HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!

Hi there Everyone,

So this is the last post of 2010, or the first of 2011 hehe! Thing is as i'm writing this post it currently has been the 1st of Jan for 12:30 hours over here, but it is still the evening of the 31st of Dec 2010 on the west side of the world, where i come from hehe!

Anyways i just wanted to post before the week was done, and i won't bother u with much info, 2010 has been an interesting year but i hope 2011 to be much much better for all of us.

The pics above are of my new work place, the Choc torte and Creme Brulleé are two of the desserts we have in the menu there!

Just as a small note, as i was writing this my I tunes was on and on random, as the Star wars theme is on my music library it came up on the speakers, and my friend Alana says "u are such a geek", which i reply by saying
"i am a big, huge, motherfucking astronomically massive geek!" and proud of it hehe!

Anyways folks there  is no denying who u are, u know be whomever u want to be and be happy with it!

Merry Christmas!

Ho ho ho,

This week since is Christmas tomorrow, as promised i'm posting a traditional Christmas treat all the way from Brazil.

This Recipe/illustration was done for the Holiday contest at http://www.theydrawandcook.com/ and is self explanatory.

Rabanadas are something that we usually have on Christmas morning right before hitting the beach, as a kid growing up on the tropical weather, Christmas and New years are a synonymous of Summer time, our Christmas trees in Brazil r usually the coconut and palm trees decorated with Christmas lights hehe!

Anyways Merry Christmas to all and and to all a good night!

cheers!

Strawberries and chocolate!

OHH hello folks!

This week is gonna be a quick one, afraid of sounding like a whiny person i'll say this first, I took the responsibility of working two jobs, I decided i could do it, but the tiredness is kinda getting a hold of me, as i see myself doing nothing on my very short free time, honestly i haven't draw much lately, i haven't been to the gym in the last 2 weeks, cuz my very little free time, i'm pretty much using for activities that i don't have to do much, and i can't wait to finish working at one of the places to go back to having free time and disposition to do other stuff!

Said that, let's go for this weeks post which is a dessert pizza, the way we do it in Brazil!

U'll need:
-1 can of condensed milk
-5 or 6 Tbs of chocolate powder(not cocoa powder, rather the one u drink with milk)
-100 gr of butter
-1 box of strawberries
-1 pizza disc plain


Get the Condensed milk, chocolate and butter all in a pan and over simmering fire keep stirring untill it thickens enough that on your stir u can see the bottom of the pan. Set that aside for a moment. Cut the strawberries however u like it, presentation is all up to whomever is doing it, if u want to do it like mine from the pic above then go ahead, if u think u would like to see a different look by all means go ahead, the overall taste will be the same. Spread the Chocolate mix over the pizza, place the strawberries on top, take a quick pic if u like what u see, u can also sprinkle the whole thing with some choc chunks, small ones though so when they go through the oven they'll get crispy on the outside and melting on the inside. Place your pizza on a preheated oven at around 180 C/350 F, for not longer than 12-15 minutes and finally have at it!

U can whip some Cream and have that with or have it with plain vanilla ice cream, dessert pizzas are common in pizzerias back home(Brazil), they'll do loads of different flavors and usually serve them with the whipped cream!

To finish it off, i'll be posting a Christmas Recipe probably on Friday, which was my recipe/illustration for the blog "They draw and cook", so come back to me here on the end of the week and then i'll wish guys all the good thoughts customarily at this time of the year!

cheers to all!

Finally done!

Wow it has been a rush doing two jobs over the last couple of weeks, it's quite funny how sometimes your mind can wander to all different kinds of thoughts, like for example the other day i caught myself thinking about how it makes me feel going to one job in the morning and another one at night, and as a geek that i am, regarding my passion for comic books, animations, games and so on, i kept thinking that i'm like a "super hero" with double identities, hehe!


One is Felipe the cafe worker, making paninis, quiches and sandwiches during the morning period, and then when the night starts to take place, i put on my Chef's jacket and become FELIPE THE CHEF!!! hahaha LOL

Anyways don't have much more to say for the moment besides that i started re-reading the last Harry Potter, as i'm about to go see the movie next weekend, and with my well deserved FULL DAY OFF from both jobs, i got to finish my piece on Hisagi Shuuhei, my fav chara. on one of my fav animation!

Hope u guys dig, soon, i'll post a recipe!

cheers y'all!

The naked Chef!

Hello to all, what's up?!

I Had a pretty good weekend, Lately i've been in a such a great mood for the fact that it seems that things are finally turning up to the way i want them to be, i'm truly enjoying the company of me flat mates, the house and all, got a new job and this one as a proper chef, making more money with that and spending less than what i was spending before, which means more money for me, i finally found time to finish the x-mas illustration for They Draw and cook, and already got an email from Nate saying that he got my email, so for now i just have to wait till i see my illustration there, as for showing you guys, over here, i'll leave for the 24 of this month, cuz it's a x-mas recipe right!

U know how Jamie Oliver use to call himself the naked Chef?! Since pretty much then i've had the idea of doing a pic like this one above (which i know that by now there r many like this), and finally i got around to do it. I had just come from a little bike ride, and i was starving, so to get something going before i started my shower, i chopped up some onions to season and cook some white rice, and decided to do this pic, hehe!

To finish it off, i bought a scanner cuz being honest after having used the one on my previous flat i couldn't go back to simply taking pictures of my drawings, i get such a better quality from scanning them ya know, here's a little example of it:

So my advice is if u draw and like to post your stuff on the net, get yourself one, it's worth it!

And with my scanner fully operational, i've got quite a few drawings to scan and color for the moment, hard will be to find time between the new job and the old one haha!

cheers everybody!

The fusion of cuisines!

Hello to all,

As the post from this Wednesday felt a bit philosophical, and a bit sad to me, i decide to do another post this one being a recipe, and the recipe i choose to share this time is Shrimp/Prawns Stroganoff.

The tittle fusion cuisine, refers to using original techniques from the origin of the dish, using new elements present on the country the "old-new" recipe is being done, or so combining both to come up with a third one.

Originally Stroganoff is a Russian recipe created in 1861, and it was beef cubes browned on a frying pan, finalized by bouillon(broth) and mustard with a little touch of sour cream. with the fall of the Russian empire the dish gained a lot of popularity around the globe, and as it went around "suffered" variations from its original recipes. One of the countries that came to be a largely known Stroganoff eating country is my very own BRAZIL.

Therefore the recipe presented to thee on this blog is Brazilian! 

Now in Brazil we have some variations to the dish such as chicken and prawns, chicken being the most affordable one has definitely the top rank of most popular, but i decided to do the prawns/shrimp recipe over here.

For 3-4 people u'll need:

600gr of prawns or shrimp 

400gr of  heavy whipping cream

1 onion and a couple of garlic cloves chopped fine

150 gr of tomato paste(or ketchup if u like the sweetness) 

100gr of cream cheese

dash of Worcestershire sauce

juice of one lemon

half bunch of Italian parsley chopped

1 tbs of brandy

olive oil

salt & pepper

Now if u bought them prawns "dirty"(which means with the shelf), 1 kg makes for around 500-600 gr of prawns itself, and u can prepare some broth to add on flavor to the dish, and also save the broth to make other dishes later on, u can freeze the broth in ice cubes, to make it easier to use it later. To make the broth start by peeling them and once peeled, fry the shelves on olive oil with a little bit of the onions and salt, add water and let it reach boil, then bring the broth to a simmer for another 10 min or so.

Season the prawns with lemon juice, salt and pepper, fry them on a very hot pot with olive oil, onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, add the brandy and let the alcohol evaporate for another minute,the brandy will add up to the flavor of the dish, and if it catches on fire, don't worry but keep your face away from the pot when adding that (u don't want to loose your eyebrows right?! hehe).

After that add the heavy cream, a ladle of prawns broth (if u made some, if not just a bit of water will do), the Worcestershire sauce and the tomato paste or ketchup (in Brazil is more common to just use ketchup, particularly i like the ketchup cuz it brings out a bit of sweetness to the dish), let it cook on simmering fire for a few minutes to reduce it a bit, and finalize it with the cream cheese and chopped parsley, saving a bit of the parsley for the decoration of the dish. U don't have to wait much just stir to incorporate and dissolve the cream cheese well. Check for salt and pepper, add some if needed, and dig in.

In Brazil we serve it with plain white rice, or potatoes either fried, roasted or rosti, if u find big potatoes my opinion is for u to roast them whole with skin and all, once soft, cut a "lid" on them and scrape a bit of the inside to make room for the Stroganoff, place a bit of butter mixed with some chives inside the potato and pour the prawns with the sauce inside, eat it out of it... uhhhhh delish hehe!   

We've come to the end of this recipe, remember to enjoy it, while u do it, put on some music and have some wine, it will enhance the experience, at least that's what i can say for myself!

cheers everybody!

High & low tides of life!

Living ain't easy but if u cherish all the good times and learn from the bad ones, u'll feel better about how you're passage on life is going. I mean seriously i tittled this blog "Art of Living" because i really feel like one that has learned ways to enjoy life as much as possible, but not everything is smiles and laughs, and there's no way u will ever go through an entire life without being affected by the bad aspects of...  huuh.....  life pretty much.

I see it this way, waves of fun and excitement hit you with a certain frequency right, but there are other waves filled with grief, sorrow and sadness that will hit u eventually, and it can only be this way, for if u don't know bad then how will u know what's good?! As a normal person i gotta admit that i haven't been having the best experience here in NEW ZEALAND, having to deal with all the fees of moving in here, getting visas and all, has made me a bit negative about the whole deal, i try not to show it too much, cuz i believe that thinking positively works very well, and thinking negatively can only attract more prejudice to yourself.

For pretty much the past couple of months, i haven't had much of a social life simply because i haven't been able to afford to have one. And even though i have enjoyed the people that i work with at the Antarctic Center, i 'm not pleased with not getting back in touch with actual Cheffing. I miss soo much working with an à la carte  restaurant and feeling the rush of making something with a beautiful combination of taste, textures, aroma and presentation, that working with something that's not that, yet again, is a bit frustrating.

But anyways today i had my "first day" at what's going to be my next job, and it is as a Chef in a proper restaurant!!! We had a dinner with a set menu for about 50 people, and everything went great,we did everything well, the dishes looked and tasted amazing, there was a professional photographer taking shots of us, and when being introduced as the chefs who cooked the meal to the clients we were applauded! IT FELT GREAT!

So Now i`m starting to feel like i'm back on top, a high wave of great experience has hit me again, and soon this will turn into a great part of my life, and as for the bad part about being an immigrant, i'm learning from it, and hopefully it's making me a better person!!

this is enough for now, for the next post i'll do a recipe as it have been a while since last i posted one!

cheers to all, and a good night(or day) ; )

BTW the pic above is a photo manipulation of me and my friends as kings of yore!    

Taste, everybody's got their own!

                                                                                drawing by Felipe Barros


What's up folks,


On Devinatart as now i'm a premium member, i can suggest for other artists that are viewing my art to make a critique about it, and i got a comment on one of my drawings today (the one above) where the person spoke about the fact that he would like to make one, but he thinks that for one to make a critique he should have the same or higher skill level to do such.


now now, my reply to it was to not belittle himself, taste is taste, besides there are so many critics out there that understand of the good stuff, but don't necessary know how to physically apply the concept in order to achieve the same result, got it!

There are food critics that know so much about the subject and yet they rarely walk into a kitchen to cook something, there are art critics that know the entire life of Leo Da Vinci by head, and yet wouldn't even know how to hold a brush.

So the message on this is, if you have an opinion of something and you want to share, then go right ahead, as my grandma says taste is like ass, everybody's got theirs!!!hehe!



Cheerio!

Smokinnnn!!!!

Well guys here we go again, i'm going back to set a day of the week to post here, so i can try and keep it up this time, from here on i'll be posting every Wednesday, of course as some weeks i might feel a bit more "inspired" i'll  reserve the right post more than just on Wed.

As for this week, I've already posted earlier and for the fact that my recipe/drawing was posted at the beautiful, insightful blog called http://www.theydrawandcook.com/, i decided to post here as well my smoked salmon recipe, i suggest u guys take some time to check out their amazing selection of illustrations and recipes, there's lots there to see at: 

I was very happy to have been featured on such a blog, and definitely will be  working on new illustrations like the one above.

A little note is to click on the image for full view, and if u do do the sandwich, tell me about it, i would love to get some feedback on how was it for ya.

finally at last but not least HUGE thanks to Nate and Sally, first for their contribution with their awesome blog and second for featuring me on it!

cheers to all! enjoy!

It ain't easy being away!

                                           Bambino and I
Well folks I'm very excited to say that from now on i'm a Premium member on the amazing DeviantART community hehe!

Fact is I've been a free user of so many websites, and have always wanted to be able to do things i couldn't for not getting a subscription, and DA has been the website, that i payed the most attention to and sometimes in life u gotta do something to cheer you up right!!

At the moment i'm living in New Zealand and it sure has been hard to be an immigrant, as though  as I've been travelling over the past six years, this is the first time that i am actually living somewhere outside of my country, and it has been a quite stressful experience for me, it's hard to manage your money between having control over the household expenses, social life aspects and saving some for things u want to buy, and that puts me in a rather uncomfortable place in terms of sitting down on my free time to just sit and draw or work on photos i shoot, I've been having tons of ideas of things i want to draw, but for all the worries I've got on my mind, sitting down to do anything takes me to a place in my mind where all of this thoughts invade even my inspiration, therefore making me lose my time with more brainless activities!

Well at least now with a premium upgrade on DA i'll feel a bit more compelled to sit my but down and do the things i really like doing to be able to share with ya!!!

Also recently i moved out from my friend's place (Kamilla) due to some differences we had, all cool cuz my NEW place is reaaally nice, and my new flat mates are awesome people, as far as i noticed, plus the internet connection is great and BAMBINO the amazing joyful dog that i use to spend a lot of my time playing with has stayed back (as he was Kamilla's dog) : ( , i'll miss him dearly, so i'll have to find things to do on my free time!

Cheers

Got tips for ya!

Alright folks, there was nothing too special about this week, but the one thing i enjoyed doing the most is the drawing above, and as it was a fairly easy coloring process i decided to do my first coloring on Photoshop tutorial, which i just finished so is "fresh from the oven" hehe

The picture above is self explanatory so click on it for full view!

And finally this is the final product! This is from a animation series called Bleach, which is awesome BTW.

Not much more to add this time!

Cheerios!

The beauty of variety!

Well so now with the recipe i decided to go with something very, very simple. So i was at work the other day making a chicken sandwich with avocado and sweet chilly sauce (which BTW is a beautiful combination) and i told my colleagues that in Brazil we eat Avocado with lemon and sugar, or that we blend it with milk and sugar for a creamy morning smoothie. Of course i was aware that in here they were not used to mix avocado and sugar on the same dish and it's basically a cultural thing. For the people of NZ as for a lot of people around the world Avocado, even though is a fruit, goes well for salads or like guacamole, which is typically Mexican but known around the entire globe nowadays. Getting to Mexico and trying avocado with salt and seasoned like salad was the first time for me, and it brought a whole different possibilities on those terms.

The recipe for what is in the pic above is as i said, very simple, get yourself a avocado, cut in half, scoop the "meat" out in a plate, squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top spread some sugar to your taste and vous-a-la, it goes beautiful as a sweet dish as much as it goes well as a salad.

I felt that it was important to address something simple like this for i think that the variety of ways and things to taste, see, listen, makes us interesting from one to another, and is definitely important to keep your mind open for trying things like this avocado, i for one have tried everything regarding food that anyone has offered me so far, and trying a traditional dish on the countries i passed by was necessary to complete my experience while being there!

cheers 

One thing   

The geometrical shapes of art!

Hya there folks a tad late this week but here it is my post, and as i posted on my Facebook for the fact that this post is late, i have some tips on how to draw(which is the first of many to come) followed by a little recipe.

Ok so what i mean by this title is that there's always simple geometrical forms and shapes hidden within even the most complex of drawings, and if u want to get better at it the first thing u should be doing is taking notice of it.

First thing is remember when u were a kid and u would draw a man or a house with simple straight lines?! Believe me when i say that in that sense anyone, and i mean even Leonardo da Vinci starts the same way. That is called structure, at first you have to come up with a basic structure from whatever you're thinking of drawing because the basic will lead u to a final drawing with better proportions, plus structures so to speak are meant to be soft lines that when it comes to the end, depending on the style of drawing u have, will not show relevant expression and the main lines will have more or total strength therefore become=ing more noticeable.

Take the sketches on top and notice how all the elliptical, circles, squares and triangles form the body of the different characters on action moves, with a sketch like that u'll be able to have a glimpse of what the final will be.

Now these ones on top are more "final" sketches, but i marked hard some of the structuring lines so u can see where the drawing is coming from.This is a basic rule for drawing, the better u get at this the less lines u'll need to use for this first part, some artists reach a point where is possible to start the drawing straight from the main lines, what happens in that case is that they've become so comfortable with the structures that those never leave their heads, but i can guarantee u that on their free time they'll still do some random sketches with structures in order to keep them sharp with it. So as a tip i'll tell u to practice, with pictures, either photos from books and magazines, comic books, manga whatever it is that u like study the picture u choose and try to reproduce the geometrical forms in it, investigate the simple lines so u can fully reproduce the drawing, and while doing that u also compose a certain data in your mind from what u drew. 

Cheers!

The Italian side!

So as promised here it is my first "every Tuesday" post (for now).

This will be the third recipe i'm posting here a very easy and delish pasta sauce, one of my favorites:

"Penne ai quattro formaggi"

Pasta is something great, for all the different kinds there is plus all the various combinations of sauce and cooking techniques, there's just so much to do with!

La cucina Italiana is one of my main bases as a Chef, in part for my backgrounds, but i truly believe that all  cooks and chefs have an Italian side within. Both French and Italian cuisine are so vastly known, used and eaten world wide that most of us have some of that on us.

As for the Pasta my choice on the picture was Penne, but you can choose anything you like or even make your own pasta. Fresh pasta is very easily made and making your own can be very rewarding if the result is really good; to make your own you need:

-1 egg for every 100gr of flour and a pinch of salt

Basically u shape your flour like a volcano and in the middle put your egg(s), whisk them lightly and start mixing all of it together until u get a ball of pasta dough. If u want u can chop (very fine, no chunks) some fresh herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary and so on to add to the mix for flavor, or even other veggies or leafs, very common are, spinach (to make it look green) and tomato ( to make it look orange red ish), on the case of tomato u should use the tomato purée and perhaps add some flour until you get a dry dough!

Sauce Quattro formaggi:

-

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 50 gr of blue cheese
• 80gr of Parmesan
• 50gr of Gruyère 
• 50gr cheddar

   This sauce starts with a simple Bechamel which is simply put as a neutral white sauce. 

   Start off by heating the milk almost to boil and melting the butter on a pan with medium to low heat u can even add some finely chopped onions for flavor, but cook them only till they're transparent, or melt the butter without letting it color. Once the butter is melted mix the flour in,  and when all's mixed add little by little the  hot milk stirring well until it gets smooth, it should still be a bit runny if it's not add a bit more milk and grate the nutmeg on top of it. One by one put in the Cheeses always stirring, this is a thick sauce and the cheeses tend to go to the bottom of the pan and when not stirred they'll burn down there, also you should know that the choice of cheeses above is my personal selection, i would suggest for you to stick to the blue cheese and the Parmesan cuz they're the most characteristic of this sauce, but i reckon the others u can choose your own.

The final result should be a nice slightly thick sauce full in flavor, try it and if you feel as though u need a bit more seasoning then correct with salt, if you're asking why would i say this only at the end, then the reason is, when dealing with cheeses always correct the salt at the end, after all some cheeses already have a high concentration of it!

I hope this was easy enough for ya, if u try this the go ahead and tell how did that go!

cheers, c ya next Tuesday!

Strive to better yourself!

drawing done by Felipe Barros

So here we go again, not much to say for now, work is good, i'm enjoying the fact that i'm back to having a reason to wake up, a couple more months and i reckon i'll be on track, doing all my regular stuff, such as biking around(once i have the money to buy my bike), drawing more regularly, going to the gym and a bunch of other stuff.

Is always good to keep in mind your goals and keep it going to ever step forward towards all things you'll set yourself to do, i def want to improve and continue to do my drawings, which has always been my main hobby and one of my ways to define who i am, pretty much the main one up until i started my gastronomy/culinary arts school which now is the main definition of me; a Chef.

Not long after i came to New Zealand, i found out that Le Cordon Bleu is opening a school in Wellington next year, and now that has become my main goal, save up money and go through one of their courses. For those that don't know LCB is the most traditional school of culinary arts there is, great names of this field passed by it, and i know that it would be quite a life changing experience to attend to any course there, almost certain to get a job anywhere around the world.

To finish it off, i decided on having one day to post something, once a week which will give me enough time to work on some material, this is only one step to discipline myself i'll start like this, and soon enough i'll be posting with more efficiency.

cheers mates! 

PS: the drawing above is a portrait of my lil' brother Gustavo Ramos

Nothing leads to more nothing!

Well let's see...

 The reason for that tittle is that lately while i was waiting for my visa to be approved I have been doing nothing,  and folks nothing can only lead to more nothing, a lot of people complain about having a routine, i can only complain of a routine when the routine gets boring, if you only do the exact same things for a long period of your life they will eventually become boring, it's necessary for the human being to change, for some of us a lot is needed and for others not much but for all, and let me say this again, FOR ALL of us changes are necessary!

To exemplify, working on ships was a huuuuge part of my life, that I dedicated almost six years of it, and hell yeah it was amazing. The routine of a Crew member of "jumping" from island to island, or country to country day after day really is as interesting as most people think, but when it comes to working it is, as it has to be, a very well disciplined way of life, otherwise you'll fail miserably on many of the good aspects of being there! 

Therefore i had a Routine that was great but got old after the six years and that's why i ended up here in New Zealand now, to search for new horizons, to get me a new ROUTINE.

I finally got my work visa and on Monday the 4th of October i'm starting to work at the Antarctic center,but to cease my last weekend being a jobless person (YAY!) me and my flatmate took my roller blade and her bike for a ride to Downtown Christchurch, and watched an AWESOME movie called "The girl with the dragon tattoo" . Tthis a great crime/thriller novel that was turned into a movie, and a job very well done, is a Swedish production, and i really love watching different foreign movies like this, i pretty much grew up watching american movies, and there is nothing wrong with that, but nowadays it feels fresh to watch something with a different take on how to shoot a movie, plus as i got used to read subtitles, feels a bit nostalgic to go a to a movie theater and have to read them again cuz it's not on any of the 3 languages i speak now, hehe! 

To finish this post, i had a few ideas of things i would like to draw after watching the movie, but since i don't have more than sketches i posting this Police investigation scene that i did last year!!!

cheers mates!

Keep it Simple!

So I decided that from here on I'll be posting more often cuz I have a lot drawings and photos that I would like to share but i haven't been posting frequently enough to fit in everything. 

I was thinking of posting only with long texts regarding pretty much everything I like, but u know life is better lived when u treat the things u like more lightly, not as if they don't matter but actually as in not making them complicated, have u realized that everything that is complex turns into sort of a burden to us?! The best teachers we have while growing up are the ones that make things easier for us to understand therefore making it fun to learn!

Well the drawing on top is a drawing I did as a homage of one of the best games I've ever played called Metal gear solid!

So there u go, keep it simple 

Cheerio!

   

A bio of who writes to thee!

I’m a person very related to arts in general, since early days I love to draw, in my teenage years I developed an interest for photography and music, my family has always had passion for food and kitchen in a non-professional way, therefore when I came up to the decision of joining a culinary arts school, I was more than supported by almost everyone and the ones that found mine an odd choice where convinced not long after I started my journey in the cuisine.

   Once I had my finished my studies I knew that I wanted to travel around searching and experimenting different gastronomical backgrounds. As a Chef throughout my travels I've been able to do that on all 34 countries I passed by, which has opened my mind regarding cooking. To me cooking is more than a job, being a Chef goes beyond the "glamour", the success for me lies on experimenting different flavors, aromas, textures, combining  beautiful dishes such to come up with a one of a kind experience to the ones that are there to try, them being friends, family or clients .

   During my experience with Carnival I wanted to learn more about mixology and wines, for I think the compliment of a drink/beverage on a dish makes up for a complete  gastronomical experience, that is much more to constitute something memorable on one’s life.

That would be a succinct Bio of who writes to thee !

 Haven't been drawing lately For I've been a bit nervous with all the wait on my work visa, I really CAN'T wait to start to work back again, the thing is working sucks when u have to do it everyday, but it also sucks doing nothing everyday huh?!

cheers brothers & sisters!  

Lift yourself up!!!

What up folks?!

Had a nostalgic day last Tuesday, roller blading was a big part of my childhood, and being able to do that again has been awesome.

About a week ago I was riding the bus with a friend going to Riccarton mall, when we passed by the Jelly park where I noticed this street park/ramps and since then I've been constantly thinking about getting there and trying to get back with the thrill that I once felt when i was teenager. 

So early morning on Tuesday 21st of sep. I woke up around 9am had me breakfast and got ready to go and hit the ramps, roller bladed my way to the park, and BTW the streets and sidewalks of Christchurch are amazingly smooth to ride on, got there sat down on the bench overlooking the ramps and all, thinking on how to approach it better, thing is folks that certain times in life is better not to sit and think but rather actually go and do it, I'm a pretty straight forward guy regarding things ah wanna do and I truly believe in a sentence i sign my emails with, quote:

"I rather regret for things I've done than regret not trying" 

Anyways I got down on the ramps and spent about 3 hours amidst pain and joy, it was so much fun, didn't do anything much regarding moves, and fell enough to be sore up till now haha. The pics from above where screen shots from the videos I made by putting my camera on top of my bag, after travelling so much by myself u'll come up with ideas to shoot yourself when there's no one around, i reckon they came out good enough to play with this collage.

SOOO folks the message on this post is basically the same from the tittle of this blog simply LIVE your life the most u can, amidst the pain of the falls u'll see that picking yourself up will make u a better one.

Cheers mate!

Beautiful earthy flavors!

Photo & dish by Felipe Barros

Risottos are definitely something that a lot of people are afraid to do, and some others don't really know that they are making a mistake, but for any of you that would like to learn how to cook one well then I'll try my best to explain this to ya.

Back in College and when I started my first professional experience at a contemporary food restaurant Garcia & Rodrigues back in Rio de Janeiro, I had to learn from the very start what to do in a kitchen, of course I started with the simple "mis-en-place"(French term for the pre-Preparation of the menu items) things, but after a while one of the great experienced cooks that was there thought carefully how to prepare good risottos, and once I got the hang of it, it became part of my responsibilities to do those ones.

Mushroom Risotto

- 1 large onion finely chopped

- Approx. one litre of chicken or meat stock

- Two white wine glasses (dry grapes like chardonnay are best)

- 400 gr of risotto rice (arborio)  

- 90 gr of butter

- 120 gr of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (if too expensive buy at least the long grated ones, not the fine)

- sea salt and ground pepper

- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

- mix of mushrooms around 6 or 8 Portobellos, 10 white buttons and 10 swiss brown (these ones are easy to find and not so expensive) all nicely sliced 

- a Pinch of finely chopped parsley and chives

   With mild heat cook the onions with a bit of butter without coloring them, add up the rice and and crank it up on the heat, stir in the wine and let the heat evaporate a bit of the alcohol, feel the beautiful aroma of the wine spreading around you, the rice will pick up on the wine flavors and aromas.

  After a little while start adding up the stock ladle by ladle(don't over do it, u need some moist on your rice but not for it to become a soup) seasoning a bit at this part, turn the heat down a bit and slowly cook stirring the rice every now and then ,this should take around 15 to 20 minutes, this type of rice is not the usual kind and risottos are not meant to be grain by grain loose and separate, in fact the final result should be creamy.

    While you cook the rice heat up a pan and with a knob of butter cook the mushrooms with the garlic, u'll notice that it may seem like a lot of mushrooms and for that I prefer to divide into small bunches so i can get them nicely grilled and get the garlic flavor going on them. Season to taste and for the last part spread part of the parsley and chives on top for a finishing touch.

    Try your rice ,it should be cooked well but still firm on the inside, as the Italians say "al dente", if it's cooked, correct the salt and pepper, put in the mix of mushrooms, finish with a good piece of butter and Parmesan stirring to dissolve .

Your risotto is ready serve as it is or if u need a sort of protein grilled lamb chops go perfect with it, marinate for a couple of hours the lamb chops with some red wine and herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage. Once u have them grilled deglaze the pan with the red wine correct the salt and a pinch of sugar, finish it with some butter for a great quick sauce for your lamb chops!  

  As i said it may seem like a lot of work but it's not really that much this recipe above serves 4-6 people and u can gather your friends on a lovely Sunday and cook them this i guarantee everybody (that likes mushrooms) will love it, the only thing left for me to say is no matter how hard it is always cook with your heart into it, and enjoy what you're doing, when i cook things like this at home i like to have a nice wine with some mixed nuts as an appetizer, and that my friends keeps me happy through all my journey in the kitchen!

cheers to all!!

The pain that keeps us alive.

Photo by Felipe Barros/ Akaroa NZ

Life or rather the one you decide to live is determined by what you get from the experiences you have, that defines what kind of person you are, were and will become. The decisions you make and all that comes with it, we all make mistakes as well we make good choices, it's important for the development of one to go through everything, the good and bad moments, the sides of the coin, the yin & yang, cuz if you don't know "bad" then u won't know how good will the "good" be and vice-versa.

In Portuguese there's a word called "Saudade", and once I read in a book that there's no such word that expresses as much as "saudade" does on any other language.

The meaning of that word, for us Portuguese native speakers, goes as deep as a root, that no matter how far you dig there's always gonna be a little piece down there to keep you remembering.

All of that is definitely something I learned with all the moving around I've been doing so far, except for a few everybody that means and meant something in my life were only present for a certain while hence the reason why I value friendship so much enough to have tattooed the word in Japanese characters on my body. For friendship is the one that knows no boundaries , no matter distance, time or frequency, true friendship remains, and once back in physical touch the memories between friends comes back to life, thew news come with a pinch of excitement cuz friends want to know when, where, how and all the strands of the new world you've discovered.

It saddens me to see a friend go away, but it makes me happy that it still has this affect.

cheers!

seize life always!   

The one behind!

What up y'all?!

   The pic above was done by me and it's also a self portrait, a rather more developed one (compared to the previous one). As u can see some of the items that I possess and are figurative to whatever type of art I love and take on, either as hobbies or professionally; 

  The giant pencil I'm holding is much like the one I use( the real one is smaller of course hehe ), the guitar is my SG Gibson, which unfortunately I didn't bring with me to Aotearoa (NZ), the chef hat is quite like the first one I had, I realize that I'm missing my photo camera but that's only cuz my Olympus fell into the foul waters that surrounds my lovely home sweet home, in a act of hastiness as we were leaving the house for my mom's wedding, it slipped off my hands for the first time and right when I was standing near water hehe, have you ever heard of Murphy's law, yep that's my view of the incident! 

For those that don't know my house in Rio de Janeiro ( home for me) is in a island in the middle of the city, not off the coast but in land, i take a little "five minute ride" boat to get to it!

The incident of losing my camera made an excuse for me to buy a better one, but i definitely miss my camera, being in a new place and having all this beauty around me!!

That's all for now f-f-f-f-folks! 

A sweet way to start your day!!!

OK folks so here we go for the first recipe i'm posting here, in case it's you first time here my name is Felipe and I'm an arts man, graduated in gastronomy(Chef); i love to draw, mostly comic book and manga (japanese comics) style, I play some guitar and I'm amateur photographer, therefore with this blog I intend to write down  recipes I cook, drawings I do, photos I shoot and interesting facts with links to videos regarding my experiences of life, and that's why I titled the blog "Art of Living", hope u like it!

The Photo above was taken by me, and the dish itself was done by a good friend Chef Juliene & myself.

These are american style pancakes with Greek yogurt infused with honey, and a French style wild berries "coulis". A delicious option for a special breakfast, rather balanced in sweetness with a slightly sour finish,

if you prefer a more sweet option you can whisk up some "Creme fraiche" and make you own whipped cream as sweet as you like.

Pancakes

-135 gr plain flour

-1/2 tbs of baking powder

-pinch of salt

-2 tbs of sugar

-130 ml of milk

-1 large egg lightly whisked 

-2 tbs melted butter

  Sift the dry items into a bowl, whisk the milk together with the egg and 

the melted butter(make sure the butter is not hot), mix them up until u get 

a smooth batter (add a little vanilla syrup, or some chopped nuts if you like). 

Heat up your pan and use a little bit of butter or oil so your pancakes won't 

stick to it, just a little tip, once u put the batter on the pan pay attention  

for the bubbles that will come on top, as soon as they appear

flip them over wait another minute and a 1/2 or so and that's it.

Mild fire/heat u don't want to use high heat cuz them you burn the batter

without cooking it!

Coulis  

-5 or 6 Strawberries

-A handful of raspberries( or any berries you like)

-2 tbs of sugar or honey

-a squeeze of lemon juice

   In a pan slightly heated, drop all of the above, stir up so it won't boil,

until it gets mildly thick, try it and add sugar or honey if you prefer sweeter.

Again mild heat if it boils too much a lot of the flavor gets lost in the air and u 

need this flavor, believe me!

For the Yogurt, whisk up some natural unsweetened yogurt with honey to your taste, mount the pancakes put 

everything else on top as much as you like and indulge yourself into it, when u do it let me know how was it, 

leave a comment  !

Cheers folks!