bubbles!

Theres nothing better as a chef than getting an end product you want after busting your ass to make every mistake on the way there.  The sketches, the scribbles on the back of a coaster,  the late night bar rants – with some attrition – is what sparks the creative mind and fosters scientific diligence.  As a chef I had this with yeasted fried to order doughnuts – rising, proofing, holding, texture and consistency were mind boggling. As the mise en gear guy I had a few bumps coming up with the latest design – heres some behind the scenes….

The work was worth it though, like I said, Karate Kid (old school…) meets Ferran…. 

notes

I’ve done some straight black prints in yellow, teal, red, orange, pink, and purple.

Have a good service,

j.

tsst.

Although, suffering breeds character and creativity – to a certain degree of course – and after the madness that was, the madness that will be ensued.

Enter the spoons.

spoonwork

patio my ass.

The president of Savour Ottawa contacted me to create the most badass gift in a goodie bag the Canadian Media and Tourism conference has ever seen –  mise en gear.

Through a long chat about Savour Ottawa’s commitment to opening the eyes of our nations capital to what our local purveyors have to offer in food – I came to an idea of the kind of representation needed to show off what we have to offer.

Enter the Parliament peace tower with the best footing food here has to offer.

Not to forget the other guys I put together stamps next to a revised <savour savourez Ottawa> logo -

….cheese, more animals, veg, grains, even an egg.

I was invited to the opening gala of a weeks worth of events for this conference – of which I had a small cocktail table dressed in my kitchen gear and accompanied with an old cook friend of mine.

After the cocktails kicked in – and a mention from the organizers’ opening speech about who I was –  the questions surrounding my little table that could began.

“who are you?” “what is mise en gear?” “why are you doing this?” “what are you doing, and for who?”

…  what I like to call cooking culture.

There is no other way to describe the sweaty, bloody,fiery, rawness, angry, happy, mad, beautiful, tired, sad and happy way that cooks are while they make dinners best memories.

without sacrifice....

Thats what I tried to convey at least – and the response was surprising.

They loved it.

Enough so that I feel that it was a  success – not just for what I wanted to show but for how it was perceived.

On top of it I had the guys working the food stations begging their sous chef to buy some bandannas for them ( and make them part of the uniform…) .

The lifestyle that chefs and cooks live are something different, I’m not in the place to judge anything about it due to my bias, but I do think that what it is that we do was shown to the people that might be able to show the rest of the country.

Another small victory for the bandannas that can.

Have a good service,

j.

Satiate your heart.

I found myself on sommerset here in Ottawa which is our spadina – and low and behold I got myself a hold of something…. Chicken feet. I’ve eaten much stranger things in my travels – but have enjoyed them all with friends. Tonight I had the treat to eat some traditional chinese food with some friends – exactly what I wanted.

But thats never enough I guess.

As 3 am slowly rolls its lazy eyes I finished a design I wanted to share – something I guess I needed to do…

Have a good service,

j.

Matters of great importance can easily be solved on a barstool

 

This time of year for chefs is vacation time – few patrons want to go out for dinner after the Armageddon of Xmas – let alone new years -the ones that do I give my utmost respect as I garner them as the diehards.

I’m talking Bruce Willis in his 20′s – yippee kai yae kinda diehard – not the wanna bees.

I wish that us as chefs had backing as strong as this everywhere… http://foodsearchottawa.wordpress.com/home-grown/ …

The point being – as deranged as it could be it refines in the art of the soup.

Soup and stew has been around in every culture around the world at every part of their dominance. Either a proper consumme for a prince or – in my corner – a braise/stew mashed up of the “leftover bits” for the peasant folk.

At the heart of cooking culture is the cooks who are living under the poverty line that eat better soup than you’ve ever had outside of 1700′s Paris.

The difference being we’re not oppressed, the similarities being we’re slaves, but we live the same goodness as badness – we eat amazing food, but barely pay the rent.

The outcome – hopefully triumphant – sits dirty on a satin throne.

The best thing’s I’ve ever eaten have been during  staff meals in a Canadian winter.  Hands down the availability of seasonal ingredients combined with the want to feel warm creates the best feel good bowls of nourishment a chef can offer a chef.

Damn it feels good to be a Canadian.

Have a good service,

j.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kiss a Chinese person today and wish them happy new year!

how to order fish

The impromptu posts, the randomness, the overall squirely nature of this blog speaks well of the life that the chef leads.

Over the past month I have been more than busy  - multi occupied.

I’ve created some banging new screens, taken in an unloved puppy as a playmate3 for my current puppy, done logistical work around the biggest restaurant to open in the Ottawa market – which I am also the chef, developed some amazing media representation of mise en gear, taken on a contract to represent Ottawa cooking culture with savour Ottawa,  and been a vendor at a massive chefs confrence here in Ottawa.

Mostly thanks to my understanding and amazing crew at the resto I’ve sous cheffed at for 3 years, my supportive family – and especially my beautiful wife.

Alas, as any chef will tell you – the busier you get the more you long to be back behind the pass – but in mise en gear’s blog’s case – behind the keyboard.

So these pics tell a few thousand more stories than I can appropriately tell.

January is the month of peace for restos, why not make waves when you have a board?

have a good service,

j.

would thou be a coward in thine own esteem?  - Macbeth

a few candycane bandannas...

My wife and I spent a beautiful time at both of our parents homes this year – mostly in the kitchen – where all the warming memories of the holidays tend to subside.  I noticed during a 8 hour session of baking, preping, basting and creating new things to do from scratch that the dinner we were spending all day to make wasn’t nearly as fantastic as the day we spent together. My wife making my Baba’s perogies with my mother for the first time, cooking lamb racks with my father in law in the garage on charcoal while drinking single malt, the good things in life.

the kitchen where i began my apprenticeship.

It’s a bit soft but I really enjoyed cooking all day with both sets of my parents, even after cooking 7 days a week for a month.

Hope you enjoyed your holidays and happy new year!

Have a good service,

j.

julia and jacques cooking at home  - wins every time

I’ve nonticed myself being strung between the far betweens – as well as the cooks in the city.

As Kris Kringle time seems to stop in fast motion for all cooks this time of year  - trying to represent their resto as best as they can  - while delivering a haggard load.

A cook at Xmas is very devided.  You get up, go to work, cook, then go home – a normal occurance for the worlds top restos – but when the big Dec 24 is about to show, it’s all over the world,  just like Kris.  But what happens to all the happy time ‘normies’ that take thier work day to shop, please, and shmooze.

Nothing. And that`s why I will continue to make bandannas for cooks.

I will only say it once – cooks at Christmas are f$&%cked and make 9-5 businesses happy. Straight up it sucks for them more than i can describe. Will the system change? No. Never at all. Its sad.Unless  you  thank the guy that made your meal – personally i don’t think you deserve to eat resto Xmas food.  The goodness though retains in a beautifully white snowy december here in Ottawa, the days filled with big boots and warm hats.

Cooks at Xmas are glorified Moms, treat them as such.

Open a door for an old lady, let you dog of his leash in a park, wave at a schoolbus.

The basic manors we all try and strive for is what xmas is – and if you meet a cook on the street hug him – cause he/she will make it nice for you before the year is over.

Pet your dog, kiss your wife, then call your parents and talk about the weather until it changes.

have a good service,

j.

egg nog ftw!

It’s viral.

It’s the same feeling after cooking a service and flipping the restuarant 3 times.

Amazing and amazing.

First off the response – from grandmas to grandpas, uncles, aunts, mothers, cousins and all the family in between – after exposed to mise en gear, have found a relative that needs it.

Not wants – but needs.

Two years ago when I knew that I needed to wear a bandanna that I loved I never thought that someone else would too. Proven wrong with stride.

Enough back patting – what does it mean?

Firstly – the most badass cooking outfitter in Ottawa is proudly representing the mise -C. A. Paradis –  the Grandma is the entrance welcomer. 

Secondly I’ve been overtaken for the first time by etsy.com in sales versus the lets go to my locker model – Branson never had luck with that with Virgin either.

Thirdly the buzz and impact the you all have made has drawn an incredible rank of people willing to help me help you – and it couldn’t be more well received.

All of life is still a maniacs run to the loonie bin, but the guidelines are getting closer on point.

Have a good service,

j.

I’d rather have a beer with a fisherman.

Our fantastic Sysco rep has a mutually fantastic husband who’s taken some shots of us in our kitchen with great results – the kind of shots that make the environment we live in as cooks and chefs properly represented as the gritty, funny, mad, creative, and ludicrous that it is.

I contacted him after the Ottawa Citizen got interested on running a story on mise en gear to take some more shots – the results made a bunch of cooks look like a bunch of kings and I couldn’t be any happier.

http://photosbydavidson.photoshelter.com/gallery/Mise-en-

Gear/G0000A6gaN45otQw/

Booya.

After our first anniversary this past september I felt the little bandanna company trudging uphill to deliver headgear to everyone was about to make a bit of a splash in the local kitchen culture puddle here in Ottawa.

The pictures were taken, the interview happened and now the story…

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/omnivore/default.aspx

I’m proud tipping to embarrassment over the press the past week - http://www.foodieprints.com/item/2945

Yup.

Like peering into a black box in competition I’m filled with inspiration, and I’m gitty as hell. I’m not sure what this is all going to mean for the little bandanna company that could but I think  the uphill battle is slowly starting to level out.

Have a good service,

j.

ordering one tomato salad – no tomato.