May 06 2008
Posted by chefRob under American, European, Recipes
I know, I know…what’s the deal with this? I am constantly harassed by my friends about the food I choose to eat. Menudo, chicken feet, coagulated pork blood and yes, bone marrow. I find it kinda funny that everyone is so interested in what I choose to eat, guess I should take it as a compliment.
Apr 28 2008
Posted by chefRob under Fruits, Glass Door
The Porto Vista Hotel, where I am the Executive Chef has finally opened our new lobby just in time for the Little Italy Art Walk. This annual event brings many thousands of people to our little corner of San Diego for 2 days of art, eating and for some…drinking. This event was a perfect time to make some food from our banquet and special event menu’s to pass along to all of the people who stopped by the hotel to see what we have been up to.
We choose to do 4 samples from our bar and passed hour d’ oeuvre menu’s. One of these is this Caprese Satay. This is a easy appetizer to make for any size group of guests that may stop by your house. Organic sweet 100 tomatoes, fresh Bocconcini mozzarella and Horapha or spicy Thai basil. Sprinkle with a bit of ground sea salt and your ready to impress your family and friends with your culinary prowess and creativity. This is what you’ll need for this exciting and tasty dish.
Bamboo skewers
Bocconcini mozzarella
Thai or regular basil
Sweet 100 or another small cherry tomatoes
Now just follow the photo to assemble these tasty and easy appetizers and your ready to go!
chefRob
Apr 20 2008
Posted by chefRob under Beverages
OK,
So I usually write about recipes and what not, but I just read a very disturbing article on MSN that said global warming is going to affect malted barley production and will increase the price of beer. I think my heart just stopped beating. Polar bears, arctic tundra, increased sea levels and now beer might become an endangered species…oh my!
Now before you all (and me) get our arms up in a roar, this study was made in Australia and New Zealand. One of my favorite beers, Coopers in from down under and now I am fully behind the global warming/green bandwagon, if it will save some south Pacific islands and my favorite beer.
Now one might think that this is only a local event, and will only effect those in AU and NZ, but this theory is flawed. Global warming will effect us all and beer, wine and all other distilled beverages, or all beverages for that fact will have their production compromised due to a lack of fermentables. While we watch the growing regions of the planet shrink and increasingly turn to biofuels as a failed attempt to wean ourselves off burning things to create power, we will lose beer in the process. Might as well just close up shop and call it a day, cause if we watch ourselves lose the ability to brew beer, we are staring our fate in the mirror.
I , therefore am now committing myself to walking to work 2x a week, more if I do not have to run errands during the build out. Once the restaurant is open, weather permitting I’ll walk every day to do my part to save beer (and the polar bears ;)).
R U in???
chefRob
more on this subject can be found here,
If you are into keeping beer off the endangered species list, please sign up/in to this blog and post a comment (and a link) to your site/post stating that you will do all you can or will discuss this subject. Since I have to moderate all comments, the non-spam links I will leave…and I will check to see if there is a post/article/page at the other end talking about this horrible fate we face together….Cheers!
Apr 11 2008
Posted by chefRob under Asian, Recipes, Thai
Thai food for me is just one of those things…that I love. Now, it would seem that the world would be all fine and dandy when going out for Thai food (yea, I know I suppose to cook) but some Thai restaurants really stink. It always amazes me that some people think that they can cook, when it is so painfully obvious that they cannot.
While I was schooling myself in the finer points of Thai cuisine, I picked up a love for this salad called Pla Neua Ma Kheua Praw, aka Thai beef salad with eggplants (aubergines). It was cooking and spicy at the same time, tender and juicy with the right amount of saltiness and it went well with beer. Can’t really ask for anything more that that, now can you.
Apr 06 2008
Posted by chefRob under Uncategorized
Today, for some reason has been a bit busier than normal traffic-wise on my site, aGreatChef.com. I dunno what it is, all that I can assume is that the weather is warming and folks are wanting to cook. Anyway I just thought I would post this image of my traffic sources for today (partial) and will be back in a day or so with another new recipe…cheers! 
Apr 05 2008
Posted by chefRob under Asian, Beverages, Recipes
Tea…I always think about tea when I’m not feeling well, and today is one of those days. It was a long week at the restaurant, writing menu’s and working on getting a new logo, the bar built and making sure that the ansul system is being installed properly. I did take the time to go to a Rational demonstration and got to sample some pretty great food. For those who are not in the know, a Rational oven is this crazy oven from Germany that can do 8 things at once…really. Check it out here. It does seem to take some of the fun out of cooking, if you ask me…Now back to the tea.
While I was living in Vietnam we had some guests at the resort that were from south Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh to be exact. After their group had finished dinner I was lucky enough to have some time to chat with them. It’s always interesting to meet diplomats oversees. After the 20 questions on how and why I ended up in central Vietnam we got to talking about tea. There are 2 teas that I really enjoy, Jasmine and Guava.
Mar 26 2008
Posted by chefRob under Glass Door
OK,
So an exhaust hood might not get a normal person exited. Chefs are, by any stretch of the vocabulary not normal so this get me excited!!!
It means that we are one day closer to opening, one day closer to doing what I love to do and one day closer to turning on my hometown to the foods I have experienced in the last 15 years of traveling and cooking around the country and the world.
So, without further ado…the hood!
and another view of the view…
chefRob
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For over 20 years I have been traveling and learning the world's cuisines while working in some pretty exotic (and some not so pretty) locations. Come and explore the world, it's people and their food with me.
