Oh Iphone

Alright, so I've already activated my phone, took about 10 minutes on itunes, pertty decent. I have not tried to make any calls yet or receive any, I've been playing around with all the cool gadgetry that is on this thing, pretty slick and smooth, I must say, overall first impression wicked sexy. I'll obviously keep and update as to how it manages through my hectic life.

Iphone

Ok ok before everyone starts bitching on my new decision to sink in and get an Iphone let me just say, eat me.

After being an Iphone hater from day one, just like the ipod, I've sunk in and learned to adore it. Everyone who hates on the Iphone let's just get real, everything aside the Iphone is really f***ing cool!!!

et's take my old phone why don't we. Motorola I850. I can't say it was a bad phone, but it really had its life. It's at the point where the battery life is about a good 7 hours reguardless of how much you talk or just let it sit there. It's also a pretty rugged phone, its been dropped, slammed, thrown, cracked, kicked, shocked, etc etc etc. It still works however. But my main problem with it, Nextel Sprint.... I mean, sure its great if your in the middle of the city standing next to a tower, but let's jsut be honest, It blows. Please wait while the nextel subscriber is being located. Ok ok not all phone services are great. Infact, most if not all of them are criminal.
So then lets just head back to the gadgetry why don't we.

The Iphone still misses a few things which are confusing as to why they weren't included in the first place. GPS for one is a bit of an odd issue. At&t carrier as another. Ok cingular and At&t not a bad carrier at all, but whats this? wifi access only 150 access points available per month? LThat's a bit retarded. Yet they add an unlimited data transfer for a 20 dollar additional over a regular service plan, that is pretty nifty.

Battery life, I think it all depends upon the iphone that you receive, with a mix of variables such as, how you use it and what all you have turned on feature wise. I know a few people with this Iphone, not one has had a problem. One person had the infamous lock slider lock problem where the phone deems unresponsive when your trying to use it. A simple off off worked for him, a simple reset works for everyone else. Battery life was told to be about 2 days on a out of box charge. That's pretty impressive. I guess only time will tell, and by time I mean Tomarrow.

Here are some pictures of my current phone selection. The Iphone will be a pretty damned switch.

Continuation

When your average person thinks of a cook or a chef they think of kitchens, stains, chef whites, pots and pans, heat, fire and sweating. The whole world of culinary doesn't live in an oven or on top a stove the entire time.
The art of Garde Manger. Cold side.
Now I know your thinking ahh well anyone can mix a salad together or do this and that that are considered cold side. But things do get complicated, and like everything there is technique to it all. When you make yourself a salad at home how do you do it? Slop some lettuce and veggies together in a big bowl, then clamp the pieces onto your dinner plate and douse with dressing? Not so when you go out is it? You have those pretty looking salads, that are so delicate yet contain so much depth to them. Height? Flavor? Seasoning? Basically your salads should always come to you in perfection. If not, send it back and request another that is damn perfect. I'm not really a big salad guy but I have received my fair share of crappy salads. A frisee salad that is nothing more than an over dressed hunk of frisee that hadn't been trimmed or destemmed, that's beautiful guys. Or hunks of stalk, wilted greens, cold salads that aren't cold?
Anyway, here's a little insert of some of the depth that is required to create even a simple fruit plate. For instance, I work at Lacroix, which is widely recognized in Philadelphia as a beautiful place. So, anyone can cut up some fruit and put it on a plate. Why would someone come to Lacroix specifically to get one? Well, they expect it to be perfect and amazing. So When asked to create an extravagant fruit plate for a VIP here's what I came up with.
Pitted halved cherries, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, Asian pear, peach, watermelon (yellow and red), grapes and grapefruit

Hardened Thoughts

Today, miraculously, is a day where I have off. What I mean by that is I don't have to work at the place where my primary income comes from. I do, however, still have to work. Ive been on my own for close to three to four years now and you'd think I'd have it down by now. Still a little sloppy and still a little immature I suppose. I cleaned the apartment and it's still a mess. Laundry that desperately wants to be done. I cleaned my dishes but they need to be put away. I guess I will just leave them there and let the dirty dishes collect around them. And if I need one, I can just grab it from the pile. Good think'n!
Monday and Tuesday we were double scheduled at work so I was thrown onto prep for our brunch. I don;t really see what all the fuss is about. I started off here and things went fine. Now we have one kid who does it, with the obvious help of many, and we seem to always be behind on prep. Well the past two days I knocked out about a quarter of the prep list. Granted its an amazingly large prep list, but what the hell are these kids doing?! One of the interns took eight hours to hand char tinkerbell peppers and then peel them. EVERYONE was riding his ass for that because that is just an incredible waste of time. I decided to see how long it would take me. It took me two and a half hours to char, peel, pit and stuff the peppers. Now that just boggles my mind someone can be that lazy.
Generally I don't carry my camera with me in the kitchen; if I were to whip it out at random and someone saw me they would probably just grab it and throw it in the fryalator. I do carry it with me everywhere else though. But the past few days I have been pocketing my camera into the kitchen. Mainly because I love my kitchen and I would love to just take pictures like crazy in it. But I think it will become a regular annoyance of things in my pockets in the kitchen because I would like to capture some of the things I do there. We have a lot of freedom to create in the kitchen and as long as it works, tastes good and looks pretty chances are it'll pass.
The only thing I have to show today though is proof that I make some really damn good mushrooms. This is a container full of sauted mushrooms for brunch. They are in the walk in cooling down. Before, they were creamed with a chicken stock reduction heavy cream and beurre monte at the end. Now we just saute them off, deglaze with mediera. But I love how the oyster mushrooms look with a hard sear on hteir gills, it is a very clean look. The other mushrooms are Crimini or baby portabello and shiitake. I think that you will be seeing oyster mushrooms on my menu.

The start of another fresh idea

A few days ago, being bored as usual, I play around with thoughts that thrill through my head. During my sparingly rare free time I find myself in my apartment with actual decent things to cook with.
Of course I have pretty much all the things someone could want to cook with, heavy all clad stainless steel pans, copper sautes, silpats, molds, rings, mixers, knives, stones..the list is painfully long. Even updated from my previous living quarters I am pleased to be presented with a fun gas range and a beautifully working gas stove...uhh with a broiler pretty much on the floor? Nothing pleases me better than opening a stove and having deathly rich hot air swell your nostrils and sting your brain. (If you work in a kitchen you understand, the rest of you...well apparently don't)
So, leftover from my last DiBruno Bros. run I am left with a single sea scallop, some creme de balsamic and apple cranberry chutney. To add to the mix, I picked up some asian pears at an underground supermarket in china town while I was showing a friend of mine, who I met at a party, some cheap cookware.
With these limited ingredients my brain does what every cook out there goes through. Deconstructs to reconstruct.
What that means exactly is pretty basic. Take what you have, break them down into flavor profiles, mix and match and create new ones.
So basically what this entire post is relating to is I have started planning out a ten course dinner. To all of those who are not foodies or have no idea what I'm talking about, I am creating ten different courses, each distinctly different than the other, so that the entire meal is an enjoyable art that plays with the pallate.
It may sound easy but is difficult to do with one mind and requires an amazing amount of attention to detail and creativity.
So far I have created one course. Which course exactly it is I do not know yet. I plan on creating my ten dishes first and then organizing them as such.

My final product is simple but still needs something on the plate to make it brighter and more appealing to the eye. Light colors is what I am looking for to improve.
The plate is apple cranberry chutney, creme de balsamic, scallop au natural with rock salt, asian pear with lemon verbena.