Mental Breakdown

So the other morning I was awoken by the GM of the resort to let me know the guy who had been working breakfast and lunch(yeah the Red Lobster guy) decided he wasnt going to work at the resort anymore. So I have been waking up at 630 to make breakfast, followed by lunch and then dinner. I feel bad for the guests because when someone asks me to make two eggs over easy I barely know what that means, where is a Mexican line cook when I need one?? So today I felt like I was going to have a mental breakdown and take out all my frustration on some poor, innocent Bahamian. Nap time ensued which left me scrambling to get ready for dinner, but we made it. And here was the kicker, there was a choice between Chicken and Snapper and EVERY single person ordered the Snapper. Talk about breaking fish down to order, oh well my typical plastic pint cup of wine at the bar is tasting good and tomorrow we have 8 courses lined up for New Years. Everyone have a great one and this adventure is wrapping up soon so hopefully you will see a reincarnation of this blog.

A Christmas Recovery

Christmas was a blur, literally. I was allowed out of my hole and had a glass of wine in my hand by 5 O'clock which turned into Scotch at Midnight. I was able to deal with my hangover and pull another 14 hour day and put together a sensible menu. I don't talk about lunch but since everyone was hungover I thought a spicy fish curry soup would do everyone just right and I think it breathed a bit of life back into the place. Dinner was as follows:

1st: Tempura Andros Conch, Ponzu and Chili G(Thats for People in the Know)

2nd: Roast Loin of Pork, Apple, Mint, Jalapeno
Local Spiny Lobster Pasta, Tomato, Lemon, Prosciutto

3rd: Dark Chocolate Rice Pudding, Vanilla, Peanuts

Today I felt a little more human, but there has been ongoing drama with my 45 year old "Sous Chef" I never knew a grown man could need so much coddling. He has worked in kitchens for 20+ years but this is also the same guy who took a girl to Red Lobster to impress her! I guess he has been feeling upset because he has not had enough input on the lunch menu, he did offer to do Grouper Fingers for lunch which I reluctantly shot down. So after some poking and prodding we came up with a grilled shrimp salad he could do which made him very proud of himself, but he also managed to drown the lettuce in Sherry Vin that I had made. I do have those days where I need to make about a half a dozen phone calls to get one delivery and this is dealing with people who have pre-paid cellphones and they like to forget to keep their minutes charged. Tomorrow will be another one of those days ordering all sorts of fun stuff to get down here from the States for New Years. But dinner went well tonight and here's what we came up with.

1st: Standard Salad but made a good Vin with that really good French Blue and Banyuls Vinegar.
Japanese Mushroom Soup, Parsley, Lemon

2nd: Found a decent Organic Chix with Gnocchi, Chorizo, and Basil Broth
Hog Snapper, Napa Cabbage, Ginger, Rice Wine

3rd: Banana Tart, Coconut Sorbet, Meyers Rum

New Years Menu will start getting pieced together tomorrow and after that its time to go FISHING!!!

Christmas at Tiamo

Didnt get around to the menu from last night so here it goes:

Butternut Squash Ravioli, Braised Pork and Spiced Creme Fraiche

Beef Tenderloin, Potato Two Ways, (gnocchi and out of the gun) Yuzu Marinated Mushrooms
Hogfish Snapper, Cauliflower Brandade,

Honey Lemon Souffle, Chocolate Nougat


Tonight:

Fingerling Soup, Maple, Espellete Almonds
Bahamian Ceviche, Avocado, Fennel, Pink-Peppercorn

Roasted Duck, Cauliflower, Ginger-Honey, Pineapple
Conch Risotto, Saffron, Spicy Sausage

Cinnamon-Sugar Beignet, Espresso, Cinnamon Ice Cream

Not too many rants or raves right now, just getting ready for Christmas tomorrow, good thing is everyone is eating at 4, and the owner said he wants me to have some drinks with them tomorrow night....Fingers Crossed

Opening Night

The guests have arrived(even if all but two are friends of the owner) and the kitchen is in production mode. After placing a huge order on Friday, the boat came in today. Good thing I was up till 2:30 last night cooking because otherwise I would have been up the creek. With Christmas coming up and the fact I am in the Bahamas I wasn't really expecting another delivery until next week, so lets just say I had a few things to put away. Oh and that extra fridge that had been sitting outside that got moved into my room and is now full with herbs and lettuce. Not to mention the cases of milk, oil, salt, and sugar. That is the only redeeming quality of that UHT milk is that its not taking up my precious refrigerator space. Being a "chef" made me so much more prepared than the rest of the staff today and as terrible as it sound the CIA has the slogan right when they say "Preparation is everything" The problem is now I have to do this everyday and not drink too much rum while doing it. I was pretty happy with the menu tonight and the owners were super stoked and were bringing me beers at the end of the night.
1st Course: Smoked Paprika Marinated Shrimp, Chorizo, Orange and Parsley. Cooked the Chorizo with the shrimp and the orange was a puree of Sous Vide Orange bell peppers cooked in OJ, Honey and Sriacha. Made a salad with diced bell pepper cooked the same way, pickled shallots and parsley.
Salad(which they want me to do every night but this one had this amazing french blue cheese I got from Chefs Warehouse called Bleu Avergne.)

2nd Course: Grilled Local Grouper, White Romesco, Grapes, and Mint(Everything that was in the romesco, I made a salad with that and grapes marinated in Verjus)
Roasted Rack of Lamb, Goat Cheese, Candied Fennel, Olive, and Jus. I took half cream and half milk and steeped Ras el Hanout in it and then pureed the goat cheese in with gellan and made a fluid gel. The candied fennel was pretty banging with a nice pop from Champagne Vinegar.

Dessert: Melting Valrhona Chocolate Cake,(Thank you Josh Ball for the recipe and many others you will be seeing) Ginger, Cocoa, Cinnamon Ice Cram. Made this dessert the other night for the GM's b-day and the owner said to me he felt like eating a orange afterward and it got me thinking. I had made a candied ginger chocolate puree and so I added a little salad with orange powder and more candied ginger.

So now I sit at the bar drinking some rum and lime debating whether or not to go back in the kitchen or get a little sleep before I wake up at 7 tomorrow and make sure my boy Reuben can take care of breakfast on his own.

Time to Change the Oil

The preparations have begun for the 1st guests to arrive so that means we have to change the oil in the generator, and I figured a blackout would be a perfect time for post. When the lights went off I was busy breaking down the first Bahamian fish that we got in the kitchen.(I will start uploading pictures soon) Two different types of grouper, some snapper and hogfish all in the 15-20 pound range. The guy who speared them apparently is a friend of Jimmy Buffet's and they fish together when his boat is in the Bahamas so if I keep feeding him maybe my next blog will be from Jimmy Buffet's boat. Anywho I am really excited to finally have some fish to work with and hopefully can do it some justice in the next day or two. I might be getting some local produce flown in today from Nassau which would be amazing. My produce situation is revolting and hopefully these local tomatoes will cheer me up. Tomatoes for Christmas? Sounds good to me.

Changing Pace

When I 1st came up with the idea to do a blog it was to share ideas about food and less about life. As I am on the island I think I am becoming to use this blog more for myself than anyone that is reading it.(anyone out there?) It reminds me of watching old Doogie Howser episodes and sitting down at the end of the day and reflecting on everything that has happened, good and bad. The funny thing is people have told me that it reads well, and I figured after working a 14 hour day it would just be scraps of words pieced together. What it comes down to is that it is nice to have an outlet and to take a few minutes out of the day to feel human. I got to listen to the Chargers win today on the internet and it made me feel like a new person.
As far as the food side of this blog, I haven't been happier as a cook in a very long time. I have been learning so much about cooking, myself, food, and life on a daily basis and I love it. Cooking is a profession that creates egos and judgments. I know I have limited myself to my surroundings in previous jobs and it is so refreshing to not feel bad about myself if I make a mistake because some culinary school graduate thinks he is hot shit because he read the El Bulli Cookbook. I know I have also worked with and for other people who have those same fears and I am so glad I no longer look up to those people when down the road you realize who they really are. It is a very rare situation I have been put into and hopefully it continues. If it doesn't, I now know I can make some pretty good ice creams, chocolate and cakes when it comes down to it.

What Happens When You Need a Watermaker

Everyday something new on this island paradise. The day started well, we found the missing pallet and I had my quart containers and Lecithin so life was good. Before this we had been using bottled water that we made on-site to cook with. Its funny because that would normally be such a huge inconvenience but I really didn't think twice about it. So today the project was to drain the tanks and set up the filtration device so all of the water in the resort would be ready to use water. At 1 o'clock the dishes were starting to pile up and I was told thirty more minutes for the tanks to get refilled. Now at 3 o'clock sitting outside with the island breeze at my back I have given up all hope on getting water anytime soon. The circuit breaker had blown and nobody was around for thirty minutes to realize this, so I'll continue to get some sun until I get the thumbs up. Looks like I will be spending the night scrubbing pots because my girls have to take the ferry back to their side of the island at 4:30. Who cares, when I turn around and see the water and palm trees I can think of a few worse things that are happening to people in this world.

When You Lose a Palett

After catching the red eye from LA last week I got into my Mitsubishi Lancer and drove all around Miami doing some shopping to get things on a cargo boat coming to the island. Also my orders from Chefs Warehouse and Terra Spice were delivered to the freight forwarder. Today was the big day that everything would arrive and I was staring into the crystal clear water waiting for a boat filled with boxes to arrive. The first one arrives with boxes full of furniture, so that makes me start to wonder why would they take furniture when there is refridgerated things that need to get off the boat. Boat two arrives and I instantly recognize the Chefs Warehouse boxes, everything is there and nothing is broken so smiles all around. Now I patiently wait for the 3rd boat that has Terra Spice and all my storage containers which I have been waiting for more than anything else. The sun sets over the Bahamian ocean(am I painting a pretty picture?) and no boat in sight. Tyrone the Boss Man says he don't know about no more boxes mon. Turns out a whole palette has gone missing so we'll keep staring out into the ocean waiting for more boxes to arrive.

Welcome to South Andros

Joining the blogging ranks of the world to show my experiences opening a resort in the Bahamas. Don't think this will get as many followers as L2O's blog but we'll see. Going to mainly concentrate on the food coming out of the kitchen but I'll try to get some lifestyle photos between my 14 hour days in the kitchen.
The island is gorgeous, and it reminds me a lot of Panama and Colombia. It has a very tropical environment and a piece of the jungle has been cut out for this resort. The main draw is fishing and hopefully I will get a little time off to get out there to get some fish in the kitchen. The people are super laid back and the catch phrase I keep hearing is "No Stress." The normal adrenaline filled kitchens are a 180 degrees from this place. Just doing my best to get them to adapt to me while adapting to them at the same time.
The kitchen is pretty well equipped, as long as I have a Vita-Prep I will be just fine. I have a cryovac machine, but going to have to kiss some ass to get an immersion circulator. They did a pretty good job getting this place dialed in, and I have worked in more ill-equipped kitchens so for being on an island I'll keep my mouth shut. Tomorrow is a big day and I have two boat loads of stuff coming in from Nassau and Miami. When did I place the orders for everything to get here? Monday!! That is a huge challenge and the fact that my food purveyor in Nassau doesn't even carry the most basic ingredients like Cilantro it seems like everything is special ordered. At this point flying my stuff FedEx from the Santa Monica farmers market doesn't seem like such a bad idea. The guests arrive on Tuesday and chances are I will be trying to swim back to Miami.