Chef Traveler

My Buddy Cheffrey emailed me this scam this morning. It is my duty to all of the guys following along to attach for our safety. I am going to go to my local Home Depot after work just to make sure it is not going on here (concerned citizen).

Warning:
A “heads up” for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers. This one
caught me by surprise. Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don’t be naive enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends.

Here’s how the scam works:

Two seriously good-looking 25-30 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex. They’re wearing skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say “No” and instead ask you for a ride to McDonalds. You agree and they get into the back seat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen July 1st, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 20th, 24th & 29th. Also August 1st & 4th, Twice on the 8th, 10th, 13th, 15th & 16th, three times yesterday and very likely again this upcoming weekend. So tell your friends to be careful.

P.S. Wal-Mart has wallets on sale for 2.99 each. Also, you never will get to eat at McDonalds. I’ve already lost 11 pounds just running back and forth to Home Depot.

Please forward this warning to our mutual friends…and be careful out there.

Well, nothing exciting to report. Turns out good ol’ Bill didn’t pack much of a wallop here. I wouldn’t have even known if I had not heard it on the news. The guys got some great surfing in though.

Thanks to all who have emailed me, Yeah I’m ok, it’s just harder to post now that I have a job. It’s not like it was when I was unemployed and sat around in my underwear all day (wait, did I really do that?) surfing the internet for funny stuff to post. I am spending most of my free time adding recipes and working on my website. I have been cooking some great food, and taking pictures with my fancy new camera (will post some pics.). We just got back from Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard and looking forward to New York City for the month of September. Just starting to plan my vacation to San Miguel de Allende in October- can’t wait. The one thing that sucks about being on the East coast is the dang Hurricanes. It feel like a ghost town here in the marina since most of the boats have left because of hurricane Bill. Not us, we’re going to tough this thing out! (why? somebody save me! I can’t swim!). Seriously we should be fine, but the waves will be rockin tomorrow. Should be a wild ride. On another note, I am going to be doing some blogging on my website (mostly about healthy cooking and eating), and just keeping friends and customers up to date on what I am up to on this blog. Hope your enjoying your summer, talk soon!

Well, I’m back in Newport and had a blast on the road trip. It was great to see some new states, I need to count how many I have seen, it would be a goal of mine to see them all. It is cold and rainy here, but it’s a nice change, this town really gets rockin’ in the next month or so. Should be a fun summer, our schedule is slow, so hopefully I will get some exploring in. I took some pictures of my road trip and will share once I figure out the software for my new camera. I had to sneak in a picture of the local starbucks, though I’m seriously cutting back- those white chocolate mocha’s aren’t good for you ya know.

I drove up through Virginia today along I-81. The Shenandoah Valley is beautiful, and full of Civil War history. I think I drive through Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island tomorrow- whew!

Hey there, hope all is good! We left Florida last week and are now in Newport, Rhode Island for the summer. I flew back down to drive my car up there, which will be cool, so I can explore etc. It’s a fun town, so should be a fun summer. I stopped by Charlotte on the way, and saw the movie Hangover with Celeste tonight (recommended). I had some great bbq in South Carolina for lunch, and plan on hitting up a few more gems on the rest of the way up, I will take some pictures and post here. I am going to be having a blog for the website in a few weeks which will be more regular and focus on healthy cooking, and this one will still be about me posting whatever I feel like. I will let you know when the new blog is up.

It’s been well over a year since I did my first book club post, so it is about time I did another one. The main reason I’m doing another one is because I just finished a book that I loved and wanted to share with you. One of the things that I want to do more of now that I am on the boat is to read. Not cookbooks, but good fiction and non-fiction books. I had a lazy weekend planned, and once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. The book is called Replay and though it was published in 1988 it must be getting popular again because I just saw a huge stack of them at Costco. It is about a 43 year old man who keeps dying at 43 and waking up as a younger version of himself. Every time he dies, his time keeps getting shorter, and he eventually meets a lady who is also experiencing the same thing and they fall in love. I’m pretty bad about describing books, trust me, it’s a great read, and really makes you think. I also recently read a great book called The Pillars of the Earth which is an epic story that takes place in the middle ages, and makes you realize how much they had to suffer during those times. Romance, murder, revenge, intrigue, it’s all there, and there is even a sequel that I need to also read. So, there you go, two books you are guaranteed to enjoy (your welcome). My next read? The Alchemist, it’s a short book that is a filler until I find my next great read. Since we’re always around a beach, I am always going to have some good books around. Will be lots of fun, and I will report the good one’s here.

Of course I am thinking of my mother today, and also a big thank you to all of the mothers following along. My best buddy from cooking school sent me this picture yesterday. I feel guilty that I am in Sunny Florida, and he is in Arctic Canada, but I know he’s having a blast- an arctic blast! (ok, that was corny).

I took this quick video when I woke up one morning on charter and was awed by the clear water. I have traveled the world on a boat and never seen water so clear. Mind you this is the ocean and you could see the bottom like looking through glass.

I am getting settled in.  The boat is in the shipyard for the month and we are staying in a crew house for the duration.  Here is a night picture of the backyard.

It’s cool because I can practice my swimming and it is a great place to chill.  We are just across the street from the ocean too, so I can practice there once I feel more comfortable.  The house feels like it’s out of mtv’s the real world because it has a pinball machine (doesn’t work), dart board, and foosball table.

Cooking will be lite this month, but I think a lot of sandwiches, which will be cool  since I love coming up with interesting sandwiches and can post them here.  Up until now I have been cooking some healthy lunches and dinners for the crew since we are all trying to eat healthy (like you should too!).  Here are some grilled shrimp skewers I cooked last week for lunch.  Nothing special (I just like the picture).

So stay tuned as I will be posting at random since I having a blast with my new camera.  I will be adding some recipes too, though most wind up on the website, I will be adding some here too.

It’s been awhile, so how have you been? Oh, that’s good. And how is your family? Oh, that’s great, send my best. Me? Oh, I’ve been busy. See I started a new job, moved to a new state, traveled to a new country and now just getting settled in. Will I be traveling much on this boat? Not really, looks like South Florida during the winter and New England for the summer months. It’s actually a perfect travel schedule for me. I bought a new camera that will let me take better pictures of my food. I have been playing around with the feature where one part of the picture is in focus, and the rest is blurry, here is one I took today (it’s an asian cabbage and daikon coleslaw).

I have been cooking like crazy, so I will be adding some recipes, but mostly I have been spending my spare time on the website, and I think I will be starting a blog there as well which will be more on healthy cooking and advice and this one will be more about my travels and personal life. Anyways, I gotta run, but it was great catching up, I will be posting again soon!

I’m sure I set a record for the longest period of not posting since I started this blog, but I started a new job, so haven’t had much time. We did a charter trip in the Bahamas (my first time there). The trip went great and I am really liking the boat a lot. The water was so clear in the Bahamas, I took some video and will share soon. I flew back to Charlotte after the trip to take care of some things and ate like a King! I am now back in South Florida where the boat is based in the winter and will be headed for new England for the Summer. Now that I am in more of a routine I will have more time to post.