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!

  

A great weekend has passed went through a day tour to the south on a very small "beach"city, while there got on a "Cruise" on a extinct volcanic crater, it was an immense thing, when the Captain said on the speaker "the MOUNTAINS around us used to be the mouth of the volcano", I couldn't believe my eyes, they say this volcano has been extinct for millions of years, therefore i can't help but wonder around imagining the dinosaurs around it and how big everything was back then, isn't it awesome to think that the nature and all forms of life have been able to adapt themselves around each other since the beginning of times, and how much destruction the "giant" insects of those times would cause nowadays! I would love to be able to travel in time, and for that i let my mind wonder around whenever i can...

Lately i have been getting back in touch with my artistic side, just finished last night a drawing i did of myself, and for that i'll start now posting drawings as well, this one i entitled: Me drawing myself!

cheerio!

What are we gonna cook for lunch?!

This has been the main question for me everyday since i got here, it's been great to cook all sorts of different things that i feel like cooking (or rather almost), i just wish i didn't had to be so concerned with money in order to be able to buy more provisions to cook even more stuff that i'd like.

 Ohh well life isn't perfect but as much as my life goes i'm glad to have done everything i did so far, i consider myself a pretty darn lucky person to have seen as much as i have, how about u?

If the answer is no, then u should better start doing things u want to do before it's too late!

cheers y'all!

The earth shook but i'm still here!!!

It was around 4 in the morning, deep in sleep i felt the earth shaking though as i was dreaming i thought that was just a part of it, surprised i awoke to see the house trembling and my friend shouting "doorway, to the doorway" it was not a dream but a very real natural disaster on the happening, a EARTHQUAKE of the magnitude of 7.1, bigger than the one that destroy the country of Haiti, and yet i feel fortunate to say that i'm now here writing to thee for no harm came to me or any of my beloved friends.

Now more than a 100 after shocks have hit us, and yet here i stand happy to have been through something like this and live to tell on!

Been cooking quite a lot lately is an Italian recipe of a pasta called Gnocchi, life's good not much to add now!