesterday i got into a chance meeting with the famous Lori Baltazar of Dessert Comes First Fame. A great writer, I have been following her blog site off and on for a few years now, but it was only yesterday that I got to meet the venerable writer. How cool is that?
She even treated me to a cup of coffee at Rockwell just so we can have a chat about my being a personal chef in Manila. We talked about recipes, about porchettas, about her kid, about what she does. An interesting rainy afternoon if you ask me.
She has asked me to cook for her, so I was honored and have prepared a menu for her review. It would be great to cook for this woman, because she can tell me if my cooking is of par with any other chef. I do hope I can bring a smile to her face...

Personal Chef in Manila venture

It is really interesting how despite all out time saving devices, all our gadgets consolidated into something that can be put in the palm of your hand, the improvements in transportation systems and communication systems, it creates a paradox that we do not have enough time on our hands. Most individuals are too busy, too harassed, too stretched out to make a perfect meal. Sometimes the highlight of some people's gastronomic calendar is the family gathering during the holidays.

This is one of the reasons why Manila needs a personal chef. I create the time for them, so they can spend more time with friends and family. The chores of grocery shopping are passed on to me, of course as well the cooking and cleaning up. Then they can have a professionally cooked meal, everyday or for their parties. It comes out more affordable than eating out everyday. Plus, the meals could be customized to their liking, to their preferences.

In the end, it really means an enjoyable meal, where the added stress of preparation is non existent, and they go to bed satisfied, with memories that could not have otherwise been realized.

So I am on a crusade to reach out to those individuals who deserve good food, who deserve quality time, who deserve to be with friends and family. A personal Chef in Manila is needed, and I intend to pursue that.

Personal Chef in Manila

Being a personal chef in Manila is very rewarding. I get to cook and create, while my clients get to enjoy and spend quality time with friends and family.

I do all the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up, leaving the client having experiencing no pain in the whole process. A wonderful idea. Why did I not think of this long ago?

I am selling Personal Chef gift certificates. in denominations of 100, 500 and 1000. My rates are affordable, and you do not have to be born to have a silver spoon to enjoy my services.

I prepare weekly menus, parties, small gatherings, private cooking lessons and more.

Personal Chef in Manila

Being a personal chef in Manila is very rewarding. I get to cook and create, while my clients get to enjoy and spend quality time with friends and family.

I do all the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up, leaving the client having experiencing no pain in the whole process. A wonderful idea. Why did I not think of this long ago?

I am selling Personal Chef gift certificates. in denominations of 100, 500 and 1000. My rates are affordable, and you do not have to be born to have a silver spoon to enjoy my services.

I prepare weekly menus, parties, small gatherings, private cooking lessons and more.

Brian's party

It comes as a surprise that after sweating and cooking over a hot stove for dinner, the guests would come in en masse and thank me for a wonderful dinner. Despite being smothered in the heat, my neck hairs stood up as each guest shook my hand to say they never had anything like the dinner I just served...sniff, sniff.

The menu was

Grilled marinated vegetable salad with balsamic vinaigrette
***
French onion soup
***
Broiled Pork Chops with truffled yam and sweet mushroom soy sauce
***
Pears poached in cranberry and honey

Brian's party

It comes as a surprise that after sweating and cooking over a hot stove for dinner, the guests would come in en masse and thank me for a wonderful dinner. Despite being smothered in the heat, my neck hairs stood up as each guest shook my hand to say they never had anything like the dinner I just served...sniff, sniff.

The menu was

Grilled marinated vegetable salad with balsamic vinaigrette
***
French onion soup
***
Broiled Pork Chops with truffled yam and sweet mushroom soy sauce
***
Pears poached in cranberry and honey