Rooting for Chip with a Guiltiful Feast.

There's a big Eagles game tonight and the town is stoked to the max. Win at midnight and the Eagles are in the playoffs. "Chip rules!"  Lose and the fans are devastated. "Chip choked!!" What a dramatic situation. 

We believe in Chip and his innovative game plans.  It's a Big Time moment in a town more than ready for the Big time spotlight.  Can you imagine what the Superbowl is going to be like with an army of Eagle fans a mere 90 miles away? OMG!!! 

Of course down in front, the Guilty Pleasures Club prepares for either outcome with many decadent delights. For the early games, our spread needs to match the passion of the fans tailgating all day in the stadium. parking lot.  Even though the game is in Dallas and even though the weather is miserable.  From the Blackberry Chevre stuffed French Toast with a Pecan encrusted Spiral Ham for breakfast to Kowaloneks' fresh Kielbasa and Juniper Berry Sauerkraut for a pre-game lunch, our GPC team sets the Game Day table for success.  "How delicious does that sound?"  

At 4 pm it's blanched vegetables with a Tzatziki sauce as we put the finishing touches on a  pre-game feast that features the Coho Salmon that we caught this past summer in Oregon . "We miss daybreak in Astoria.  Salmon fishing the at the mouth of the Olympia River is strictly front row. It just doesn't get any better than that." Grazing all day on fantastic food is our Guilty Football Feast .

With Philadelphia's beloved Eagles looking to clinch first place, playoff positioning has begun to take shape. My gut instinct tells me this is the year that the Birds quiet their critics and win the Super Bowl.

You have to pace yourself on Guilty Street. Stuffing yourself is frowned upon while grazing throughout the day is the Guilty Way. "Go Chip Go!!!"

Cooking Styles among the Guilty. Recipe or not.

Guilty can really cook.  He just cannot follow a recipe.  Everything I cook, I taste in my head before an egg is cracked or a red coconut curry sauce is created.  The great part of my winging it strategy is my food is really innovative and delicious.   Today I am making a Beef Emancee.  Over the next three or four days I will redefine this peasant stew.  This Provincial classic begins as a Day One masterpiece and then morphs into a Day Four Pièce de résistance .  I love that epicurian evolution. 

Are you ready to fly solo in the kitchen?  Excellent! For this culinary challenge we are going to need a full pantry with lots of fresh ingredients.  I know exactly where to go. There is a new International market in Guiltytown.  That's where all the flavor and spice hang out. Going global in the garden is a big time Guilty Pleasure.  I love buying fruits and vegetables that are exotic. Daring and dicey works well at my cutting board.      

Here's an article from food expert Phillip Dundas on cooking without a recipe.  His insight and suggestions will help you prepare for better results. The Guilty may be impulsive, but but not foolish. Take some time this Holiday and have fun in the kitchen.  Nothing is better than making yourself the best omelet ever and reading the New York Times or Bon Appetit 

I want mine, you got yours

The event calendar has slowed to a crawl with several elegant Holiday dinners going out the door.  As the kitchen begins to exhale, the chefs don their Elf costumes, reroute the sled and shop like it's judgement day. So many gifts to purchase and so much traffic to avoid.  It's like appearing in an episode of Survivor. Making up for lost time is easier said than done, but we do it deftly.  And we do it with love. We have some very dedicated employees with joyous families.  Putting your family first is the greatest Guilty Pleasure of all.  But so is taking care of yourself.  The magic of shopping for others only works if you spoil yourself as well.

Sometimes it's procuring a rare Brazilian Rum like Leblon Cachaca.  That Amazon firewater works for me. If you have not stoked the embers with that Guilty Pleasure, you are missing a special moment. Other times it's a timeless fashion like Thin Mint's hand sewn boots from Portland Oregon.  The quality of her new leather boots is magnificent and the look is sublime. This ability to balance the beam between giving and receiving will always enrich to your good character.  Do not miss out on the opportunity to play it forward.  It's so worth it!

One domain where Guilty definitely knows his good fortune, is the catering kitchen. I may be in charge in the Executive Suite, but once I walk through the commissary doors, everything changes. Thin Mint is the Boss and she's the BOMB .  With a refined pallet and extensive knowledge base, Thin Mint is the keeper of the flame. She is remarkable on so many levels.  Just ask any of our staff or discerning clentele.  With a warm smile or cool refrain, our Executive Chef can teach, motivate, delegate and inspire.

Our staff is always learning new techniques and our clients benefit from that evolution. The need for menu development never stops and our staff knows that innovation can happen 24/7. For a Guilty Soul like me, it's always fun in the kitchen.  It's hard not to be gleeful when there's sweet and savory to explore.  Like a New Year's Day parade, an impromptu Guilty Pleasure moment is always worthy of the front row.  Here's a photo from Thursday's dessert sampling.  It's good to be Guilty.  Every Day!!!

Teddy Roosevelt was a Guilty visionary, Ben was a Guilty Inventor and Bardot was a Guilty Prize.

Teddy Roosevelt was a Guilty visionary, Ben was a Guilty Inventor and Bardot was a Guilty Prize.

There has been much rumored-speculation and lively debate that the Guilty Pleasures Club was founded in 1899 by future United States President Theodore Roosevelt after leading a small regiment in Cuba known as the Rough Riders, earning himself the Medal of Honor.

Upon his return from the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt embarked upon an ambitious crusade to establish a national park system and protect our natural resources for coming generations. The visionary conservationist reportedly served as an Ambassador of Guilty Pleasures when Teddy developed the famed "Take Three" as he sipped fine French Cognac , dined on freshly caught rainbow trout and smoked a top secret Cuban blend in the Wyoming wilderness while surveying Yellowstone National Park.  We have no doubt that our youngest American President experienced first hand the mystical rejuvenating powers of Guilty Pleasure pursuits.

His love of Bratwurst, hunting, the outdoors, an occasional decanter of Rum and a desire to "speak softly, but carry a big stick," gave him worldwide credibility and prominence. As as the 26th US President, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War .

Guilty Pleasure historians have long debated whether the GPC was founded in 1899 by this native New Yorker.  However, it's been reported that recently discovered manuscripts found hidden in a wine cellar in the Bordeaux region of France indicate that approximately 110 years earlier, a visiting Dr. Benjamin Franklin and a local Skinny Chick, Elana Bardot, created the Guilty Pleasures Club to celebrate their love of aged French Red Wines, silk pajamas, hot mineral bathes and the epicurean delicacies from the legendary chefs at the Palace of Versailles.

The French passion for rich sauces, duck fat and beautiful women made Paris the perfect location for Dr. Franklin's opulent desires. The Great Statesmen  from Philadelphia understood that the correlation between the French diet and their surprising good health was because they embraced their dicey desires at mealtime and especially at breakfast.  Ben was impressed.  Besides his role in the Continental Congress, Ben was also a Founding Father of the Guilty Pleasures lifestyle.  More than a Statesman, the decadent Dr. Franklin was a great innovator, inventor and Social commentator. 

The Franklin stove was not his only lasting lifestyle invention. Apparently while in France, Franklin's pen name changed from Silence Dogood to Murmur Feelgood. Did the Guilty Pleasures Club bear his signature lust for the good life?

Those skinny Bardot Babes were quite influential when it came to enjoying Guilty Pleasures. There is a reason Dr. Franklin lived such a long and eventful guiltorius life. Who would want leave a young Bardot?