Hello friends. I am building a library for young/old people who cannot afford to go to culinary schools. As we all know, it is very expensive to get a diploma. I have a bakery and we started training students who want to be chefs/bakers (sans diploma), but later they can get jobs all over the country maybe even abroad. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS SHARE/SIGN AN OLD COOKBOOK THAT YOU DON’T USE AND I CAN PICK IT FOR YOU.
Preoccupied with yesterday’s work and other things to do, the sense of loss for my generation’s greatest music icon had sunk in just today, despite learning yesterday at 6AM that Michael Jackson had “stopped breathing.” My memory fails so badly. Yesterday it didn’t occur to me that I actually saw The King of Pop at his Manila concert in Paranaque in 1996. Can’t even remember who I was with! Going back to Chelsea in Serendra for an afternoon snack, I couldn’t remember how many times I had been there (just 5 maybe) nor the fact — as I was told — that the songs I was hearing upon entering the cafe were part of Chelsea’s usual music playlist.
Pampanga was dark and motionless when I left for Manila one Monday morning. I was on my way to a 7AM advanced cooking class at Enderun Collegesat The Fort. Travel from my sleepy hometown was a breeze, but only until the end of the wide-open North Luzon Expressway. My mistake, I combined rush hour EDSA with another bad dream that was C5 and so made it to the school’s culinary center way past 9. I missed the lecture on foodservice trends and international cuisine.
Once inside the kitchen, I was on autopilot – snapping photos of the demo, Swiss chef in charge and Enderun’s senior culinary arts instructorThomas Wenger, and the professional participants from hotel and restaurant kitchens and R&D.
Soon after Chef Thomas finished the first items on the day’s list – some hunger-inducing eggplant appetizers – he asked the group to pair up, and that includes me. My initial reaction? Panic.
Must have been the lack of sleep and proper breakfast, plus the debilitating metro traffic — why didn’t it occur to me that I was also supposed to cook seven dishes in less than 5 hours with a roomful of kitchen hotshots?
I wished I had paid more attention to our instructor. I read the recipe and for some reason nothing gets through.
Hellooow, I reminded me, you’ve been cooking for so long — 20++ years or so you claim in typical yabang Capampangan. The silent self-talk quickly followed by Chef See’s face flashing in my head – and it wasn’t beaming.
Someone from the organizers, Francis, was “summoned” to assist me, the odd-man-out media participant. My partner for the day obviously loved good food and turned out to be a very nice fellow, just not too keen on cooking and kitchen chores.
But I’d soon learn that my reluctant assistant was a cabalen. This was enough to make me feel OK.
Meanwhile, the other teams were deftly making their way around the kitchen, some expertly flipping stuff in skillets. I quickly shook off all fears and immediately set to work.
The Manila Ladies Branch of the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS) formally launched the start of The Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award 2009 on May 25 night during the Heritage Month dinner held at Lorenzo’s Way Greenbelt 5. The theme for 2009 is Biskwit.
Sampaguita*
Everyone is invited to join including former winners and participants. Every contestant is allowed up to 2 entries (each with a different pen name as byline). Read on…
Thanks for your visit. This site caught a nasty bug that would not let me create or modify new posts. There might still be a few kinks here and there (esp with the links), but these should be ironed out soon. New posts to follow.
What’s so special about a four-course sit down dinner at USD100 each?
It’s for a good cause. Entitled Alay Sa OFW,the charity dinner was organized in collaboration between Enderun Colleges and Chef Ron Bilaro, a Filipino-American who gained recognition as a personal chef to Oprah Winfrey.The Chicago-based celebrity chef now hosts Life…Pinoy Style, a popular 30-minute cooking and lifestyle television program aired in the US and around the world. Says Chef Ron, “Sixty percent of the proceeds will go to foundations helping overseas Filipinos who run into trouble and have no financial resources. This is our way of giving back to the community and to our kababayans living abroad.” Read on…
- an aspiring food writer/restaurant critic?
- a food business professional?
- a culinary/hospitality graduate or student?
- a foodie who enjoys everything that has to do with food?
Now on its third year, this one-of-a-kind workshop is for you!
Learn to write balanced, credible and entertaining food stories and restaurant reviews.
Describe food and concepts accurately and creatively to your clients, audience and guests.
Maximize learning with a small group, interactive lecture and eating exercise, on-the-spot writing and critiquing, post-workshop activity tailored to your profession/line of business and personalized mentoring.
In case fans of Ming Tsai are wondering where their favorite chef might be on 28th April, try SM Mall Of Asia. The famous Asian chef joins corporate chef Joanne Limoanco at Taste Asia to show foodservice professionals the secret to Asian cooking. I’m not a big fan of Ming Tsai, but I’m sure this will be a very interesting match. Too bad I won’t be making it because of other work.
I grew up sick of raisins. Like wrinkly purple ticks on furry dogs, my young overactive mind would often lash out. For many years back in my hometown, these teensy dried grapes were the default garnish in every eating occasion, predictably stirred into menudos, rolled into morcons, jumbled into tortang giniling, and peppered onto vats of bringhe and bowls of macaroni salads. A recent event invite put together by The Raisin Administrative Committee, the Foreign Agricultural Service U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Embassy of Manila piqued my curiosity. I was intrigued as to how — and if — this well-known, rocker chef could change my mind.
Emmanuel Stroobant wears his famous shirt:
You like me rare, medium or well done.
A.k.a Chef in Black, from the Asian Food Channel, presenting his maki of US roast beef salad with togarashi and California raisin dressing at 145? Fahrenheit Prime Steaks & Seafood on Tomas Morato in Quezon City, Manila. A Michelin-starred grounding and Tetsuya Wakuda/Pierre Gagnaire/Ferran Adria influences surrounded the name of this award-winning, blonde metrosexual chef/restaurateur. For some time now, the Belgian-born, French-trained chef has been known for his knack for transforming classic, stuffy cuisine into funky, friendly food.
