If you know Stephen very well, you are aware that he has friends from everywhere in every city and places he has never even lived....really it is truly a gift to be so like-able. So today you can meet one of his favorite people John McArthur, or as we call him Max!
Max, a professional concert pianist, doctor, published author, professor, landscape architect, and all together renaissance man is one of Stephen's best friends. You may wonder how a farm boy from New York got to know a brilliant Jamaican pianist, it is not an everyday occurrence. Well in between Max playing concerts in China, France, Spain, South Korea....etc, etc, he was a professor at Stephen's alma mature, Nyack College. I am still not clear on how Stephen, the baseball playing history major came to meet the music professor, but needless to say he did and there are many a story to be told about escaping night security by jumping into poor Max's window at 1 am. I will let you ask Stephen details about that one.
So now to the reason for this post. Max....or in author terms, John G. McArthur got a cookbook published....did I mention he is an amazing cook?! When Rob Piscatelli went home a while back he was fortunate enough to pick us up a copy. The cookbook (which is dedicated to Stephen...he smiled for an hour when he saw that) is a guide for beginners and could really be read as a comedy with all the creative titles and instructions. For example if you pick up a copy you will see "Piscatelli's Lopsided Meatballs" and many other hilarious titles including one with Stephen's name in it!
Okay, now to the point. In honor of Max getting his cookbook published we decided we should make some of the recipes. Stephen's recipe was too hard to find the ingredients in Germany so we settled for a few of his breakfast items: "Kosher French Toast? Oi!" and "Slap Me, These Eggs are Sliggin' Cheddar!" We decided that Stephen was in charge of the eggs and I would take the french toast challenge. We gathered the ingredients as close to the recipe as possible (why Germany doesn't have cheddar cheese is beyond me...but that is another post) and got to cookin'!
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| Ingredients, sans Cheddar! |
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| Stephen insisted we play Bob Marley in honor of Max while we cooked. |
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| Excuse the outfit...it was early! War Eagle!! |
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| Finished product with a side of bacon...we are so healthy! |
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| It was delicious, thanks Max! |
So there you have it, the tale of two hungry Americans in Germany without cheddar that still made some pretty good eggs with help from the one and only Max McArthur! And if you want to check out his music here is a link to his myspace page:
John McArthur. Check it out!
