Every time I go to a new country, I like to visit the restaurants of course. Getting a sampling of the local flavor is the most important element for any chef to know he has really “experienced” a new culture. But the other place I love to go in different countries is the grocery store. ...

I finally got my camera back, so I can now share with you the photos from my topless photo shoot in London. These are not the official pictures for the magazine, but rather the photos my wife took of me having my photo taken by Shuna of eggbeater. Shuna was not only awesome to work with, but she was...

Socrates ain’t got nothing on my philosophizing! “I just drank WHAT?!?…” Another pseudo-philosophical question has crossed my mind when I was cooking the other day. I had set aside some beef that I had browned for a stir-fry, and was cooking the vegetables. The smell coming o...

Disclaimer: I’m not one for disclaimers. But in this one, I have to apologize for the truly horrid nature of the photos. I wanted to do this project for you all, but I left my camera with a friend in London, so all I had was my camera phone. And it blows. So I’m sorry the pictures are su...

It was 11:30 at night when suddenly the power in my flat went out. I wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, which is always the case when your power first goes out, but I knew enough to check the circuit breaker. Everything in there was in fine shape, so I decided to call the emergency number ...

As I’m not the head chef of any restaurant (as of yet) I don’t generally receive many accolades for the work I do. Neither from my bosses, or in the press. So it’s a welcome change of pace for me when someone takes notice of my cooking, and actually takes the time to say something ...

So perhaps I’m ranting too much, and not saying enough in my story as of late. Simply put, I’m sort of stuck here in the US awaiting my UK visa so I can go back there and get on with the story. This limbo I find myself in has caused a major drag in developments in this blog, and I apologize for ...

While back in the US, I decided to have some drinks with two friends of mine from culinary school. These were the folks I originally went drinking with when any class ended (every 5 weeks), and then it was every other week, and then it was every Friday… As people got to know that we were going...

Well, it’s Christmas today, and I think that instead of some sappy post about getting together and having fun with family, I will take this chance to rant about something that annoys me. This much time with family means there is plenty that is already annoying me, so why not use this forum to ...

The new home. Yes, it’s a townhome, but it’s new! After only a week here, it would seem kind of odd that I would be talking about a move at this point. But yes, we had to vacate our temporary housing, and head for the greener pastures of our permanent residence here in Oxford. As luck wo...