Doing what you love as a career is a pleasure denied to most and the difference between existing and living.
Assorted arts, foods, cultures, music, books and travel nurtured me as a kid. It’s my comfort zone and get my mail there. Being a culinary sherpa, menu bully, non-fiction writing, pattern clashing, funky drummer comes naturally.
If you want to samba or eat, I’m your guy. Other skills? Not so much. As mentioned a blog or two ago, 25% of my life pays for the other 75.
High end chef consulting and private catering allows me to author manuscripts and play music the rest of the time. I’m working for my oldest client out of town this week so will write about that.
Traditions Grew Over The Years
Around the turn of the century I became the chef for their private island corporate retreat. You’d know their name if you heard it. There was a lot of traveling back and forth and to their various homes. I’ve cooked last meals, Christmas dinners, 80th birthdays, spoiled the dogs and watched the kids grow up. It’s safe to say I am a fixture in their lives.
I also supply a blue collar left of center POV they so lack. And music when cooking, which is a tolerated temporary aberration in this otherwise pristine silent environment.
More friend than client, we have our traditions. Dinner for 2 the first night is one. A salad with lots of fruit and nuts or seeds and a cheese of some sort with a tart lemon-dijon vinaigrette. Then something spicy that she can’t get there. Maybe pasta or some dan dan noodles from Chinatown I bring. A simple dessert and see you tomorrow between 10-noon (depending on menu) to get my chef on.
This Week’s Office – a 500 Acre Farm with Streams, Llamas, and Blue Ridge Mountains
My office for the next week is a 20,000 sq ft home she designed situated on an original King James land grant 500 acre farm with streams and llamas and Blue Ridge Mountains. I stay at one of many guest houses tricked out with the finest of the finest
amenities and Adirondack in style.
There’s no direct flights and because it’s so remote everything is worked out well in advance. Over 50 recipes will be cooked for
between 5-50 people over 6 nights and it all needs to be there
when I need it. There’s no running to Whole Foods down the
street if you forget the Buddha’s hand or grains of paradise. What
we can’t source locally I bring or order off the internet for
delivery.
Menu possibilities get emailed back and forth followed by grocery lists sent for the assistant who does the shopping. Meals may include a tapas buffet, Dutch Baby/Eggs Benedict brunches, intimate dinners, gala events, mala Szechuan with Haitian Mojitos… anything they want I try to make happen. Often I don’t get off property until my return home. There is a wonderful gourmet market 20 mins away if/when I can… but just arrived and it’s time to work.
Alan Lake a.k.a. “Jazzfood” a.k.a. “The Garlic Chef” has been a globetrotting professional chef for three decades and has won numerous awards, professional competitions and distinctions. He’s also the author of The Garlic Manifesto, a book about the history of garlic going back to 10,000-year-old Neolithic caves that contains facts, fiction, folklore, artwork, recipes, professional insights, quotes etc. – think Mark Kurlansky’s Salt or Cod, but a bit more personal. He’s been a musician since he was a child and coined the term “Jazzfood” to describe his cooking style as “solid technique based upon tasteful improvisational abilities.” He views his food as he does his music and writing and has been known to bust a pout if any of them are subpar in any way.