Tatoosh

A retired citizen of the USA living abroad is SE Asia. I enjoy food, food shows, food discussions. My palate is developed, but only provisionally so, preferring a good hotdog over a mediocre steak. I am learning to cook and bake at altitude, living in the Philippines approximately 1500 meters or 5000 feet up.

I enjoy A. Bourdain, G. Ramsay and other occasionally contentious and controversial celebrity chefs and dissing chefs that cook with packaged ingredients (usually). I enjoy some contest cooking shows, Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef/Top Chef Masters being at the top of my list. I miss watching Justin Wilson (I ghar-ohn-tee!), Charlie Trotter, ATK, and Rick Bayless. I survive only due to the timely development of Bit Torrents: uTorrent Rocks!

I am the perpetual novice, the consummate wannabe, ever the apprentice, and I revel in the struggle. I try to make things from scratch, using fresh ingredients when possible, though that can be a challenge in the Philippines for certain categories of food stuffs.

I relish American (USA) fast foods such as hot dogs, coney dogs, french fries (with a Belgian twist), Made Rites, old style hand-cranked ice cream, pop tarts, and so forth. I am, however, struggling to educate my palate to enjoy or at least tolerate haute cuisine, SE Asian native dishes, Chinese (versus Chinese-American) dishes, and even will occasionally try Balut, Day-Old Fried Baby Chicks, and Filipino Aso (aka Ah-Dog-Bo).

My current agenda includes: Pork ribs, traditional and modernist, sausage making, cheese making, pastry - pies and doughnuts primarily, pulled pork, piri piri chicken, deep fried egg yolks, and home made vanilla extract (Indonesian pods).

What I miss most from the USA? Sur La Table, Hebrew National Hotdogs, McMenamins dark brews and burgers with fries!