We live in a different universe. We live in a microwave. The menu adorned with my chicken scratch. Months ago, Hawksworth asked me if I would like to accompany him to Toronto to help out with a charity dinner he had been invited to cook at. I said yes, and when the day arrived to leave, I got on a plane and left. It worked out perfectly, as it was right in the middle of a little two week vacation between jobs -  no begging and pleading for days off, or any of the guilt sometimes associated ... Read Full Story

Here’s what’s new in my life: Victor Benjamin and I. Just happy to be alive. So, here is a brief update: I’m leaving the city and going to work in the mountains at a great  restaurant called Araxi. I bought a car and moved into a cabin in the Squamish woods yesterday – a scary, but altogether exciting idea. I grew up on an acreage, surrounded by trees, so it will just take a bit of readjusting. When I was moving in yesterday, all I could hear was the neigbors cows moo... Read Full Story

Been in the desert this week catering a party. Lists upon lists, lead to more lists. I got a call last week from a guy I used to work with years ago who now does marketing for a Vancouver company. Every year his company goes to a trade show in Vegas and this year decided to cater a soiree in a North Vegas mansion. They had originally booked another chef, but he had to back out at the last minute, so I was lucky enough to get offered the gig. Miraculously, I was able to take the week off (s... Read Full Story

I just got an email from two of my favorite cookbook authors, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, letting me know that their book The Flavor Bible is turning one this week. I did a little interview with them before their event in the Salt Cellar last year, which you should check out if you haven’t already. They were really awesome people and a pleasure to talk to. Congratulations to Andrew and Karen for all the awards and praise for the book. I use my copy all the time. Read Full Story

Just got this letter forwarded to me by my Dad. It was written by retired DFO (department of fisheries and oceans) biologist Dr. Gordon Hartman, and deals with DFO’s  “poor support for wild salmon protection as opposed to unrestrained support for salmon farming in B.C.” When my dad sent it to me, his exact words were, “I don’t usually do this kind of forward, but these are wise men speaking and we should listen and act.”  I respect his opinion, as he has been a m... Read Full Story

“The candy man can cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.” Read Full Story

It’s a green sauce and it saved the day. “Learning more and more about less and less and less.” When I am hungry, I mean really famished, things get dark. My vision gets blurry, thoughts scatter, objects lose their color and the world turns against me. In this state, all I want to do is eat crap. I want to shovel cool ranch doritos into my mouth, guzzle coca-cola, destroy chocolate cakes with my mouth, french fries become a vehicle for mayonnaise…..you get the idea.  ... Read Full Story

Making America skinny again, one slap at a time. “Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life.” Joe Chaput turned me onto this infomercial awhile ago (via the subsequent re-mix “Rap Chop”), but a conversation with someone today reminded me of this soon-to-be classic. Like so many pieces of shit before it, it’s a ridiculous little kitchen gadget that will most likely break in a month or two. I would love to go on all the things morally and technicall... Read Full Story

Well, I bought a fishing pole. Victor Benjamin points out some mystical wonder. Dear diary: I am embarrassed to tell you this, but I don’t know a lot about fishing. Yeah, my mom and dad are marine biologists, they owned a commercial fish boat for a spell, my dad was always sport fishing, and still, none of it really sank in. I love being on the water, and the whole mystique of it all, but the technical side of it never really took with me. “We’ll try it at 100 fathoms son,” my dad would say.... Read Full Story

A brief aside: I’m thinking about the chickens my parents raised. The raccoons started picking them off at night at one point, which angered my dad – something would have to be done, and fast.  A plan was formulated: My dad would wait in the brush across from the chicken coop until he heard them rustling and then he would turn on a system of floodlights pointed directly at the coop. The startled raccoons would not know what to do with themselves and then he would shoot them. I rem... Read Full Story