I just got done cleaning up soda from my desk and keyboard. Don’t you just hate the feeling of ice cold Coca-Cola shooting out your nose? Yeah, I know, it hurts. So what happened?

Well, I was reading through my favorite blogs tonight and saw the Food Flippin’ Mario over at Food Wishes.

Oh. My. Gosh. I honestly don’t know which was funnier. Watching a little toy tin Mario doll flipping pancakes, or reading Chef John’s post and listening to his commentary.

Maybe I should put up a wish list. I want a tin replica of all my favorite chefs so I can line them up in the kitchen and we can work as a team.

Can you imagine? A Rachael Ray wind up tin toy. It starts by bending over and looking in the fridge for fresh ingredients, and then runs for 30 minutes. Problem is, you never really see it do anything, because it does all the important stuff during the commercial breaks.

This weeks Chef of the Week is…

Chef John
Food Wishes

Chef John officially started his culinary career by enrolling at Paul Smith’s College, New York, in 1981. Two years later he graduated with an AAS Degree, with Honors, in Culinary Arts/Chef Training and was also awarded “Outstanding Chef Training Student.” Over the next 20 plus years, Chef John held just about every position possible in the food industry. After having seen, and done, it all in the food industry, Chef John went on to teach at the California Culinary Academy.

Chef John offers some of the best “down to earth” video recipes you will ever see. He has a way of explaining them, so even “wannabe’s” like me can understand what he is doing, and why.

In fact, several days ago, Chef John posted a recipe for Black Pepper Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Black Cherry Reduction. Sounds fancy and difficult right? Check out the video at that link and you’ll understand why Chef John is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite chefs.

Holy Mackerel! Chef John outted himself today! He had good reason though, and don’t worry, he’s not changing the style of his awesome free recipe videos.

By the way, just because I’m now using my real photo on the blog, the video recipes will not change. I will still never appear in the recipes, mugging for the camera nor doing puppet shows with an oven mitt. I will not deviate from my original vision of what these videos should be about…the food.

Good luck with the new deal too, John!

This weeks Chef Of The Week is…

Mario Batali,
Babbo Ristorante,
B&B Ristorante,
Esca,
Lupa,,
and many, more.

Mario Batali is one of the few chefs who actually inspire me to cook. In fact, I had never made my own pasta until I bought one of his books. Now I insist on making the pasta from scratch every chance I get.

If I had to make a list of my favorite chefs, Mario would be at the top of that list.

Technorati Tags: Mario Batali, chef of the week

My very first Chef Of The Week is…

Heather West,
Terra Rossa

We all saw Heather win on Hell’s Kitchen during season #2. Heather is doing an awesome job out in Vegas, and we were happy to see her this season on Hell’s Kitchen when she gave some pointers to two of the aspiring winners (who have both since left the show).

On a side note, I also discovered tonight that Rachel Brown, a fellow contestant during season #2, was found dead in her home on May 9th. May she rest in peace.