it's funny how some things become traditions.

i just found this picture from a surprise birthday party that we threw at our venue in the heights rockefeller building for my business partner joanie rosenthal. pictured at left, from the left, we have mason, our youngest helper who also happens to be a computer super-genius and has great hair, pete the gypsy who was trying desparately to grow some facial hair when this photo was taken, and patrick, step-son of the rock hall's ceo, amateur magician, and aspiring drummer. pat, who has since moved to maine, is really the focus of this shot to me, because it catches him checking out the wet spot on pete's jeans. somehow, whenever the kitchen staff goes out together, one of us ultimately ends up dumping a drink on ourselves or someone else. here it's pete. the best example was at this year's annual kitchen christmas party when i accidentally dumped a full crown and coke on jason's crotch. being december, it wasn't really warm enough to dry out either, so he spent the whole night with a "not pee-->" sign tacked to his jeans. awesome!

two days ago it was official. now it's real.

yesterday was the first shoot for the new and improved dinner: impossible starring mike symon competently assisted by me and the hairy guy to the left, jonathon sawyer. i'd only met jon-boy once prior to working with him on d:i and, i've got to say, he's a great guy and one hell of a cook. i probably shouldn't say too much about the challenge itself, but i will tell you that it was a blast and taught me the value of a good vegetable peeler. working with jonathon and michael was fun and really positive; a definite change from the feel of the old show with Robert Irvine, who always seemed a bit too cranky and serious. what a great day, wonderful opportunity, and nice time in the spotlight for our fair city by the lake. never mind the rock, cleveland cooks.

impossible, you say? i think not.

<- this is not a picture of me with no hat.

so, the news is finally official. my pal, michael symon (shown at left), has been chosen as the new chef of food network's dinner: impossible. this, in and of itself, isn't that surprising: he's a newly annointed iron chef, owns two successful restaurants, and certainly has made the right connections through his charm, hard work, and natural culinary talent. the unusual and amazing part is that he chose me as one of his sous chefs on the show. over the next month or so, i'll be leaving town to film shows that, i guess, will air in the fall. it should be a challenge, but also, i bet, a ton of fun. i'm especially excited to be meeting up in the kitchen with my old pal, tim bando, who will be one of the sous as well and has already sent an e-mail to everyone in the production company saying he'll only agree to a shoot if I wear a thong and pasties. yep, it's going to be a wild ride, but an awesome one. let the fat, bald man show begin!

keepin' it real

so, the word creme fraiche gets thrown around pretty loosely in the modern culinary world. i suspect that, pretty frequently, people are using the term to describe sour cream that's been thinned out and had some other flavor (see scallion creme fraiche, cilantro creme fraiche, etc.) added to it. real creme fraiche, though, is as different from sour cream as yogurt is. before the days of pasteurization (or in europe), to make creme fraiche we could just leave our cream out in a warm environment and the natural bacteria would produce this thick-yet-liquid, slightly sour wonder of dairy goodness. in this photo, ben is providing an example of how to make creme fraiche in the modern kitchen. if he looks unsure of himself it's because i'm holding (moving) the ladder and taking the photo. we've taken a bucket of fresh local creme, stolen some culture from sour cream, and then hung it from the rafters of the closet where our water heater is. Allow for 24-36 hours in this warm environment and no health department inspections and, voila, we get real creme fraiche! obviously, if you're from the health department and you're reading this, we're totally joking! we'd never do this because it violates any number of rules. this is just a test to see if it could work. really...

the mistake in the lake...

so earlier this winter, my best friend, annie aka "schmidty" had the awesome and awesomely foolish idea that we should do a polar bear swim to celebrate the return of spring to lake erie's frozen shores. with easter falling early and various other scheduling conflicts, we didn't end up finally going for it until this past sunday. here's a great group photo of everyone who attended our big day of fun. about half of the people you see here actually went in, but i think everyone had a lot of fun. the day started with great food and a build-your-own bloody mary bar at schmidty's house before we all headed out to mentor headlands for a quick dip in the 35 degree water. let me tell you about cold! schmidty and i were dumb enough to go in twice, the second time leading to some serious brain freeze. afterward, the whole gang headed over to pickle bill's in grand river for some all-you-can-eat crablegs, some more cocktails, and the end of a long, fun day in majestic outdoors of northeastern ohio.

of fake weddings and real friendship...

i see that it's been over a week since my last post, so apologies to everyone for my being such a less-than-diligent blogger. anyway, a lot's happened here at the m.c. since last i wrote. the busy season is finally here, coming on as suddenly as a tornado on a hot summer night and sweeping us all up in it's path. speaking of a trip to oz, we definitely had our "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" moment of illusion this past saturday. in order to complete the website and promotional materials for our new venue, the ballroom at park lane villa, we needed to have photos and videos of a beautiful wedding being held there. unfortunately, our first wedding in the space isn't for another couple of months and we couldn't wait to get everything up and running. the solution? throw a fake wedding! christina from park lane, david, joan, and i planned out the whole thing with a string quartet, a d.j., a wedding cake, a fake bride and groom, guests invited from the building, passed appetizers, a plated dinner, and, of course, a fake minister to perform the fake ceremony. not being ones to pass up a chance for some goofing around, ryan and i decided to take advantage of the beautiful matrimonial setting to pose for this (unfortunately) poorly lit shot. The joke was on us, though, as it appears the minister was actually in town from canada and the whole thing is legit. we'll be honeymooning in vegas next week and then hope to get a little house in the country. ha! just kidding. i love ryan, just not in that way. oh well, i'm probably worse off for it. : )