It's all about me... a little personal info

As a boy I wanted to become a Veterinarian but as I soon found out, I fainted at the sight of blood, I had to decide on another direction for my career.
My best friend wanted to be a chef, so we both signed up for Cookery classes at school..a red flag for the school bullies, he dropped out after 4 weeks!
As you can guess I stuck at it, and later went on to Catering college.


At 18yrs old I spent the summer working on Canadian Pacific's steamship "The Empress of England" ( as a dining room steward ) and  sailed  the Atlantic UK to Canada 4 times..I was so scared of the ship sinking especially as we encountered icebergs off Labrador, that I packed everything in my case in waterproof plastic bags!!


At 21yrs old on leaving college I went to work in Marifjora, Norway as head chef of a tourist Hotel ( 300 miles inland on the Sognefjord, opposite the largest glacier in Northern Europe)..and about 200 miles from the Arctic Circle, and 30 miles from the nearest town.
We kept a pig all year and fed it scraps then slaughtered it in the winter for meat; daily made all our own breads;  whales would swim up the fjord from the ocean, IN the Fall I went to a reindeer kull (a round up) did you know that it is Laplanders who take care of the reindeer in Norway?
 It began to snow in Oct (thru March), after which all local travel was done on either skis, sledges or horse drawn sledges...avoiding some of the roads that had 20ft icicles which if they fell would pin a bus to the roads.


At 23yrs old I was working at BBC TV Center in London as a Head Cook ( the kitchen brigade contained about 30 head cooks as the kitchens were operating 24/7 and thousands of meals a week)


Aged 25 I went to work on my first private yacht in the South of France,( which was then my life's dream) from then until now I have worked in "Private Service", becoming a professional Private/Personal chef world wide.
Learning my craft, developing traditional recipes, understanding the value of good nutrition, creating balanced diets and using whatever is available locally grown/fished, killed...
this is quite a feat when shopping for eggs on Santorini Island,Greece( the actual town sits above a cliff face, which was once a volcano that exploded) where just one person kept chickens ( and they didn't sell them at the local store so it came down to bargaining)  the only way to the town was by horseback!
 or flying into Beirut ( while the fighting was going on and they were bombing the hills sides) to pick up supplies for Kuwait, where the supply of fresh fruit & vegetables was limited;
 wondering what the heck the crustaceans were (they were all they had to purchase that was freshly caught) that I found in a Greek island fish market...they looked like giant fleas! ..they turned out to be a type of rock lobster and quite nice!
I am an omnivore, I eat a little meat and fish, but I only cook vegan/vegetarian as I  "don't trust' my clients/friends with dishes containing animal protein as they may keep them too long or store improperly...it is far safer in this usually hot climate ( today it is pouring down and chilly 59f & thundering and lightening) to simply cook and deliver wholesome Vegan and Vegetarian dishes.


Both  cuisines are now gaining popularity which is great.


I have many more stories and recipes to share...and  more fun  is to follow over the next few months, I hope you are enjoying reading my blog.