Its April 1st! Its official....The journey has begun

This is going to be an extremely quick blog as its past 2am and I have to be at work in 6 hours, but i just wanted to let you all know that the journey has begun.

I should have typed this earlier but had to watch BGT and The Voice and Match of the Day which I had earlier recorded, so sorry its late!

I was officially weighed today by Heather from 'The Beauty Box' and will be doing so on a weekly basis from now until the journeys end.

Although very embarrased, I must share my current weight with you all. I currently weigh 20 stone & 6 pounds (or 286 pounds or 130.8 kilos). Which ever your preference, it is far too high!

I will be listing my measurements tomorrow when I have found someone with long enough arms to go round my waist! So I'm off for now and I will update you all tomorrow!

Nite nite

Thoughts...........

Been doing some hard thinking about the forthcoming diet and my head is definately in the right place. Getting lots of encouragement too, so thanks to all my 'supporters'!

Been wondering why we 'have to eat 3 meals a day'. Why do we have to eat breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Why? who says..... Why can't we just eat when we are hungry and eat nothing when we're not? Who is this person who says we can't?

Then I was wondering if the food we eat daily (therefore our favourite foods as they are the ones we choose to eat) really are our favourite foods, or do we just eat them because they're convenient. I mean seriously, is the cheese sandwich you have for lunch really what you want, or are you eating it because its quick and easy........? If someone asked to you what you wanted to eat and they would make it for you, would you really choose a cheese sandwich? Of course not. Therefore the logical part of my brain is telling me that I wont be missing out on anything because they are not my 'favourite foods'. It reminds me too that this will not be a diet, but a change in my eating habits and lifestyle. I genuinely believe that I will enjoy the food on my journey more than the food I was eating. It will just take a little more effort and planning.......

Enough of my thoughts for now..... Sleep well all and I will return tomorrow to bore you all again!

Ciao for now

The 'SYSS' lunch is finally over!

Well, an early start for me this morning. I arrived at work at 8am to prep all the food for today's networking bash. Wish I hadnt gone to soooo much trouble really as less than half of the people who confirmed they would be coming didnt attend. A lot of food, effort and money wasted............... Still, we enjoyed the day, met some very nice people, some we knew, some we didn't and probably broke even. On a more heartening note, we have had a fantastic response from the  Facebook group ' Sell Your Stuff Spain' for whom the bash was for. Some excellent comments, thank you to all who attended. Who knows, we may have gained ourselves a few more customers along the way......? I've been trying to download some pictures, but having problems at the mo.... Ha ha ! I've just copied them all and shoved 'em on! Here they are....... Until tomorrow people, good night and sleep tight

2 days to go before the Networking lunch.......

Some of you (especially the ladies out there) probably love a little shopping trip now and again. For me, nothing beats a trip to Macro! All that produce in one place, weyhey! I was  like a perv in a sex shop! All that aside, I was a little put out that they were out of stock of a few of the things I needed for the networking lunch. No chicory, no little gem lettuce, NO BASIL,no mozzarella pearls, no way! So a trip to Mercadona tomorrow and a rethink on the mozzarella front! Everything else I needed was there so tomorrow I start with the preparation for Wednesday. Looking forward to doing the canapes as I dont usually get the chance to be creative that much. Most of my customers think that balsamic vinegar is a bit out there! In fact I'm telling porkies. Sorry, most of my customers dont know what balsamic vinegar is.................!! Anyway, enough of alienating the few customers I have, I'm off to watch 'Ramsay's kitchen nightmares'! Perv in a sex shop again! Give me a 'Nisbets' catalogue and the Food Network channel and I'm a happy bunny!

Nite folks, sleep well and we'll talk soon

OOOPs, nearly forgot

Nearly forgot, please feel free to click on the adverts on my blog, I may get paid for this one day!

Jimbo's journey.....

Well, Sunday lunch is over again and it seems like only yesterday that I was boring you all to tears with tales of last weeks action! Another full house today so pretty chuffed, but the downside is having to turn customers (therefore wonga) away! The highlight for me this week was my sexy pimped up pork! Once again I was a little concernred that the 'traditionalists' would not be adventurous enough to try it, but I only managed to bring a tiny bit home so it must have been ok! It was just a simple pork loin stuffed with apricots, sage and rosemary and wrapped in streaky bacon, but sometimes I find that the simple can taste fantastic. Got some good comments from the regulars so maybe I shouldn't worry too much! The beef was pretty amazing too if I do say so myself! ;0)

Anyway, on to the important stuff. All my Facebook friends have been invited to my 'event', 'Jimbo's journey' which will be starting on April 1st. Very poignant for me methinks! I will be changing my eating habits for one year to try to a) lose weight and b) regain my cooking creativity which has taken a little nosedive since moving to Spain. Follow my journey via this blog and through Faceboook with 'jimbo's food page'. I will be listing some recipies (feel free to leave me ideas on my Facebook page) and hopefully keeping you all amused and riveted to it on a daily basis. If it interests you, please follow my blog and if you think your friends will be interested tell them all about it. I'd love to take as many people 'with me' as I can. Watch this space!

Good nite all
Jimbo (the hopefully not so fat chef in the coming weeks)!

Mr Bryant!

Hello Mr B! I have been checking on my viewers and I see that there are 3 viewings from the UAE. CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE ONLY LOOKED AT MY BLOG 3 TIMES!!!!!! ;0)

I'm back!

Hello foodies I have returned from a couple of lazy nights away from the keyboard! Sorry to have deserted you all, but very busy and very tired and didnt really have much to say so thought I'd give you all a break! But I'm back now so here goes......

I want to first of all remind you about my Facebook page 'Jimbos Food Page' which is slowly but surely growing in numbers and thank all of those who participate. There have been some good questions and advice so far and some not too bad recipies. Keep up the good work.... I'm not very good at self promotion, but on April 1st you will all find out why I'm going to all the effort! Still got you wondering..................., good! All will be revealed soon....

On a seperate note I have decided on the final Canapes for the networking lunch we are hosting next Wednesday. Here they are.......

Home made hummous with chicory leaf
Goats cheese salad, caramelised onion & thyme crostinis
Mini Yorkshire puddings with roast beef and horseradish
White bean & sage puree bruschetta
Mozzarella pearl, cherry tomato and basil sticks
Feta, cucumber, black olive & oregano
Individual caesar salads
Gazpacho shots with vodka and celery
Mini focaccias filled with tapenade, cheese, pancetta, tomato, spring onion & artichoke
Jimbos meatballs with Parmesan
Mini Cheesecakes
Mini pavlovas
and possibly 1 or 2 more

Thanks to all who contributed ideas. If your suggestion is not here it is only because it may have been impractical for the event or quite frankly I thought it was crap! Only kidding, got some good ideas from all the suggestions. Will let you all know how they turned out next Wednesday! I'm off to watch Celebrity Juice now so I will bid you all good night and I will speak to you all tomorrow.

Oooooooh, nearly forgot.......... only 9 days to go until...........................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
Nite !

A day off

Todays blog is a very boring one. No work today (it was our 1 day off every 14), but still had to go to work to endure a food product sales pitch. It was a Dutch company specialising in microwave sauces etc! They obviously don't know me that well!! Microwave sauces!! Sell those to the local Dutch and German restaurants who seem to like using them so much! Me, I'm a make it fresh from scratch kinda guy! They did however have a pretty decent range of dry rubs. When I say decent, a) they smell and sound inventive and tasy and b) they left me 15 samples!!! I shall be experimenting with them over the next few weeks!!

Anyway, enough of that..... big news ahead for the blog and future of Jimbo 'the fat chef'. Not going to reveal tooooo much yet, but April 1st is 'launch day'! Yeah, I know its April fools day, but I think quite poignant. It is going to be the most important undertaking of my life (except for fathering 2 amazing children). It could change my life completely. Just a little more research required and then all will be revealed on April 1st.

Got you all hanging on my every word.............?  ;0))

Another Sunday lunch over.........

Another Sunday lunch over with yet another full restaurant of happy punters, (at least I think they were all happy)! I experimented with my new silicon moulds (thanks Gem & Julie) and made some pretty large yorkshire puddings.........

They seemed to go down quite well!!

I am also posting a simple risotto recipe. many of you will already know how to make one, but I have had several requests, so here goes........

Basic risotto recipe

Ingredients

• approx 1.1 litres/2 pints stock ( chicken, fish or vegetable as appropriate)
• 1 knob of butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• ½ a head of celery, finely chopped
• 400g/14oz  risotto rice (arborio or carnarole)
• 2 wine glasses of dry white vermouth (dry Martini or Noilly Prat) or dry white wine
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 70g/2½oz butter
• 115g/4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Method

It should be  smooth, creamy and oozy, not thick and stodgy.

stage 1
Heat the stock. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the  rice and turn up the heat.

stage 2
The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the  rice with a tasty essence.

stage 3
Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the  rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

stage 4
Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. This is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat it as soon as possible, while the  risotto retains its beautiful texture.

I'm off to bed now, its been a hard week... Enjoy the recipe and don't throw away any left over risotto........ Ask me about arancini.......

Nite Foodies x



A fairly progressive day...

A pretty quiet day at work today, but that just gave me more time to experiment with food! I managed to get the beetroot toast right, (thank you Jaimie von Beaverhausen) and topped it with goats cheese and caramelised onion. It was quite scrummy!

Also tried a new accompaniment with the tuna steak today. Some finely sliced green beans, blanched, then refreshed in iced water to keep their colour with some finely chopped tomato. I warmed it all through with some butter, salt & pepper and it turned out like this..........



 Then a very good friend of ours Gem, aka Serena Akeroyd, (http://fledglingwriter.weebly.com) designed and completed our new website. She still has a little tweaking to do with the menus, but it will be finished shortly ;0) If you're bored have a look at www.Laurasrestaurantcalpe.com

Sleep well foodies its time for bed. Today's little tip.... if you find it hard to sleep, dont count sheep..... instead try counting unctuous lamb shanks slowly braised in red wine and chicken stock till they fall off the bone.... Works for me! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

A seasonal strawberry fool!

Hello again all you foodies in blog land. I am a little late tonight as I have been watching my beloved Chelsea pull off an amazing win in the Champions League tonight! I am finalising my canapes tomorrow for the lunch on March the 28th, so stand by to be the first to know!
In the meantime, I've been nibbling on a few strawberries tonight and having a think of a nice easy cheapish recipe for you all to try. I have decided on a strawberry fool! It's perfect at this time of year as  strawberries are in season now and are plump, voluptuous and very tasty....just how I like my women!!! Only kidding! So here it is, enjoy & I will speak to you all again tomorrow

As strawberries are in season and therefore relatively cheap, here is a great, easy recipe for you

Ingredients

1 Kg of soft, ripe strawberries. Remove the core part and quarter

·                     juice from 1/2 a lemon

·                     80 g of caster sugar

·                     2 gelatin leaves

·                     250ml of double cream

·                     250 g of natural yoghurt

·                     1 tbsp icing sugar

·                     150ml of whipping cream

Method

Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add strawberries, lemon juice and sugar.  Cook  for about 15 min, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat.  Mix gelatin in ice-cold water until dissolved.  Pour strawberries into a blender and puree.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Remove the gelatin from the water and squeeze dry, then stir into the puree.  Cover and refrigerate for approx 1/2 hour.  Lightly whip the cream,  stir the yogurt into the puree and then fold in the cream. Divide among six glasses, cover and put in the fridge overnight. To finish the dessert, lightly whip the whipping cream with the icing sugar until it just keeps it shape. Spoon on top of your chilled fools. The key to getting this dessert perfect is  cooking the strawberries......

Nite foodies.... and remember I would urge to try eating lots of different things, but never yellow snow!
Until next time................

Night off!

So, a pretty quiet day in the cafe today and the restaurant is not open tonight so I've had a night of self promotion on Facebook. The long term plan is to write a recipe book, but I need a following and presence on cyber space first. So if my daily (hopefully daily) posts amuse you then please keep reading and share with your friends and hopefully in about 30 years time the search engines will have found me and I can publish my recipies! I have a page on facebook (Jimbos food Page) which I started yesterday and I'm up to 28 members. Go me! I'm still looking for some more ideas for Canapes for a networking lunch at the restaurant on March 28th so if you have any ideas which aren't already on my 'Canapes Blog', please feel free to let me have them and I will gladly steal them! Off till tomorrow as I still have so much to do before bed.
Good night fellow foodies and remember........ Never trust a skinny chef.........

How wrong was I !

So, Sunday lunch over and another bunch of happy customers head home with full bellies! Alas there will be NO lamb for me! The dish I thought they would all steer away from was the one they all wanted! How wrong was I! So refreshing to see people trying something new. I'll convert them in the end! Until next time foodies.........

The 'Glamorous' lifestyle of a chef

Got home at 23.45 after a service which seemed to never end and watched Match of the Day, well what was left of it, while eating egg on toast! Yes, egg on toast! Could any of you lot be bothered to cook at this time of night after being at work since 9.30 that morning? Anyway off to bed now as have to be up at 8 to get into work for Sunday lunch and its now past 1am. Think I might 'pimp up' this weeks boneless leg of lamb and slow roast it with garlic, rosemary, sage, a few anchovies (shh dont tell anyone) and some white wine. See if those traditionalists will dare to try 'something different'. They have choices of Topside of Beef, Loin of pork & honey roasted gammon to choose from, so I expect there to be loads of lamb left over for me to take home!!!!! I'm not silly! Anyway, as I said I'm off to bed now and I shall update you all tomorrow once I have returned home and sampled the left over lamb! Nite nite foodies, until the next time

Canapes!

We have a business luncheon in a couple of weeks time at the restaurant and we are doing some canapes. I have several ideas which I will post below, but would be grateful for some more........ I have a budget of 6€ per head so nothing toooooo expensive! Here's my list and please feel free to comment with some of your own....

Prawn, Chorizo & Cherry tomato on a mini kebab skewer
Parmesan & Rosemary pizzetti
Goats cheese, bacon & caramelised onion mini tartlets with balsamic reduction
Oven roasted Figs stuffed with a little blue cheese and wrapped in Serrano Ham
White bean, sage and garlic puree on bruschetta
Little mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes & basil leaves on a cocktail stick with a little drizzle of basil oil

As its just gone midnight here and we have just had a busy service, (oh, and the wheel on my computer chair has just broken), thats my lot for now. I look forward to seeing your suggestions forthwith!

Take care Foodies and good night
Jimbo

My first blog!

Well, here it is, my first blog! Nothing really exiting to talk about yet, but just wanted to get started! Tomorrow I will be discussing possible Canapes for a business lunch we are having, so keep 'em peeled!