Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Leaving Barbados

well folks I've been in Barbados for a couple of weeks now and that is pretty much as long as you will get me in one place! It's been beautiful and have met plenty of nice people, including two of my heroes today Dermot Desmond and JP Mcmanus(only Irish people will know these guys) but now it's time to leave! We are actually out at sea at the moment on our way to the Grenadines which are another beautiful chain of islands west of Barbados. I'm getting smasded up and down as i write this by the big waves but i'll be going to sleep in a couple of minutes safe in the knowledge that when i awake tomorrow i'll be able to have my breakfast on the bow overlooking another paradise location! Had one of the best days of the year so far today, playing golf, diving and meeting heroes! Check out the video!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Work in Progress

Well as you can all see i am working hard on the design of the blog! I will be finished by tomorrow and free to post again! Tomorrow is our last day in Barbados before heading off to Grenada. I have plenty of new content to add so thank you for you patience, the new look blog will be rammed full of new recipes, travel and superyachts over the coming weeks! Thanks once again for your patience and loyalty!

Foor all you budding chefs out there here is a perfect way to cook fish! See the full details at my new food site i Foods

Monday, February 26, 2007

i Foods launches

Well folks i'm sorry to say that the posts are a little light at the moment as i am doing a lot of work on the design at the moment(coming next couple of days!!). I would love you to check out my new site www.ifoods.blogspot.com which is totally dedicated to food and video recipes. I want to transfer most of the food posts to there and keep this site more orientated towards the superyachts and our travels!

Here is a recipe for Cerviche to keep you entertained today! see the ingredients on i Foods

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Funny yachting stories

I've been working in yachting for a few years and have met a lot of people who have told me plenty of funny tales about the industry. Most of them are a mixture of tall tales and hear say with a little bit of truth thrown in. There are however a few interesting stories from the industry that i do know are true. here are 4 of the funniest and most ridiculous things I've ever heard from this crazy business i work in and are all true.

1. I know a crew who came home after a big night one night to the boat, a bit of a party started and one new crew member was sent to get some wine. They drank 6 bottles and it was only the following morning that they realised they had mistakenly drank $76,000 worth of the bosses wine!! Luckily nobody ever noticed!

2. One Arab owner uses his boat for a couple of weeks every summer. To keep himself entertained he hires dwarves and pays them to water ski while he watches from the tender! The one who stays up the longest each time is given $1000 cash. Apparently he is amused for hours by this!

3. One owner once chartered a private jet to fly some mozarella to the caribbean from Italy as he wanted it for his dinner that night!

4. A very famous charter boat was lost by it's owner last summer over a game of cards, the yachts value was over $40 million!

It's amazing what goes on when that level of cash is involved! There are countles other stories that i could tell but would either get into trouble for or get sued!

Believe it or not i am still in Barbados as we are waiting for some rough seas to clear up so as we can go accross to Grenada. It's not the worst place in the world to be stuck!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Scrambled eggs

Alright folks it's a pretty easy recipe today and it should be easy enough for all of you to make if you have culinary knowledge or not. I've eaten bad scrambled eggs so many times both in restaurants and in people's houses that i thought it was time to give a quick demo! So many people try to start cooking exotic and crazy things without having knowledge of the basics! Try cooking this it really is a simple 3 minute job and the satisfaction of actually cooking something will be immense!

All is quiet here apart from that, we are still in Barbados and had a big night out last night to celebrate the guests getting off and am paying the price for it very heavily indeed today! And as if i wasn't feeling rough enough I'm expecting a delivery of live lobsters in a minute which I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day killing! see who comes out better in that battle in tomorow's video post!

Happy cooking!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Wakeboarding, crazy back flips and ball breakers!

Well folks I have actually been working pretty hard this week even if today's video tells a different story! Still have 5 guests on but they get off tomorrow so, WWAAAHOOOOOOOO party time! Have the weekend in Barbados to enjoy ourselves before heading down to Trinidad & Tobago at the start of next week!

Hope these videos of me in crystal clear water with sunny skies make you all feel terrible in the depths of winter wherever you are!!!It's a tough life but someone gotta do it!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Fusseli pasta with watercress, pine nuts and Chery tomatoes

I only had 1 hours notice today to make lunch so I had to conjure up a quick dish. Trying to keep it light and fresh i found some watercress in the fridge and mixed it with some nice cherry tomatoes. This is a quick, easy and tasty lunch dish.

Ingredients

500g Fusseli pasta(or alternative)
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2 onions finely chopped
400g Halved cherry tomatoes
100g butter
200g Pine nuts
300g fresh watercress
200g fresh grated parmesan



Let me know if you made it and what you think!

Monday, February 19, 2007

How the Foccacia(read fast in Irish accent!!!)

Well folks i got over the headache and have once again had a busy day cooking for all the guests!Working pretty long days of 14 hours this week so having time to do fun stuff and film it is difficult! Instead i have once again filmed a recipe that i hope you will enjoy, today it is one of my favourite things, bread! I don't know why i love cooking it, guess it is something to do with the theraputic action of kneading the dough!

Am off to bed as i have a 6 A.M start to go to the fish market here in Barbados in the morning! Hope you enjoy making the bread!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Weekend in Barbados

Well folks all is still going well here in Barbados! I've actually been pretty busy with the guests for the weekend! This really is a beautiful island, one of the nicest in the caribbean! I'm gonna keep it short tonight as i have such a bad headache that it feels like my head is going to drop off! Watch out for more video recipes this week!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

chicken and vegetable broth


Well it's sunday and i thought it would be nice to have a wholesome chicken and vegetable broth video recipe! It's pretty quick, you should have all the ingredients in the house already and you can easily follow it step by step on here. Let me know how it goes making it!

Ingredients

4 large carrots Peeled and chopped into a rough dice
4 large white onions chopeed into a rough dice
6 mixed peppers chopped
3 sticks of celery chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1 packet buckwheat noodles(or any other variety you may have)
2 litres of chicken stock

In the bowl of greens
200 grams sugar snap peas
200 grams mange touts
1 bunch coriander chopped
1 bunch parsley chopped

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Save a life today

Well guys i'll let the video do the talking today, it's so so important so please watch till the end, the message is what means the most!!

I also made a wonderful white chocolate cheescake today with fresh berries. I love food and feel that i'm a good chef that produces good food but today i was proud. I can't expalin it but i had a huge feeling of pride looking at that cake!I guess it's the reason i do this job! That and the exotic lifestyle!

Said cake

Crust:
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter


Filling:
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 squares white chocolate, melted


Topping:
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Crust:
Combine vanilla wafer crumbs and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan.


Filling:
In a large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar and lemon juice until light. Add eggs one at a time, while beating. Stir in sour cream, melted chocolate and vanilla until evenly mixed.


Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40 to 45 minutes, until just set.


Topping:
Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla together. Remove cheesecake from oven and spread topping over top.


Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and cool.


Refrigerate for at least 5 hours or overnight. Garnish with white chocolate curls, fruit, or fruit sauce if desired.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Safely in Barbados!

well the good news is that we battered our way through the waves and are finally here, and my god was it it worth it! What an amazing place! Whatever your mental image of heaven on earth is, this is it! I deceided on the spot that i am buying a house here today! It has everything that i could ever want, lots of golf, great surfing, wonderful white sandy beaches, friendly people and great beer. What more could a man ask for? Oh yeah being valentines day and all that maybe a nice girl to share it all with!!

I put together a new idea today which is a little video recipe that you can all work on at home! The ingredients are below and you can do it with the video in unison pausing the video as needed! I've started with something really easy and it would be perfect to do with friends for a snack or get the kids involved! Let me know what you think of the idea and if you would be interested in seeing more recipes on camera! Excuse the footage being a bit amateurish but i was holding the camera and trying to cook at the same time! Try it at home and let me know what you think!!

I'm off to get an early night now as i'm up in the morning at 6 to try and rent a surf board and get some surfing in before work starts!!!

Get cooking!!

Ingredients

1 cup Peacns
1 and a half sticks butter
1 and a half cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 dash Vanilla essence
1 cup chocolate morsels

Watch the video for recipe or follow this quick step guide



1.Toast pecans and cool
2.Whisk dry together
3.Cream butter and sugars
4.Add eggs and vanilla
5.Add dry
6.Fold in Choc chips and Nuts
7.Cook at 350/180 until golden brown

Let me know how they turned out for you by sending a picture to my e mail. I'll post the best ones!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Getting totally smashed!!!

well i'm writing this in the middle of the atlantic Ocean and all those nice posts of us jumping of the boat in idyllic conditions is a fading memory! I can barely write this anymore and am going to have to keep it short as i keep literally falling out of bed! I took the video at the start when it was light and we could still go outside. For the last 6 hours we have been stuck inside and nearly everybody is as sick as a dog! The boat is be flipped around like a rubber duck in a bath and it's over 50m long! You feel totally powerless out here in the Atlantic! Just looked at the 1 metre waves in the video and multiply them by 3 and thats what i am in at the moment! Hopefully i'll have a nice sunny post for you tomorrow and all the crew won't be too groggy!

Waves starting to get bigger but still quite small!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Superyacht pelorus 377 Feet!

This is my second post today, make sure to watch the first about being on the set of the "pirates of the caribbean" below this one!

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time around pelorus this summer. She is the most sleek yacht ever built, just beautiful. Roman Abramovich the chelsea owner also owns this monster!



She is one of the largest private yachts in the world at 377 feet 3 inches (115 metres) in length. She was built at the Lürssen yard in Germany to the design of Tim Heywood and was launched in 2003. She was briefly owned by a Saudi businessman who sold her to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich the following year. Abramovich had her refitted to his own requirements by Blohm & Voss. This included the addition of a second helicopter pad forward, four new zero-speed stabilisers and modifications to the exhaust, mast and stern.

Pelorus is powered by two 3,600-hp Wärtsilä engines. Details about the interiors are scanty as Abramovich is protective of his family's privacy and highly security conscious, but they were designed by Terence Disdale. In 2005 Abramovich lent Pelorus to Frank Lampard and John Terry for two weeks as a bonus for being the two best players at his English football club Chelsea F.C. the previous season.

Abramovich owns Ecstasea, and gave away Le Grand Bleu to friend Eugene Shvidler see the video

To think 1 man owns this, can you believe it? What do you think of such incredible wealth?

Pirates of the caribbean

Well we were supposed to get to Barbados today but we hit the worst seas you could imagine on the way over there and were getting slammed so we had to turn back a couple of hours into the trip. Barbados is quite far out into the Atlantic so there is very little protection out there!

So being back in St Lucia isn't really the worst thing ever, i really could think of worse places to be stuck! We are going to make another run at the crossing tomorrow when hopefully the seas will have calmed down a bit!

we are anchored tonight on the beach where a lot of the pirates of the caribbean is shot! we are actually tied up to one of the docks where they tie the boats in the movies! It's really awesome as it is quite secret with no tourists around and the only people here are little local dudes in boats who were all extras in the movies! It is literally a case of walking onto the set! Check out the video!

Well hopefully we make it to Barbados tomorrow!!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

St lucia and Dallaglio

Me looking like a midget beside Dallaglio


Well it's been a pretty hectic weekend! Not so much from working but we have had a bit of time to let our hair down here in St Lucia! That has included eating out, wakeboarding, partying and my favourite part of the weekend, drinking with ex England rugby captain Laurence Dallaglio and spending hours telling him why Ireland are the greatest team in the world and England are rubbish! Luckily he was a good laugh so took it all well!



It's been busy with about 6 islands in the last week but we are on our way to Barbados( as i write this i am struggling not to fall out of the bed it is so rough!). Barbados is quite a way out into the Atlantic ocean and the waves are massive! We'll be there for 2 weeks and will get a chance to try the excellent surf there again so thats me happy! Anyway hope you are all enjoying the video posts, lots of people think i have lost the plot as i can often be seen apparently talking to myself around the boat!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Greatest night of my life

I have been lucky enough to be on this planet for 27 wonderful years and have witnessed some wonderful things. I've been thinking about it today and seeing my new born sister and being at my father's wedding are the two moments that really made me happiest in my life. For pure unadulterated happiness there is however one moment that stands out in my life. I don't even support Manchester United but on this particular evening i was going for them against the boring Germans. For those of you who don't know anything about football or soccer as my American readers call it this is the greatest moment in football history and possibly sporting history. Nothing that I have ever seen in my lifetime can match this for drama and the pure excitment and happiness that only sport can give you. This is totally different to my normal posts but it is the most incredible experience i've ever had and it is dedicated to the two people who would apprecaite this video most, my wonderful father Ronan and best friend Sean.It just doesn't get any better than this!!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Cakes and volcanoes

Well I'm pretty tired after working hard and filming the video today so i'll let it do the talking!!



Keep going ont those new names for the blog, cheers!!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Changing names

Eating dinner in Martinique tonight

I'm in Martinique today after a pretty rough crossing down here from Dominique, we were bouncing all over the place! Not nice!

I need all you guys to help me out!! Basically the name of this blog "thelifeofaprivatechef" is much too long and not catchy enough. People would never remember it and it doesn't show up very well in search engines so i'm looking for a new name! I thought it would be great if you guys could choose it for me and save me from wasting time thinking of a funny/catchy one!! It needs to be food related and have a twist about working for rich people/superyachts. It also has to be as short as possible and very catchy! I'm not asking too much! So write your ideas down in the comments below and the best one will be choosen and used for eternity!

It's the captain's birthday tomorrow so I'm up early making a big cake! Not my favourite thing in the world to do but I'll have to make a big effort as there going to be about 20 people there waiting on it!! Every time I make a cake it's usually a disaster, I'll get it all on film tomorrow so as you can see if it is or not!

Get thinking of that new blog name!!!!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Jumping off a superyacht

Well i was trying to make an interesting video today and seeing as the guests had gone out for the day and i didn't have to cook i had to be creative so the best i could come up with was jumping off the roof and filming it! We're in Guadeloupe and the weather is gorgeous so why not!



It's not my day off today but i must say it felt like it with swimming, golf and taking it easy!

I still need plenty of comments guys about what you would like cooked next week on video, anything you would like to see filmed on the yacht or any questions you miht have! Just leave a comment at the end of this post!

Monday, February 05, 2007

Cooking on camera!

Well i woke up today and thought why not make a cooking video! Basically we are in Guadelouple and i went out shopping and filmed the making of a lunch for the guests! It's kinda hard to film as everybody is working and busy so i have to film myself but I've done the best i can!


The dish that i cooked is "seared Dorado with braised sweet potato, broccoli puree, caramalized red onions and balsamic reduction"

It's fun cooking with the camera but think i need a lot of practice! Hopefully in the next few days i'll have time to run through a whole recipe from start to finish on camera! I'm looking for some suggestions, leave a comment as what you would like to see me cook? It could be something simple like an omlette or the fanciest dish you can think of. The best suggestion will have their meal cooked and shown here next week. Just leaeve a comment below!


I'm off to bed it's been a long day!

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Arriving Guadeloupe

Well i've officially launched my own TV station on You Tube now so you can watch all my videos. Its another way of drumming up support for the blog which should mean more money for the African kids.

I have just arrived in Guadeloupe after a 4 hour crossing from Antigua. It's good to be back on a French speaking island and away from all the bars and attractions of Antigua!

Tomorrow is a huge day for us as the owners and a few of the crew love American football so we are having a big Superbowl party! That means a big barbecue, heaps of food and lots of beers!I'll let you know how it all foes tomorrow!

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Friday, February 02, 2007

SY Maltese Falcon 88m



The Maltese Falcon is a clipper sailing luxury yacht owned by American centimillionaire Tom Perkins. It is the largest privately-owned sailing yacht in the world at 88 metres (289.1 feet). Ken Freivokh Design were the appointed designers for Maltese Falcon, the world's largest privately owned sailing yacht.

The luxury yacht is currently registered in George Town, USA; though it will shortly be registered in Valletta, Malta as Grand Harbour will be its homeport for the next 25 years. It completed its trial sail in the Marmara to the Bosphorus strait on 12 June 2006 and made its maiden voyage from Turkey to Italy via Malta in July 2006. S/Y ‘Maltese Falcon’ was be available for select yacht charters beginning in the summer of 2006 and charters out for between EUR€ 325000.00-335000.00 per week[1] plus expenses.


She sports fifteen square sails (five per mast) which only take 6 minutes to open. The three carbonfibre masts, manufactured and assembled at the Yildiz Gemi yard in Tuzla, 50 miles south of Istanbul, Turkey, under the supervision of the English company Insensys are free-standing and rotating, an absolute world-first for an application of this size and complexity. Without sails, these masts can be used on their own to leave port. The yacht's sophisticated computer detects parameters such as wind speed automatically and controls all sailing controls, making it possible for a single person to pilot the yacht

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Day off in Antigua

The view in shirley hights Antigua

I hope you are all enjoying the video posts but i'll go for an old fashioned one today with plain old words and pictures! Had a great day off today but couldn't get a dune buggy so had to settle for a moped, lots of fun though!

Was on the golf course by 8 and could not have played any worse! At least the view was awesome! Then spent the rest of the day on a little beach on the other side of the island. The best thing to do in the whole of Antigua is have a rum punch in Shirley Heights where the view is the best in the world! It's where Heratio Nelson used to hand out and direct his military operations. You could also literally be on the set on Pirates of the Caribbean!!

I've posted this early as we are having a night out for a girls birthday tonight and it could get messy! Better not posting later! Off to guadeloupe in the morning so will get you all a video of cruising down