Cook or Chef . You Deceide

I watch the Food Network often and the one thing that I have noticed about the network is that there are two types that have shows on the network cooks and chefs.
What is the difference you might ask. That is what this blog is going to accomplish tonight. The difference between a cook and a chef.
Simply put, a cook follows recipes and feeds the hungry. A chef is an artiste who produces food creations on the fringes and convinces that only the really cool find these creations tasty and satisfying . The problem with both of these definitions is that they are based on economic and class issues.
Rich people have their food prepared by chefs who make ice cream with liquid oxygen or nitrogen and create petite meals that are more visual than they are to fulfill someone who has worked a long shift and needs something to eat . They are more for people who sit on their asses all day and are more concerned with staying pale and thin that actually eating.
A cook on the other hand prepares food for those who need to replace the calories lost from working on a construction site, driving a truck or teaching a classroom full of screaming teenagers. Cooks work at diners, drive inns and dives. Chefs work at off the beaten path places with names only we graduate educated people can pronounce. They work at the places my friends usually ( old friends ) pick where the wine bill alone comes to $200 and I do not even drink. The food is so minimal that I have to eat when I get home because I am still hungry.
Now I am no longer an over-eater in fact to date I have lost 90 lbs but when I eat, I want to be fed. Meat no potatoes, vegetables, no bread and a good salad with ice water. My meals should and are only prepared by cooks. I have no time for chefs. Rachel Ray, Guy Fieiri, Sunny Anderson and Paula Dean are Cooks. Bobby Flay, Gadia Delorentas and Mario Bataly are chefs. They are all capable of cooking substantial meals but you would pay a lot more for the ones prepared by chefs.
I travel a great deal, sometimes I travel with friends and although I love all of my friends I prefer to travel with the friends of mine who love cooks over chefs because then I know that I will eat well for cheap BLD ( breakfast lunch and dinner) . I am going to Chicago at the end of September and I have made it clear chef lovers need not come. Simple Chicago fare is on the menu not unpronounceable unfilling fodder fit for failing fiscal fools.
My Aunt Rosie now she was a cook. For years, she prepared filling meals for the starving lunch crowd in Jackson Mississippi's Washington Addition . My Aunt cooked everything from hot dogs to short ribs with the precision of the finest iron chef but any man or woman who walked out of Mother's Inn on any given week day left with change in their pocket, food in their bellies and a smile on their face.
Bon Appetite

Will Somebody Please Read This S**T

Hi
It is your friendly neighborhood blogger . I am writing this blog as a plea. Please read me and comment. It would be valuable to me to know what you think. I will not be offended by your opinions and it will make me a better blogger.
With this blog, I sometimes feel like a tree falling in the woods except with a blog the statement should go , if no one comments on your blog post, does your blog really exist. I had a friend last week who had her blog reprinted and it was great to see because it is validation that someone is reading you. This was particular for her because someone once told her that no one reads her stupid blog anyway. First of all her blog or anyone else' blog is not stupid but having it reprinted gives great validation.
I work very hard on my blog and I would like some validation as well. Read my blog. It is intelligent , informative and innovative. Also in many cases you can read it in just a matter of minutes. In the future, I will try to keep the posts going frequently and the subjects varied. Whether it is on the road or at home, I will blog and hopefully, you will read. There is no subject that is too controversial or taboo. My blog is my lens and I write about the world I see and the people I meet and the places that I go. So my blog may cover it all regularly and rationally . I am a writer, communication is what I do. In the words of Danny Devito in " Throw Mama From the Train" A writer, writes, always. As this statement goes so will my blog.

Be Careful What you Say It could end up in Someone's Blog

Blogging has become the past time of many from those that blog for their business to those who blog for pleasure and sport .
I am a blogger, I get nothing for writing this blog except the shear pleasure of getting my feelings on paper and maybe having someone read those feelings and be inspired by them.
My blogs are based on my experiences through the course of a day, week or year. Sometimes I am in the shower and I have an idea for a blog. Sometimes, I am like DH Lawrence's Rocking Horse Winner and I come up with the idea on my exercise bike. Sometimes I am in my favorite restaurant Sambol in Eagan when the idea hits me.
I am careful how I structure my blog and whose name I mention. The people I give praise to I do not mind a public mention. Those I have disdain for they become a private matter only discussed with the most intimate of friends.
I am also careful of my public behavior as not to be mentioned in some else' blog. The people I know who have blogs I make sure that my behavior towards them is guarded and well thought. Since I do not know who does and who does not have a blog, I make sure to be careful with everyone that I meet. I do not want to be the rude restaurant patron who constantly asks for water and is a light tipper.
I also do not want to be the annoying friend who calls and emails way too much. I don't mean anything by it I am just looking to connect or have something on my mind nothing more. I do not want to be the lazy teacher no student likes so tell me this before you blog about me I would appreciate it.
I think as we approach life we should probably look at it as if everyone we meet has a blog and watch what we say and do to them for fear that they may write about us. My advice to all blogger's , before you write something negative about someone in your blog. Talk to them first. Talk it out and come to a consensus . If that does not work you have my permission to blog the hell out of them.

The how and the why of my blogging

I am often asked, how do you think of things to go in your blog. What thing you have to understand about be is that I am alone a great deal of the time and the solitary life gives me a great deal of time to think. Sometimes I think too much and worry about things that I have no control over. But since I am alone even when I am with other people I am always looking at the things that happen and wonder how they could have turned out differently . Sometimes bloggers give out way too much information and create an image that is not wanted. I on the other hand try to be all things to all people and try to write blogs that please some of the people some of the time. Sometimes it is a news story that I have seen or read or sometimes it is about people who have inspired me in my life . Sometimes it is just a thought that is going through my head and needs a place to rest. Since most the time the only person who reads this blog is me so I probably could say nasty things about people I don't like (with holding names of course) but that would defeat the purpose of my blog which is to inform, entertain, incite , entice and educate not to enrage although sometimes it probably does but not intentionally . I write because I love words, they have been better to me than most people I know and never turn on you. I use them wisely. They are good to me and I am good to them. When I blog, I want the world to know I am out here and I have something to say. You may not always like it but please read it and give me some comments every once in a while.

Technology Makes Us Better or Not!!!

I am a writer. Not just because I say that I am one, but because I am . I have the education, training and experience that makes me a writer . I have published several items and I have actually made my living as a writer and I am planning to make my living again as one.
This is great for me and other people who also write or want to write, perform , direct or anything else their hearts desire . What technology has done is however, is made many of us think that just because you: open up your laptop, turn on your flip camera, click on garage band and anything else you want it will not make you an artist if you do not have the talent.
Technology is a tool that enhances the talents we already have. If you cannot write, spell check or any other program will not make it better. Writing takes training and practice. It also takes experimentation and perspiration .
Many young people have been given the attitude that anything they put fourth is the best and any one who disputes that is flawed. As a teacher, I experience this on a regular basis. Whether it's art, athletics or arithmetic, kids are told that they can do no wrong.
I have seen the worst performances, essays, short stories and musical endeavors that totally suck but there are parents and teachers out there who tell them they are Carnegie , Pulitzer and Oscar all rolled into one. God knows the countless numbers of mix tapes that I have in my laptop from well-meaning students who suck . They suck in all areas as hip-hop artists, actors, singers, musicians and students.
Popular teachers are those that praise mediocrity and avoid constructive criticism or any criticism. There is an old adage that goes like this: just because it comes in your size does not mean you need to wear it.
That also goes for performance. Just because you know how to use Garage Band does not make you Tupac.

The Spirit Lives

On May 26, 1937, members of the Steel workers organizing committee were gunned down by members of the Chicago police department in what would be known as the Memorial Day Massacre. Some 73 years later, our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin have also been attacked. Not shot in the back, as in Chicago but stabbed in the back by the very people elected to protect their rights and livelihoods. These Union members are under attack as all unions are across the nation . These lawmakers may have killed collective bargaining but they will not kill our spirit. In the end we will prevail. This is one chapter, not the end of the story.

MLK, New Jersey and Other Observations

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning on this MLK weekend and there was an interesting story concerning the state of New Jersey . They called New Jersey the Rodney Dangerfeld of the U.S. but they also brought that New Jersey was one of the richest and smartest states in the union.
In light of this and MLK, I would like to reflect my own New Jersey story in the way of Dr. Joseph Camarrano, of Providence College. Joseph hails from Metuchen, New Jersey ( exit 10 on the New Jersey turnpike), as does Susan Sarandon , Joe is one of the finest men that I know . He is a kind and brilliant gentle man, who lives his life through principle and devotion to his family and his students. I knew Joe when I worked at Close-Up in Washington DC. A particular story brings to mind the fullness of Joe's integrity .
One day as we were coming in from a long day in the city and returning back to our hotel in Arlington Virginia . Our bus driver, an African-American man who was a former Marine and Vietnam veteran pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and was cut off by another vehicle driven by another man in a suit.
This man shouted out the word "nigger " to the driver . Our bus driver was so distraught that he stopped his bus and got out to ague with the driver of the car which brought out hotel security to see what was amiss.
The driver of the car denied that he had called our driver a "nigger" . Both of us came to the driver's defense and Joe stood about an inch from the man's face and said yes you did and don't you lie.
He stood up to this man with integrity and conviction and showed me that America has to a nation of right and wrong not black and white.
I still stay in touch with Joe and he continues to maintain the sense of purpose and integrity that he exhibited some 27 years ago.
To this day, I remember this story, and I will never forget the example of what fighting racism really is. It is a personal battle for all of us and no matter how easy it is to turn away and join the status quo . It is better to take the path of resistance and walk the road of Dr. King as Joe Camarrano does.