Christmas Wish List

I think as Americans we take a lot of stuff for granted. Our Freedom, Our Job, Our Family, Our wonderful heath care reform, Pop Music, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Telemundo, and most importantly the myriad of foods available to us around the holiday. We eat our faces off for a few days, drink like Indians and then feel guilty for it come New Years vowing that our "resolution" is to hit the gym. In true American spirit I too eat and drink this way year round, which is why I'm posting a fully detailed list appreciating everything I've consumed this Holiday season, without nutritional facts, organic endorsements, or warning labels. Feliz Navidad!

In some chronological order:

Snyders hard pretzels and ham for breakfast (mustard)

Lunch @ Nopalito in SF- Fish Taco, Blue Corn Casadilla, Chicken Enchiladas with Mole Negro

Strong Banana tasting beers @ Toranado in SF

Heavenly Veal Sausage from German Lady

Blue Blottle coffee

Family meal @ INCANTO Pork Loaf, Potato wedges, Apple Sauce

Chef Chris' 7 fishes dinner with macaroons for dessert

A bearclaw

Jim Beam Rye

Christmas dinner @ Rigoberto's #2 chicken enchilada, chilaquiles salsa rojo, rolled cheese tacos

Ham for lunch (mustard)

Bulleit Bourbon

Stella Artois

30 to 40 red vines

Chicken Shwarma @ MAMAS BAKERY

bud light (may i emphasize no caps)

Jalapeno Poppers @ RedFox

Some Red Wine

Burritos with corn salsa @ INDIGO

More Ham

Faint memories of a grip of cookies, chocolates and cakes of sorts...

Mexican Slang Of the Week

Expression:

"A huevo!"- A derivative of "A huevo que si!"

which is a slang version of saying "Claro que si!"

meaning "Of Course!"

-"huevo" is "egg" in Spanish. Young males use "huevos" to refer to their testicles.

Adrenaline Junkies

I was probably around 10 years old and it was those dog days of summer where the heat was getting to us and whatever "cops and robbers" game we had been playing started getting old fast. Next thing I knew we were dumping gasoline all over the trucks and wheels of this skateboard. I can remember lighting that fucker up and trying to ollie over my bike. Much to my inability the flaming tony hawk board went flying into the shrubs lighting them on fire which, in turn lit the metal gas can on fire as well. Always preparing for the worst (yea right we were probably smoking pot too) we had a bucket of water ready for such a miscue. We dumped the water onto the shrubs and into the gas can, extinguishing the fire. Simultaneously my neighbors' father came out of the house, and shouts "No wonder my lawnmower has been running shitty, you assholes have been putting water in my gas!"

Close call.

This got my wondering though. We played with fire... A Lot. All of my fondest childhood memories, at least the misbehaving ones, involve fire. And come to think of it I always had an obsession with knives. There was always a certain kind of adrenaline rush back in those days like doing something "bad" and getting caught would certainly mean a few lashing off Dad's belt. It's no wonder I love life in the kitchen. As far back as I can remember this is the kind of shit I've been cool with. Now I've finally reached a point in my life where I've wised-up and began to channel this energy into something I like doing. I still crave that adrenaline rush. I need constant mind stimulation. Constant flow pumping through my veins as if I just jumped out of a plane. Cooking on the hot line is my flaming skateboard. I Need it. I crave it. It satisfies my very being. It can be very fucking stressful at times. It physically beats the shit out of me daily and I like to think I'm a tough mother fucker. The truth is I think all cooks, anyone working in the trenches is an adrenaline junkie. There has been something in our life leading up to our choice to cook that satisfies the empty gap. There is something about that rush that is purely addictive. Sometimes this can be dangerous. It's hard to shut off. But our ability to harness this power inside ourselves is one of the very unique things that makes us cooks.

Slang of the Week
"Guango/a"- A loose asshole (meaning you take it in the ass)
Eg: "Tienes guango?"

Bienvenido!

Welcome to my blog ladies and gents! I would like to take the first post to get a few things off my chest. First and foremost I intend this blog to be funny and lighthearted. It may, at first glance, appear to be poking fun at certain groups of people, places, or things. This is actually TRUE. But the truth is I have a great respect and appreciation of everything I will be posting about- the FOOD, the people who stand to my left and right in the TRENCHES, and even those pesky customers who cause a great deal of stress in our lives. This blog is not going to pursue "Culinary Perfection" or anything much related to the molecular gastronomic movement. I do, however, want to include very relative and useful Spanish slang. I want to share all I have gathered in my experience working kitchens because, after all, most of us don't know the half of what is going on sometimes. I will share derogatory, foul, and downright insulting language. I can guarantee that some of this, if used in the wrong place, will get you kicked in the nuts. Furthermore I'd like to say that I am not a trained professional in the Spanish language nor do I posses a degree of any sort. I also want to chronicle my culinary adventures from week to week, including pictures and some genuine Philly shit talking. I have some cool ideas for upcoming posts so stay tuned and check back for more!
Lastly I'd like to give a shout out to a few SF bloggers, who over the past year have helped me keep the motivational fire under my ass !
linecook415
hotfoodporn

THANKS!!

Word of the Week
"Guay" or "Wey"
-the English equivalent of "dude" which is used at least once every sentance.
EG: Como estas wey?