On the Fifth day of Christmas....

my true love gave to me.....5 lbs of mexican white tiger shrimp, 4 - 1/2 cups of rum, 3 kinds of mushrooms, 2 lbs of chorrizo, and a pound of jumbo lump crabmeat. OK so my true love didnt give it to me. Its only part of the many foods I am prepping for Christmas Eve at my moms house. I worked about 10 hours today at work, stopped at the supermarket for a few herbs and some salmon roe, hit Starbucks for a Espresso Truffle latte and came home to cook and prep some more. People think being a Chef is easy stuff. Deciding and planning the menu, shopping and prepping the food, cooking and serving it, and then the clean up. Easy? Not so much. Satisfying and fun, yep!! Its now 1am and I have done all I can do for tonite. ( Well actually I want to do more, but for some reason I have an allergic reaction when I touch raw shrimp and my hands are red and itchy, so I am giving in for the nite.) I will be up early to get going. Too bad Starbucks doesnt deliver!!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.

Only 1 week til Christmas!! whohoooo. I am ready or as ready as someone so anally organized as me can be. The gifts are under the tree, the cookies are all baked, the packages that need to be mailed are at the UPS store and the post office and I am exhausted. All thats left to do is go to a couple parties and cook for Christmas Eve and a few things to bring to Christmas dinner. I was inspired by my brother Scott in Texas, and I adopted a soldier. I sent him a card and a not so long letter of introduction a few weeks ago. I have now shipped out a care package for the holidays. I felt so good looking for a few things I thought he may like and things that were suggested by AuntNancyUSA blog site. I always have fun picking out gifts for people. I cant wait until he gets the package and hope it brings a smile to his face, if nothing else. Doing something so small and insignificant to most means the world to some people. I searched for the right card, something wishing Peace and Thanks, and I found one I was very happy with. I hope the soldiers who get to see it, feel what I felt reading it. I am honored to do something so small for someone doing something so big for all of us. Thank you Scott for mentioning it all on your blog. May everyone's holidays be filled with the beauty and spirit of Christmas.

Put your knives down......

Put your knives down....oh wait thats Top Chef. Just a quick update for all my supporters out here in blog land. I guess I didnt make it to Hell's Kitchen. The last I heard was that we would be hearing from the producers in LA if we made the next cut. They would give us a call and fly us out to LA for one last audition. I should have heard by the end of the second week of December. I just checked the HK site and the show airs Jan. 29 so.... Everything happens for a reason, I do really believe that. I think the audition and call back gave me a newfound confidence in my ability as a Chef. I was really hoping to get a call from LA casting, but it wasnt meant to be. I recently started a new job that I am liking very much. To go to LA for the show would probably mean quitting my job, unless they gave me an unpaid leave. I tend to doubt that though. Its a good position as I have blogged about and I dont think I would want to give that up right now with the economy the way it is. Althoughhhhhhhhhh.....if they had called I would have had to really think it over seriously. I am sure most of you ( and you know who you are ) would have encouraged me to go. Alls well that ends well. Maybe next season I will audition again. More seasoned and more confident!! Chef Ramsey is happily married anyway!