All Posts Written By Daniel Ginzburg

On behalf of all of us at FantaSea, we are grateful to you, our Customer, for allowing us to succeed in business over the past 30 years and allowing us to dream and plan for the next 30 years.

Personally, I am grateful for the opportunity to be a Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Boss, Friend, Member of the World and the challenge of wearing all of these hats with humility, respect, love and care.

Here are a few words from a each of us on the FantaSea Team:

Stephanie: I am thankful for Chocolate, Red Bull and for Animal Fries. I am grateful for the health of my family, my office mates and my friends. I am thankful for the colors and tastes of Autumn and the warmth of the season.

Jasmine: I’m thankful that we’ve continued to grow as a business even through these tough commercial times. I’m thankful for the FantaSea family that we’ve been working together with for so many years.

Amy: I am thankful for the opportunities I have been given by moving countries. I am grateful for the new friends and new experiences, old friends and family who’s memories I carry with me always.

John: Each day we travel safely to and fro, working, seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, touching, walking, hugging, talking, reminiscing, reconciling, crying, laughing, loving, living our lives in the seemingly most mundane ways.  This year I am most grateful for all that I take for granted – things that if removed would be deeply missed.

Leah: This year has brought many changes for me, both personally and professionally. I am thankful for my sweet nephews and darling niece, my family and friends continued good health and the ever loving purr of my two squishy cats.

Linda: I’m thankful for an amazing daughter and fantastic FantaSea family…and of course, the pupstars!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Well last Friday, Stephanie and I put on our aprons and went upstairs to our main kitchen and joined Executive Chef Edward Valles, Ruben and Wilson in action and made a 5 course Thai meal for our office staff. Stephanie and I had just returned earlier in the week from a trip to Thailand and we were eager to show off our new skills. We were talking boldly as we headed upstairs, but, truth be told, I was a little nervous as this was my first time back in the kitchen in some years since cooking an Indian meal for a 150 guest engagement party. I was becoming more talk than action and I needed to put my reputation back in order.

With visions of Iron Chef and Kitchen Stadium in my mind and a 1 hour clock ticking beside us, we quickly stepped into a busy Friday morning kitchen. Let me say at the outset, our kitchen team rocks and I have extra respect for the flow, dexterity and physicality of working in a hot and busy kitchen. Our guys were moving in unisom as they busily prepped for that weekend’s 9 parties. When Stephanie and I took our places on the line, I felt a little like Moses with a parting Red Sea as our guys cleared space and gathered round with perhaps a raised eyebrow.

Our Menu:

• Larb Gai (Minced chicken salad)
• Tom Yam Koong (Spicy prawn soup with lemongrass)
• Gai Phad med Mamuang (Fried chicken with cashew nuts and chili)
• Phad Thai (Thai style fried noodles)
• Kluay Baud Chee (Bananas in coconut milk with sticky rice.) (We added the sticky rice as how could you go wrong with some sweet rice to dip into the coconut milk.)

Our first action was to survey our ingredients and double check our recipes. A couple minutes into working together, Stephanie and I decided, as much as we may love collaboration, in the kitchen, it was about control and efficiency. So we quickly divided up the menu. Stephanie made the Phad Thai and dessert and I made the soup and chicken dishes. Lunch was set to be served at noon and we entered the kitchen at 11am, so we were very time focused calling out the passing minutes to add a little pressure and drama as well as keeping us moving along. Stephanie and I are very goal oriented, so there was no way we were going to be late.

Looking back now a week later, we sure had fun. It was great to be back in the kitchen again and certainly we were proud and impressed to be next to our kitchen team. We even managed to turn it into a little cultural episode with our 3 year old daughter who joined us the night before dashing to Bangkok Market in Hollywood to pick up the last ingredients and some fresh lemongrass. Finally, like any artist, it was the compliments of our office staff, during lunch, which made our day.

Chef Edward was this week’s guest on The Recipe Box radio show.  He discusses the challenges of cooking for multiple yacht events, great family recipes and his love of cooking.