Chefable » About Me http://www.chefable.com Cooking, recipes and meal planning - get your chef on. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:15:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Summer Lovin’ http://www.chefable.com/summer-lovin/ http://www.chefable.com/summer-lovin/#comments Sat, 09 Jun 2007 03:40:19 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/summer-lovin/ At my job I have always have had really busy summers and they have been very entertaining. We do this culinary tour of Colorado, going to places like Telluride, Aspen, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, and local places like Cherry Creek and Fort Collins. When we do these festivals they always seem to get really great chefs. Last couple of summers we had chefs such as Lidia Bastianich, Cat Cora, Dean Fearing, my personal favorite Rick Bayless, and other talented and well known chefs. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of time to talk shop with them, but I do get to here from them during their demo and I always learn something.

This summer we do not have as many of the big name chefs but we do have many events. First we are MC a local Stainless Steel chef competition at the taste of Fort Collins. At the end of June We will head up to Telluride and spend almost a week up there for the Telluride Wine Festival. They have some pretty well known chefs at this event. In fact one of the chefs is Andy Nusser who plays a prominent role in the previously mentioned Heat. He was Mario’s executive chef at Babbo’s. If you are curious here is the site with the other chefs http://www.telluridewinefestival.com/.

Then I am going to Mississippi and doing some Viking Range training and will be involved in a little Iron Chef Competition of my own. Then I will travel pack to Colorado and In the beginning of August we have the Steamboat Wine Festival and we will be doing some more MC and then to finish my summer off in Mid September we will do another wine event in Grand Junction. It seems so busy I just get tired typing it. I complain, but in all actuality, it is one of my favorite parts of my job. I love the freaking crap out of it.

]]> http://www.chefable.com/summer-lovin/feed/ 0 I am Back! http://www.chefable.com/i-am-back/ http://www.chefable.com/i-am-back/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:51:53 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/i-am-back/ Well, it has been a while since I have blogged and I have good excuse so I will not insult your intelligence by giving a crappy one. My goal is to do more of a quick hit variety, I have looked at my old blogs and they were more epistles rather than simple thoughts on cooking. So I am going to try to keep recipes coming and have some thoughts ideas and what not. Now I might have the occasional diatribe but my goal is to be more constant with the posting.

Please post anything you might want to add whether it is questions, advice or a funny comment, and look forward to many engaging, funny, insightful, and knowledgeable posts in the future. Stay Tuned!

]]> http://www.chefable.com/i-am-back/feed/ 0 My Jobby http://www.chefable.com/my-jobby/ http://www.chefable.com/my-jobby/#comments Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:33:48 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/my-jobby/ I really have a great job. I want to give you an idea of what I do. I am a chef. I have worked in the restaurant industry for about 7 years (which is about 50 percent of my working life.) I also am a graduate of the best culinary school in the world – Johnson and Wales. With that kind of resume, you would think that I am working in a restaurant or maybe as a caterer, but what I do full time is work in an appliance showroom.
I work for an appliance distributor. We distribute high end appliances companies like Viking, Miele, Franke and various other great appliance names. What I do specifically is work with customers and do demos. I help people decide what appliance they need, and I do demos for them and I also perform demos at other appliance dealers and retail stores throughout the Denver area. It really is a great job for several reasons.
• I get to work from 9-5. Those of you who have worked 70 hour weeks in a restaurant or as a caterer now what I mean when I say that those are great hours
• I get to cook whatever I want. If one day I want something Thai I can make that. If I have some new dish I want to practice on, then I can do that too. It is total freedom and it is great.
• I spend my summers on a culinary tour of Colorado, going to such places as Cherry Creek, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, and my favorite Telluride. On this tour I get to meet and learn from great chefs who come in and do demos too. It’s great to work alongside these pros.
I am saying all this so you can know where I am coming from. I love what I do and what I want to do is to start posting some of my favorite recipes that taste great and are great crowd pleasers. I hope you will enjoy them all.

]]> http://www.chefable.com/my-jobby/feed/ 0 Why would anyone ever want to slap their momma? http://www.chefable.com/why-would-anyone-ever-want-to-slap-their-momma/ http://www.chefable.com/why-would-anyone-ever-want-to-slap-their-momma/#comments Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:20:39 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/why-would-anyone-ever-want-to-slap-their-momma/ Is there a better holiday than Thanksgiving? Don’t get me wrong, I like the other holidays just fine. Christmas is King and Halloween has its ghosts and candy, and the Forth of July has its BBQ and fireworks. But Thanksgiving is about two things – Football and Food! You couldn’t tailor-make a more perfect holiday for me: Family, friends, food and football. Talk about a good holiday!

It is interesting to hear about everyone’s Thanksgiving traditions. When I was young, my family always had the same fabulous foods. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sparkling apple cider, and my mom’s homemade rolls. How strange – I didn’t list any vegetables. Maybe that’s due to the fact that I never ate them. But everything else is happily burned into my memory.

After high school, I lived on my own in Louisiana for 2 years. There I discovered a whole new set of food traditions. There were new ideas and treats like cornbread stuffing, smoked turkey, deep fried turkey, sweet potatoes in all forms, and this amazing thing called green bean casserole. It was a new world of food for me.

There is a saying I heard in Louisiana about food, “It’s so good you’ll wanna slap your momma.” Now, I’m kind of a momma’s boy, so I was a bit offended at first. Why would you ever want to slap your momma? For Thanksgiving that year I tasted green bean casserole and pecan pie for the first time. Why had I been allowed to live for 20 years before tasting these delicacies? Then I did want to slap my momma – for never making this when I was young! Now I understood that silly saying. But I did have to thank her in my heart for never making anything with sweet potatoes, not a favorite of mine. For that I love her still.

This week of blogs will be dedicated to Thanksgiving. Let me know some of your favorite food traditions and dishes. I’ll post my favorite turkey recipe, and some of my all-time favorite side dishes. There may even be some veggies in there! If you have anything to share, I’d love to hear it!

]]> http://www.chefable.com/why-would-anyone-ever-want-to-slap-their-momma/feed/ 4 I want to get specific up in here http://www.chefable.com/i-want-to-get-specific-up-in-here/ http://www.chefable.com/i-want-to-get-specific-up-in-here/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2006 04:10:59 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/i-want-to-get-specific-up-in-here/ In my first post I talk talked about some of my goals I want for this site

I want to get more specific now.

  • Find recipes

I want this site to have my favorite recipes on it- recipes that are tried and true and ones that are close to my heart

  • Learn basic culinary techniques

I really think this is the basis for all things tasty. If you sauté properly you will have better tasting food. The difference between pot roast that has been just thrown together and a pot roast that is made properly is really significant.

  • Talk with others about their culinary experiences

I think it is foolish to think that I know it all or that I can’t learn from everybody. I firmly believe that I can learn something from everybody – everyone has a special dish that they can make. I want to converse and learn from you as you learn for me.

  • Learn how to follow recipes and to make proper substitutions

Rarely do we have all of the ingredients, or even prefer the exact ingredients in a recipe.

  • Realize that recipes are just guides

You know your tastes. You have the power to break away from the recipe and fix it to your liking. The recipes are a basic map. There is more than one way to get to the mall.

While it’s fun to begin this blog, right now we’re just laying the foundations. We have a lot of work ahead of us. When we get more topics and more outside involvement, things will really start cooking!

]]> http://www.chefable.com/i-want-to-get-specific-up-in-here/feed/ 1 What the chef am I doing here?! http://www.chefable.com/what-the-chef-am-i-doing-here/ http://www.chefable.com/what-the-chef-am-i-doing-here/#comments Wed, 15 Nov 2006 01:09:34 +0000 Dan http://www.chefable.com/what-the-chef-am-i-doing-here/ Chefable.com is a culinary destination for beginners and experts alike.

It is a place to:

  • find recipes
  • learn basic culinary techniques
  • converse with others about their culinary experiences
  • learn how to not only follow recipes but to make proper substitutions
  • realize that recipes are just guides
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