Built for eternity with Ramses, Thut and the boys part 1

 Egypt, the land of mystery, history, mummy's, Ramses the great and pyramids how cool isn't this?! I have now been slightly over a year in Cairo and slowly starting to understand this culture, religion and Egyptians, but will for sure never EVER not even close understand it fully, this is not possible as a non Egyptian with different values in life to do.

I have here around 150 staff working for me and Its extremely challenging especially that non have any culinary degree or proper training, some started 20 years ago in dish wash and now runs a kitchen as sous-chef ! only in Africa BTW any title is not given for hard work or knowledge here, its purely for next raised paycheck, that's all, even if you have no clue of what you are doing you will have a title as CDP, S-C or whatever, I thought that I was the luckiest guy ever when I came and saw that I have 12 S-C and 18 CDP, wow this should be a pace of cake, but NNOOO WAY habibi, so not true at all, and what a mistake to believe.

Egyptian men are strange, they try to act masculine but they cant, they try to be clever, but they are not, only spoiled bratts where they women takes care of them and also their mother, they are not able do do anything regarding the household as we non Egyptians can do and are finding as normal.

talking about sex, smoking shisha and drinking tea is how the perfect man spend his time here with his habibis in coffee shops and taverns and i am sure that there is a reason why alcohol and drugs is consider haram, or this all would go south very fast, I think that there was a clever guy long time ago who realized that his people was not the most clever.

pathetic,  childish and afraid of woman empowerment and then they try to tell me that ~we actually build the pyramids~  wich is not true at all BTW but this is for some other time

RIP Mama Mia the brilliant westie

 This little beauty left a big hole in our family when she left us this year, she was the most funny, creative, passionate, intelligent and stubborn little lady and we miss her dearly and I get tears in my eyes every time I think of her(I do every day) 

Its strange how this small creatures can effect us all so much, everybody who have animals will say the same and understand the devastations we face when this things happens, how to come over?!

RIP Mama Mia Von Diepenbrock 

New chapter part 1

 Its amazing how life takes turns and brings you in directions that you couldn't imagine just a few months ago, not to mention years ago, I find myself in the cradle of civilization Egypt, what a ride it have been!

Its so funny to find my old blog searching on the net I realized how time have passed and how many years ago I started to write this as a part of my future book, novel or whatever, will see how that goes but I do have some stories to tell, If I still can remember them :-) 

Production director for LSG Skychefs in Cairo Egypt, what a blast!! way to go old man (people are asking me when I should retired) Dragan you are 60 now, you must slow down, I simply tell them to F.....ff

Enjoy this fine aircraft belonging to one of our Chinese customer.

The mighty MuSan King

 The smelliest fruit of them all, Durian can be frightening for many people and a love story for others like me, I just love the gooey texture, the perfect balance of sweet and slightly bitter aftertaste with tons of vanilla and ripe pineapple, the smell you can scent far away and the durian stalls always draws attraction and many who have never tried are curious but usually the smell puts them off.

The best durian in my opinion is the MuSan King and should be from Malaysia, when ripe its totally delicious, others can be on the bitter side but it's all in ones preference.

The best season is coming now so do try if you have a chance and remember that you need to try everything 5 times before you decide yea or No!!

The best thing is to buy it already open and not to try to get a whole one before you know how to crack one for not destroying it, let the guys do it for you.

New culinary adventure

 Welcome to Stufvenäs Gästgiveri, a fantastic Inn with great old history when it comes to food and wine, this is my new place to create magic with my team, I am superhappy to be here  and cant wait to see how high we can go but trust me that we are aiming very high and sky is NOT the limit, I am happy if you will follow me on this journey and I promise that it will be well worth and exciting for you all, let me present the small team (yes I am looking for additional staff, both kitchen and Front of house) welcome to apply.

 

Singapore part 2

 As you might know I lived and worked in Singapore for almost 2 years and loved every minute of it and so did my girls who managed to fly over on several occasions to spend some quality time with me there.

Omg how we all miss that wonderful apartment and the pool area where we spent relaxing days, how can we not miss this place.

Moving to the other side of the world takes some curiosity and friends who can support when times get tough and I can't thank all of them enough for this crazy adventure, fun times and special friendship bonds that will last us forever, always grateful for what that city showed me and I learned so much great things and discover asian culture and understanding so much better, Singapore you rock!!

Beijing school of culinary

 Invitation to Beijing

I was thrilled to be invited to the technical college in Beijing to do some masterclasses for the students who has chosen the western cooking style program, what a great experience for me but for sure to the students as well, supermany photographers on site to shoot everything and at first little difficult and some language barriers but we managed to overcome all thanks to Tong, one of the professors who did her schooling at CIA in CA.

I did a 8 course dinner western style and some extra dishes all in 3 days there, I also told them the story about Remy the rat in the movie Ratatouille, no matter who you are and what you are you can learn to cook and become somebody, I actually told them my own story all in 3 hours, damn!! I should write a book!! anyone want to help me?

I love and dedicate my life to share knowledge to younger and eager cooks who dreams and want to sacrifice everything to learn and I am more than honored to assist in any way i can, Sharing is Caring.