Vegetables for Breakfast!

Hollygrove Market carrots, beets and collard greens.

Left-overs from Sunday night’s dinner $$$

Rice for breakfast!

Collard greens sautéed with a bit of bacon and onion.

Watermelon today too, yummy believe it or not!

Mediterranean and Asia are meeting in the Deep South during a freeze!

Entergy sent me a text:

“2100 restoration workers assembling for winter storm response. Prepare for outages that could last 3 to 5 days.”

Banana Republic!

Yemen 2007

Boy and his jambiya

View from Kawkaban

Room with a view, outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen

Yemeni mansion

Asian Food

I hear you Chef Beth! 8,000 miles away

Nola to Dubai, but dine in place!

Some Saj, Mouttabel or Shish!

Late night shwarma run, extra toom, please

There are times when I would kill myself for Korean, food that is

Or wrap myself around a tree for Japanese

I would go on the rack for ribs

and would gladly choke on Cheese, Italian, please

Or, for Pizza would plunge into a cold dark sea

Maybe cut myself with Razor clams, oh!

But I would give it all up for Gelato

Butter Garlic Naan and Dal

There is an Indian restaurant at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, Swaad

They fed me well

The naan and dal were, as you can see, out of this world

Again, these are made fresh, from scratch, of course all the cooks in Swaad were from India and the food was sensational

Pur Pur Artisan Bread

Pur Pur is an artisan bread flour from Germany or Austria

These beautiful breads and rolls were made by hand at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort in the United Arab Emirates

Bakery Chef Prakash and his team made them, as they made all the breads, from scratch

I was lucky enough to be Executive Chef there from 2005 – 2007

Rabbits and Squirrels

Rabbits and squirrels are plentiful in Louisiana, but we don’t eat them much, anymore.

In the 2oth century people have eaten wild animals and plants as part of their diet in rural America.

Western European Upper Paleolithic humans derived more than 80% of their diet from rabbit.

80%!

Rabbit!

Next week I will live on $1.50 a day in support of LiveBelowTheLine.

A tough task, but thankfully not a necessity for me.

There are lots of rabbits and even more squirrels in my mother’s yard in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Anything I can do with a chicken, I can do with a rabbit.

Fried Rabbit, Rabbit Blanquette,  Rabbit Fricassee,  Roasted Rabbit, Rabbit Salad, Rabbit and Dumplings

The squirrel I prefer to combine with the rabbit and make a classic Brunswick Stew with potato, corn, butter beans, tomato, celery, onion, white, red, and black peppers.

I’ve heard Robin is tasty too; they are in my mom’s neighborhood as well.

Hong Kong, Dubai and US! Live #BelowTheLine challenge – $1.50 a day for food and drink for 5 days

Live #BelowTheLine challenge – $1.50 a day for food and drink for 5 days

Live #BelowTheLine challenge – $1.50 a day for food and drink for 5 days

Please sponsor me at http://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/SATStorms

Tulane University on the Leaderboard for LiveBelowtheLine!

Massive thanks to Jo Ann Davis, Juanita Bonita, Alison Ross, Anne Wallis and all the anonymous donors – mom –

for donating to my Live Below the Line fundraising campaign!

Can you also chip in $100 USD? Every donation goes towards helping end extreme poverty.

Thanks for all the support! I will be a bit hungry next week.

check it out!

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/us-en-leaderboards

Professional Eater, Semi-Retired

I was a Cook, and a Chef for many years.

I was also a Professional Eater, in many ways I still am.

Should those words be capitalized?

Yes, it was my title, I was good at it, I dedicated time, money, effort and my life to it.

I traveled far and wide, I took educational food vacations, attended conferences, studied wine, dined alone and in groups.

I am not alone, food as sport, food as art, food as an obsession, has been in fashion for years.

These days I am thinking about what I eat and how much I spend on food – not just money, but how much time I dedicate to the pursuit of my next meal.

In August 2012 I started a break from the professional hospitality world, tended to a dying father, returned to study at a University, and volunteered to share my cooking skills within community.

Now, more often, I cook at home in pursuit of balance.

I dine out less frequently.

Beginning Monday April 29 till Friday May 3, I will live on $1.50 a day for food and drink.

This is in support of Live Below The Line and the 1.4 Billion people worldwide who survive on only $1.5o a day – living every day in extreme poverty.

Though I am a Professional Chef, a very skilled cook, and an expert bargain hunter – it will be a difficult challenge.

Please support this cause and think of those less fortunate the next time you buy a $3 coffee or dine out.