Friends celebrating an exquisite meal, Jimmy cooked that one Sunday.

He collects cookbooks and everything a functional kitchen must-have. Yesterday at Zara Home, Jimmy (Jaime Calderon, MD)  could not resist getting those blue soup bowls with exquisite design, and water glasses, too. There you go again, Jimmy said to me because he ends up buying stuff when I say, those are nice, must-haves, but of course, Jimmy has to like them, too, and as always, he loves them. And I regret not getting the same because when I finally made up my mind, there was no more in stock. 

That Jimmy has a collection of cookbooks that can make Martha Steward forget she is The one-and-only does not necessarily mean he cooks. He is a frustrated chef, he admits. Collecting what a chef may need in his kitchen compensates for this one singular frustration. He job requires him to travel a lot, and this maybe is one reason this Jaimee Olive wanna-be will never find a kitchen with the eternal flame.o

You’ll be surprised, though. Lately, there’s a flame that keeps on burning in Jimmy’s kitchen. Not eternal, maybe but burning just the same. Out with his recipe books. Jimmy invited me one day to witness his attempt at duplicating his mom’s Filipino spag using full-grain noodles–talk of fusion dishes. Then chicken stroganoff the next time when he was daring enough to invite a few other friends until he gained more confidence to try another stroganoff recipe with a new twist. The twist was the ground beef. He thanked us for the excellent review we gave. It was indeed, sensational! Cheers to the cook! Move over, Jaimee Oliver.