Christmas was good to everyone!

Christmas morning came and went.  We all sat around waiting for my daughter to open her PsP she had been wanting for 2 years now.  We got to the "big" gift and boom the shock and awe factor.  After the youngster opened all of her gifts it was the adults turn.  My wife opened all of her gifts, with smiles.  Baby clothes and a new wallet she was in heaven.  My utopia was nearing for the amazing gifts that my wife had gotten me.  The first was a Wusthof 8" Chef knife.  Man she really knows me.  The next was a recipe' creator book, for the creative and not faint at heart.  Then the book that I had been asking for since September.  "Will write for food"  man what a great Christmas.  A few days before Christmas, I took my wife and her brother to "The Pit"  in downtown Raleigh.  I must say one of the best BB-Q joints I have ever been in.  Fried green tomato's, hush puppies, real pit pork, with an aged sweet/tangy vinegar based sauce.  I loved every last drop of it.  My wife loved every bit of it and so did baby (so she says).  Her brother ate some of it but did not demolish it like we did.  After we polished off the wonderful pork, we decided to partake in one of the famous deserts "Banana Pudding".  One of the best creations I have ever ate to date.  I like to call myself a banana pudding fanatic, and I have had my fair share of this dish.  This one however was so good it made you want to call your grandma and tell her she had been doing it wrong.  That about sums up our little week of Christmas.

The Cuban Sandwich Crisis!

It has been a while since my last post and for that I am sorry.  Life has been busy for me, school, my wife and baby(It's a Girl), Scarlett(maybe).  I have ate at many different establishments since my last posting of about two weeks ago but deep inside none have been worthy enough to get a mention, until now.  The Oakwood Cafe, a nice, as my wife puts it "cute" little restaurant, in downtown Raleigh.  On first glance one would never think this is a Cuban/Argentinean restaurant, in fact it looks like a breakfast place that 70 year old men go to talk about the economy and bash Obama.  We go inside, we are met by a blonde woman, I could see in my wife's eyes "oh great, Americans trying their hand at authentic cuisine".  Then the blonde starts in on her spit fire Spanish and upon listening to her you can really hear her accent.  My wife orders the "Cuban Sandwich" a staple for most.  I order the Picadillo beef platter.  As an appetizer we order the Yucca root with mojo sauce, it a stable in Cuban cuisine.  We dig in "outstanding"  the yucca was prepared with seared outside drenched in Mojo.  We get our lunch, hers was a steak Cuban sandwich with so outstanding prepared meat.  Mine was served with Black beans and rice, the meat was marinated with olives and you could really taste the spices.  This meal was an outstanding staple in Cuban cuisine.  We will return!  After our meal, actually during we enjoyed a cup of Cuban coffee.  Man, they really know how to do coffee.

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Papa's Pizza, it really is amazing!

Today, I venture out, a little break from the homework.  I head down to the local grocery store for some items to prepare my wife a delicious bacon wrapped pork tender loin.  On my way there, I swing in to Papa's Pizza.  A little pizza shop less than a mile down the road.  Has all the makings of a typical Ma and Pop pizzeria.  When I make entry I see a collaboration of North Carolina College teams on the wall.  Do I pick the Tar Heel section?  The Blue Devil's, they have a good basketball team, or maybe the forgotten Wolf pack of NC State.  Then I see the menu of choices.  Check out this menu, Subs, Pizza, Salads, Homemade pasta.  WOW!  I will have the Philly with some of those special seasoned fries.  Load it up, sweet peppers, Swiss cheese, lettuce and what ever it is you call "special spices", Ill have it!  I get my order and I must say "Outstanding!".  The first bite hits your lips, with a stinging sweet sensation from the peppers and the meat, done to perfection.  Bite after bite, I partake in ones little known seductions called food.  As Anthony Bourdain calls it "Food Porn".  I polish off my meal with a Peach infused Green Tea.  This place is one of those little secrets you share with friends and family.  I would recommend this to anyone who is traveling down highway 42 and looking for a great meal.

Bob Evans, bootcamp?

Sunday, the day after what I call the culinary super bowl. My offduty supervisor needed some maternity clothes and a hearty breakfast. Bob Evans, anyone? We embarked on our journey.  10 miles into Smithfield, NC. We pull into this famed breakfast establishment, only to be met by the general manager of this particular one. After a few orders barked from this floor general, the young trainee, took us to our table. The enviroment was loud, with the constant order barking from this man looking for the savior of all Bob Evans, is Shannon here yet? "he barked." After about 200 times asking this question, he retired back to the hostess area. Our young waitress took our order. My wife orders the monster platter with a side of hugeness. I order this omlete called the border scrambler. This has sausage, sour cream, eggs, salsa, and cheese all packed into a beaten egg product, served with hash browns. We get our food in a respectable timley mannor. Huge spread! My meal was not at all what I expected. While packed full of deliciousness. The stuffing of this meal was ontop of my eggs. The meat barely had a mexican theme and the grease from the fried burger dripping off. I ate it to my surprise quite tasty. While my wife and I enjoyed our meal, the general manager was back at his shananagans. Barking orders right over our table, belittling his staff infront of the guest. Talking to the elderly about leukema right behind my wife, while she tried to enjoy her pancakes. This was a piss poor demonstration of how an establishment should opperate and we will not return.

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Baby on the way, new lazy boy anyone?

Sunday, a day of rest and eating. My wife and I went to our little trailer diner, called the Rocket Comet Diner for some outstanding breakfast. We both ordered the rocket comet sampler, including everything: eggs (anyway you like them), bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes, hashbrowns, fried apples and toast. Outstanding once again ladies keep up the outstanding work. During our morning conversation we discussed furniture. Decided we should go window shop. We found a going out of business furniture store. Is this for real? We picked up a 5 piece bedroom suit, a couch and a lazy boy for just under 2500 Holy Crap! We are so thrilled she had me rearrange the living room to make room for the delivery on Tuesday. What can I say I'm a sucker when it comes to my wife.

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New life calls for a new outlook!

Welcome to my first of many post.  As I stated in the about me section, I separated the military a few weeks ago to pursue a dream/goal, becoming a Chef!  I am a full time student in a Culinary Institute and so far so good.  I have been cooking for quite sometime now, mainly at home.  I am not one of these "Food Network" Celebachef.  I want to learn to be the fastest, skilled, master of my domain, kind of Chef.  Hard nose, take no shit manager but puts out top end, time and time again.  Happy customers=profit and at the end of the day, money rules the world.  I do understand that this is not a get rich quick job, not in it for that.  I am in this for the passion I have for food.  Looking at this culinary world from a Security point of view.  Odd at times, when we talk about supervision and managing.  When you manage and supervise 100's of fresh out of high school, think they know everything punks, its nice to see a tempo shift.  I understand this is going to take some growing for me, hell I haven't been in the food industry since 1996, when I worked at a rib shack to make my car payment after high school.  What I want out of this blog?  To document and seek advice from some of the top chef's in the industry.  Will it happen who knows, this world (Culinary) is based off of networking.  I will also be writing about food, the food I cook, the places we (my wife and I) eat at, and why we ate it.  I look forward to sharing my adventures with all of who ever reads this blog and look forward to the advice and experience that some of you have to offer.