Fugu

Thank you, toweringpine and rgruby. I'll try to call that number then perhaps take a little trip to SLM early morning, Saturday. I miss working in the downtown core. Thanks again.

Hello everyone, would St. Lawrence Market have dried morels? I know they are sold in virtually every grocery store in the GTA but I prefer buying in bulk quantities. Small packets cost a lot more than what I am willing to pay. My only other option is to buy online by the pound and I am avoiding posting my credit card number. I am also looking for powdered aspic, I've made gelatin using bones and connective tissue but they are no easy to clarify. Thanks

One of my fondest memories of food as a child is when I woke up early one foggy morning. I found my grandfather near some banana trees by the river, with a hired help. They were preparing a roasting pit and stuffing a large pig's cavity with bundles of lemon grass. It was then tied to a bamboo pole and roasted over an open pit. There was a lot of food for that party but the pig roasting on an open fire pit is the most memorable event for me. I want to recreate this in late fall and perhaps blog it for eGullet forumers.

Not quite, but I do eat just a few kernels from a single row at a time, across in typewriter fashion. I find fewer bits stick in my teeth that way, and the cob looks much neater, too. I get a little prissy sometimes. ← I started eating corn, one kernel at a time after coming back from a trip to Peru. The train to Aguas Caliente below Machu Picchu stopped at a depot and vendors with baskets came in the trains selling starchy/meaty corn called choclo along with a salty local cheese. It was washed down with a beverage made with blue corn called Chicha Morada, I think? Must be an Inca thing to eat one kernel at a time?

I am a moderator at a reef keeping club and it is unfortunate that these animals are still used in traditional medicines. I can't say I am surprised but since this is foodie site, I will not say anything inflamatory.

Foraging around the rice paddies and the nearby beaches during my formative years were my most memorable experience. Having emmigrated to Canada in 1977, the target has now become wtaercress, black berries and raspberries. I just wish I had better luck with morels. The rice paddies provided my cousin and I quail eggs for snacks. The nests were easy to find on the embankments of the rice paddies. And when it was rainning, the quail's flights were restricted to short distances and were easy to chase down and were caught by hand. On the beach, clams left sign where they were easily dug out and a gallon bucket is were easily filled for a nice gingered clam soup. A short snorkle yielded scallops but not the fancy ones you would find in markets. These were thrown on a bed of coals and were dipped in a Kalamansi limes and fish sauce(Nam Pla). Smaller versions of fiddleheads were also available at one of the mountain streams. They were always served with fresh water snails from the same stream cooked in coconut cream, ginger and garlic. Those days are gone! Pollution and poor natural resource management practices have destroyed this once ideal paradise. I continue foraging here in Toronto but memories of my childhood are still alive in me.

This seems like a good place to start with my first eGullet forum post. My experience, for the duration of my career, was quite the opposite from some of the 8 items listed. Times may have changed and this may now be the new axiom but in my experience: 8. We did have wild parties on a daily basis, even after spending 12+ hours at work. We had split shifts on top of that. But this was in the Bahamas, how could one not join one big party island? 7. We did get to eat anything we wanted back in the 80's and 90's and I've worked in hotels, restaurants and private resorts. A good cross section of a career spanning 20+ years. Perhaps the size of the operation has something to do with this lax restrictions? 6. We did live in the kitchen but I've met George Bush Sr., Ronald Regan, Margaret Thatcher, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Joe Montana, Yul Brynner, Hal Linden and Diana ross. For some reason, guests tend to congregate in the kitchen during my catering services. Whenever he was there, Sean Connery was a common site every morning, riding a golf cart to fetch his morning paper. I am sure I've missed many more, including royalty since I do recieve copies of the monthly function sheets and see the name listings. This was all at Lyford Cay Club in the Bahamas. Though I was Kept in the Garde Manger dungeon of the King Edward Hotel in Toronto for several years. 5. As Garde Manger Chef, I was allowed to be creative, doing ice carvings, vegetable carvings, butter sculptures, pates, terrines, galantines, rillets and mousses. I was given freedom develop my own canapes and how to place them in platters as I saw fit. Holiday buffet menus were written and submitted by me to the Executive Chef. 4. Can't say I am rich monetarily but I have a wealth of experience which I feel was a priviledged lifestyle. I am comfortable, not rich. In this respect, I do fall short of my lofty goals. There is still time though. 3. I totally agree with no.3! No, our profession is not easy but the workload is something we got used to. My last job as an Executive Chef, I spent 16 hours at work everyday and I accepted this as the norm. Clean up? Ha, I already did the recieving, the menus, the prep work, why not tack on the cleanup as well? That's Bahamas and the "tommorow mon" attitude. Toronto is no different, union rules rule. 2. Oh yeah, I apprenticed under a German Chef, a French Chef and a Japanese Chef and all of them had Gordon Ramsay moments. The German Chef hurling a salami at an apprentice, the French Chef ragging on you and the Japanese forcing you to eat things he found that were not supposed to be there. Our kitchens reminds me of that BBC show, Chef. 1. Glamorous? So far it has not been all glam and cooking in mega yachts is as close to glamorous as I can get. We'll have to wait and see. My time is not up yet; the next chapter of my career is in the works. There is a big price that I paid to see and experience all this!