Blog 11: Chef Boy RB Dinner special 1/22

Chef Ron was at it again Thursday night.

I wanted to have some baked salmon and salad for dinner. So I went to the store and bought some salmon and a few ingredients that I will talk about. Normally, whenever I cook salmon I usually just bake my salmon with the usual seasonings; garlic powder, oregano, lemon, salt, pepper, red cayenne pepper, and E.V.O.O. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil). But this time I wanted to add something extra, and I came up with a sauce to top over the baked salmon. It's really a quite simple add on but the sauce added the boost that I was looking for.

The extra sauce that I decided to go with was spinach and artichoke quarters cooked in garlic butter, with chive and onion cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, and crushed black olives.

The salad was simple but tasty as well, I went with the traditional mixed greens, added some baby spinach leaves, sliced mango, pepperoncini's, and black olives dressed in Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic & herb seasonings and some Nakano balsamic vinegar. Served with fresh ground black peppercorns.

After all that work in the kitchen, (it didn't take that long by the way) I decided to go all the way, and since Cassie (my better half) wasn't going to be home for another 30 minutes. I decided to set up the dinner table with candle lights, wine glasses and ready to pour premium Obelisk* Vodka. So a simple craving turned it into a stay at home dinner date.

And of course I took a few pictures and here they are.

Baked season Salmon topped with spinach artichoke sauce

Dinner table set up with the light on

Lights dimmed.

* Obelisk Vodka to me is probably one of the best tasting vodka out there. Give it a try.

For the recipe feel free to email me at Ron.benoza@gmail.com

Blog 10: Song of the day: Dreamworld by Robin Thicke

Sorry about the lack of posting, I've been a bit busy with other things I'm trying my hands on. More details will follow soon. As long as I'm still posting once a week right? j/k.

Here is a song that I have just listened to moments ago. Great song.

Blog 08: Ron's weight loss no haircut challenge

Magandang umaga, hapon, at gabi sa inyong lahat. That's good morning, afternoon and evening to you all in Tagalog (my native tongue)

So... Where do I begin? As you all know, one of my new year's resolution is to lose weight, and like all the rest of us, we need some form of motivation. There are different methods of motivation, some put pictures up of their desired weight, or perhaps some might sacrifice a few things in order for them to achieve that goal, and some just like to be put on the spot. Well I'm doing all three.

First of all, if you take a look at the top right of the page, you'll see a picture of me holding a picture of myself air Jordaning it haha. j/k. Maybe Spud Webbing it without a ball. There goes my picture for strength.

Second, my current weight is 179.2 lbs as of 1/10/2009. My goal is to hit 160-165 as soon as possible. What better way than putting the progress on blast courtesy of Health O Meter.
Last but not least, I'm making a vow that I will not cut my hair or get it lined up or cleaned up till I make weight. It's one of many sacrifices that I'll be doing so that I don't screw around. I promise you that I will not get a haircut until the digital scale says 160-165. I'll be photographing the progress and will be updating it periodically. Oh it'll be a rough ride and a rough look. Godspeed to moi.

DAY #1 Clean shaved head.

Maraming Salamat sa iyong lahat. (Thank you all very much)

Blog 07: New Year resolution update!

Hello, I'm just here to let everybody know that fulfilling one of my new years resolution is already in motion! I promised to document everything, so here it is.

It's homecoming baby!!! Your boy is getting all the neccesary preparations glued together for his trip back to his birthplace. That's right, Ronny B will be heading back to Hongkong for the first time since 1996. Cassie and I will be heading to the farrrr east coast sometime around my bday on April 18th. What other time would be best to return to my birthplace other than the entire week or two of my birthday. There was a slight hiccup though, I didn't get the original dates I requested due to work related issues (4/15-4/26). Instead, I had to opt out for different days (4/9-4/21). It's all good, as long as I get to not remember my birthday because I plan on drowning myself in a tub of booze at the bar that my cousin works at in HK. (check it out WWW.Dragon-I.com.HK/) But, I'll definitely have a few of my old time friends or cousins take plenty of pictures of me partying up in Hongkong... California style.

So I got the days off, just waiting on my better half to see if she can get the days off. Any suggestions, on finding the best deal for plane tickets? I'm hoping my family down in HK could find some kind of hook up, but either way, we will be going regardless!

Blog 06: Entourage or Ari Gold Show?

If you've never seen an episode of Entourage then here is a quick breakdown of the show. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Entourage revolves around Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), a young, up-and-coming actor who eventually becomes an A-list star. His experiences are loosely based on those of Mark Wahlberg, who is also executive producer on the show.[7][8] His best friend and manager is Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly).[9] "E", as his friends call him, is based on Wahlberg's friend and executive producer Eric Weinstein.[6] He's also been reported to be inspired by Stephen Levinson, Wahlberg's manager.[4]
Vincent's older brother Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon), is also Vince's personal chef and trainer. Johnny is a C-list actor who was in the fictional show Viking Quest during his younger days. His role in the new fictional hit show Five Towns has begun to resurrect his fame and career. This character is based on Johnny "Drama" Alves (cousin of Mark Wahlberg), whom Donnie Wahlberg had hired to keep his younger brother out of trouble.[7][6][2]
Rounding out the entourage of friends is Sal "Turtle" (Jerry Ferrara), who is another of Vince's old friends from childhood. Turtle's official role is as Vince's driver and assistant, though his value as such is often brought into question. This character is based on Mark Wahlberg's former "gofer" Donnie Carroll aka "Donkey".[7][6][10][2] Carroll auditioned for the role, but the Boston-native was turned down when it was decided the actors would have to be New Yorkers.[6] Unfortunately Carroll passed away on December 18, 2005 after an asthma attack. He was 39.
Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) is Vince's abrasive but lovable agent. The role has led to several nominations and Emmy Awards for Piven. Ari is based on Wahlberg's real-life agent Ari Emanuel.[5][6][9] -Wikipedia-

Anyways, this is a pretty funny show. Definitely one of my favorites. We all know that Vince is definitely the star or the star in the group, but my favorite character from the show is his "abrasive" agent Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven. Without this guy, there is no Entourage, at least in my opinion. He'd already won a few Emmy awards for this show. The guy is just hilarious! Here's a few of his best lines.

Blog 05: Welcoming the end of a long year but cheers to next one lined up

My last post of the year, so sad...but I'm so ready to say, "R.I.P. 2008"

Hello, you are all probably wondering what the hell is he doing home on New Year's Eve. Well, I can explain. First of all, it is freezing cold outside. Second, it is freezing cold outside. Third, plans were changed. If those aren't good enough reasons for you guys then forget you. Just kidding. Don't worry I definitely had a back up plan.

For quite some time now, I've been wanting to cook up some cajun style seafood gumbo. I haven't had any for the last two years. Well, the plan was for me to hook it up in the kitchen on new years day as a surprise to my lovely lady Cassie. But since going out on new years eve to welcome in the new year was shot, like Dick Cheney's buddy during their hunting trip. I decided to surprise Cassie tonight. Yes, I went ahead and took on the task of making my very first seafood gumbo.

I bought the ingredients that I needed yesterday, since I like to be prepared and just in case I happen to forget some important ingredient that I didn't pick up (which I did), I can just pick them up right before cooking time and I did. Here's the list of things I needed for my operation gumbo. Shrimp, Crab, flour, vegetable oil, Gumbo file (fee-lay), oregano, bay leaves, chicken broth, celery and onions, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper and Louisiana hot sauce, Pot (Stainless big pot not Mary Jane) and some Old Bay seasoning.

I'd keep writing but it is New Years Eve and I can't devote all my time to my new hobby, I got other things to do. I'm going to go serve myself and Cassie a bowl of rice drenched in my seafood gumbo, and get drunk off some champagne next to the fireplace and sing Auld Lang Syne till about 12:02am 1-1-2009 then crash. But don't worry I'm leaving you guys with pictures and as they say, pictures are worth a thousand words... It'll be in chronological order from the time I started and the time I finished operation gumbo. Here you are... enjoy!

Here are the ingredients, no beer in the gumbo. That's for me! Cheers

Preparing the roux! Hardest part! Gotta take your sweet time

Added the rest of the ingredients

Let it simmer and soak on low-medium heat

Served over rice and gumbo file seasoning!

Looks good doesn't it?

Blog 04: New Year's resolution

What's your New Year's resolution?

Every year people always come up with things that they would like to change when the new year begins. I'm not any different. Here are some of my new year's resolution in random order.

Lose weight
Tone up
Take more classes
Get in the best shape ever for basketball
Learn how to swim
Take singing lessons
Visit my birthplace (Hong Kong)
Update blog at least once a week.

I'll be posting every resolution that I will be achieving as the year progresses.

Have a Happy New Year and good luck with the resolutions!