Cooking Tips & Techniques. Chef Inspiration.
The daily walk to school through the city's core - over the Rideau Canal, past the campus of Ottawa U to the big yellow mansion that is Le Cordon Bleu - is my solace. I focus on the classes ahead and leave behind any unfinished business that is anything other than my culinary studies and dive headlong into the plan of the day.
There are few things more intoxicating than the smell of butter. Melting, sizzling, baking, butter has been my great love for many years, along with its companion... cream they simply make life worth living. That is, until you are introduced…
“We don’t teach you recipes, we teach you techniques.” – Chef Gilles, Instructor, Le Cordon Bleu. So, down to brass tacks. It’s lovely to go off on a soliloquy of foodie swooning... warm buttery walls and mystical moments in the…
“Tell me how it tastes... is it salty or sweet? Is it bitter or is it bland? Did you even... taste it?” When was the last time you slowly licked the bowl? When was the last time you indulged in…
Week Two at Le Cordon Blue (Basic Cuisine) is decidedly different from the first. The first required nightly emotional bolstering and large quantities of wine. I found myself completely lacking in all those food stuffs that I ‘stuff’ with when…
Roatan, Honduras. No plans. No reservations. No local currency and not a care in the world. I never travel like that. I’m a planner. I like to know. I like to think about it and savour it. Winging it, it's…
Deep in the Caribbean in the Bay Islands off Honduras is a living gem – Roatan, Honduras. A day of adventure and Island Cooking.
Day Three – Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa (BASIC CUSINE) First day in the kitchen and our first day with new knives. The first day I heard the butter sing.
In the heart of Old Havana, off Plaza de Armas, lined with book sellers and merchants, is a large awning covered outdoor restaurant lined with potted flowers and ferns – Cafe La Mina.
Chef in Profile: Executive Chef, Silvano Cruz - Sol Cayo Largo, Cuba On the shores of Cuba’s Cayo Largo de Sur - a tiny island in the Caribbean off the south west coast of Cuba - stretch miles of sandy white beaches. A haven to tourists; I was warned, “if you‘re offended by nudity, this is not a place for you”.
From the heart of Canada’s western fruit belt, the beautiful Okanagan, there came a sudden change in plan. I’d set my heart on further gallivanting, visiting and general merriment when there sprang to light the reality of living the dream. …
Best shrimp tacos... EVER. Its bright orange you can’t miss it. Paskayitos serves one thing and one thing only, seafood. So fresh it’s nearly wriggling. Throughout the spring and summer I’ve been junctioning out of Puerto Morelos, Mexico. This little…