A philosophical moment of what it means to maintain a life on the road.

Well it's been awhile. and like an exhausted aching marathon runner in their last three miles, the last leg, though the rhythm has long been set, it's come time to bear down, eliminate all distractions, and focus on that finish line. Each leg a race of passion and endurance, pushing one's limits to do the best humanly possible. The cost is severe at times, sanity, sense of being grounded, balance on what's left behind, which is always there to be dealt with when the challenge is over. If not for the passion and the future, one must have a sense of freedom and ability to be understood in a higher purpose of what is being done, in order to survive in one piece. Cooking has meant so much to me, even though i did not immediately first realize it, once being given and experiencing this opportunity i have been given back inspiration and confidence that i had once felt lost forever. So there in itself lies the "Murphy's law" of sorts of what can go wrong will go wrong. Having achieved and realized this great venture, there is always some catch 22 on some sick cosmic twist that if you are not fully ready for you will soon be hit with it full force of no mercy or sensitivity. But as cliche as it may sound, everything that doesn't kill you or bring you down will always make you stronger. Not letting the bad situation effect you forever is one of the greatest capabilities of what i think it means to be human. The fact that some are affected forever is what makes us human as well. Everyone has choices that they have to make and some of the hardest ones ever can make the world of difference. To how the rest of your future, if you choose to accept it, will play out. I am not trying to go on some absurd rant here but i love my job and there are aspects of my job that are extremely difficult to handle, but the process and end result could enrich my life on so many levels. I'd be a fool not make the absolute best of this situation. There are plenty of people who would die for the chance that i have been given so i can never regret any part of what i am doing or would not learn or excel myself as much as i hav the in the last six months. By the end of this tour, there will some bigger and more elaborate responsibilities that will take me to the next level of preparation of an amazing culinary adventure across the country.

Fear and Loathing in Talladega- A Little Tribute to the Late Hunter S. Thompson

It was a morning filled with hatred and disgust for the hangover that engulfs the very depth of the brain. With each loud sound or voice, the dying screeches of my sanity, pierce my eardrums shattering any hope of peace and content. Dear god man please let this day go smoothly!! A crack of the bus door opens the grim reality that kicks you swiftly to the gut, begging for a end to mercy with no reply from above. I keep it cool, slap my legs twice, down a hot cup, and walk toward the light. We’re in strange lands, amidst the belly of the old south, remnants of the old and the new with the twisted pride of country living and a love of endless left turns at insane speeds. Holy freak show, I might love it if it weren't my least lucky state of the upper 48, but who doesn’t love a freak show. Great Lenin its Halloween, too! Did I stumble into the depths of Satan’s groundhog day? Or is it some strange blessing.

So back to that walk….

Too discombobulated to comprehend or realize the content or condition of the ground I now must trot through, this treacherous slop half way up my shins F@#K what happened to my shoes, now buried in a an easy foot of muddy hell. Oh well, live it up one step at a time until the end which is eminent.

Was taking a bit too long with this if you like and would like to hear more please respond and i'd gladly oblige!!

Internet hasn't been fast enough to even load this site, but finally catching a break enough to get this out and work on more recipes and tips as well as tidbits from the road....

NYC Photos!!!

NYC and No Eat n Greet!!

Hey Blog world here's the NY breakdown I have been trying to complete for the last few weeks, sorry if you all have been anticipating more posts. It has still been extremely difficult to get much free time with my 14 hour days running so long. The time out here takes it's toll on you. So any time I could even think about writing, I have been either completely exhausted, or I can't connect to the internet faster than dial up speed. It has been mostly all work and no play until we arrived in NY. I have been waiting for this day for about 13 years. Ever since I started taking serious interests in cooking I have been dying to go to NY city. With its fast paced atmosphere and endless places to try every kind of food you can think of. I have a few simple things to do in the AM then it's off to a day of appetizers at as many places we can go or until we are too full to eat another bite. So we start with Chinatown going to a six table closet of a restaurant called Little Asian Cuisine. We immediately notice the dumplings and an interesting white wine chicken dish. We finish it off with some schezuan dumplings with some unbelievable spice. Well thats enough Asian off to Angelo's Italian Restaurant that Rusty was dying to have me try this absurd fresh mozzarella dish in this fantastic light tomato sauce. With a couple of delectable Stuffed mushrooms and a good but not extraordinary fried calamari. Time for some sweets not very far away we decided to do a hit n run at Farrara's (IS NOW MY DESSERT HEAVEN) We sampled about 8 different pastries including... Chocolate Mignon=Food Orgasm... Napoleons=Sugar Magic.... and a variety of Mini Canoli's and Biscotti's=You wish Starbucks made something this good. And if that weren't enough lets try get some Caraca's (A Zac Brown favorite!) for a retardedly good made to order (no rushing here!!) Arepas, which are pulled pork and plantain sandwich with fresh perfectly cooked bread and a sauce that I still want to try to recreate but I just can't figure out a few things that are in there. And of course it wouldn't be a complete day in NY without a vended Dog, and a NY slice (or two..) pizza. I still wouldn't dare declare a winner between a NY and a Chicago Deep. They should be in categories all to themselves. Look for some summaries of different cities and I have been working on a Gonzo journalism tribute to the late Hunter Thompson about my weird trip to Talladega. As always all comments are greatly appreciated as well as my thanks for your valuable time spent reading my blog.

LOOK FOR NEW POSTS THIS WEEK!!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

Sorry about not posting anything for a while it's been a crazy few weeks, between being busy, sick, and some computer issues I am still working on. I've had no peace of mind to write how I enjoy doing so. Things are still going great though. NY was awesome, for one cause I was off, and two Rusty and I started the day doing appetizers at as many places we could before having to get back to the venue. I'll dedicate my next post specifically to my experience there (with some pics!!!). The Fox was an operation, being the headliners and coordinators for a charity event of that scale with that many performers is a daunting task, but it pulled together as always for a great show and for a great cause. Atlanta loves the Fox. Of course I'll have to throw in some tidbits about Halloween at Talladega Speedway. People watching paradise!!

As always thank you to all who have taken the time to follow this blog. I am looking forward to spending more time sharing the day to day trials of a traveling chef and philosopher.

JP

Week 3 Days 2, 3, and 4 Writing takes time! Cooking takes more.

I am starting to realize why I enjoy blogging about this is because I feel it's original and unique. The difficulty in writing about this is that there is a great deal of repetition in what goes on from the day to day on the road and I don't want to just tell you same things over and over. That's where I feel the road is sometimes over glorified in stories (the off the wall legendary tales of mischief and debauchery are on the 20,000 plus seating tours due to more time to get in trouble then non-stop working), but this is not that kind of tour. Everyone on this tour is a family working closely together from sun up to sun down with even tighter sleeping quarters when we are not working. Sure we throw down a good drink or two to celebrate the days hard work and the accomplishment of another job well done. In the end we are all busting are humps making everything the best we can. All of us wake up everyday and put our best foot forward, and if we didn't this tour wouldn't mean as much to me as it has grown to. Sure the hardest thing about the job is being away from the ones you love and what you call home, but if we weren't doing what we wanted to do then we wouldn't be doing this.

Rusty and I are in full groove with the eat and greets and have continued to cook the after show meals ranging from chicken and dumplings to Turkey Chili. All take three to four hours of cooking and spicing while cleaning up and putting everything away from the eat and greets, so when we finish up the last meal we are done around 10:30. From that point we get a quick shower lock everything down have a couple drinks then pass out and do it all over again in the next city. That's why I am not going to obsess over the day to day details of each show from my perspective. I welcome and encourage all comments any one would like to offer, or if you have any questions about a particular day or venue and ill be more then happy to reply.

Day 2 - In short Knoxville went well but there was a bit of an echo during the show due to the fact it was in an indoor ice rink. My day would have been easy except for stocking the bus because none of them were next to each other altogether spread out over half a mile walk. The help was great and fast, but the traffic of the Tennesee/Georgia game left Rusty arriving at 3:30 when service starts at 5 but we managed to get everything done right on time with 0 seconds to spare.

Day 3 - Charleston, SC waking up to yet again another venue that didn't know we needed two helpers for the day and our trailer was a quarter mile from the buses and venue, so i ran a good few miles that day. The staff pulled through and actually got three people for us so it all ran smooth as could be after that. Ate Sticky Fingers for catering that night cause Charleston is the home of that fine BBQ establishment.

Day 4 - Portsmouth VA Easiest day ever!!! Got there tents and buffet area was fully setup and the help worked fast and had good knife skills. And I have to give mad props to the area super-intendent, she was 4'10" if an inch, but this old gal spit fire. We ask for something she'd holler on the radio and five dudes would pull up in a cart out of nowhere within two minutes. Plus she was just an absolute trip.

Week 3 Day 1 Feeling the Groove

Week 3 Day 1 Salem, VA

(Notice: Dates should be aligned by this Sunday, I'm still staggering them out due to internet difficulties on the bus in some cities)

Hello everyone. So getting into my third week as a traveling chef on our way to Salem,VA which I can't say I've ever heard of before going here for the tour. I've gotten my rest in, spent some time with my girl, and now i'm ready to kick some butt this week.

Arriving in Salem I manage to get out of bed right on time today, so good start. I take a walk around every venue as part of my morning ritual, I find my catering area, where the local catering is set up, meet my helpers for the day (2 assistants and 1 runner), then I check in and manage stocking the buses with the rider list. After this is done I realize today I am going to have to set up both tents today for the eat n greet. Which after the first time doing it I had been trying to avoid. For no other reason but they aren't the easiest things to unload, transport, or set up. But I manage to get my stage hands in time to make it less daunting, and the help I have been given today both appear to be really hard workers. The eat and greet runs smooth as can be and we both notice that we are really getting in our groove. Rusty finds some great local farmers markets and bakery's . He returns with some amazing produce and breads. Veggies so fresh they look like they were picked early that morning. His trip to the mountains does however put us closer than we have been before to the three hour til service mark. But we rock it out pulling it off at the last minute. There are talks of making the eat n greet bigger. Zac Brown is so happy with the results and turnout of the event and he even tells the crowd about it during the show saying soon enough he hopes to feed everyone at the shows. This is a really good thing for us, especially if we keep fine tuning our routine. Tomorrow is Knoxville TN. The venue has been moved to the Knoxville Bears ice rink due to flooding of the original venue. Until the next post I thank you again as always, and look for more recipes or tips in the posts to come. Sorry there have not been more as of yet, I am new to this whole blogging thing and with the intensity of this job it's been harder than I had planned to get them up quickly. I assure you more are on the way.