Off to Sulawesi to Scuba Dive

An incredible journey for red white & pure Singapore has come to an end.

By far, my most exciting and challenging professional journey and education.

Developing and training a great team of chefs for this TCM/French Restaurant TASTE project for the Eu Yan Sang Group in Singapore was great fun. I’m honored to have crossed paths with wonderful souls and a great traditional culture newly discovered as essential in health care and their maintenance for human well-being. I wish this baby all the success it needs to survive without me.

Towards the end – my attempts to stay involved on a consultant basis did not work out favorably, foremost for the lack of receiving a clear draft of my future involvement brought forward by the management; I was forced to accept a tough decision to end my participation. Foremost, Singapore’s strict government rules and the fact I could never attain a working visa created a “squeeze” on Richard Eu, who had gone above and beyond to bring me aboard. I will be in his debt for the rest of my life!

 As sad as I am about the final quarrels about my departures – still worried about compensation – I support everyone involved with this concept; it is truly a fascinating idea. I had great fun as long as it lasted. Good luck!

A short visit to Bali was a unique and relaxing journey. I stayed at the meditative Four Seasons Hotel in Sayan, built by a river into the jungle – if ever there is paradise… Years earlier, I helped with the Spa Menu Concept (gone from the menu now) and created the original Restaurant card next to the executive chef (name slips my mind). The staff remembered me, and I enjoyed their royal treatment. Yes, I visited the kitchen for two days and left with suggestions and helped rearrange the storage facilities. I can’t help it; I have to work!

I’m off to new adventures. I am still writing on the TCM cookbook and having great fun with it; I will start a TCM website as soon I have enough material to entice some curious minds about my working with herbal remedies. I have added a few links to media clippings about my cooking for RWP that are currently in the news. Even Times Magazine honored me with a short report. I have pitched my idea to a new level of hoteliers and new corporations, and soon, I will have a clear outline of work on my horizon. Traditional Chinese Medicine Cuisine is the future!

In the short term, I will be going to Sulawesi, still in beloved South East Asia, and finishing my Dive Master class, which I had interrupted when moving to Singapore last fall after Rina Segal had snatched me away from Phi Phi Island to Singapore…. Soon, you will read a blog on diving with great pictures. I even have an underwater camera now! 

Life is great fun; with every door closing, another one immediately opens. I am blessed with the spirits that keep me sane, humble, and, foremost, kind to others, regardless of how difficult situations appear.

Happy Mother’s Day to the amazing woman out there. We love you!

My furniture is being shipped back to LA; I have a few weeks to cruise this fantastic world!

traveler Raphael