NEIL BELLER JR. likes to cook, and like many before him, has turned his interest into a money-making venture, complete with his cookbook.
But with a difference. The Eldersburg resident likes to cook Chesapeake Bay seafood dishes, prepared with utensils familiar to the male do-it-yourselfer.
A home improvement type, he carries the utensils on a tool belt and places yellow caution tape around his cooking area or on an overhead sign that reads, "Danger Men Cooking."
Beller is a comedian, and performs comedic cooking demonstrations - when he isn't working on his latest cookbook, inventions or editing video for commercials, television and movies. He presented a cooking demonstration at Baltimore's Inner Harbor as part of the Waterfront Festival in April.
"I'm a trained professional. Do not try this at home," Beller says before each demonstration, as he prepares his latest recipe using tools, including a hand drill for mixing.
Beller says the recipes are good. It's the preparation that is unusual.
His production company is named Kit & Kaboodle Productions. Beller says the company will take on a wide range of jobs, including writing, acting, editing and producing.
His cooking demonstrations are the basis for an offbeat cooking show that is in development. He also has compiled a cookbook of favorite recipes, Cooking Without a Conscience, co-written with longtime friend Gregory Hoffman. The book focuses on food prepared with beer as an ingredient or accompaniment, and their seafood spice, Old Brown Shoe Seasoning. The spice was dubbed O.B.S. Seasoning when a friend visiting from England said their Maryland steamed crabs looked as if they were covered in something found on an old brown shoe.
The two cookbook authors were born in the Baltimore area, and grew up appreciating Chesapeake Bay seafood and cooking. They left Baltimore for Hollywood in the early '80s, where Beller began working as a TV and film editor on productions such as L.A. Law, Ren and Stimpy: The Movie and A Few Good Men, among others.
It was during their time in California that the pair realized how much they missed the taste of Maryland seafood. They began work on a cookbook, but because Beller moved back to Maryland, it was completed after five years of e-mails and phone calls.
"The cookbook isn't for everyone," says Beller who works from a studio built on his property in Eldersburg. ""You need to be open-minded to enjoy it."
Beller has invented interesting items that tie into the cooking venture. There's Old Brown Shoe Seasoning; a beer holster, which holds one can or bottle of beer against the thigh for easy access while cooking or grilling; a crab poncho for eating crabs; and the "Danger Men Cooking" caution tape.
Beller says the invention that seems to be getting a lot of attention is the holster, which he is promoting to a major beer distributor. Beller says the holster started as part of the cooking demonstration. After each show, people would ask Beller where they could get one.
""Who knows?" says Beller. "Look what happened with the pet rock."
Beller's next cookbook, Cooking Without a Conscience II, is nearly finished. His next major demonstration will be at a Fourth of July promotion for WWMX-FM. He will be appearing at a parking lot - site to be determined - where he will create a tossed salad using a wood chipper.
Beller's cookbook, inventions, recipes and other information are available on his Web site at www.cookingwithout.com.
Mid's high marks
Midshipman 2nd Class Geoffrey M. Nordling was named to the superintendent's list for the spring semester at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Nordling graduated from South Carroll High School in 2000 and was the 2002 recipient of the Merrill Lewis Bartlett Award for excellence in history, research and writing awarded by the Naval Academy's history department.
His parents, Dirk and Linda Nordling of Sykesville, said Nordling will spend three weeks training this summer aboard the USS Harpers Ferry in San Diego, and three weeks at the Naval Academy as a detailer in charge of arriving fourth-class plebes.
Nordling is on assignment in San Diego.
Longwood Gardens trip
Piney Run Park Nature Center is sponsoring a trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday.
The gardens were created by industrialist Pierre S. du Pont and cover 1,050 acres. Longwood offers 20 indoor and 20 outdoor gardens, woodlands, meadows and fountain displays.
The price of $25 per member and $28 per nonmember includes transportation by van and the entrance fee. Participants are asked to take lunch.
Information: 410-795-6043.
Debra Taylor Young's neighborhood column appears each Tuesday in the Carroll County edition of The Sun.