Chefie’s World

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Kinain ko sa eroplano, masarap!

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sa Rhode Island, napakalamig!

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thanksgiving dinner namin sa princeton

Masarap talaga magbakasyon, sobrang sarap….pero para sa akin mas buo ang bakasyon kapag may pag-aaral din, yun ang pahinga sa akin, ang matuto ng ibang kaalaman na makakatulong sa ginagawa ko. Bawat taon lagi kung ginagawa ang pagpunta sa America para makita ko ang aking kapatid na si Edgardo.. di naman siya nakakauwi at ito rin ang oras na makapagdala ako ng mga pagkaing galing sa atin, tuyong danggit, pusit, ensaymada , ang polvoron ni Ate Cynthia at marami pang iba. Nalaman ko di kailangan ng napakadaming damit pagpupunta sa America kasi makakabili ka dun ng sandamukal.

Akala ko mas matatandaan ako ng aking mga guro kasi hinggit lang naman sa isang taon ako wala pero di sila sigurado kung sino ako….pero habang tumatagal ang panahon naiisip nila ako sa dami ba naming tinuturuan nila, pano nila ako makikilala….pag nasa Amerika ako, nalilimutan ko lahat ng mga problema dito sa Pilipinas, sobrang alaga ako duon sa Amerika. Pinagluluto ako ni Ate Myrla ang pinapasaya ni Joel, ang aking pamangkin na napaka talas at talino katulad ko…hahahah. Nakapagbakasyon din kami sa Boston nung Thanksgiving weekend, napaka ganda doon, iba din ang Newport, Rhode Island kung saan ang mga bahay ay sin laki ng mall ditto..makikita ninyo sa mga litrato.
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After two international trips, I bought quite a number of chocolates. Yabang ko….but when you know longer want to have lunch with Paul, Ben, Giorgio, Salvadore or my other would be friends, I turn to food. I got some great artisanal chocolates from the States as well as Italian made from Hongkong, and let me discuss them with you since, I have only tried quite a few, I am taking my time…..
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Celebrating New Year in Langham Hotel, Kowloon, Hongkong

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Of no work, why? The schedule for this year was done this way and I am very happy. Last month was very, very hectic and I had hard time catching up on what my life was all about. So, one resolution I wanted to do before I started teaching again was to clean one of my rooms at home. This room has all my magazines, second hand cookbooks I get from BookSale, old gifts that never got to be used and a whole lot of humongous tupperwares housing my old friends, Paul Smith, Ben Sherman, Giorgio Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein. Strange that I still have a lot of old clothes that I cherish because I love them or maybe due to my inheriting one trait Mommy Luring left me…keeping clothes and a lot of junk, mom was a child of World War 2, I know that most of you have mothers, aunts and relatives who are like this. Another reason is I have clothes for increase and decrease of weight, hehe. So I cleaned up the room, realized that I had quite a number of school bags and shoes. So decided to fix and give some away, guess what Apol is wearing now….even my gardener, LukeLuke looks so smart wearing his Camper slippers, love it…..the other reason for this clean up is I really want to make every look clean and organized and also get to turn on the aircon in this room which I don’t get to use as often. Second reason, is an arrival of three big balikbayan boxes this month, filled with books, old clothes and pastry equipments. There has to be space for these things. Mom used to have a stock room built when one of her containers arrive so I want the room to accept all these new items.
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The pictures here were taken the day after I arrived in Princeton, New Jersey. The last colors of autumn taken middle of November. Beautiful…..since after a week it was so so so so cold…winter just came with out warning. Four clothes layered on top of each other, walking 7 blocks every weekday from the Path Station to FCI on Broadway. Maybe it was the main reason I lost weight in the US.

The weird thing about the pictures in my last post is that there is no form of explanation to what it was. The first picture are the lighted trees fronting Time Warner Building on Columbus Circle. I bought Truffle Salt in the William Sonoma branch inside which I got for free but that’s another story. Next picture is the gigantic red Christmas balls fronting a building on 5th Avenue and last, are the trees in my brother’s house a day before I left, snowing! Everytime I visit America during winter, the day before I leave it always snows…..first snow so it is very pretty…..

It was a whirlwind and tumultuous when I got back, after a day of rest, I started teaching again a bunch of eager, excited group of students…..with diverse personalities. Even I was in school for 12 hours, I enjoyed it since I was in the new kitchens of our annex building….sarap magturo doon. To the point that I even asked Apol to go and get my stainless high chair from home so that it becomes the instructor’s chair there.

Next day, I had the privilege to tour, one of my idol chefs from the States. Chef Robert Danhi, a CIA chef instructor who I met during one of my USDA tours. Brought him and his wife to Antonio’s Grill in Tagaytay, CACS / Cafe Ysabel and King Crab for dinner. Tried my very best to entertain them even with the hardships of Christmas season. But I was very happy I got to drop them to the airport for their flight to Hongkong….I love bringing people to the airport…..

The next days were a bit more confusing since right after Christmas, the whole Gavino family and moi left for Macau….that’s a longer post to write about.

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A tremendous amount of activities has been happening to your chefie the past few months since I again took a momentary break of blogging. I was in New York for three weeks last November studying breads and pastries, then was away again right after Christmas to spend some good quality time with my family in Macau and Hongkong. Will write about all these for the next weeks to come, but here are some pictures to give you, my readers, a preview….

May the new year make us more sensitive and courteous on how we treat other people. May we give ourselves 30 seconds to think and feel a response before reacting so as not to regret what was done. May we understand the importance of our name and reputation since in the end this is the most important…..take care and read again soon.