Blog
The Next Best Thing | November 13 2011
Last night was Pacquiao vs Marguez III in Vegas. It seemed like the everyone on or near the strip was obsessed with seeing this fight and I got swept up in the hysteria. Tickets were sold out and super expensive so I ended up watching pay per view, but not just any pay per view.
The screens were setup in the middle of an arena at Mandalay and it was the next best thing to actually being at the fight. The anticipation, the crowd cheering, and the energy was like being there - but not. Ive never been to an event like this and it was pretty incredible.
After, I went to the House of Blues for the afterparty. Thats all Im gonna give you. hahaha.
Ridin' Around On The Strip | November 11 2011
Whats up.
Las Vegas | November 10 2011
Im on a mission to get tickets to this tomorrow night. Whats more Vegas than going to a fight? Latin Grammy's are tonight too. Good weekend to be here.
Chef Series with Jason Parsons | November 9 2011
1. What was your favourite food growing up?
Funny story but when I was very young I wouldn't eat anything. I even got the "If you don't put fuel in the car the car won't run" speech from my doctor. I moved up to boiled chicken and fried eggs, yolks only (flat eggs as they call them in England) It wasn't until I moved to Canada that I start to actually appreciate food. Boy how that has changed. Funny how now food is my life.
2. At what age did you realize you had an interest in being a chef?
I always wanted to do anything to do with business. When I was thirteen my brother got me a job at Lulu's roadhouse, then the worlds longest bar. I was a glasswasher. During the day I was in high school taking accounting, marketing, retailing and entrepreneur studies focused on business. At night washing glasses and then in the kitchen doing prep. By my sixteenth birthday I got offered the job of kitchen manager. I had thirteen staff and we were cooking hundreds of meals a night. If you call microwave lobster tails and baked potatoes cooking. It wasn't until I meet Chef Nigel Didcock around my eighteenth birthday that I really took the first step to being a chef. I have never looked back since.
3. Has your British background inspired any of your cooking? Was there someone who inspired you to be a chef?
So many chefs have inspired me along the way. I always say Chef Nigel Didcock (Langdon Hall) inspired me to be a chef, my passion comes from him but I truly learned to cook and survive the life of a chef with Chef Pierre Chevillard (Chewton Glen). Nigel is my mentor and I will always live within his standards he pushed me to achieve but Pierre was so intense. His love for not just food but the life of a chef within its kitchen walls. I like how I had to return to England only to be inspired by a French chef. I have always loved the anarchy approach that most chefs that cook in England take on. A drive that tolerates nothing but celebrates everything.
3. Have you ever had a dish created for you that you absolutely love but cannot recreate yourself?
I used to work in Bermuda and all the chefs would take turns making staff food. One of the chefs was from India and he used to make the most amazing curry. The balance of spices in the curry, spicy but not to hot. Boy was that good. Never having worked with that many spice mixes I can really appreciate the control and skill it takes to create such and great curry.
4. Working in Niagara-on-the-Lake, do you have a time to be a tourist?
Not really, being in the business of tourism I find its great to escape so Meg and I travel quite a bit.
5. What is your favourite thing to do there or favourite thing about the town?
I love to cycle. The scenery in Niagara on the Lake is so beautiful and taking a few hours to tour around looking over the vineyards is a great escape from the intensity of the kitchen.
6. There was a segment on CityLine where you had to race against kitchen gadgets with your chef's knife. Do you think kitchen gadgets have taken the romance out of cooking?
No, I agree there is nothing better than spending the afternoon with great ingredients, great music and preparing the perfect meal, but we all don't have this luxury and in today's world people need a little bit of help. As long as they focus on the integrity of the ingredients all will be fine.
7. What is soul food to you?
Wow this is such a tough question. I know its probably been told before but any ingredient in the prime of their season, not over complicated but prepared to showcase their beauty. This is pure heaven. Let the garden speak to you. As a chef and food lover this food for my soul.
Saw - Sage (Sausage) | November 7 2011
Well it seems I ran into the west coast sausage king while food adventuring. Lets just say there was a lot of this hanging around. It was for an interview that will be coming out soon, so look out. I felt like I was in the movie Saw.
The screens were setup in the middle of an arena at Mandalay and it was the next best thing to actually being at the fight. The anticipation, the crowd cheering, and the energy was like being there - but not. Ive never been to an event like this and it was pretty incredible.
After, I went to the House of Blues for the afterparty. Thats all Im gonna give you. hahaha.
Ridin' Around On The Strip | November 11 2011
Las Vegas | November 10 2011
Chef Series with Jason Parsons | November 9 2011
Funny story but when I was very young I wouldn't eat anything. I even got the "If you don't put fuel in the car the car won't run" speech from my doctor. I moved up to boiled chicken and fried eggs, yolks only (flat eggs as they call them in England) It wasn't until I moved to Canada that I start to actually appreciate food. Boy how that has changed. Funny how now food is my life.
2. At what age did you realize you had an interest in being a chef?
I always wanted to do anything to do with business. When I was thirteen my brother got me a job at Lulu's roadhouse, then the worlds longest bar. I was a glasswasher. During the day I was in high school taking accounting, marketing, retailing and entrepreneur studies focused on business. At night washing glasses and then in the kitchen doing prep. By my sixteenth birthday I got offered the job of kitchen manager. I had thirteen staff and we were cooking hundreds of meals a night. If you call microwave lobster tails and baked potatoes cooking. It wasn't until I meet Chef Nigel Didcock around my eighteenth birthday that I really took the first step to being a chef. I have never looked back since.
3. Has your British background inspired any of your cooking? Was there someone who inspired you to be a chef?
So many chefs have inspired me along the way. I always say Chef Nigel Didcock (Langdon Hall) inspired me to be a chef, my passion comes from him but I truly learned to cook and survive the life of a chef with Chef Pierre Chevillard (Chewton Glen). Nigel is my mentor and I will always live within his standards he pushed me to achieve but Pierre was so intense. His love for not just food but the life of a chef within its kitchen walls. I like how I had to return to England only to be inspired by a French chef. I have always loved the anarchy approach that most chefs that cook in England take on. A drive that tolerates nothing but celebrates everything.
3. Have you ever had a dish created for you that you absolutely love but cannot recreate yourself?
I used to work in Bermuda and all the chefs would take turns making staff food. One of the chefs was from India and he used to make the most amazing curry. The balance of spices in the curry, spicy but not to hot. Boy was that good. Never having worked with that many spice mixes I can really appreciate the control and skill it takes to create such and great curry.
4. Working in Niagara-on-the-Lake, do you have a time to be a tourist?
Not really, being in the business of tourism I find its great to escape so Meg and I travel quite a bit.
5. What is your favourite thing to do there or favourite thing about the town?
I love to cycle. The scenery in Niagara on the Lake is so beautiful and taking a few hours to tour around looking over the vineyards is a great escape from the intensity of the kitchen.
6. There was a segment on CityLine where you had to race against kitchen gadgets with your chef's knife. Do you think kitchen gadgets have taken the romance out of cooking?
No, I agree there is nothing better than spending the afternoon with great ingredients, great music and preparing the perfect meal, but we all don't have this luxury and in today's world people need a little bit of help. As long as they focus on the integrity of the ingredients all will be fine.
7. What is soul food to you?
Wow this is such a tough question. I know its probably been told before but any ingredient in the prime of their season, not over complicated but prepared to showcase their beauty. This is pure heaven. Let the garden speak to you. As a chef and food lover this food for my soul.
Saw - Sage (Sausage) | November 7 2011
