This Is Where I Work: The Here and Now

So, I suppose this post has been a long time coming. It has been an amazing couple of months since my last post and I really would like to write about all of it at some point. My problem I find is that my desire to write is problematic, coming in random intervals, and often when I am away from my laptop. For instance, right now its about 2:30am London time and I just woke up from a strange dream that felt so real it was like an anecdote of my life. Some of the finer details of the dream are less important to where this is going but the theme gives it substance. The wave of emotion it induces pushes my mind not to forget like so many other fleeting memories. Of course, the dream was about friends.

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I've often thought that everything that's happened to me in the last little while has been mostly a dream. My life has gone in a direction that would seem extrordinary and necessary in my evolution as a chef. I had always thought of spending time abroad to experience food and the world, to expand my repetoire and see just how far I could go. When you take the time to step back and look at the timeline of your life its sometime easy to forget the biggest factor in all of it: time. In a lifetime, a year or two can be just a drop in the hour glass. The reality of it is much more when it is time spent away from what you find matters most. I feel as though my time here is a necessary step for my career, but there is always a part of me yearning for the comforts of home. It feels as though the thin tether of the home i've made for myself in Canada might snap from the strain of distance. I worry that if it did, I might fade from thought and memory like loose change in a jar long forgot.

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But I am here now, and I have made a commitment to myself to stay the course, wherever it may take me. I've crossed paths with a few of the greatest chefs in the world. I've shared breakfast with Heston Blumenthal. I've met Pierre Gagnaire as casually as I would any co-worker. I've seen, eaten and experienced things that I would never have had I stayed closer to home. And as I take a step back again and look upon my life here abroad, the time melts away and seems but a heartbeat. And all that remains is the memory of all that I've managed to accomplish for myself here and what I hope to accomplish in the near future. I have thrown myself into the ocean. I hold on to my tether with both hands.

Bern: A visit to a relative of a friend from high school, also fondue

Note: These photos are not in order as I would have intended. but moving them is too much of a hassle right now. In the future, I think I will set up a Flickr account to handle all of my photos from now on.

Way back when in spring of 2007, when we first conceived the idea of traveling to europe the plan was simple enough.

1. Go to Germany and win gold at the olympics(did that)

2. Have lots of beer and relax(still doing that)

3. Find work in Switzerland and work for a year, learning from the best. (Ah, not so much)

As it turned out, Switzerland is a hard country to get work visa's from. If you dont already have work lined up, you're out of luck. On top of that, you have to apply for the visa in your home country, which makes finding good work that much harder. We did try however, in spite of all this, and who better to call than a member of the Canadian embassy? A good friend of mine happend to have an aunt stationed in Bern, the swiss capital, so we gave it a shot. It didn't pan out.

But we did manage to find a new friend in Switzerland, so at least it was not completely fruitless. She was also kind enough to let us stay with her while we were there, which we were very grateful for. The town of Bern was actually quite nice. We managed to go to the market and have some awesome mexican food, as well as taking in all the local produce. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of all the markets here. They make the local Edmonton markets look silly.

One of the local attractions in Bern is their town mascot: the bear. To celebrate their town animal, they decided to have a bear pit, where tourists could come and feed the bears rolls and essentiall anything they wanted to throw in the pit. It's really sad when you think about it and even more depressing when you see it. Essentially, people hover over the rails hoping the bear will walk below them and eat whatever they toss in. Even more sad is the fact that there used to be more than just one bear in that cramped pit, but the rest of them died. Shitty.

After a couple of days of mountains and walking through town, we decided that it was time to give something back to our hosts. Being chefs, the natural thing to do was simple: cook dinner. An afternoon of shopping and cooking resulted in the following menu:

Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad

Arugala and Bresaola

Balsamic vinaigrette

Roasted Cauliflower soup

Mustard seed and Herb Crust Veal Loin

Roasted Potatoes and Mixed Peppers

Braised Leeks and Fennel

Mushroom, Herb and Cream Sauce

Before leaving Switzerland all together, we were determined to have some authentic fondue. There are mixed stories on where fondue was invented so we chose the town that was closest: Fribourg. I think a good way to describe how good the fondue is would be to say that I will most likely not have real fondue for the rest of my life. Now that doesnt sound so great but don't get me wrong. It was very tasty. But it was also intense which, when you think about it, makes sense. It's cheese and bread. Thats it. Never again. Glad we did it, but never again. The next morning we packed and we soon said our good-byes and were on our way to our next destination: Dijon.

A day in Luzern

Having had enough of walking around the same expensive stores in zurich, we were in desperate need of something else to do. Luckily enough for us, we found some friends who wanted to come along. We met ariella and abby on our 3rd day in Zurich, over what has now become a mainstay of killing time: a game of cards. The intent was to get a view of the mountains, at least at some vantage point while in switzerland, and luzerneemed to offer that as well as a nice enough town. Unfirtunately, the weather did not agree. As it happened, it snowed the night before, and the roads to the observation area were closed because of the roads. Bummer.

So instead, we spent some time in the town, checking out some of the historical sites including a Lion hewn into a natural rock face. It was very nice exept for the slush and water all over the place. We did end up getting a bit of sunshine but by then we were already very cold so we eventually took the train back to Zurich for a home cooked dinner: Poached fish and clams in a White Wine Cream sauce with arugula and parmesan. A good way to end a busy day of walking and sightseeing. It really is amazing what can be done with very little equipment and a little bit of creativity. Suffice it to say, I think it was the best dinner that we had in Zurich, and one of the cheapest too. After dinner we went for coffee and played a little more jenga. We said our good-byes that evening to our new friends and we made our way to bern the next morning.

Zurich: Part 2

The first couple days in Zurich were unfortunately, uneventful. They did produce some interesting highlights though, including the learning of a new card game called shithead from some australians and several rounds of intense jenga action. Probably the most signifigant revelation however, involved the food. We had already decided that we would be cooking instead of eating out, making use of the limited kitchen facilities. To that end, from time to time I will begin to write installments of what I would like to call "The Hostel Cookbook: A gourmet's guide to eating in places that will bleed you dry if you try to go out for food." I may edit that later on, but it has a nice ring to it for now. We've cooked some interesting meals so far and they have garnered a bit of attention from other hostellers. I'll try to provide some recipes on the stuff we've made, but I wont make any promises as to their accuracy. I've never been one to write down what I'm cooking as I'm doing it so it's purely based on memory. In any case, I'll leave that for another post, as well as a some info on the chocolate we've been eating. Next up on the list however: Luzern!

Zurich is the most ridiculous place in the world...so far....

So, we made our way to Zurich at the ungodly hour of 430 am from Munich, a five hour ride that was actually quite pleasant. The Swiss and German countryside is very scenic and the second class seats were quite good in my opinion. As we made our way through the Zurich haupbahnhoff the first thing we were looking for was a place to stay. We had done some initial research that suggested we would be paying anywhere from 40-60 francs a night(blarg!) for dorm room accommodations. We managed to find a relatively inexpensive one for 34 francs/night so we were happy about that. After lugging all our stuff, my bags being significantly heavier due to a large knife roll and kitchen uniforms, we decided to walk around and get something to eat.

Wow. Have you ever felt that you've over paid for say, a roast beef sandwich at starbucks or some other place where you bought food because it was convenient? My suggestion? Never go to Zurich. We went by about 2 dozen restaurants that seemed good, but charged a fortune. Appetizers were 18+ francs, Mains 25+ francs, and I didnt even want to look at the cost for dessert. We walked around for a good half hour before we settled on a place that didnt even look that good, but it had a nice view of the main strip. I'd like to think that so far on this trip we've managed to find some really good places to eat and drink and shop for reasonable prices. This was not one of them. For 25.50 francs, my main course included a lame side salad with the swiss equivalent to ranch dressing, a well-done roast beef with a horseraddish butter, and boiled potatoes and vegetables. Sounds good right? I'm not sure if I've every recieved a meal and been more dissapointed. Unfortunately for me, I was hungry and for 25.50 I wasnt going to waste any of it.

Suffice it to say, I was not a happy camper after this experience and we decided that from now on, we are going to by groceries. There is a kitchen in the hostel that we are allowed to use, and we can at least afford to buy food from the super market. If things go well, I won't be completely broke when I leave Switzerland.

Things to look into...

In case anyone was wondering, here are some links and things to look at from my competition times. There are a few articles and photo's on flickr. If you're local to edmonton, there were a few TV spots but I'm not sure how to get access to those. The articles are pretty good and worth reading if you'd like to know a little bit about the competition. I'm going to try to post a few things to explain it all but until then this should be good for at least a little while. There may be a few more things to come, I won't spoil it for the media team but keep an eye out.

Edmonton Journal - Pre-competition

Edmonton Journal - Post Competition

Oh how the pork sings.....

We will only be here in Germany for one more day, but I'm sure we will be having some form of pork and beer for dinner. It's almost all that they serve. Roast pork, pork hocks, pork schnitzel, pork cordon bleu, a liver and pork loaf(tastes better than it sounds), if it comes from a pig, the Germans can't get enough of it. And of course there is the wurst. Bratwurst and Weisswurst are staples to the German diet and are found on every street corner and in every restaurant. It is ridiculous how much pork is eaten in this country. I'm still not sure how I havent had a heart attack and I've been here for only a week and a half. Between pork and potato dumplings and a bowl full of real gravy, I've seldom ate anything else. And everyday, I've said to myself, "I think I'll pass on the pork today" and without fail, for lunch and dinner, I've eaten pork. I think I might have a salad tonight.