Each of these picture tell a story of my time in Kuwait up until this point. I will add more photos as they come along. I have put short description below some of the picture so you can get some sort of an idea what the mean. Only thing that could have possibly made this whole experience more rewording is if there was someone to enjoy them with me. Hope you enjoy having a look though all of these and keep an eye out for more post tonight. 

The Eight Essential Traits 
Posted by Jonathan Merrill

I’ve always loved the number 8. I feel like it is a powerful number that no one recognizes its relation to ∞ on its end. These next eight traits are ones we as chefs and line cooks must adopt into our lives immediately and represent continually for all of time.

Culinary schools won’t educate you on this. Chefs will yell at you for not realizing these things yourself. Co-workers will secretly judge your dense inability to miss these crucial cues of becoming a culinary professional.


Chef Vagabundus’ Eight Essential Traits:

Humility:

You must realize you suck. We all burn things. We all fuck up a knife cut. We all have way more to learn than any of us will ever realize. Accept that you have a much longer path ahead to grow and you won’t seem like that shithead coming out of culinary school that thinks they know everything and can do any job. We, the already industry-seasoned chefs and cooks, can’t stand that person. Learn humility and how to just say “Yes, Chef.”

After spending half the day in bed catching up on some Grey's Anatomy, I got a call from a fellow chef  inviting me for late lunch at this new Japanese Restaurant Called ORA. So I decided to do little research about the place. Interesting, I must say.... ORA had'nt even opened it doors and yet it was already a hit on instagram and the rest of the Kuwait social media community. But that was not what I wanted to know though. As a Chef myself, when a new place opens, I'm more interested in the people behind the scenes than the name, but thats a story for another day ;-)

Fast forward, we get there... And I must say myself, I was sold from the moment we entered the door. The dining area was spacious, clean, and very welcoming to say the least. We had a look at the menu and it had more lots of beatiful dishes to choose, from Cold Tapas, Hot Tapas, Salads, Sigiture Sushi Rolls, Donburi's ( A Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice), Dessert and finally Fresh Mocktails....
So in the blistering heat, I decided to kick things off with their Ginger & Lemon Ice Tea

From Hot Tapas I had the Tiger Creamy Shrimp. 

Signature Sushi Rolls we tried the ORA Crispy Roll

Crispy Rice with Tuna

Robata Grilled Lobster

Aslo tried thier Fresh Water Melon Juice

Cinnamon Bred Pudding (My flavourate*****) and Homemade Ice Cream

The place is beautiful! From the fresh flowers on the table, to the chilled out music playing in the background and the wierd but awesome art piece they have mounted on the wall. You can't help not notice such things. The  food as well is on its own level... Nothing out of the ordinary for me but definately something to try out when you are craving for something new and fresh. I must warn you though, the place is a bit pricey and some of the portions are a bit below par.

Other than that I liked the place on a once off basis. So i'm giving ORA a 4* seal of approval.
Want to try it out? Swing by at Arabella Mall  and check the place out

So today I decided to have some Chinese on my off day. The nice thing here in Kuwait is that almost every place delivers to your apartment. A really useful application for finding out what restaurant near you actually deliver is Talabat.com . So if you new to Kuwait or the Middle East and don't feel like going out on you off days, but still want to get some really good food, this is the app for you. Available on Apple Store as well as Android. Here's what I had for lunch today and diner later on. This is from @ChinagardenKW,  you can find them on Instagram and Twitter for more great photos of there menu items.

Being exposed to a wide range of new ingredients and products, I have decided to share a few of these amazing new products. Most of these products are widely used in Asian Cuisine and can only be found in certain stores that specialise in Asian Cuisine. I have included the traditional name as well as a rough translation of what each item actually is.  As time goes on and I become more familiar with these ingredients I will post some of my own recipes. So keep an eye out for those in the next month or so. Hope you all learn something new and put it to use next time you make a Asian fest for your Family or friend. Or even if you just able to identify those ingredients you never knew on the menu at you favourite Asian restaurant. 

Ingredients List 

1. Takano Stame - Dried Chilli
2. Kochukaro- Red Pepper flakes 
3. Szechuan Povar - Mixture of Spices native to the Szechuan Province of China 
4. Hondashi Gyomuyou - concentrated grains of bonito flakes used for flavouring 
5. Itogaki Katsuo - Fine shaved Bonito Flakes 
6. Shisen Tobanjan - Assorted Chilli Paste 
7. Moniji Orashi -Chilli Paste 
8. Hoisen Sauce - Thick sauce made from soy beans, vinegar, sugar, garlic and various spices
9. Goma Abura - Sesame Seed Oil 
10. Nata mame no Hanna - Prepared sword bean blossoms 
11. Yuzu Kusho - Spicy citrus paste (yuzu, Japanese citrus fruit similar to lemons in appearance) 
12. Nagai’s Aonori Ko - Prepared Sea Weed
13. Kozuru Zero - 0% Saki (Rice Wine) 
14. Matcha Midori - Green Tea 
15. Layu - Sesame seed chilli oil 
16. Kaiso salad - Sea weed salad 
17. Me hijiki - Sea weed (fine black) 
18. Saitaku sushi nori - sushi sea weed sheets 
19. Yakisushinori - sushi nori (roasted, Gold brand)
20. Itagaki Katsuo- shaved Bonito 
21. Fueru wakame - seaweed mix dried
22. Katsuo kombu awase dash - seaweed crushed dried bonito & kelp 
23. Kewpie (QP) - Sushi mayo 
24. Karashiko - Mustard powder 
25. Harusame - Cellophane noodles or Glass noodles made from starch and water
26. Dried Vermicelli noodles - Type of Rice noodles
27. Dashi kombu - Dried seaweed/ family of Kelp
28. Mizu Ame - Liquid Candy used as a sweetener (Millet Jelly)
29. Tankatsu Sauce - Thick brown sauce similar to HP sauce.
30. Mamenori San Goma - Soy bean sheets for sushi 
31. Rayu - Chilli infused vegetable oil 
32. Masago - Capelin roe
33. Negi - Japanese leak, mistaken for green onions 
34. Kanikama Mix - Artificially flavoured crab sticks made from white fish.   
35. Yamaimo - White Japanese yam/ wild yam
36. Sansho pepper - Powdered berry like fruits from the prickly ash tree. (Shuan Pepper)
37. Miso - Fermented Soy Beans 

Choux pastry is a great recipe to have in you cooking arsenal, it is a versatile product that can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. Depending on your piping capability you will be able to pipe eclairs, profiteroles, choux buns and even choux pretzels. Making classic pastries such as Croquembouche, St. Honore, éclaires, Choux Swans and Paris-brest. If you are more of a savoury person, use all of  the classics and use them in savoury applications. For example instead of filling the profiteroles with creme patisserie, use a fulling of cream cheese, smoked salmon and dill. Or use the St. Honore as a base for your next sautéed  Mushroom medley with fresh ribbons of baby asparagus and a mushroom stock Veloute. Or the next time you want to make your own gnocchi, you will be able to make your own Choux pastry. Choux pastry truly has an endless amount of uses that can make your next dinner party that bit more Extraordinary. 

Recipe

•  250g water
  
• 75g butter
  
• 150g plain flour
  
• 180g egg (scramble eggs and then weigh) 
  

Method 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 220C/482F
2. Start by adding your water and butter into a medium sized sauce pan and bring to the boil.
3. Sift flour to prevent lumps in your pastry 
4. Once butter is completely melted remove from the heat and then add in your flour.
5. Using a wooden spoon, vigorously stir the mixture till it becomes a smooth paste with no flour lumps.
6. Once there are no lumps, and then allow to cool down slightly.
7. Now gradually add in your egg mixture while you vigorously stir the mixture to prevent egg from coagulating. 
8. Once all your egg mixture has been mix in, you should have a smooth some what firm mixture. 
9. Place into your piping bag and pipe onto silicone paper into the shape you desire. (to prevent silicone paper moving around the baking tray, use some of the pastry to glue it down.) 
10. Before you place the tray into the oven sprinkle some water over the tray to help the pastry to puff up nicely. 
11. Keep in the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
12. Remove and allow to cool down, one cooled use in desire application. 

I enjoy having fresh clean foods while I watch Rugby or football games. My favourite snack to make must be "Nachos", I simply love the simplicity of nachos and how incredibly easy it is to quickly whip up. The main things that attract me to this dish is the use of completely fresh and clean ingredients. But people seem to rather go out and buy the salsa and guacamole ready made from the store, which I do not under stand. Firstly the guacamole has this unpleasant green color that I've never seen when I make my own. Then when it comes to the salsa, the ingredients simply don't have the crunchy juicy texture they had when they were made. But today with this recipe I hope I can inspire people to rather make all of this at home. So they can enjoy this wonderful dish the way it was ment too. . . Fresh! I have decide to give you a recipe for the traditional salsa and then another recipe which makes use of mango as the main component. The mango salsa is perfect for beautifully grilled salmon or even as a condiment for a spicy curry.

Traditional Salsa 

Ingredients 

• 1 large firm tomato
• 1 large firm green tomato
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 medium green chili
• 1 medium red chili
• 1/2 large cucumber
• 1 flame grilled corn cob (optional) 
• 1 lime
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tsp chopped coriander
• 1 lemon

Method

1. Start out by deseeding your cucumber and tomatoes. (you can use the seeds of both the tomato and cucumber to make a fresh bloody merry) 
2. Now carefully remove the corm from the cob by using your knife and then place it unto a medium sized bowl. (use a transparent glass bowl to show off all the colors) 
3. Now you can start to cut your chili's and onion into fine brunoise (see glossary) and place in with the corn
4. As for the tomato and cucumber, you want to give it a slightly large brunoise to that you still keep a good texture for the end product. (if you wanted too, you could remove the skin of the cucumber and tomato but I prefer not too) Add along with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Now squeeze  the juice of the lemon and lime into the bowl and give it a good stir. 
6. Once all your ingredients are cut to the appropriate sizes and shapes add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir once more. 
7. Place into the fridge for 5 minutes to cool down a bit and then it is ready to serve with your nachos 

I will be posting a recipe for home made corn nacho chips and guacamole  soon so keep an eye out for that.  

Today I have decided to keep it simple with a easy home made chili oil. It does how ever take a bit of time, but at least you don't have to stand over it the entire time. Its also a very small ingredients list as well as amount of steps in the method. Some people choose to simply use this oil for a colourful decoration and some for actually enhancing the entire dish. There are plenty of ways to play around with this easy to make and long lasting oil. You can choose to incorporate more of a complex flavour profile by adding different spices, one really nice one for me is the Rosemary oil and mint combination for drizzling over roasted leg of lamb. As I mentioned earlier, this is a product that you can easily store in a air tight bottle or container and it will last you a good 8-12 months. As for what oil is the best to use when making your own flavoured infused oil, it should be a tasteless oil with little to no taste of its own. Some of the oils I would recommend include a good quality sunflower seed oil, canola oil or a good quality vegetable oil. While doing this you might also want to make use of you thermometer to ensure that your oil does not get too hot,other wise the ingredients will burn and you will be left with a bitter tasting oil. 

Ingredients 

• 300ml of canola oil 
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or 1 tsp dry chili flakes)
• 1 fresh chili 

Method

1. Place all your ingredients into a medium sized pot and then place on top of a medium to high heat. 
2. Allow the oil to come up too 85C/185F and then put it on a low heat. 
3. Allow for the ingredients to infuse on the low temperature for a good hour. 
4. Once the hour has past, carefully remove from the heat and allow to cool down
5. Once cooled down, slowly with out disturbing the ingredients at the bottom, pour the oil into the container you have chosen to store it in. 
6. If there are still some impurities, you can strain it through a fine sieve or muslin cloth. 

So yesterday I got a flood of people sending in questions and just showing there appreciation for my site and what they were able to gain from it. Yesterday I said with the blog post I posted that its was the last one before I going to Kuwait. Bur because I got so many messages I decided to squeeze in one last post to answer some of the questions that where asked yesterday. 

Q&A 1. So someone asked me if I had hired in a web producer to make the theme for my site and the answer to that is no. I simply made use of a simple theme that is available on weebly (the website host I'm using)  and simply personalised it myself. I also chose to use browns, reds, blues and greens on my website page to reflect my love for nature and the calming and relaxing effect it can have on a person to make the page more appealing to the eye. 
Q&A 2. Another message I received asked me about how to get onto the Yahoo News! time line, as that is where he found my website. Unfortunately I am unable to answer this question as I myself do not know how I got there other than my site must have been trending and Yahoo News! decided to include me on there time line. 
Q&A 3. I was also asked if I could make a list of all the other social media platforms I post on so that he/she could follow me on those as well for any and all updates. So here goes, I have a twitter account: @ChefDewetV(or you can just hit the follow button on my twitter feed on the side of my blog posts.), my Google+ account is De-wet Visser, my Facebook page is Chef Dewet Visser, my Pinterest is Chef De-Wet Visser, for Linked in you can simply search Dewet Visser and I also post on Glipho. Most of my posts on all of these socail media platforms are the same or similar to what I post on my website blog. 

So those were some of the Questions I was asked to answer, but if you have any more questions you would like to get answered feel free to ask away. It really pleases me to get such great responses from my viewers and really appreciate the time you spend on my website. 

Hope everyone has a great Friday