The Un-Dread Chef

2007-05-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, the secrecy is over... I couldn't write about my impending move back to the good ol' US of fucking A for fear that Austin might happen across my blog (it could happen), and spoil his 30th birthday surprise. So SURPRISE! I'm back in Chicago, after a week in NYC revisiting friends, and a weekend in Pennsylvania celebrating my mother's 65th birthday (but, of course, she doesn't look a day older than 28).
Our beloved cat arrives tomorrow afternoon, and the metal trunk with the rest of our worldly posessions arrives on Friday. And then we are as good as moved, officially. We're headed down to Salem to see the Davison grandparents, whom Tam has yet to meet, this weekend, and then we can set about doing the important things like getting jobs, transportation (after getting our drivers licenses, anyhow), and eventually a home of our own. Yes, we're living with my parents. In my old bedroom. Oh, goodness. I felt cramped in that room when it was just me. The last time I lived here, I tried to turn the basement into my private apartment, but the spiders didn't like having a big roommate, so I moved out. But I think this will be a good thing for a little while. Free rent (ok, we'll be cooking, cleaning, and helping garden) makes it easier to find a job I want, a house we love, and will make it easier to afford a vehicle quickly, but nobody in the house thinks this is a good long (or even medium-) term deal. Of course, we're also helping my folks get rid of a bunch of stuff, as they prepare to move out to the house in Pennsylvania, and I need to get all the junk I've been sending home from all over the world sorted (and probably scrap half of it...), and soon enough, Tam and I will have all our stuff together. Oh, geez, I can't wait. in the meantime, I'm giving Tam an overdose of pix of me as a kid, things I wrote in high school and college, family history, and tours of where I grew up. It's fun (for me, anyhow, i hope she isn't getting too bored), and introducing her to all things American, and more specifically, midwestern.
Anyhow, it's past my bedtime, now, so I'm going to go snuggle in with her, and try to forget that my parents are sleeping less than 50 feet away. I just hope I can block out my dad's snoring.

2007-02-26T03:50:00.000-08:00

Right, well, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so no long post here (I know, huge shock, eh?), but I wanted to write that Tam & I watched "The Secret" last week. Wow. Really interesting and powerful, and an affirmation & extension of my beliefs. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. Also, in a similar vein, there's a movie called "What the Bleep Do We Know", which is also worth watching. Both deal with quantum physics, and issues of self-determination.
Right, well, it's time for me to get to work.

2007-01-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

So following a link from my wife (/mother) AKA Wonder Woman, I've discovered that I'm actually Superman. Cool. It's funny, cos Carmen asked me to fill out a survey for Tam's hen party, and one of the questions was which superhero I'd be, and I said Batman. Tam thought I'd be Spider-Man... and upon reflection, i realised that she's right. Although I wouldn't mind living in the Banner Mansion, and having "all those wonderful toys"...
Spider-Man just has so much more fun than Batman.
Anyhow. This further demonstrates the intellectual superiority of my beloved wife. Any of you that doubted, doubt no further. I just hope some of it rubs off.
P.S. You can find your inner hero here.

2007-01-25T05:43:00.000-08:00

Geez. No matter how many times I vow to write more often, I still manage to leave it for months on end.
So 2 months after last posting, I finally get around to putting in the work. Well, today, I'm using any excuse I can to keep me out of the kitchen. It's 40 degrees Celsius in Cape Town (which for you non-metric bunch means it's about 104) in the shade. Except in the shade of my kitchen, which is about 45. OH MY GOD it's hot. The current temperature inside my powerbook is 127.4 degrees farenheit, according to my iPulse... I hope blogging in this heat won't fry the whole computer.
Anyhow, news: I'm blowing The Nose at the end of the month. I've loved my time here, I've learned a lot, I like to think I've taught a lot, and I've done a lot of work that I never thought I could do when I started the job. I've created several full restaurant menus (for a while there, I was changing the entire menu every 2 weeks...), enough specials to run for over a year, 7 five-course tasting menus, 2 New Years Eve menus (for 130+ people, a la carte, no less), and a number of other function menus to boot. Not bad for a guy 2 years out of Chef's school, I reckon.
But the time has come to pursue a more lucrative position, as well as a good opportunity to learn more. So I'll be joining the team at Societi Bistro in the V&A Waterfront as of Feb 1. I'll still be helping out at The Nose, as they have yet to find a replacement for me (good luck finding someone willing to do all the graft I've put in for the money I've been earning), but I'll be focusing on learning all I can in one of South Africa's top 100 restaurants' kitchens. The food is simple, but delicious. It's a bit of a regression to my Pastis days: classic french cuisine, bistro food, but with the additions of some fabulous risottos, pastas and some fabulous seafood.
I'm looking forward to learning how that kitchen operates (it's a LOT smaller than I anticipated), and to getting myself ready for high-paced action. Now, don't get me wrong, The Nose kitchen can pump when it has to, and this season has been a busy one, but we just don't do the kind of volume of food that the Waterfront does. A slow day there is probably close to double the number of plates that a good day at The Nose serves.
And I'm looking forward to having more people I can discuss the cuisine with. While my staff here is good, and they understand a lot about cooking, mostly they see the food we serve as "mlungu food" - rich (white) people's food. Not what they like to eat. So they don't really have an understanding of the classic dishes, nor a desire to gain one. The certainly don't have any aspirations to create something new, or put a new twist into one of the old classics.
It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next year here. I hope this place continues to grow and change. It's been great working for Cathy and Kevin, and with the whole team here, although I have to admit that I liked it more when Tam was still working here... But I guess that's as it should be. I've gotten a lot of good exposure from working here, as well. I've been featured in the last 3 issues of Men's Health: Living, and will be in the next one, as well (you may have seen the first one on Tam's Blog, if you follow such things). Nothing too spectacular, but my name in print in a semi-major publication... and the restaurant got a great radio review from GoodHope FM's Priya Reddy a couple of weeks back, which can be found here by clicking the Audio Review button. No mention by name, but the food is all mine. Ok, so I wasn't actually here when she came, but as head chef, I get to take ALL credit (except when it's bad, then it's Collina's fault, cos she's the Sous Chef).
So watch this space for more news about my wanderings through Kaap Stad's restaurant industry, and its hot sweaty kitchens.
p.s. I found the pic of the restaurant board on google image. It is originally from magicjewball.com, which I have duly checked out, and find funny. I'm sure I've broken some sort of copywright law by using it on my blog, so before you sue me, Becca, please just ask me to take it down. If you're not Becca, go check out her site.

2006-11-23T03:14:00.000-08:00

Ok. I'm hopelessly addicted to macheist now... I don't want to ramble on too much about it for now, but suffice to say, they're giving me lots of cool software (like 1Passwd), and make me chase a mad monkey around the internet. Wierd, fun, and very interesting.
Anyone wanting an invite (it's been invite-only for a while now... dunnow if they've opened it up yet or not), must just lemme know.

2006-10-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Return of the Mac
Finally. My mac has returned from the dead. A new hard drive, which came with OSX Tiger installed (I had panther running before). Unfortunately, i seem to have lost a bit of data, a few programs that I've mislaid the installation discs for, and all my settings. However, it is SOOOOO much faster than before. Thank goodness.
Yah, well, that's most of the news that's fit to print for now. More to come soon, now that i've got my trusty titanium laptop back in daddy's arms.

2006-09-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

Ok. So this is a video of OK, Go, on treadmills. High. Frickin. Larious.

Nothing can quite compare to low budget, high imagination.

2006-09-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick glimpse at what I'm cooking up for the next Match Made in Heaven.

Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Black Pepper Chevin & Herbed Croutons
Char-Siu Glazed Salmon on Asian Vegetables
Biltong Flavoured Springbok Loin on Butternut & Potato Cakes with Beetroot Jus
Sweet Basil & Ricotta Tart with Balsamic Reduction
Chocolate & Cherry Terrine Slice with Frangelico Chantilly Cream

For those of you not in the know, the MMiH is a 5-course (well, duh) tasting menu, accompanied by 6 bottles of wine (this month, Newton Johnson will be supplying the wine). Tables sit in groups of 6-10, and decide as a team which wine goes best with which course. The team must then suggest what to serve with the remaining wine. The team that most closely matches the winemaker's choices wins the best prize, although usually all the teams get at least a token prize (usually more wine...).
Also, I must thank my former teacher, Chef Garth Stroebel, for the springbok recipe, which I have unabashedly stolen (although I've tweaked it to avoid utter plagiarism) from his cookbook. Having been at the college when he cooked most of those dishes, I can pretend he taught me personally. Anyhow, he told me to steal good recipes whenever I could, so I'm taking his advice, as well as his recipe.

My Best Brother.jpg

2006-08-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

My Best Brother.jpg
Originally uploaded by geuszey.

Oh, look. It's my big brother, Josh. Today is his birthday, so here's a happy birthday blog for you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!! You're about a third of the way to a hundred. Fabulous. (He looks pretty good for a third of a centarian, no? Babyfaced, even.)
A little earlier this month, he flew all the way here to Cape Town to be my best man (well, half of my best men, anyhow), and what a sterling job he did. He actually stayed awake for my (highly embarassing) bachelor's party (unlike the other half of the best men), made a fantastic (also, highly embarassing) speech (unlike the other half), and generally reminded me of what brotherly love is.
He's a champ.
He's also a musician, an artist, a computer geek, a softball star, the owner of a space kitchen, 2 great cats, and more records than you can shake a pointed stick at. Did I mention that he looks great in a tux?
Unfortunately for all you ladies out there, he's also taken.
Anyhow. That's my brother. Happy Birthday to him.

Bernard Portrait

2006-08-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Bernard Portrait
Originally uploaded by carmen Lorraine.

Meet my friend Bernard. He's a STAR.
I bet you wish you were as good a toastmaster as mister Bernie. You wish you could DJ as well, you wish you could cheat at cards even half so well. Unfortunately, you can't. Don't cry. It's a high bar to go for. Mebby set your sights a little lower. Try Superman, for instance. Try Superman, drunk, in Opium (wearing a mask, to conceal his identity), perhaps.
Ok, so maybe not. Maybe that is also a bit of a high bar. But anyhow, you should know that Bernard and Superman are cool. Uber-cool.
Nuff said.

Know who else is a star is Carmen. She took the photo. And the bouquet.
The stars are in alignment.

Cheese

2006-08-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

waiting .jpg
Originally uploaded by geuszey.

Back from my honeymoon, chilling on the couch with my wife and my cat, I thought I should start another blog. Perhaps, I'll even write for it sometimes. One can only hope.
Hopefully, Tam will kick me until I do. I'm also setting one up for her, cos she REALLY should have a blog.
I'll post her url when it's all set up, until then, you should go and find geuszey and tammy d on flickr, so you can see our pics. The honeymoon was great, although the food could've been better. Perhaps I'm spoiled and maybe even a bit snobby about food... but usually I'm the guy that can (and will) eat ANYTHING. but I wasn't particularly interested in about half the food at the resort... take for instance, the cheese. I LOVE cheese. Almost any kind of cheese, really. I like a good blue cheese; the stinkier, the better. I dig a good sharp cheddar, something that really punches you in the tongue. But this cheese they put on the dessert table (everything was buffet)... eesh. this cheese. It looked like a beautiful, aged gruyere - little holes, firm texture, perhaps a bit crumbly. Imagine my dissappointment when I took a nibble, and tasted ... hrmm, how do you describe it? spoiled bats milk? dusty urine? Ugh.
Add to that: dried out shrimp popsicles, fish biltong, sour orange juice, anaemic eggs, and doughy croissants...
ah, well. Otherwise, things were great.
More tales to come... and some photos.