Just chill grasshopper

Spending most of my adult life In a kitchen it's now wonder that trying to relax is no easy task for me. Im always running around working on some project or another and if I'm not then I'm running around in my head. Is trying to relax an art? Do I need to be some kind of zen master to just chill?? I have relaxed before.... Plenty of times but I was always had a stabile place in my work life. Well this time it's a whole new game,! I have no job..... No next pay check. So i think a little bit of worry is normal
I just need to stay in the moment. I can't project on what going to happen after this or where I'm going to be in a few months. Because all the worry in the world will not give me the answer or make the outcome any different. So i gotta chill.

The last few days have been a blast.... Monday we drove from NYC to Jacksonville Fla .by the time we got to Jacksonville we were out of our minds.... Hopped up on energy drinks and cigarettes.... we needed to crash..... Bad! So we found a little hotel and called it a night ( I think that was around 3 am) the next morning we woke and headed to Orlando to see some family. Then it was off to Delray beach to meet up with friends and check out this cool little town.
I was thinking what all of you are thinking..... That Delray is an old people town... Well you are kinda right. The grocery stores are lined with blue haired demons and the parking lots are like bumper car rings. The stink of moth balls fill the day time air and a 90 year old man almost flung himself and his scooter in the front of my truck. When the sun goes down on Delray beach it's a whole different game. The restaurants that line Atlantic ave are full of fun loving people looking to have a good time. The restaurants range from sushi to eclectic American. I have to say this was a bit of a stunner. Who new that old people land could be such a blast! And everyone drives better at night when all the blue hairs are asleep!
Then it was off to south beach to enjoy the crazy Miami vibe and soak up some sun. We spent the day chilling on the beach then had a killer steak dinner on Ocean Ave. Im not going to go into details about Miami because it is the city of sin and I don't wanna freak the kids out! Lol
The next stop Was key west to do some camping and get into the island mood. Yesterday we got to the camp site a little late because every time we saw the ocean we needed to stop and jump in. We set up camp and headed down town for the main event here in key west... The sun set. And as I watched the sun go down over the ocean I felt a real sense of relaxation as if the setting sun took some of my nerves and worries down with it.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Jolly Roger Dr,Lower Keys,United States

Music to LIVE BY/ or road music

You can hear me talk about my trip and the music i love to list to on the road next sunday 3/20/11 on Sirius radio (sirius 109/ xm 98) at 4:00 and then again at 11 with the FAB Larry Flick!!!!

As i get my self together for my drive across America im thinking about how important music is going to be on this trip! or at any part in my life... music always plays a big part of whatever i do!!

Cant you remember the first time you heard a song or the song that was playing when you had your first kiss... well i do

So here is a list of some great tunes that i will be chilling out to on this trip

Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan

Freeway of Love - Aretha

Summer Highland Falls- Billy Joel

Cant keep it in - Cat Stevens

Road Tripping - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Days and Days- Concrete Blond

Round Here- Counting Crows

Strange Brew- Cream

People get ready - Curtis Mayfield (this have nothing to do with travel i just love it)

So far away - Dire straits

Down Town- Dolly Parton

Every time we say good bye- The fab Ella Fitzgerald

End Of The Road - Eddie Vedder (into the wild sound track)

Night Train - James brown (LOVE THIS SONG)

Your My Home- Billy Joel

Mexico- Jimmy Buffet or James Taylor ( i think JT is a little better)

California- Joni Mitchell

The Last Of the Famous International Playboys - Morrissey

Peace is a River - Paul Simon

Fat Bottom Girls- Queen

I Get a Kick Out of You _ Rosemary Clooney

A Change is Gonna Come- Sam cook

Hot Rod - Peaches

The Boys of Summer- Eagles

In The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty

I Wont Hold You Back - Toto

City Of New Orleans - Willie Nelson (BEST SONG EVER)

Oprah says so! And she's prime time!

Oprah says to live your best life! I'm not one to go around quoting the book of Oprah but this stuck with me and a few months ago I started asking my self if I was living my best life. I think sometimes we just need to step back and ask our self if this is what we want for our lives? We get so wrapped up in the every day that we never get time To smell the proverbial rose.
where do I wanna be in my life? Who do I wanna be? After some time and some long looking at where I was i knew that I was letting life pass me by. Now don't get me wrong I had a great job and made good money but does that make a good life? And the answer i got was no. Money is important we need it, we need it to pay the bills and put food on the table but it can't be the driving force in my life. Because as quick as the money comes..... It goes and as much BS I buy with it at the end of the day I am still with me ( just the same old me with nicer things...lol) I need to get out and see some things, I need to see places i'v never seen meet friends I'v yet to meet. Now I know this all may seem very hippy to a lot of you and as i write this I feel like it's a little 1960's too but in my heart I know there is more to life then just making a buck and going thru the motions.
with the support of my family ( mostly my brothers who I think wanna live vicariously thru me) and friends i'v decided( insert drum roll here) to leave my current position and head out on the road to see what I will find. I know this is crazy and I know a lot of you are saying WTF Michael but I know this is just the beginning of something great. I can feel it.
I have always heard that when one door closes another will open and sometimes we need to shut the door behind us to let the other open ( again I know this is all sounding kinda hippy) but I have faith in it.
Ok so let me get to the good part. I will soon be packing up my car and driving cross country to get a little taste of life out side my bubble. I will be stoping at some very cool culinary locations and cooking up some great food along the way. And i will be blogging about it and I hope you guys will be following. I will be working on my cookbook and just spending a little time finding out what I want and who I wanna be when I grow up.
Ok I gotta pack..... Ttyl
MVP

Location:My couch

The Chill of Fall is here

Please Leave your THANKSGIVING cooking and entertaining questions bellow in the comment box and i will address all of them here on my blog!!! because i'm nice like dat~~!!!

With fall here and the leaves changing colors and the air turning crisp and cold I have an urge to cook all my fall favorites. I started out this week by making boneless pork butt stuffed with green and black olives. Can you say yum!! I don’t know about you but nothing says fall like a roast meat dish. The olives add a tang and brine like flavor to the pork that only olives can bring to a dish. So lets discuss how to make the pork. I went to my local store and grabbed a boneless pork butt. I then made a mix of olives, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt, ground black pepper, crushed red pepper, ground coriander seed (I dried these out from the garden and they so yum)

15 pitted black olives

15 pitted green olives

8 cloves of garlic

½ cup of olive oil

¼ cup of fresh lime juice

½ teaspoon coriander

1`teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt (remember the olives have a lot of salt)

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

½ bunch chopped cilantro

I first chop the garlic very fine, then the olives but I like the olives to be a bit bigger then the garlic I put them in a bowl and add the chopped cilantro and all the other ingredients. I then rub this mix all over my pork … I get in all the crevasses and then tie the butt back up into a compact little roll of pork love.

I put my oven on 360 and bake the roast covered for about 30 minutes per pound.

In the last 40 min I add a pork stock to the pan and let it reduce in the oven with the pork….. then I let my pork rest after it cooks and that my friend is how you make your butt happy!!!

The fall offers us so many other great dishes, dishes that taste so much better with the chill of fall right out side your window. Butternut squash, roast lamb, roast chicken (is it me or is roast chicken the best on a cold day?) and when your done with the chicken it’s great to use the leftovers and bones to make a killer soup! Stuffed cabbage, lasagna, any thing cooked in a tagine. These are just a few things that come to mind!!

Its almost thanksgiving so feel free to post your cooking and entertaining questions here

yum green freak

Ohhh good lord….. I cant stop eating tomatillos! What a weird item to obsess about. I spent the last 2 hours roasting, boiling and grilling the little green suckers. Ok so maybe they are the weird relative of the tomato … but they are sooo frikin good! Making a great salsa with them is so easy! Cut in ½ roast with some whole garlic until soft, then put them in a blender with the garlic a little habanero, lime and cilantro! OMG soooo good. If you want something a little different just add some avocado to it!!! Yum
Check out this video of a kid eating a habanero!!! LMAO

check out my web page

Ok that’s all I have for today!!! Don’t judge!! Just love……. ME!!!
MVP

a foot or Sow

Having moved into the new place i am starting to feel more at home as each day passes (or more like each meal) there is something to be said about cooking in your own place and in a new place at that. Everything is set up just the way you like it. Sea salt in a jar on the table all the selfs filled with the spices you love and a feeling of feng shui about the placement of each utensil and pot.

Sitting home this Sunday the feeling came over me to cook and being a good Italian and it being sunday .... i went to my local store and picked up some peeled plum tomatoes and pigs feet. Ok so i know allot of you are thinking "pigs feet... YUCK" and i say to all of you!!! don't knock it until you've tried it!!! The pigs feet are full of soft bone, fat and some very flavorful skin all wrapped in a thin layer of pig skin!!! Can you go wrong?? I think not my little lovers!!

SO here is the recipe

2 small whit onions medium dice

12 cloved of garlic sliced

1/4 cup of evoo

4# of cleaned and split pigs feet

5 2# cans of peeled plum tomatoes

1 bunch of fresh parsley

1/2 bunch fresh basil

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

first scrub the pigs feet so they are nice and clean and you get out all the bone splinters

heat a medium sauce pan over a low flame and add your pigs feet skin down until they get golden brown and crisp then add the garlic and onion and cook until they are translucent.

Now add the red pepper flakes and cook for one more min

now add the tomatoes and i can full of water and bring to a boil.

Now lower to a simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the pig is soft. Stir the sauce every 20 min or so( you don't want it to burn)

at the end chop the parsley and basil and stir in to the sauce.

Now go cook some pasta and gnaw on some bones YUM

this makes a killer sauce!!! but nothing is better then the feet!!!!

so i wish you happy cooking in remember to stay a foot above the rest!!!

All new me

Hey folks sorry for the not blogging for soooo long.... but the last month has been crazy.

Well first off the restaurant is doing so well and as the Chef i spend allot of time there and the holidays also help make little Michael crazy. I also moved into my first new pad..... Ohhhh yes little Mike is all grown up and on his own. OK OK i'll be honest!!! i miss Betty (big time) but being in my own space is a lot of fun and i also started cooking at home allot more. Tonight i made a chicken breast stuffed with ham, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, basil and parsley. I then covered it in fresh pancetta (that i got at the new butcher shop in Chelsea market) then i baked it in the oven for 30 min at 375!!! ohhh honey it was yum. Also the cheese and the chicken made a great broth that i thickened up and poured on top of the chicken. (can u say YUMMMM!!!) then i mad a simple fried eggplant. First i salted the eggplant and let it sit in a strainer for 30 min the put it in cold water for another 20. This helps get the bitter taste out of the eggplant. I then floured, egged and then bread crumbs. I spiked the bread crumbs with garlic and some provolone cheese. I then fried it in 1/2 olive oil and vegetable oil until its nice and crisp.I had some leftover marinara sauce on top of the eggplant and thats it!!! That my friends is one hell of a meal.

I have a great kitchen here at the new "Casa De Homo" so i hope your looking forward to new blogg"s, new kitchen and a bunch of new videos!!!! so heres to a new beginning !!!!

XOXOXOXOX