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Arts & Life
The Clarion \ Oct. 1,2010
Chef Boy-ar-Dave: the man behind the recipes
By Daniel Heyman/Zack Christy
Managing Editor/Staff Writer
When Senior Dave Alexander
enters a room, his presence doesn’t
exactly command your attention.
As an English major who spends a
majority of his time procrastinating,
and the rest of it distracting others,
you probably wouldn’t peg Dave
as much more than your average
student.
You’d be wrong. Brevard
College’s “Chef Boy-ar-Dave”
found his passion in “chef-dom,”
as he calls it, at an early age. At 15
years old, he was working at Big
Ed’s Chicken Pit in his hometown
of Highpoint. By 17, Dave had
already climbed to the lofty position
of head cook.
Dave joined the Clarion staff
in the fall of 2008 as part of Dr
Padgett’s Political Coverage course.
Despite being in the class during
the election of our nation’s first
African-American President, Dave
still didn’t find himself interested in
covering American politics.
“It just made sense to be Chef
Boy-ar-Dave; I’ve had that name
since I was 8,” Dave says. “I had
to write something each week, so I
figured why not use my passion for
cooking?”
The weekly recipes featured in
the Clarion require much more
effort than one would think. “I don’t
publish anything I haven’t prepared
and tasted myself,” saysDave; “I get
recipes from all sorts of places — a
lot of them are from restaurants I
work in, some of them are family
traditions, and some of them are
original.”
Considering his self appointed
title, it might seem odd to find Dave
at BC, rather than at Charlotte’s
Johnson and Whales culinary school
or some other institution devoted
to the art of cooking, but as Dave
said, “I don’t really see it as a career
aspiration, I just like to cook. I’m
an English major, but I’m not even
sure if I’ll use that. I just go where
the wind takes me.”
Dave continues, saying, “I’m not
an actual Chef, per se. I’m as high
into the culinary business I could get
without formal training, but I don’t
plan on going to culinary school
anytime soon.”
When he’s not in class, or testing
recipes for publication in the
Clarion, you can find Chef Boy-ar-
Dave armed with a pair of non-slip
Skechers and a black chef’s coat
working as the number-two cook at
downtown Brevard’s Falls Landing
restaurant.
Chef Boy-ar-Dave personally
invites BC students, parents and
relatives to taste his handiwork this
family weekend at Falls Landing,
saying, “There’s no discount, but it’s
delicious, and I’ll be cooking.”
Chicken Florentine
from Chef Boy-ar-Dave
Average Cost of Meal: $10 - $12
Time of Preparation: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
4 Boneless, skinless chicken
4 cups of spinach
1 cup of crimini mushrooms
4 slices of Swiss cheese
1 egg
2 cups of bread crumbs
Toothpicks
Instructions:
Soak as many toothpicks as needed in water for 30
minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°. Butterfly the chicken
breast and stuff spinach, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese
inside the chicken breast. Secure shut with a toothpick.
In a small bowl beat 1 egg. Cover a plate with the bread
crumbs. Roll the stuffed chicken breasts in the egg and roll
it in bread crumbs until it is covered. Bake for 30 minutes
or until the chicken is cooked through.
Book Review: Sebastian Junger's 'War' is hard to put down
By John M. Climer
Editor in Chief
Sebastian Junger’s most recent
book ‘War’ is an amazing glimpse
into the power of brotherhood,
courage and valor
Junger intermittently embedded
himself over a 15 month period
with a platoon of soldiers from the
173 Airborne Brigade in one of the
deadliest areas in Afghanistan, the
Korengal Valley.
As Junger explains, the Korengal
Valley is roughly 25 miles from
the Pakistani border, allowing
Taliban soldiers to slip in and out of
Afghanistan undetected. Undetected
until the platoon Junger embedded
with arrived in the Korengal to
intercept the insurgent fighters.
The result: evasive enemies, violent
firefights and hostile locals in
some of the earth’s most rugged
territory.
Throughout the book, Junger talks
about the trials and tribulations
he and the young soldiers face
throughout their time in Afghanistan,
reflecting on how casualties and
injuries faced by him and the men
affect the moral and psychological
atmosphere within the platoon.
Additionally, Junger takes time
throughout his book to delve away
from his own experience and reflect
on the bond shared by men at the
frontlines of war. Junger examines
this bond not only through the
men’s shared experiences, but also
from a biological, physiological
and evolutionary perspective in an
attempt to understand why men at
war have such an unspoken devotion
to one-another
Junger’s work illustrates to readers
the dichotomies between the horrors
of war, the beauty of brotherhood
and the difficulties young men
face when they lose both of these
elements upon their return home.
‘War’ is a truly compelling
work and extraordinary piece of
journalism and I highly recommend
it to all.
tebtstian jyniGER