Just got back from Dusseldorf –  Germany after a couple of weeks representing California through The California Mercenary Chefs for California Wine Institute, promoting California Food Products and California Wines, we were very busy, we served around 1000 lunches in tasting size in 3 hours every day of the show, It was awesome, my tenth year at Prowein, one of Europe’s biggest and best Wine fairs,

We had a California Show Kitchen , I was working together with Chef Jeff Reiley & Sommelier Matt Gustafson were the concept was California Street food paired with California wines, the menu is attached, we brought the food products we couldn’t find local as Us Beef, Dungeness Crab and some Mexican Spices, etc, it is always a big success, everybody love it!

I did also a Formal VIP Chefs dinner at Intercontinental Hotel for United Airlines with 35 guests, with 3 Amuse bouches and 4 courses paired with California Wines.

Also the Yearly Gourmet Walk at Maritime Hotel with California Street Food. I realized molecular Cuisine is still very popular in Germany, I think it is fun to play with sometimes but I like the real texture of my food better.

Prost,

Daniel

The cruise ship

I was with my father in Thailand on Vacation for many years ago,  I was just done with culinary School in Sweden, it was a treat to come to Thailand and try all the flavors and the spices , I did a couple of cooking classes in Thai Food, I just loved it, what is better than fresh healthy spicy Thai Food?

One day we were relaxing on the beach at Phi Phi Island – a small Paradise island. I was falling asleep in the sun, after a while I woke up and saw a beautiful cruise ship anchored a bit outside the beach and tender boats was coming to the beach with the crew and the passengers. The waiter staff was wearing white uniforms with gold buttons, the cooks and the Chef in white uniform with name of the ship, their rang, name, white hats and white chef shorts – they looked so elegant.

A little bit later came the guests. The crew built a buffet and a bar on the beach decorated with beautiful flowers in all kinds of colors, the cooks started to barbeque lobster tails on the grill & chucking oysters, the bartenders was serving refreshing cocktails in the sun,  the waiter staff was in the sea with water up to their hips serving ice cold champagne and Iranian Beluga Caviar with melba toast on surf boards to the guests, everything looked so cool, professional and luxury. I was amazed and was dreaming about to work on that cruise ship…………

After a little bit luck and good connections I was signing on the same cruise ship in Monaco 6 months later. The cruise ship was rated no 1 in the world up to 200 passengers,
full ship was 116 passengers and the crew was 120, it was more like a big yacht.

The ship was going all around the world. I worked very hard, 7 days a week – 14-16 hours a day, worked with Cooks from 30 different countries, a great team, I learned a lot, visited new countries every day, crossed the Atlantic Ocean a couple of times, the products we were using was some of the best products I ever seen in my life, they flew in alive Main Lobsters with helicopters, the fishermen came to the ship every morning and the Chef was picking the catch of the day, white truffles from Alba, the best Iranian caviar and Foie Gras, we changed the menu every day, the kitchen was open 24 hours 7 days a week, it was just fantastic.

After working hard a couple of months, the Chef invited me to his office and gave me a higher position as a Chef de Partie from line cook,  that was one of my luckiest days in my cooking carrier.

I have a lot of crazy stories to tell you from the cruise ship for later.

/D