Gastrophoria

Gastrophoria 2.0 : New Home!

2011-11-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've got something tasty to share with you all—Gastrophoria has a new home at gastrophoria.com!

Just like a hermit crab, I've shed my old home (it was a good run dear Blogspot) and designed a new one entirely from scratch. Powered by Wordpress, it's now better, stronger and tastier!

Some of the improvements include bigger photos, better organization with the site split into five sections:

1. A Spot of Tsz: self musings
2. Fooding Guide: must-share restaurant finds
3. Gastro-Remix: kitchen experiments
4. Nuanced Pig: shrine to bacon and its porky counterparts
5. Project Sweet Tooth: all about desserts and my dream trip to Paris

So, don't hesitate and visit me at gastrophoria.com! Bon appetit!

Dolce Gelato : Green Gold Rush

2011-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

I've struck green gold. Tasty pistachio gold.

There's a little trade secret amongst gelato connoisseurs to gauge the caliber of gelato shops and that's by the quality of the shop's pistachio flavor. The reason is that pistachio is one of the most expensive flavoring and hardest flavor to get right, making it the perfect benchmark.

There are two ways for a shop to create this flavor. The artisanal (arguably the right and only way) is to grind toasted pistachio into pistachio butter or use pre-made pistachio butter in their gelato base. The second method is to skimp on using actual pistachios, opting instead to cut it with cheaper alternatives such as almond butter or worse yet, solely employ artificial flavors and colors. Unfortunately, this happens more often than not. A telltale sign of an interior pistachio gelato is that unnatural pastel green you can find in subpar shops and an overly sweet, marzipan flavor.

However, when it's done correctly, the result is sublime. A wonderfully creamy experience with a subtle sweetness and nuttiness that you can't get with any other flavor—a little slice of heaven in a cup or cone. If you can't tell, I'm a little obsessed with pistachio gelato!

Yesterday, after a fail grunion run at Laguna Beach, I was in need of a serious pick-me-up. Fortunately, my friend and fellow gelato enthusiast (so much so that he used to own his own shop!) recommended Dolce Gelato, a little shop off the beaten path.

While I trust his taste, I had some reservations after seeing the shop's signage. Being a graphic designer, I must admit I judge many a place by their appearances and the usage of the font Curlz doesn't exactly convey an unforgettable gelato experience to me.

Fortunately, it's the insides that matter and their gelato was exactly that. Dolce offers a rotating roster of 24 flavors, most of which are classics, (such as vanilla bean, coffee and chocolate) and some are more adventurous with Margarita, brown butter (amazing!) and habanero chocolate. All are made daily in house.

My friend orders the PB and chocolate chip at once. As for me, being highly intolerant to lactose, I arranged for a tasting of all 24 flavors. As proof, here are all my spoons! While all their flavors were top notch, there were 3 that were extraordinary:

The first was of course pistachio. Creamy, full-bodied, yet delicate at the same time, it was one of the best specimens of pistachio gelato I've ever eaten. The secret (not-so secret now) to Dolce's recipe is that they use 50% California pistachios for the creaminess and 50% Sicilian pistachios for their intense flavor.

Second flavor is their non-dairy chocolate, mostly because I couldn't tell it was non-dairy! They were able to get the richness by using quality dark chocolate, rum for the extra kick and bananas to get the creaminess just right.

Third flavor is banana cream as it was just like eating banana pudding. By using a ratio of unripe bananas and ripen bananas, they were able to get spot on with the desired texture and peak flavor.

My friend and I left with our spirits renewed and stomachs fully satisfied. The only critique I have is they should have opened in Los Angeles instead, preferably next door to where I live ;)

Dolce Gelato

247 Broadway Street

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

949.715.9249

Ruxbin : Rethinking Chicago Cuisine

2011-06-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

I half-dreaded visiting Chicago.

My first trip happened years ago when I met my arch nemesis: snow. While pretty to look at for a few minutes, I subsequently spent the next few hours shivering in a fetal position under covers in full winter regalia and with the hotel heater at full blast. Needless to say, I was not made for the cold.

Also, Chicago cuisine is not my cup of tea. Deep dish pizza, Chicago hot dog and popcorn was not something to write home about. So, when my friend invited me to the NRA (not the gun-totting kind), National Restaurant Association Convention, I was weighing the cons and pros for a few days.

Fortunately, my curiosity won out and I am so glad it did because this trip changed my perception of Chi-town's foodscape. Of course, I made it a point to avoid all tourist traps, so no Yelp and instead, I only consulted friends with a strong penchant for eating well.

One such recommendation was Ruxbin. It's an almost brand spankin' new restaurant near Wicker Park that's creating a buzz in the community for its renditions of American comfort food fused with Korean flavors—and doing it well. Not to mention it is a dream project of the brother-sister duo of Ed (formerly of Per Se) and Vicki Kim (USC alumna, a fellow Trojan literally—my friend was in the same student organization with her!). With a story like that, how can I not visit?

So after a red eye flight and a full day of work and exploring, we made our way to Ashland. In an unassuming building on a sketchier block, Ruxbin was quite a sight to behold in all its reclaimed and steampunk glory. What was not good though was that it was already a full house when it was only 6 pm.

My fears were confirmed when we were turned away as there was a 2+ hour waitlist, merde! Fortunately, the hostess (who was actually Vicki herself as I later learned 2 courses down the road) sensed that we were travel weary and agreed to seat us upstairs in the communal wine table for appetizers—let the feasting begin!

First up, bread service. Instead of the usual bread and butter routine, we were treated to a fluffy bowl of popcorn treated with toasted seaweed. So addicting that we scarfed down three bowls of this within minutes of getting situated.

It was a good thing the garlic fries soon arrived as we would packed away their entire popcorn supply! Thinly cut, expertly fried and sprinkled with just enough garlic, these fries made for a top class appetizer, especially when dipped (and doubled dipped) in their housemade smoky chipotle aioli.

We also ordered the Ruxbin's Croque Monsieur. Normally it's leaden with cheese and quite deadly, but this rendition was given major lippo and makeover with the use of fresh tomatoes, olive tapenade and a sprinkling of herbs.

For libations, we let our server (who was also the in house mixologist) take care of us. His special of the night was a homemade ginger soda with lemongrass, cucumber and Thai chili. It started out refreshing and cool and slowly grew spicier as the meal progressed. Lovely!

By then, a table opened up and we were ushered downstairs. It was a feast for the eyes being fully immersed in the dining room. With Vicki as our guide, she pointed out the reclaimed elements, which was basically every piece in the room! Here are some highlights: the glass wall was salvaged from a DJ booth, the lights made from old chandeliers and school chairs, seats created from old Eames chairs and seatbelts and the ceiling were decoupage with vintage cookbook pages.

Finally, our mains arrived. Mussels bathed in a savory mixture of sake, tomatoes, orange and fennel was textbook good, but the hanger steak stole the show.

The humble cut of beef was elevated to prima dona status as it was perfectly grilled and adorned with a single caramelized yolk (made by poaching it in a solution of melted sugar and fat). When pierced, the yolk coated the slices of steak luxuriously… I am salivating just thinking about it. And it only gets better from there with the strong support cast of crispy kale and kimchi fried potatoes. It was hands down the best dish from the trip.

By then, we were ready to throw in the towel but Vicki encouraged us all to push through by sending out desserts. The first was a refreshing lime panna cotta with lychee and toasted coconut, almost like a pina colada!

The other was a grown up strawberry shortcake, was macerated berries, chantilly creme, crispy biscuit and a balsamic drizzle. The only regret I had was wishing I didn't eat as much during the meal so I could have enjoyed it more fully.

My friends and I stumbled back the car afterwards fully sated and with grins all around. We were definitely in a state of gastrophoria ;)

I couldn't have asked for a better first night in Chicago. Thank you Vicki for taking care of us and showing me Chi-town is so much more than deep dish pizza!

Tortellini Tikka Masala : Gastro-remix Inspired by hitRECord

2011-04-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

I'm probably one of the biggest procrastinators out there. Just sit me in front of a computer (with internet access) and I'll be happily occupied for days if not forever.

It always starts innocently enough, with a quick log-in to gmail to check messages (estimated time: 5 minutes)—you know, just a quick in-and-out maintenance.

Fast forward to 2 hours later and I'm furiously trying to figure out the typeface to a Logan Walters' redesign of Wu-Tang Clan album. Productive night fail.

Once in a blue moon, procrastination can produce some fruitful results, such as creating a new recipe for tortellinis.

Strangely enough, it started with watching an interview with Joseph Gordon Levitt on Team Coco's website after being stuck staring at a plate of uncooked tortellinis and deciding to take a break. Mesmerized with the plain red button that JGL was wearing, it led me on a google search. Turns out it is the logo for his production company, hitRECord… interesting.

After a quick stroll through the site and finding out it's for artists collaborations, I then sign up and proceeded to spend the next hour checking out projects—this one is a goodie (To warn you, clicking on the link may lead to your own procrastination odyssey!)

While I was going through all the remixes on JGL's site, it clicked. Tortellinis doesn't have to be prepared with a classic Italian sauce and accompaniments, why not take a page from hitRECord and remix it with a different cuisine? After all, I often wish I could pair sauces from one restaurant with main courses of a another.

With that way of thinking, everything fell in place. Three-cheese trifecta tortellinis on a play date of a lifetime with the spicy and sassy tikka masala—tastes like a Vespa ride on the set of a Bollywood feature or JBL's mismatched Badtz Maru socks. Ok, definitely not that, but you get the idea.

Give it spin and let me know what you think!

Tortellini Tikka Masala

Serves 6

1 package Barilla Three Cheese Tortellini

Tikka Masala

2 tb canola oil

1 small onion, diced (around 1 1/2 cups)

2 tsp ginger, minced

2 gloves garlic, minced

1 pinch pepper flakes (or to taste)

2 tsp garam masala (or curry powder if you can't find it)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 jar Classico marinara pasta sauce (any brand is fine)

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Garnish

1/4 cup silvered almonds, toasted

1 tb lemon zest

Cilantro sprigs

Olive oil

1. Prepare the tortellinis according to package directions. It should take around the same amount of time as the sauce.

2. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat, add oil, onion, ginger and garlic and cook until the onions essentially melt. Around 10 minutes. This is the flavor foundation on which the sauce builds upon so don't skimp on the time spent here!

3. Add the pepper flakes, garam masala, paprika and cumin to the onion mixture and stir for a few minutes to let the flavors meld and bloom in the oil.

4. Add the sauce and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. Once that's finished, turn off the heat, stir in the cream, cilantro and salt to taste.

5. To plate, pour a healthy ladle of the tikka masala sauce on a plate, add as few (or as many) tortellinis as you like and garnish with a sprinkle of almonds, cilantro, and lemon zest. Top with a peppery olive oil and enjoy!

Billionaire Bacon Palmier : My Plan to Impress Gordon Ramsey

2011-04-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make: I once tried out to be on reality television last year. More specifically, to be on Gordon Ramsey's MasterChef series (season 1).

It's actually quite uncharacteristic of me as I am cursed with the worst possible stage fright. Stuttering, clammy hands, tomato complexion—the whole nine yards. Just thinking about the experience gets my heart pumping at full speed.

However, I'm a devoted Gordon Ramsey fan. I was willing to battle my affliction for the slim chance of meeting the infamous chef and who knows, maybe even impressing him with my culinary creation! And so, on an early Sunday morning, I set out with my good friend to my first casting call at The Grove.

To enter, we had to fill out an application akin to the mammoth packets to apply for college as well as to create our signature dish in front of a panel of judges. Knowing there were no stoves nor refrigeration, I create a plate of cookies as my entry dish. A risk since everyone were preparing extravagant masterpieces.

The producers actually stopped when they walked by my station as I simply unwrapped my plate and said I was ready to present while everyone else scrambled to assemble their elaborate dishes. Looking back, I think they were a little miffed as they thought I didn't take their prompt seriously. However, I presented it as a dish that was uniquely me.

Merging the French palmier (my Francophile side coming out) with the goodness of bacon, it was the matrimony of the two loves of my life. I called it the Billionaire bacon Palmier.

In a way, it's like the perfect man of the cookie world. It combines the French sophistication of buttery pastry layers, the complexity of caramelized brown sugar, the manliness of smoky bacon and just the right amount of spice from the black pepper to keep things interesting. A wonderful blend of sweet, salty and spicy to keep you wanting just a little more. Best of all, he's, I mean, it's low maintenance too—the whole process got me in-and-out of the kitchen in no time.

Perhaps they thought I was crazy to describe a cookie in such depth or that they too saw the light after eating the palmiers (I hope it was the latter), I got the golden (green) ticket to go on to the next round!

Needless to say, I never got on to the show as I was cut after the third round (which involves a cooking video that will never see the light of day). However, it was worth it to see them cast the Housewives of Beverly Hills, not to mention it was a memorable month to say the least! Perhaps one day, I too can make a beef Wellington for Chef Ramsey…

Billionaire Bacon Palmiers

Yields 20 cookies and serves 5

1/2 package or 1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets

1 cup brown sugar

2 thick slices of apple smoked bacon

1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

First, render the bacon slices in a skillet on medium heat till golden brown and crispy. Drain the cooked bacon on paper towels and crumble to tiny pieces (the smaller the better) when cooled to the touch.

Next, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Unfold the sheet of thawed puff pastry on a clean work surface and sprinkle 1/2 cup of brown sugar evenly on top. Use a rolling pin to gently press the sugar into the dough.

Carefully flip the pastry over and scatter the crumbled bacon all over the top. Do the same with the black pepper. Take the remaining 1/2 cup of the sugar and sprinkle over evenly and lightly press the toppings in with the rolling pin.

Now comes the fun part! Roll the left vertical side to the center and then repeat with the right side. Gently press the two sides together and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the pastry log for an hour or so till it's firm and thoroughly chilled. This step is imperative because it enables you to slice the palmiers easily later on and also ensures even baking.

Once the pastry is chilled, slice the log crosswise into 1/2 inch medallions. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet (silpat works wonders as well) with plenty of space in between as they will spread and expand in the oven.

Bake the palmiers for 8-10 minutes till they are golden brown on top. Flip the cookies over and bake for a 3-5 minutes longer till the bottom is caramelized as well. Let them cool for a short while and enjoy responsibly!

My New Trader Joe's Addiction : Peanut Butter Goodies

2011-04-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Girl Scouts better watch out. The cookie syndicate may have the thin mints and Samoas market cornered, but they may soon be losing foothold on the Tagalong business.

Yes, Trader Joe's is encroaching on GS's sacred peanut butter cookie territory with their newest substance, the Peanut Butter Goodies.

Being a long-time loyal GS user, um, supporter, I was skeptical of this product, thinking no way will it ever be as good as the original. But, at under $3 a box (25% cheaper than the real deal), it warranted a try. Besides, I was jonesing for a cookie fix at the time.

So, I rush home with my new purchase, hands slightly trembling as I dissembled the box. Under the fragile cellophane jacket, 16 ravishing chocolate-covered discs grinned at me with their peanut freckles.

I already knew this was going to be some good stuff.

Taking my first bite, my senses were assaulted with a symphony of flavors and textures: crunchy cookie, smooth peanut butter mousse with just the right amount of salt, all concealed by a thick layer of rich milk chocolate. To make them extra lethal, TJ's laced the PB goodies with crushed peanuts on top for even more texture.

Suddenly, Tagalongs with their feeble chocolate coating, seems diluted compared to TJ's wares. What's more is that these PB Goodies taste so much more substantial and real with contrasting textures and striking the delicate balance of sweet vs. salty. Hmm, better have another one just to make sure it's not a fluke.

1/4 box after, consider me a convert. Now, if you would excuse me, I'll just ride out this sweet sugar high, thank you very much.

San Franola Granola : Lifestyle to Business

2011-03-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

Small businesses fascinate me.

Perhaps it's has to do with my childhood aspirations. I had no dreams of grandeur such as creating state policy being a senator, saving lives as a police officer or making millions on Wall Street. All I wanted was to be able to create, to produce something that beautify people's lives or at least made them happy for a moment.

Yet, I have no idea how to do so and I'll admit I still don't. I went to college for art and business where I learned more outside of class than in. After that, I've stage in a restaurant for pastries, worked in an architecture firm and am currently designing in a studio. While I enjoy what I do, there's a gnawing feeling that I still haven't found my niche.

One thing is certain though, I love to learn about how small businesses get started. In fact, interviewing them and figuring out design can help push them forward is the best part of my job.

Even outside of design, whenever I visit a cool store or a nice eatery, I can't help but to engage them in conversation. It's just inspirational to hear about a problem they decided to tackle and how their product/service is able to help.

One such company is San Franola Granola. Started by friends Matt Teichmann and David Miskie, they took on the challenge of creating a healthier granola. After finding them at a party in San Francisco, I got to learn more about their story through Matt.

12 years ago, David's dad was dealing with health issues due to an unhealthy diet. It was clear he had to overhaul his lifestyle so he worked with David to start exercising and to eat better. From that, he created his own granola recipe.

There's a common misconception about granola. Its name may paint a picture of health but the product is anything but. That's because the rolled oats are individually coated with a thick layer of sugar and butter, rendering the initial health benefits useless.

So, David's dad started experimenting in the kitchen. After hundreds of batches, he landed upon the winning formula: roasted almonds, maple syrup, flax seeds, rolled oats, whey protein, canola oil, molasses and a touch of cinnamon. Using all-natural ingredients, he was able to lower the sugar content per serving significantly as well as provide fiber and protein, making it his go-to snack after his work-outs.

With the combination of a healthy diet and exercise routine, David's dad was able to shed 40 pounds and feel even better.

Wanting to share this granola with others, David and Matt left their full-time jobs and bootstrapped to launch San Franola together. It's only been a little over a year, but they're spreading throughout NorCal. And most excitingly, starting to get carried in Los Angeles.

Here's to healthy eating!

Trust Your Gut : The Most Memorable St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

This is for all the girls who have been in abusive relationships, girls currently in abusive relationships, as well as everyone who has a mother, a sister, an aunt, or a girl friend. Take this as a cautionary tale.

I used to be naive. I didn't understand people in abusive relationships. Why couldn't they see the toxic environment they are in? And even if they did, why wouldn't they leave? Don't they value themselves?

For me, I thought I was above it all. That I would never be a victim. After all, I'm independent, smart, and have a foolproof method for weeding out unsavory guys. I was invincible.

Or so I thought.

From May to November of last year, I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. The ironic detail is that I didn't even know it. In fact, it was only on this St. Patrick's Day that I had the realization.

I now understood, having been in the same position that countless women have been in. Abuse doesn't just come in physical punches, but rather in many forms. Insidious tearing downs and having friends taken away is just as bad, because there are no concrete markings for others to see and step in. Your self-esteem takes a beating and it changes your perception of people forevermore. I know it'll take time for me to learn to trust again.

Looking back, I should have heeded all the subtle warnings made by others while I was in thick of it and trusted my gut—that feeling you get (not unlike indigestion) when something's off. Because, even though you are influenced by your heart, deep inside, you still know when something is wrong.

The disconcerting truth about being in an abusive relationship is it rarely begins as one.

Instead, it started out as any other relationship with genuine feelings and attraction coming from both parties. Although an abusive relationship begins from a place of good intentions, the path it takes soon strays to a different trail. Due to insecurities, or in my case, I was with someone struggling to maintain the facade of the perfect man in spite of a bad reputation.

The ironic thing was, if he had been truthful from the very beginning, this would have had a different ending—one that didn't result in betrayal but rather acceptance. After all, one shouldn't be judged forever based on their past (unless they were a serial killer), but rather upon their present actions.

Instead, he did everything in his power to protect his seemingly spotless image. When confronted about unsettling information about his character and his actions brought up by others, he would change the subject, putting the blame instead on the so-called perpetrator.

By interjecting gossip and creating fabrications, he would bury the truth by undermining the reputations of those who stood up to him or had warned me. The fact whether they were my friends or his friends were irrelevant—all were fair game. To gain my trust, he also used his experience and profession as grounds for knowing better, always putting emphasis on his desire to protect me.

As time went on, I grew unsure of what's true and what's false and my friendships deteriorated. I doubted the sincerity of others, stopped going out and looked to the relationship as my main support.

But by then, the relationship has long changed dynamics. No longer was there communication. In its place, broken dates, exclusions and excuses. When I questioned his many disappearances and trips, he blamed it on work even though there were photos online proving otherwise. More alarmingly, there were flirtatious messages between him and others all over the internet that showed little regard to the relationship or me for that matter. Yet, he always knew just what to say, twisting the situation and claiming I was unsupportive.

I had such a distorted view of him that although it was clear the relationship was ill-fitting, I stayed on due to guilt and obligation. I learned to make due even though I was unhappy. Like a friend had once said, it was as if I was trying to put two pieces of the puzzle that was not meant to be together. You know, the cloud pieces that looks as if they fit so you try again and again, hoping the wear on the sides would give accordingly.

One of the my most regrettable moments in doing so was wavering on my stance on when to become intimate in a relationship. My personal rule is to be in love first. But due to increasing pressure and wrongfully placed guilt, I caved in before I was ready. What was meant to be an intimate and beautiful act became cheapen and debased. It felt as if a part of me died.

After a particularly bad month, my work, family and friends started taking notice. Although I brush off their concern, I finally started looking at the relationship at face value. Making a mental checklist, I realized I was emotionally starving and that there was no hope for the situation getting better.

It was then crystal clear what I had to do.

Over a meal of Chicken McNuggets and a bottle of Mexican coke, I told him I couldn't continue. He blamed work and everything else as usual and pleaded me to stay one year, promising things will change.

Immediately, my gut hurt acutely and this time I paid attention. I simply said no and told him I could very well hate him by then so instead, I'd like to end the relationship on a good note and be friends. After saying it, I felt like Atlas without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Yet the guilt remain. He works so hard at his job and was I am breaking up with him based on his work ethics? All because I was unhappy? I felt horrible and tried to make amends by making plans to hang out with him—in essence, putting myself in the same cycle.

I was also slow to let others know of the breakup because of the guilt, but as I started opening up months later, it was as if the world finally spoke up about the elephant in the room and the truth came out.

Every event I went to, I learned something new about him through others—and if I had paid attention, even while I was in the relationship. At first I defended him, but the pieces started making sense. Though the truth was hard to hear, it was really the deception and dishonesty involved in concealing it all that was upsetting. To take advantage of someone's good will and trust to protect themselves was and still is hard to believe.

I became angry at myself for the time wasted, but looking at it from another light, I am proud of myself for getting out as quickly as I could, before the point of no return. Not to mention I had repaired my friendships even before I had ended the relationship.

But I've still got a long way to go. Learning to trust, or specifically, trusting the right people will take time.

And so, I want others to heed this cautionary tale. If I could stop at least one other girl from making the same mistake, then it's not for nothing. I wish for everyone to be careful and to look out for their friends because the sad truth is no one is immune.

With this journal entry, I want to take notes for myself, to refer back to as need, these promises to myself:

I will trust my gut.
I will only lose my heart to a man who's willing to fight for me as much as I fight for him.
Do not make due or settle.
Most of all, treasure my friends.

After what seemed to be the worst St. Patrick's Day where I only wanted to stay home, my friend Christina dragged me out the the most random and fabulous party in an Austrian mansion across from Oscar De La Hoya's home. With a night full of authentic Irish meal of corn beef, dill potatoes and boil cabbage, good conversation and better company, I felt renewed.

And yes, even got my chocolate fix with Irish Car Bomb cupcakes—rich and sinfully delicious. As I walked into their bathroom to wash my hands of incriminating crumbs, I looked upon the endless mirrors and in my best Marie Antoinette accent said, "let them eat cake!"

Bacon Card Giveaway Winner

2011-03-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'd like to give thanks for everyone's support and votes for the Alaska Fish Taco contest. Although my taco didn't win, we put up a strong fight!

Plus, the contest lead me down an interesting route and gave me the chance to cook with the talented Chef Diana of BLD to create the perfect fish taco (at least in my humble opinion)!

Secondly, I'd like to congratulate Diana of Diana Takes a Bite, the winner for the Bacon Card Giveaway!

With bacon on the mind one evening, I decided to immortalize the tasty goodness in card form—and thus, the bacon card was born!

Here's a sneak peek of the porcine cards—be sure to be on the lookout in your mailbox!

Ps. Whoa. Chef Diana and Diana Takes a Bite. It's fate.

2011 Food Trends & Being Snubbed by Barefoot Contessa at the Fancy Food Show

2011-03-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

I confess: I've got a thing for entrepreneurs.

There's just something so awe-inspiring as creating a business from scratch, to take the road less taken and most of all, to believe in an idea so much that an entrepreneur would do everything in his/her power to rally a team of a few (or hundreds) to bring said idea to fruition.

To me, meeting Martha Stewart trumps over the biggest movie star du jour any day. Having met Tom Ford and other notable entrepreneurs, I feel they are down-to-earth and often ready to share a wealth of information.

So, imagine my delight in attending the 2011 Fancy Food Show in San Francisco for work. Not only was there to be 3 days of tasting galore, there was also the chance to meet with food entrepreneurs, one of which was Barefoot Contessa, the easy-going personality of Food Network.

Alas, a friendly on-screen personality doesn't always translate to real life. It was evident as an artisan cheese maker in line earnestly praised Contessa and presented her with a wheel of his best cheese only to be thanked in a bored sigh and with directions to place the wheel away from the display.

I fared no better, as my request for a photo was met with explicit directions to stand at least a few feet away. Sadness.

The Ace of Cakes booth was even more disappointing. They had roped off the entire booth and only a few buyers were invited in the space. When did TV personalities had bigger egos than their actor counterparts?

Fortunately, Chef Paul Prudhomme was a more welcoming figure (not to mention a legend), chatting and joking with passerby's.

The food also didn't disappoint. From cured hams from Italy, cheeses from around the world and enough sweets to satisfy the most formidable sweet tooth, I felt like a kid in a stadium-size candy shop.

After tasting (and re-tasting) at most of the 1,300 booths, here is my report on 2011's food trends.

1. Black truffle "caviar"

Taking the latest molecular gastronomy techniques, Tartuflanghe disguises concentrated black winter truffle juice in caviar form through spherification. Served on top of toast with smoke salmon and mild cheese, the truffle perlage samples were in such demand that the server had trouble keeping it in stock. I alone had more than a handful. Each day.

2. Duck Proscuitto

Hudson Valley may be known best for their foie gras, but their myriad of delectable duck products stole the show. There were duck salami, smoked duck breast and duck proscuitto. Sweeter than their ubiquitous porky cousin, it was smoky, silky and addicting. Lesson learned? It's great during breakfast, lunch and dinner!

3. Flavorless Water

It seems water has come a full circle. With the carbonated, vitamin infused and fruity flavored water now considered passe, the hot new water are ones that are flavorless so they can better hydrate and cleanse the palate. Claims made by such are SanTasti and Blk… I think marketers are running out of things to promote!

All in all, a wonderfully delicious show!

Photos courtesy of Rachel

My Day in the BLD Kitchen

2011-03-13T00:34:00.000-08:00

IIt was 4pm and I stood in BLD's employee's bathroom fussing over about my motley outfit of Banana Republic dress pants, a pair of boys socks, black crocs and a collared shirt.

Only a few hours ago, I was on the phone with Anuar, BLD's general manager, proposing the idea of me shadowing Chef Diana and her crew since I had won their Tweet-a-Dish Contest. My goal was to help out and observe the conception and execution of a dish as well as to see how their kitchen ran.

Intrigued, Anuar said he'll discuss with Neil and Amy Fraser, the husband and wife team behind Grace and BLD. After what seemed to be an eternity (aka an hour), I was given the green light!

And so, after a design presentation, I rushed over and quickly changed into the only pair of pants I owned and ran to meet Chef D. With a warm smile, backwards baseball cap (the unofficial uniform of the crew) and speaking a mile a minute, she quickly showed me the facility and kitchen.

Because I have worked in pastry at the now closed Sona, it was comforting to be back in a commercial kitchen. However, there are changes between two. Back in Sona, I was coddled in the cool (temperature-wise) side of kitchen as the pastry station was next to the garde manger and had low boys and a freezer.

The BLD kitchen however, the cooks are sandwiched between a wall of scalding hot grills, ranges, a deep fryer and the other side, heating lamps. To keep cool, I gulped ice water.

As Chef D had other matters to attend to as she oversees the entire kitchen, she introduces me to Adonis (Doni) where he showed me the ropes. I also made acquaintance with the all-male staff (where are the girls?) and then it was business.

To create Chef D's version of the fish taco—beer batter fish taco with cilantro ginger slaw, Thai chili Aioli and corn tortillas to be exact—it starts with homemade corn tortillas made in house that day.

Next was star of the show, the fish. A fresh shipment of rock cod arrived that morning, so Chef D had prepared a marinade of coconut cream and an in-house blend of curry paste made with fresno chilies, shallots, ginger, amongst various spices.

As the fish is marinating, Doni and I ground Arborio rice till it became a fine powder to be used to flour the fillets. He also taught me the secrets of making a crunchy yet airy beer batter: 1 parts flour, 2 parts corn starch, baking powder, lots of beer (Pilsner for taste), soda water, salt and freshly toasted cumin and coriander seeds to build flavor. Don't forget at the end 1 egg white beaten to soft peaks, the key to a light batter.

The cilantro ginger slaw was given similar care. The cabbage, carrots and green onions were finely shredded and lightly salted to draw out moisture. Right before serving, the slaw was dressed with a dressing of cane sugar, fish sauce, sesame paste, chilies and lime.

My main contribution of the day was making aioli, to which I added lime juice, lime zest and an ungodly amount of Sriracha to homemade mayo.

With all the components ready, it was time for a test run!

Doni carefully dusts the generous fillets of fish in the rice powder, then dunks it in the beer batter and lightly lowers the fillet into hot oil. Then, a corn tortilla is sprinkled with water and thrown on the griddle to warm and soften. Chef D then smears on a generous helping of the Thai aioli, and places on the freshly fried fish and slaw. To serve, a sprig of cilantro and crushed macadamia nuts are sprinkled on top. It was a sight of beauty.

After the wait staff gathers, we all divvy up the test taco and my oh my, my recipe pales in comparison to Chef D's masterpiece. Crunchy, spicy and fresh at the same time, it was as if my mouth was on vacation on sunny Cabo.

I stayed a little while longer to watch them prepare a few other dishes—one of which was an interesting vegan dish that packs a party of flavors—but I knew I couldn't wait much longer for the full fish taco experience. With that, I changed back into my dress, met up with my friend and got our grub on!

Thank you to Chef Diana and Anuar for making a foodie's dream come true. And to Doni and the kitchen team for patiently showing me around. Lastly, to Christina of Food J'taime, Kevin of KevinEats and Matt of Mattouille for coming out!

Note: The photo of Chef D and I as well as the good photo of the fish taco are courtesy of Kevin.

Join Me at BLD Tonight & Giveaway!

2011-03-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

I'm breaking my vows.

2 years ago, I set myself the challenge to not wear pants (weird, I know) and have been going strong up till today. That's right, even before Kanye West's Rosewood fashion initiative, I've aimed to bring back the art of dressing.

For today though, I'll be taking a temporary break. To don a pair of pants so I can explore the kitchens of BLD!

It all started out with their weekly Tweet a Dish contest. Everyone is invited to submit dish ideas for their Thursday night dinner via Twitter to Chef Diana (BLDchfD) where she then chooses a dish and recreates it. Best part? The idea-originator gets a free meal for him/her and a guest!

So, I submitted my recipe for a turmeric and ginger fish taco with a jicama slaw (recipe here—and if you don't mind, vote for me? Pretty please?) and much to much surprise and delight—got chosen as this week's winner!

Best part? Chef Diana will be reinterpreting my dish with her twist and I've been invited to the depths of the famed BLD kitchen to help prep and observe what it takes in the creation and execution of a restaurant worthy dish.

If you are without dinner plans tonight, I'll love to see you at BLD and cook you a plate of delicious fish tacos!

And now, onward to the giveaway! If you're a bacon fan, I've 10 bacon greeting cards to give to a lucky winner! I'd wax poetry about it, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves instead :)

The rules? All you have to do is visit Alaska Fish Taco's contest page and vote for my recipe: Turmeric and Ginger Dusted Alaskan Cod Tacos and leave a comment with your contact email. Simple.

An extra entry will be given if you follow Gastrophoria on Twitter—please make sure to make note of it in your comment.

At 11pm Pacific Time next Monday (3/14), I'll draw a name randomly and contact the winner to get mailing info. Spread the word, don't delay and best of luck!

Opening Reception at Starry Kitchen this Friday

2011-03-06T23:13:00.000-08:00

This month flew by in a blur! I've been consumed in painting an abstract portrait of a whale shark, my latest and most challenging commission to date.

Normally, my paintings hardly ever see open air, as they are passed directly to my patron's collection as soon as they're completed. But, this time around, I'm mixing things up and thus, excited to present and to invite you to an unveiling of my painting!

Courtesy of Starry Kitchen and my friend Matt K., my painting, titled Marokintana (Rhincodon Typus) will be on display this Friday, March 11th, at Starry Kitchen from 6:30-9:30 pm.

To whet your appetite, here's a little sneak peak of the painting in progress…

So, if you haven't any dinner plans already, come on by, say hi and feed your stomach and mind!

And shhh… keep it on the down low, but rumor has it Starry Kitchen will be featuring Taiwanese pork chops, krab cakes and pandan flan (in addition to their famous spicy pork belly and lemongrass chicken) this Friday night. Awesome blossom!

Red Velvet Cookies: A Happy Accident

2011-01-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

Who knew how versatile a humble box of cake mix can be?

It was one of those days. My eyes were shot from staring at the computer all day at work, followed by a frustrating commute home… only to find out after walking in my home that I forgot to grocery shop.

In this case, it was not for dinner but rather for an art reception the next day! Yet, I'm so exhausted the thought of making a trek to the nearest store is like getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Ok, so I haven't had them pulled yet—the big day is this Saturday—but you get the point.

So instead, I started rummaging through my cupboards, hoping for divine intervention. And it came, in a box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix. Problem was, I couldn't make cupcakes because the piece de la resistance at the show is an interactive cupcake piece. Le merde.

You see, I was brought on board by my old design professor at USC to mentor a few students for their upcoming show, X Marks the Spot, where every participating artist must take a letter and recreate its form in an unexpected medium.

As luck would have it, I was paired with 3 foodie designers! So, it was joy to brainstorm with them and basically have my minions, ahem, I mean students create my dream vision. Not going to give away the cow, so I can only say one of the pieces involves cupcakes and lots of them. If you're interested in checking it out, the reception is tomorrow night (1/25) at USC's Lindhurst Gallery from 5 to 8pm. Just say Tsz sent you!

Anyways, back to the cake mix. Competing cupcakes were out of the equation, so what else can I do? Fortunately, it turns out with a slight alternation in the eggs and butter ratio, the mix can be transformed into a cookie dough—and it's so easy!

Don't believe me? Let me show you in 6 steps.

1. Open cake mix in a big mixing bowl.

2. Grate 1 teaspoon of orange peel and mix well. Actually, this is optional, but I rather like the taste of orange and chocolate together. So if you skip this, it's only 5 steps.

3. Beat in 2 eggs and 6 tablespoons of melted butter. Really trippy how the tan colored cake mix turns blood red in the span of a minute...

4. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll them in a mixture of 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch.

5. Baked in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

6. Let cool and dust with more powdered sugar.

Done and done. They're best when fresh out of the oven cause they're soft and chewy. Addicting.

I got a little styling-happy and busted out some patriotic napkins—would make for a festive July Fourth dessert don't you think?

Thank you Ducan Hines!

When Life Gives You Lemons… Make Lemon Curd

2010-12-13T21:09:00.000-08:00

I am quite spoiled—in the lemon department.

Shortly after moving to our house 15 some years ago, my family went on a day trip to Home Depot to look for plants for the front and back yard. My mom chose roses in all sorts of colors; my dad got the standard shrubbery; my little brother didn't care as he could barely even walk; and I, a lemon sapling. This could have very been a forecast of what's to come in my future!

In just a few years, the sapling grew from the top of my navel to taller than our house, producing an endless supply of lemons. We used them for lemonade, lemon coke, preserved lemons—nothing beats walking just a few yards for the fresh stuff.

It wasn't till recently that I ventured out the beverage arena to give lemon curd a try. Armed with a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, I went and picked out 2 plump specimens and got to work.

In a medium saucepan, I whisked together 1 cup sugar, 1 TB lemon zest and 8 egg yolks. Next I mixed in 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons) and 1/4 tsp salt.

Once all the ingredients are well incorporated, I set the pan over medium-high heat and added in 10 TB unsalted butter, which equals to 1 1/4 sticks. I whisked constantly as lemon scent scrambled eggs wasn't my goal!

In a few minutes, it was thick enough to coat a the back of a spoon. Strained and cooled in the fridge for a few hours, I had 2 cups of the lip-puckering compound.

Lacking foresight however, I did not prepare anything to serve the curd with… fail.

After a mad scrambled, I found a box of Trader Joe's Vanilla Meringues, the hero of the day. With a generous smear of the lemon curd in between the airy cookies, I had myself a deconstructed lemon meringue pie! It works especially well as the cookies by themselves were too sweet for my taste so the lemon curd was instrumental in balancing the saccharine meringues.

Love the classy ridges on the meringues. Makes me want to ask, "oh you fancy huh?"

Hope you give it a try!

House of An's Noodle Off: How to Win People's Choice

2010-12-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

My heart was beating so fast I was sure the crowd could hear it through the microphone, which was handed to me just a second ago after the host announced my name. After a never-ending second of terror, I began to speak…

The day was November 22, 2010. An ordinary Monday that started out as bland as it can be which included a long day at work.

However, instead of driving home at the end of the day, I braved the traffic instead to Tiato to cook for over 100 people and to be on Fox News. How did I find myself in this situation?

2 weeks ago, I entered a cooking competition on a nondescript Sunday. The An family had created the Noodle-Off to celebrate the prodigious Crustacean's 30th anniversary and the opening of their newest venture, Tiato and I got the heads up through a friend.

Using the flavors of my childhood, specifically a beloved dish by my grandma, I overhauled the ubiquitous Italian Bolognese to create my own version. Gone were the tomato base and in its place, sour plum and dried tangerine peel worked their magic. Pancetta was out, replaced by Chinese Yunnan ham. I'll stop now before divulging all my secrets ;)

A couple of days later, I got the fateful phone call from the organizers and here I was, introducing myself and explaining my inspiration for the Asian Bolognese in front of a panel of judges, which included a better part of the famous An family (including the creator of the trademarked garlic noodles!), industry professionals and a full house. Oh yeah, Jane Yamamoto was there with her crew too.

Although I am deathly afraid of public speaking—definitely lost a lot of sleep over anticipating that portion of the evening and have the under eye circles to prove it, it was an amazing experience that taught me much about competing and how to present oneself. Here's a list of Do's and Don'ts:

1. Do not wear black when appearing on TV. See example.

2. Separate yourself from your competition using your strengths. In my case, I took advantage of my design background to amp up my table.

3. If you have a difficult name, use a prop to help others remember you. In my case, I used a cup of tea, which doubled up as my beverage of the night. Double win.

4. Cook more than you need to for less trips to the kitchen. I was able to win over more attendees by serving still while other competitors were running back and forth because they ran out of food.

5. Leave behind works! I made little flags to hand out to everyone (even and especially the judges) so they will remember my dish. Muahaahah.

6. Keep your answers short and sweet. Newscasters are under strict time restraints and will not hesitate to cut you off.

7. Taste, taste and taste your food! Chef Helena told me afterwards that the reason she docked off points was because I overdid it with the sesame oil. DANG.

7. Stop stressing and just have fun!

Ultimately, the veteran competitor won. A retired administrator, she now competes full-time and have been cleaning house at various cooking competitions, including the Panini-Off early this year.

But. I didn't go home empty handed! Yours truly won People's Choice, which was a $200 gift certificate to Crustacean—no too shabby eh?

Photos courtesy of my friends and boss. Thank you for documenting the event as it went by in a blur for me!

Fresheast : Be Kind to Yourself

2010-12-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

Although I adore Chinese food, I'm quite wary of going to Chinese restaurants *Note: in America*. Partly because my parents dragged me along to way too many as a kid and I feel as though I've fill my lifetime quota. But mostly, I'm not too fond of the queasiness I am left with after a meal. The copious amount of oil and MSG within each dish just wreaks havoc to my stomach.

So, when Ravine, the owner of Fresheast, invited me for a meal at his newly opened restaurant, I was cautious.

But I did some research and learned that Fresheast wasn't a Chinese restaurant, but rather an eatery dedicated to sustainable ingredients and showcased flavors from Asia. Interesting.

I called up my friend and off we went to explore Fresheast. Tucked away in an unsuspecting plaza with Pavilions and a Chase bank in Weho, the restaurant is easily overlooked with the exception of day-glo green vinyl patterning on their windows.

The interior houses an eclectic mix of modern furnishings and traditional decorations tied together by the theme of sustainability. There were recycled chairs made out of coke bottles, reclaimed wood floors, Japanese wood screens and vintage bird cages—interior-wise, they certainly do as they preach.

However, we're there for the food so we ordered a few of their offerings. The menu was easily navigable with your choice of protein and sides as well as a few specialties (a burger even!).

For drinks, we tried the melonade, a refreshing blend of watermelon, lemon and palm sugar, which can be liken to a milder aqua fresca, and the Fresheast juice. The latter was the standout star, which startles at first with beets and kale, but then finishes on a sweet note with orange and apple.

The Shanghai beef with brown rice and stir fried veggies came out first. The flavors was spot on for the beef, but the Harris Ranch grass fed beef unfortunately didn't have enough fat so it was too tough for my taste. I quickly abandoned it for the veggies, as they were crisp and had a kick coming from an abundance of grated ginger.

The grilled miso jidori chicken was my favorite. Perfectly grilled and lacquered with a no-too sweet miso glaze, it was a great pair with the quinoa. My friend and I fought over for the last piece!

By then, we were both full, but we couldn't resist ordering their sorbet of the day: comice pear. Unbelievably creamy, yet made without dairy (impossible!!) and full of pear goodness, it was a great end to a tasty meal.

Best part? As we walked out, I was not overcome with the urge to go to the ladies room or the need to sit through a food coma. Rather, I felt uncharacteristically good and filled with energy. Even though we were off to watch Tangled, I was ready to run or lift something. Crazy huh?

On that basis alone, I'll be back to Fresheast. I mean, of course it's a noble cause to support their goals of being sustainable and socially responsible—even their plates were made of recycled palm leaves. But it's rare to find a restaurant that's able to produce healthy dishes that actually taste good as well. Kudos!

A Green Dinner: an Homage to Munchies

2010-12-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

Last month, I had the most expensive dinner to date. And what an experience of a lifetime it was. This month marks the most interesting dinner party I've had the opportunity to cook for.

This past Sunday, I was given carte blanche by a friend and fellow foodie to create the menu for his latest dinner party. The challenge? It was in 2 days and I was to include Cannabis Indica infused oil and butter within the courses served.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, I accepted. Never mind that I've never cooked with the substance and the only experience I've had with it was a lone bite of brownie, the opportunity was too fun and risque to pass up. Did I mention there was a Thermador 48-inch range put into play?

So, taking inspiration from all the TV shows (aka That 70's Show) that referenced the illicit substance, I based my menu on the foods one would want to consume after smoking.

With the help of the attendants, we set out to revamp classic munchies. The first course takes on cheetos and other crunchy snacks with Poutine. Using ground pork and finely diced veggies, we made it into a spicy Japanese curry that was ladled over fries scented with Indica oil. To finish it off, we shaved aged white cheddar over and sprinkled on chives. Frysmith ain't got nothing on this!

For the 2nd course, I wanted to pay homage to Chipotle so we made a pan seared flap steak, served on top of quinoa seasoned Chipotle-styled with a squeeze of lime, cilantro, garlic and green onions. To round it off, a healthy heap of sauteed snow peas with garlic and bacon. The sauce was an infused Chimichurri.

After the heavy steak, a palate cleanser was sorely needed. To the rescue was a ginger pear granita served with a Cavas shot and elderflower. Taking a breather, there was no addition of green for this.

For the last course, I took on the ultimate cliche—the special brownie. The host has made little special bundt brownies earlier so I warmed them up and paired it with a bacon peanut butter caramel with the addition of the infuse cream, banana foster ice cream and more bacon. I dubbed it The Elvis.

The setbacks though of having a non-Cannabis enthusiast cook a green-theme dinner is that I had no idea on the correct portions. I don't think any of the attendants felt the effects, which made for an ineffective dinner in that regards. However, food and flavor wise, I was very happy with the turnout and am already thinking of the theme for the next underground dinner party…

Fry party anyone?

Noodle-Off Next Monday, Nov. 22: Let Me Feed You!

2010-11-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

Beat the usual Monday blues by checking out Tiato Santa Monica from 8-10p next Monday for a Noodle-Off!

I, along with 3 other finalists, will be cooking and serving up our entry dishes for House of An's first ever cooking competition! There'll be free food galore as we're told to create 70-100 portions and I'd personally rather serve friends than strangers.

To give you a little sneak peak, I'll be serving up an Italian classic with a twist—the Asian Bolognese. Taking inspiration from the ubiquitous family dish, I gave it an update using lesser known gems—such as dried tangerine peel, Jinhua Ham (the Virginia ham of Chinese cooking) and picked plum.

What's in play? The grand prize is:

• $1000 gift certificate to any House of An Restaurant in SoCal (I'm gunning for Crustacean Beverly Hills!)

• Recipe added to House of An Restaurants' menus

• Noodle-Off championship bowl by Jonathan Adler

Also, there's also a People's Choice award! Every attendee are given a ballot during the finals to vote for their favorite dish. The person with the most votes will get a $300 gift card to any House of An Restaurant!

So, please come on by, say hi, enjoy some tasty noodle dishes and vote for me (that is, if you like my dish)! It'll be nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd and have some cheerleaders as the thought of having to appear on the nightly news is terrifying to say the least. Eeee.

Bring your friends and hope to see you there!

More info:

The Noodle-Off Event Finals will showcase the top four (4) finalists and the Semi-Finals winner with the best Noodle recipes from all the collective submissions. The Noodle-Off Championship will be held at Tiato Garden Market Café located at 2700 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, 90404 at 8:00 - 10:00 PM. Finalists will be asked to attend the event where they will prepare their dish LIVE in front of the attending crowd and panel of judges. Finalists should be comfortable with having the media present at the event Finals and speaking to attending press, as the event will be covered by Fox 11 and Jane Yamamoto.

The Noodle-Off Championship panel of judges include:

• Helene An, House of An Executive Chef

• Elizabeth An, CEO of House of An

• Carole Dixon, NBC’s Feast LA

• Krista Simmons, Los Angeles Times “Brand X”

• Mar Yvette, CitySearch Los Angeles

• Lesley Bargar Suter, Los Angeles Magazine

• Jeff Miller, Thrillist Los Angeles

Scarpetta: Trying Truffles and Being Served in the Best Seat of the House

2010-10-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

It started out like any other Monday with an uneventful day at work. But when 5:30p came along, it was time for some serious fooding so I hopped in my car and sped (more like crawl) along Wilshire to get to the grand opening of Scarpetta, the newest venture of chef Scott Conant.

The funny thing though was I had no idea what I was in store for—certainly not a grand night filled with truffles.

You see, my research of Scarpetta was comprised solely of an 1 minute search on google, to which I made the assumption that it was a casual Italian restaurant. Since I've been craving a solid bowl of pasta and was extended an invite by KevinEats, it was on.

It wasn't till I arrived on site that I knew I was in store for something more than a simple bowl of pasta.

Located in the grand Montage hotel, Scarpetta is a cavernous space dedicated to soulful Italian cooking. Upon being seated with my dining companions, servers brought out a myriad of breads and accompaniments.

But before we could partake, it was time to order. The table decided upon an off-menu tasting and a minute later, I found myself and the rest of the table being ushered to the best seats in the house, located at the kitchen's bar in the midst of all the action.

After that, food and wine started parading in and I felt like Alice in Wonder(food)land.

After settling, the servers arrived again with another bread basket, filled with hearty salumi stromboli and herbed focaccia. Although they provided lovely sides of fruity olive oil, mascarpone butter and eggplant caponata, the flavorful breads stood well on their own.

The amuse came soon after, a miniature pot of olives all'Ascolana: olives stuffed with a mixture of beef, breaded and deep fried. Can't go wrong with that.

1. Hamachi crudo and tuna Susci

Speaking not as a fan of raw fish, I quite enjoyed the simple slice of yellowtail sprinkled simply with crunchy grains smoked of smoked salt. The tuna "roll" was decidedly more complex with diced carrots and sprouts, which was then layered generously with black truffles.

Used to the blunt taste of truffle oil and salt but never the real deal before, the ethereal taste of the truffle surprised me.

2. Pumpkin soup with black truffles, faro and crispy pepitas

This next dish also featured truffles—there seems to be a theme going on here… Truffles aside, I adore the use of the entire pumpkin, from the tender cubes of pumpkin, its pureed form and its seeds. It was like eating a savory pumpkin pie.

3. Autumn vegetable salad with roasted root vegetables, black trumpet mushrooms stewed in liquified foie and roasted hazelnuts

Another aptly prepared *semi* vegetarian dish. It's a successful dish when you don't even miss the meat.

4. Sea scallop with sunchoke puree, porcini mushrooms and black truffles

A wonderfully prepared specimen, but unfortunately marred by over salting.

At this point, the sommelier walked by our table and places his version of the Margarita (made with Pimm's!) in front of each of us. While I thought it was compliments of the house, upon receiving the check at the end of the night, it turned out to be a part of a $110 wine pairing. Ouch. The worst part is that I didn't order it because I don't drink.

5. Polenta with white truffles and assorted mushrooms

Arriving at our table modestly with a ceramic cover, this was anything but when unveiled. Heady aroma from the white truffle overwhelmed the senses—black truffles ain't got nothing on this! The impossibly creamy polenta served as the vessel for the bouquet of fungi. A show stopper.

At this point, my stomach was nearing full capacity, so for the subsequent courses, I started packing them in boxes. By the end of the night, I had filled a shopping bag!

6. Spaghetti

Sounds simple—and it is—but perfectly executed. Springy noodles with a distinctive richness from egg yolks, aromatic basil and sweetly stewed tomato sauce, this was what I have been craving for. I would have been happy just having a big bowl of it to myself.

We were given a glass of aged 10 years old Brunello to pair with the pasta. Still under the belief of it being on the house (yes, I should have known better), I passed it along to my sitting partner. Ah, the beauty of miscommunication!

7. Ravioli with chestnuts and short rib

Chestnuts being one of my favorite foods, I greatly enjoyed the pairing of it with the savory beef. No complaints here.

This was paired with another red wine, which I declined to the puzzlement of Mark, the sommelier. He persuaded me to at least try some, which I don't have much to say other than it tasted like wine? Sorry Mark!

8. Roasted duck breast with parsnips 2 ways, raisin mortarda and lentils puree

All I got to say is that duck with raisins = genius.

Accepted a sip of the Barolo as Mark insisted. Yep, my brain still hasn't made the connection…

9. Beef loin with porcini, parmesan, baby potatoes, barolo reduction and white truffles

Didn't get the logic of this dish as the beef and shaved parmesan overwhelmed the delicate truffles, which should be the star in my opinion. Wish they prepared it simply with a potato puree or a poached egg so I could get all the subtle nuances of the truffle.

The dish was served with the 2003 Bibi Graetz. From my sip, I thought it was the most robust tasting of the bunch. The watercolor label was very handsome.

10. Cheese course

• Parmigiano-Reggiano with aged balsamic: nutty

• La Tur with pineapple chutney: funky in a good way

• Caveman Blue with sour cherries: funky in a bad way

• Pecorino Fresco with apple mostarda: a more savory brie-like cheese and my favorite of the group

The cheeses were served with savory biscotti and a 5 yr old oaky Madeira.

11. Rum soaked cake with roasted pineapples and vanilla flan with marsala soaked berries

Light and refreshing. It's a wonder how there's always room for dessert :)

The pairing for this was a Rose wine that even I had to partake for it tasted like a Shirley Temple for adults!

12. Amaretto flan with marsala zabaglione gelato

I'm not a big fan of chocolate desserts as I find them to be rather heavy, but this was absolutely wonderful from the crunch of the amaretto cookie crumbs, to the light yet flavorful creamy flan and the not-too-sweet gelato.

Was riding the sugar sweet high of dinner and dessert till the check came in. Turns out the off-menu tasting were $250 per person and $110 wine pairing—a bit of a sticker shock to say the least. Lessons learned?

1. Ask for prices for assumptions are deadly. In this case, it leads to unwanted wine pairings.

2. Know your dining companion's eating style. The night could have been a complete 180 with a different group—know what you're getting yourself into.

3. Truffles are $$$, white truffles are $$$$$.

4. The ease of spending verses earning.

Despite the dreaded thought of the credit card bill next month and having to eat in for the rest of the year (and then some), I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

I mean, how often can I say I was one of the first diners to eat at Scarpetta's kitchen on opening night? Or having Chef Scott Conant personally serve me? Or going from being a truffle virgin to being around the truffle block several times over? Or (sssshhh) swiping fresh herbs from their centerpiece for my soup? Or perhaps going down in Scarpetta's hall of records as the one who didn't drink the wines from a wine pairing like an eccentric baller? And my favorite, asking for fashion tips from Mark, the sommelier? Check out his beautiful tie!

An unforgettable night on all levels.

Catering for the Hypersthene Group

2010-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

This past week, Yulree and I were cooking once again, this time for the launch party of the Hypersthene Group. It’s a company committed in bringing together diverse social circles by providing avenues and events—the brain child of the lovely Mini and Jueun.

We were given free reins, but with the challenge of serving in a venue with no stove nor oven. Not a problem however, for we were equiped with a microwave, a hot plate and the newest addition to the collection, a mini deep fryer! We rocked it out for 80 people with a menu inspired by the World’s Fair, paying tribute in our own ways to different regions. Here’s a little taste of the night’s offerings:

1. The Mojo

An amuse bouche if you will. The Mojo cures all with a blend of salted peanuts, chili limon, sun dried mangoes held together by a cloak of bittersweet chocolate. Gives me an excuse to work with chocolate ;)

2. Vegetable Samosa

Vegetarians needn't suffer boring food with Indian inspired curried vegetable pastries paired with a mango and Granny Smith chutney. Our little fryer-that-could was invaluable for this through the night—my heartfelt thanks to Presto and Target!

3. Bruschetta Neapolitan

This dish was inspired by Italian vineyards with hearty garlic crostini topped with sweet tomatoes, salumi crisps, fresh basil and shaved Grana Padano. Tip to home entertainers: save time by having the bakery slice the bread ahead of time, your hands will thank you.

4. Hawaiian Cowboy Meatballs

Stumbled on this a while back when confronted with too many pork chops and not enough BBQ sauce. To make the sauce stretch, I blended pineapples, onion confit, garlic and various spices into the existing BBQ sauce. The result was a tangy, lighter sauce that complimented the richness of the pork.

Using the sauce as the base, we used it to glaze beef meatballs. The final touches were pineapple nuggets and a sprinkling of toasted sesame for these mini kabobs. The crowd favorite of the night!

Didn’t get to pay gastronomic homage to France, but I made do in other ways with freshly designed business cards. A fun project!

For dessert, our friend Grace from Cake Bar created a collection of cocktail inspired mini cupcakes. All were lovely, but I kept going back for the Irish Car Bomb confections. Guinness chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache and a Bailey's buttercream—it’s better than the actual drink!

Congratulations to Hypersthene's momentous launch. Can’t wait to check out future gatherings!

Chinatown Summer Nights : Reconnecting with My Roots

2010-08-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

My family and I immigrated to America when I was 7 years old. I remembered being confused as I thought we were on a vacation—a temporary stay in an unfamiliar place but at the end of the week, we'll be back at home in Hong Kong.

According to old photos, it certainly wasn't the first time as there were numerous photos of me in Disneyland with Mickey and his pals from years past and faint memories of oranges and time spent with my grandparents. Except, this time around, there were tears, cardboard boxes and packing tape.

The move finally dawned on me as we moved in with my grandparents in a tiny apartment (which I thought was enormous—coming from HK) above my grandpa's book store on Chung King Road. As my parents looked for a house in the suburbs, I attended Castelar Elementary during the day and spent the rest of my time reading Old Master Q comics in my grandpa's bookstore.

When my parents found a house in sleepy Temple City four months after, we moved once again. In the years that followed, I struggled to learn English and fitting in. For the first time, I wasn't the smartest in class but rather one of the slowest. I took comfort in art as that was the only subject that didn't require an understanding in English.

I also distanced myself from my culture in order to be more "American." In a way, my life was a mirror of Chung King Road. There used to be bustling Chinese shops all opened along the road, then one day, a lone art gallery sprung up to replace a martial arts school. Then another, and another. The most significant change being my grandpa's bookstore—when he passed away, my grandma sold the space and in the span of a few months, almost all traces were wiped clean with a fresh coat of white paint and a few avant garde paintings.

Life went on and I went on to study fine arts at the University of Southern California. Then explored the world of fashion, food and design after graduating—still trying to find my place in this world!

For years, I didn't think much of Chinatown, until a chance call this past May from Amanda, my client for design from when I was an undergrad. We swapped stories and she asked if I was interested in branding Chinatown Summer Nights—a month long event in August produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS) and the Community Redevelopment Agency of LA (CRA/LA) in efforts to bring life back to the lethargic Chinatown.

It was a project I couldn't pass up. Not only is it a designer's dream to brand an entire event, but this was the perfect opportunity to reconnect with my roots.

The day after the contracts were signed, I dragged my then date, now boyfriend Lucky to Chinatown and spent the better part of the day exploring the town and snapping photos.

There was a certain beauty that I haven't paid attention to before—the faded candy colors, the kitschy neons and the paper lanterns. When I finally made my initial sketches, I wanted to convey the essence of that beauty to others. The color palette were drawn from the paint on the actual buildings, the typefaces inspired by the neon store signs and the logo a mix of neon and Chinese writing seals.

It was one of the most challenging projects I've finished thus far. The first being the sheer scale and the lack of time available to accomplish it. It was also the first project where I learned to manage programmers—designing for the web is a completely different beast than print! But mostly, it was an extremely personal project because of the history I've had with Chinatown.

Got to visit the event on 2 separate occasions and was surprised each time to see how well received the event was. It's definitely heartening to see Chinatown lively and buzzing—kudos to CARS, CRA/LA, as well as all the community organizations that came together to put Chinatown Summer Nights together.

Also, got to admit, it's a big boost to the old ego to see my maps, directory and logo everywhere—even when it's above a bathroom sign!

And of course, the food…

Not only were there food trucks galore at CSN—to which I tried the poutine at Frysmith, Papa's Tapas, Lomo Arigato and Patty Wagon—they were also entertaining cooking demos with numerous Chinatown restaurants and amusing emcees. One such was the vivacious Next Food Network star Doreen Fang as she, with the help of the Miss Chinatown Queen and Princess as they touted the beauty benefits of eating fish maw (aka stomach).

Here are more food from CSN:

Poutine with bacon gravy at Frysmith. Unfortunately a letdown with room temperature, bland gravy and too high expectations. Quite enjoyed the squeaky cheese curds though!

La Vie en Rose Burger at Patty Wagon. Hearty buns, robust Gruyère, juicy patty and sweet caramelized onions. Doesn't get better than this.

Free salt & pepper crab claw at the cooking demo. Hard to eat without the proper tools but solidly prepared.

Tallarin Saltado at Lomo Arigato. Generously sized with a good sodium kick. Don't forget the Aji Verde sauce!

Paella at Papa's Tapas. Healthiest of the bunch with the side salad but the rice was too gummy—tasted as if it was cooking for the entire day (most likely).

Can't wait to check out CSN again next year!

An Announcement...

2010-08-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

Gastrophoria is in the middle of a transformation!

Back in March, I first got an addicting taste of cooking on a large scale when joining up with my friend Yulree to cater my old classmate's 25th birthday bash. Looking back, it was crazy that we, with the help of 2 friends, were able to pull off and succeed in cooking for 200 people with no prior experience! Since then, Yulree and I have been steadily cooking together in our spare time, working on different food concepts and we're proud to say that we are partnering up to take Gastrophoria to new heights.

Gastrophoria has been my personal journal to catalog and share unforgettable food experiences, moments of euphoria when a specific flavor combo just hits you and overwhelms—not unlike falling in love.

Now, Yulree and I are modifying the paradigm. We're joining forces not to simply share our epicurean experiences, but rather, we want to bring the experience to others.

Simply put, under the name Gastrophoria, we'll be combining our love of cooking and hosting to create exceptional dishes and one-of-a-kind events. We both believe that bringing together people and food often produces magical results and we're excited to be on the quest to do so.

This blog will then be the vehicle where we document our journey on this new mission. In fact, Yulree will be covering our latest adventure!

Until then, happy eating, together.

Brodard's Nem Nuong Cuon Remixed

2010-06-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Personality-wise, Kanye West isn't someone you would want to meet your mother. Musically however, he's up there amongst the musical greats (in my book, that is).

Take "I Wonder" for example. West has an uncanny knack for taking snippets of the classic, Labi Siffre's "My Song," then mixing in a sweet beat and lyrics to transform it into a musically delicious morsel.

In cooking, I strive to be like Kanye—to take classic dishes and remixing them into my own.

After a particularly (stomach) fulfilling day at Westminster where I was inducted to the wonderful nem nuong cuon (aka pork spring roll) world that is Brodard, I couldn't wait to recreate it into something new.

First step was to relive the experience. Luckily, there was plenty of photographic evidence to review.

Brodard's rolls are quite innocuous looking. Yet, underneath the translucent rice wrappers is a tempest of flavors and textures. First, there is the grilled snappy pork sausage with a garlicky punch. Then a shatteringly crispy chive egg roll comes into play. Best part though is that it finishes on a light note, with crisp romaine, spears of fresh cucumber and aromatic chives. You won't find any filler rice noodles here.

If that wasn't enough, the nem nuong cuon comes with the "house special sauce," a secret concoction that makes the rolls taste even better. It's simultaneously sweet, spicy, salty and comforting.

To recreate the rolls, I started out making the chive egg rolls, a easy task with prepared wrappers. Cutting each wrapper in half, I wrapped them around a few chinese chives loosely (goal is to get layers of crispy wafers) and glued the ends with a bit of egg wash. A minute in a hot oil bath afterwards was all it took to get them golden brown and ready.

Next came the protein portion of the program. Instead of the traditional pork patties, I made fish pinwheels instead for a lighter summer fare. Using fish paste from my favorite purveyor, Ocean Plus Fish Market in Rosemead, I mixed in chopped green onions, chinese chives and reconstituted shitake mushrooms. Then, I spread the mixture thinly on a sheets of nori and rolled them up as if making pin wheel cookies. A slightly longer hot oil bath is then in order to cook them through.

With the chive egg rolls and fish pinwheels ready, all that was left was to assemble the rolls. I dunked a piece of rice paper in a bowl of hot water and layer on shredded carrots, chinese chives, cucumber spears, romaine leaves, a chive egg roll and a fish pinwheel before rolling it into a neat little package.

Oh, and before I forget, the sauce! Made a close replica by boiling the water left over from reconstituting the shitake mushrooms and adding fish sauce, sugar, grated carrots, Sriracha garlic sauce and chopped garlic. When all the flavors have melded, I thickened it with a cornstarch slurry and finished it with egg to mimic the look of Brodard's sauce. Theirs is spicier and more orange in color, to which I suspect is attributed to more chili sauce and grounded dried shrimp.

To complete the experience, I made my own version soda chanh (lime soda) with a sugar syrup made with a mixture of white and brown sugar cooked with pomelo zest, pomelo juice and sparkling water. The perfect accompaniment to the nem nuong cuon.

The verdict? The judge of the day, a genuine Vietnamese foodie (who was also the one who introduced me to Brodard) ate till he could eat no more. Success for team Kanye!

6 Course Tastings at Disneyland

2010-05-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been obsessed with tasting menus.

Perhaps I've been partially influenced by Sona as I visited there multiple times in the past few months to get my fill before they closed a few weeks back. Or perhaps I just developed food ADD lately. In any case, I've been attempting to recreate the tasting experience at home and wherever I go, with the most recent tasting at Disneyland.

Most visitors to the happiest place on earth are there for the rides—I used to as well. Being in the school's marching band since I was in the 4th grade up till I graduated from high school, my friends and I would look forward to the annual trip to Disneyland where we got to spend a day at the park in exchange for performing at their parade. We strategically planned out our days at the park, sprinting to each ride to gather up fast passes to effectively bypass the endless lines. Food then weren't so important—a quick trip to the clam chowder stand was all we needed.

Now, after countless trips, I wanted to see Disneyland in a new light, and what better way than through food?

1st course: Corn Dog

Located in a stage coach near the fire station, this is not to be missed. Fried to ordered, the meaty frank gets a crunchy corn bread batter—heavy on the corn meal for added texture—jacket and it is incredible. Think Hot Dog on a Stick x 10. If you want to feel healthier, get some apples on the side.

2nd course: Steak Gumbo

I had already subconsciously walked to my favorite eatery, as I like to call it, chowder corner. But this day being the day to explore, my foodie partner, Lucky, chose the steak gumbo instead for the next course. A pretty decent specimen, it's a hearty stew of rice, beef, okra and assorted veggies. But, the clam chowder still has my heart.

3rd course: Clam Chowder

Needless to say, it was back to the OG slurry for me. A powerfully briny potage, wonderfully tempered by the mild sourdough bread, it was extremely comforting, transporting me back to my band days.

After the chowders, a quick excursion to (the outside of) Club 33 to in order to walk off the soup. For those who don't know, Club 33 is a top-secret, membership only restaurant in Disneyland. I was lucky enough to witness 2 making their way in… evidently, you have to buzz the intercom and say some sort of password before being admitted inside. Tres cool.

4th course: Pineapple Whip

After a few rides down my belt, it was time for dessert. Lucky recommended the pineapple whip, which I thought was a type of taffy but couldn't be more wrong. Found only in one spot in Disneyland (next to the Tiki Room), pineapple whip is a refreshing frozen soft serve made from Dole pineapples and possibly magic. I am quite sure though that it doesn't have dairy as I was fine after eating my fill—and I'm highly lactose intolerant.

5th course: Turkey Leg

Few more rides after and a princess makeover (don't ask), we made our way back to the middle of the park to experience another Disneyland famed food item: the Turkey Leg. Slowly roasting under heating lamps, these mammoth drumsticks are the bee's knees. Moist, salty (it was like turkey ham) and fatty, it was the trifecta of medieval goodness. As I savagely polished off the hunk of meat, families looked in horror. Note to self: find a discreet location for said feast.

6th course: Churro

Following the turkey carnage, I was in the mood for something sweet again—such is a wretched endless cycle—so we concluded the food marathon with the classic churro. Crunchy exterior, soft interior and cinnamon sugar coating, it was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

Until the next time!

* Images courtesy of Lucky

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Bake-a-Thon for Camp Footprints

2010-04-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Allen, sent me a heartwarming email recently. This summer, he will be volunteering at Camp Footprints, a camp first founded in 1992 that serves kids with developmental disabilities. It's a cause especially close to Allen's heart as his uncle passed away from complications with severe developmental disabilities. So in memory of his uncle, Allen signed up to be a camp counselor and plans to raise a total of $800 to sponsor 2 kids to go to Camp Footprints.

Because of current rough economic times, it's not easy to ask others to donate when many struggle to make ends meet—I am currently in that boat. However, I want to give in my own way, and the best way I know is to cook.

For Foodbuzz's April edition of 24,24,24, I was propitiously chosen as one of the lucky bloggers to host a dinner. However, instead of a traditional sit-down meal, I took the opportunity to engineer a day of baking: a Bake-a-Thon (and following bake sale) where all the proceeds go to the benefit of Camp Footprints. Hosted at Allen's apartment, I recruited a small squadron of friends, 4 very capable bodies to bake and package camp-inspired goodies such as:

1. Samoas Rice Krispies

2. S'more Sandwiches

3. Choco Mint Brownies

4. Trail Mix Cookies

At noon sharp, my friends and I assembled at my friend's apartment and began setting up the different stations for maximum efficiency. A cookie-cooling station was first on the list—we created a make-shift bench using my friend Lucky's beer pong table (which was dubbed the cookie pong table for the day). We also transformed the dining room table into the mixing table and the kitchen into a baking machine.

Then, Allen and Lucky broke off to the cutting area to trim out all the labels for the baked goodies. Inspired by vintage candy wrappers, I had designed one-of-a-kind packaging for each of the different items—it was seriously one of the most enjoyable design projects I've had to date!

First off, Samoas Rice Krispies. Yulree, my friend with the serious mixing-arm, was our master mixer. Paying homage to my favorite Girl Scout Cookies, I recreated the classic by adding butterscotch chips and coconut flakes within the marshmallow cereal mix. And to top it off, a drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate.

Pretty soon, the kitchen smelled of caramel and marshmallows—it was glorious. Since the recipe makes one 9 x 13 inch pan, we made 4 batches to make a total of 24 big treats.

Next off, S'more Sandwiches. While I love a good s'more, the time it takes to create one s'more makes it more of a every-once-in-a-while treat, so here I attempted to make them more portable, cleaner, and with less preparation time required.

An involved operation, my friends Pauline and Lucky set off to split the graham crackers, assemble the layers and toast them in the microwave to cement the sandwiches together. All 100 of the them. We found that adding a layer of honey-chunky PB works wonders on the taste and the mechanics of further cementing the treats together.

As the pair was working their assembly-line, churning s'mores out like clockwork, Yulree and I learned the finer arts of tempering chocolate. First stumbling onto Mark Bittman's video a few days back, I learned that dipping chocolate is quite the art-form—when done correctly, you get a nice glossy layer of the good stuff. However, if you do it wrong, you'd get a streaky, dull mess.

Heeding Bittman's warning and advice, we dutifully melted a few handfuls of chocolate bits till the temperature reached 115 degrees. Then removing the mixture from the heat, we "seeded" the choco-lava with more chocolate so the temperature fell to 91 degrees. Because the golden period for dipping chocolate is from 91-88 degrees, we conjured up superhuman speed to dip as many sandwiches as possible. It was a messy, albeit delicious affair.

5 o'clock and at the half-way mark! Now, we switched gears again to create the Choco-Mint Brownies. Due to time constraints, my friends and I decided upon using boxed mixes. We settled on the double-fudge brownies for moistness and prepared the batter as usual… with the exception of adding a box of chopped Andes Mints (laughing diabolically) before baking. If that wasn't enough, we also painted the tops with even more dark chocolate and sprinkled additional Andes pieces on top after cooling for more chocolatey impact.

Two hours later, with our energies almost drained, it was time for dinner! On the menu was Watermelon Aqua Frescas and Bacon-wrapped hot dogs—a little camp-inspired treat for Allen to get him ready for camp. We made the aqua fresca by blending an entire watermelon (including seeds for flavor), simple syrup, the zest of one orange and its juice together with water. Served simply with ice (or for an adult's version, add a shot of rum), nothing is more refreshing.

For the hot dogs, we wrapped bacon around beef franks (bun-length ones are the best), then pan-fried them till smoky and crispy—which was surprisingly harder than it looks because the rebellious bacon prefer to unravel themselves from the franks. It made me appreciate well-made ones on the street so much more. To accompany the dogs, we toasted buns in the oven, sautéed onions with tricolored bell peppers and made caper-garlic aoili from scratch.

Refreshed and stuffed, we shuffled back to the kitchen for the final item, the Trail Mix Cookie. I found a wonderful recipe from Betty Crocker and thought to share it with all of you. Of course, I'm not one to color within the lines, so I made a few minor adjustments (in parentheses).

Trail Mix Cookies by Betty Crocker

Makes 60 cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup PB (I used honey chunky PB for flavor and crunch)

1 cup butter at room temp

1/2 cup shortening

2 tsp vanilla (vanilla bean paste adds little flecks of beans, fancy!)

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups oats (I like old-fashioned ones for the texture)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups M&Ms

1 cup peanuts (I prefer lightly salted toasted peanuts for that salty-sweet balance)

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Beat sugars, peanut butter, butter, shortening, vanilla and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda thoroughly. Stir in candies, peanuts and raisins.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly with fork.

3. Bake 9 to 10 minutes (I baked mine for 12) or until light brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

120 cookies later at midnight, we were finally finished! 12 hours of baking—we are true marathoners. To cap the night off, those of us who hadn't yet overdosed on sugar celebrated with freshly made ice cream sandwiches and once once we all switched gears to put Allen's apartment back together.

With our cache of baked goods, our goal is to sell them all (Today at the LA Yelp Elite Event, kudos to Allen for spearheading this!) to be able to sponsor one child to camp.

Thank you to my friends for giving day of your time to embark on a sugar-filled adventure with me. It was a crazy day, especially during the home stretch as we were falling from our sugar highs, but we pulled through and came out victorious!

Until the next time.

* Images courtesy of Lucky.

LudoBites 4.0: Experiencing the Twilight Zone

2010-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

On rainy days in elementary school, our teachers would pop in VHS tapes (remember those?) of classic Twilight Zone episodes to keep us kids entertained during recess. Those black & white stories were fascinating and I must admit, a little scary. Not because they show gory details, but the way they leave you hanging with the ending, your imagination was your greatest enemy.

One especially memorable episode was called "The Eye of the Beholder." It starts out showing a young woman with her head completely bandaged as she was undergoing face surgeries to look normal. Yet failing for the 11th time, she was sent away from society to live with people with the same "condition" outside of city limits. It was then that the camera panned to the "normal" people, who all sported pig snouts, whereas the young woman was the one with the beautiful face.

It was a powerful episode for me as it got me pondering: what is normal?

You see, for the longest time, I've been secretly in love with food. Before this blog—before having a reason, so to say, to take photos of food, I've been quite self conscious about outwardly showing my enthusiasm for a wonderful meal. And even now, as I've gotten more comfortable with sharing my love of food and taking countless photos of particular epicurean delights in public, I always saw myself as an oddity. The eccentric one who stops others from taking their first bite until she got that perfect shot. Yes, I'm that friend.

I've slowly started to own up to my quirks, yet it wasn't tell last night where I felt at home. Thanks to Will from FoodDigger, I was invited amongst other food enthusiasts to preview Chef Ludo's latest incarnation of the much anticipated LudoBites 4.0, housed in Gram & Papa's in downtown. It was there where I got to meet others who equally (if not more so) adore food as much as I do and we spent the night enjoying Ludo's newest creations, discussing the benefits and setbacks of DSLRs for and most of all, walking on air to be meet others who share the same passion. It was an unbelievable evening.

And the food, it was anything but forgettable.

1. Tartine with "3 fat textures"

The night started with a warm crusty loaf of baguette studded with crunchy salt crystals and 3 saucers each featuring a different form of fat: clarified butter with chiblis, emulsified brown butter and creamed lard with honey and lavender. Each delicious in its own right, but I kept going back to lard, which was floral, sweet and rich—it's the new butter.

2. Carrot salad with saffron Anglaise, pickled pearl onions, citrus and mustard powder

Next up was an in depth study of carrots, with the specimen prepared 2 ways: gastrovac'ed and marinated. The gastrovac'ed carrot was curious indeed, for although it tasted fully cooked, it retained the texture of one that was almost raw—it was the best of both worlds. As for the wide ribbons of citrus-marinated carrots, they had a nice zip that paired nicely with the sweeter cooked ones. Because the trio of fresh citrus segments (we were advised to eat it peel & all) added even extra tang, I thought the dish was complete even without the Anglaise.

3. Egg, potato mousseline, lobster and borage flower

Our meal went up exponentially through the roof with this. Whimpers and moans could be heard throughout our table as we tasted the magical combination of butter poached lobster, swimming in a heady broth made from the shells and tomalley, then layered with a soft boiled egg and an avalanche of velvety butter-whipped potato puree.

If I wasn't in public, I would have literally licked my bowl clean. I almost did in fact... as documented by Elliot from F for Food.

4. Foie gras-croque-monsieur with lemon turnip chutney

Brought back from LudoBites 2.0, this is panini version of Helen of Troy as I can imagine battles fought over this beauty. Impeccably made, it features toasted squid ink bread spread with a creamy cheese and arranged with delicate slices of proscuitto and slabs of dreamy foie gras terrine. Initially, I ate my portion plain, but as I passed the half way point, the tangy lemon turnip relish was invaluable in keeping the richness in check.

5. Burgundy escargots, garlic flan and green jus

An unique take on the ubiquitous "escargots in garlic butter and parsley," Ludo starts out with a luxurious custard infused with garlic, then he adds a note of freshness with a green jus made with parsley. The dish was than capped with plump saute snails. Fabulous dish, even if it followed an impossible act.

6. Columbian River king salmon confit, spring cabbage, orange skin & Juniper berries

This was one of those instances where the sum wasn't better than its individual parts. While the salmon was fantastically poached in a temperature-controlled olive oil bath until perfectly rare, the Juniper and lemon aspic lent a peculiar texture that unfortunately took attention away from the fillet. The limp cabbage side didn't help the case either.

7. Poached Jidori chicken, crispy skin with hazelnuts, garden vegetables and bacon Royale

For the last savory course, we all got to experience Ludo's childhood. He explained roast chicken with cream (Supreme de poulet) is a classic in French homes, particularly in his region, so here he recreated the dish for us. With a twist, of course!

Like a true scientist, Ludo isolated each component of the dish and re-engineers them to make it the best it could be. Take the chicken breast for example: we all love crispy roasted skin, but to do so often means sacrificing moisture from the meat. Ludo solves the problem by poaching the breast in a roulade for an unadulterated succulent chicken "fillet mignon" if you will. Then for the clincher, the skin is then fried with hazelnuts and crumbled on top of the "fillet." Perfection.

The best way to eat the dish is to have a bite of the chicken (be sure to get a few fragments of the skin chips—sorry, that did not come out right), a smear of the bacon royale, which is the cream sauce in custard form, and a piece of the fresh leek salad. Repeat as needed.

8. Brie Chantilly Napoleon, honey comb, balsamic, frisee salad

As a note, our meal was paired with exquisite wines, courtesy of Jill from DomaineLA. However, because I am afflicted with ADD (Asian Drinking Disorder), I refrained from most of the pairings until the cheese and dessert course. That's right, even as a one drink wonder, there was no way I was going to miss out on dessert wines.

So, to accompany the impossibly fabulous cheese plate, Jill poured a flute of the Coteaux du Layon. A sweet white wine, it's made with Chenin blanc grapes that were left on the vines till they are over-ripe, to the point where some have rotted (in Jill's words!) for a complicate, honeyed profile that tasted faintly of St. Germain.

The sweetness of the wine and the honey comb went exponentially well with the Napoleon of brie. Hand-whipped for a total of 2 hours by Holly of Michelin Project, the brie took on a smooth, buttery texture. It was a dream when paired with the peppery frisee, crunchy toast points and balsamic syrup. My 2nd favorite of the night!

9. Dark Chocolate souffle, black pepper milk chocolate ice cream and chocolate cream

The evening concluded with another study, this time in chocolate. Not unlike the "3 fat textures," the dessert studies the cocoa bean in 3 different temperatures and preparations. The hot element was the airy dark chocolate souffle, with its molten interiors. If that wasn't chocolately enough, there was a saucer of warm bitter chocolate sauce for pouring. Then to complete the trifecta, a milk chocolate ice cream with a real pepper kick. The pepper was critical in this dish from being one-noted as was the smoky Banyuls.

With that comes the end of the roller coaster ride that was LudoBites 4.0. I can't wait to get back on! Now if I could somehow find a reservation...

Much thanks to Ludo, Krissy and Sydney for a meal of a lifetime, to FoodDigger for organizing said meal, Jill for the excellent wine pairings and to all my dining partners!

LudoBites 4.0 @

Gram & Papa's

227 E 9th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90015

213.624.7272

How I Came to Roast 50 lbs of Pork Bellies for 200 People

2010-04-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

For the better part of March, I had food on my mind. Food enough for 200 people.

A few weeks ago, an old classmate emailed me out of the blue, asking if I catered (I didn't) and would be interested in cooking for her 25th birthday bash. Chalking it up to ignorance (as they say, ignorance is bliss), I replied immediately and told her while I had never catered, I was up to give it a try. Little did I know how much work and planning goes into it all, yet how rewarding the experience would be.

Scene 1: A Week Before the Party aka Assembling the Team

The success of the project would ultimately fall upon the team cause god knows I can't do it on my own (as I've learned how much work goes into cooking for a crowd from the Panini-Off) so I started approaching my fellow foodie friends. With a tight budget, it fell upon food lovers who would be into the experience rather than the (non-existent) monetary incentive. I was incredible lucky to have Yulree as my partner-in-crime—she is as cool as a cucumber in times of stress and an awesome cook. Allen and Hannah, also friends of discriminating tastes, were also invaluable as our helpers and kept the team pumped up!

Scene 2: The Menu

Ellen was the ideal client as she left the creation of the menu entirely up to me. I believe the only guidelines was for the food to be "portable and delicious." Score. Keeping the budget in mind, I started out with what I wanted to try out (I found out later it's a cardinal rule not to try new recipes for a catering project, but again, ignorance is bliss!), which was David Chang's pork buns. Tried one of those heavenly morsels during a recent NY trip and couldn't stop pining for it. So yes, I must admit that this project quickly became the vehicle for what I wanted to eat/make. Slowly the concept became clear, the menu was going to be comfort food with a twist.

Brainstorming with Yulree, we settled on five dishes:

1. Popcorn a la Cafe Habana

A play on Mexican grilled corn, we made buttered popcorn and tossed it with cayenne, limon and queso cotija for a street-food inspired snack.

2. Pao de Queijo:

This was our take on grill cheese with tomato soup. Garlic and Parmesan are the stars here in the Brazilian cheese bread with a fiery Arabiatta dipping sauce.

3. Pork sliders a la Momofuku

Armed with photos from my meal at Momofuku and Chang's cookbook, we recreated signature his buns to the best of our abilities. Happy to report we did a pretty competent job at that.

4. Saute Miso Butter Veggies

Ramenya and Momofuku inspired, we created a quick stir-fry of baby carrots, haricot verts and asparagus seasoned with butter, shio miso, lots of garlic and Togarashi.

5. Fully loaded Potato shooter

The taste of a twice baked potato in soup form. Of course, we souped it up (pun fully intended) with a chicken and bacon broth base to make it even more irresistible.

Scene 3: The Day of Prep and Pork Nipples

The day before the party, I took a day off work to begin prepping. At precisely 8 am and armed with my trusty red Coleman cooler, I went and bought out my town's supply of pork bellies—all 50 lbs of it. With 16 slabs of those bad boys I begin to work on cleaning them and brining them with a dry rub. It was then where I found out pigs were blessed (or cursed) with an overabundance of pork nipples. Ewww.

After marinating them in my cooler for 6 hours, I began roasting them in my family's oven, 4 of them at a time. Soon my house was enveloped in the distinctive Asian BBQ smell. Yulree came over soon after and we set off in a record-setting speed shopping marathon to get the rest of our ingredients, tools and serving supplies.

With our groceries in tow, we came back to beauteous display of finished porcine roasts. I couldn't help myself from sampling some crunchy chicharons—the spoils of war. I popped in the next batch and we got started on the potato soup and the bread dough.

By 11pm, the soup base and the dough was done, so I helped Yulree pack up and we said our goodbyes. At this point, I've still got one more batch to go and thus I continue roasting. The home stretch was toughest since by then, I couldn't bear the smell of pork. And it was fully permeated into my clothes and home. I also ODed on sampling the crispy skins. When the bellies were all roasted, wrapped and packed into my fridge, I scrubbed myself clean (think Gattaca style) and hit my pillow at 1:30 am before passing out.

Scene 4: The Big Debut

Woke up at 9 am and got back into prepping, this time for the miso butter—it was a true workout to mix cold butter. After one last shopping trip to get the rest of the perishable ingredients, I sped on over to Solar Studios in Glendale. A studio used for filming and photoshoots, it was a beautiful cavernous space. Equipped with a full kitchen but without an oven, we made do with 3 separate toaster ovens set in different rooms to bake our cheese bread.

Joined by Allen and Hannah, we got back into prepping and setting up our picnic spread. Note, I even tried to coordinate with my dress—yes, I'm a geek!

At 8 pm, we stated plating, slowly at first as to keep our display in stock. But then 11p came and we had only served 70 out of 200. That was when we went into robot-assembly-line mode and plated the rest in record time. I think we even surprised ourselves at the speed we were working in. It got a little intense, but we rode it out and finished! We high-fived each other as hard as we could on a job well-done.

2 am: Mission Accomplished!

Scene 5: Gratitude

A colossal thank you to Yulree, Hannah and Allen, without you all, this would have never happened. And to Ellen, for giving me a chance and the opportunity to fulfill my dreams of catering. Also, to PJ of Chatchada for documenting my journey—your photos made the food look like miniatures work of art!

Until the next time...

Checkers Downtown: $4 Foie Gras & Caviar

2010-04-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Had an unexpected New York-esque experience tonight, mere blocks from work no less!

It all started this morning, when my boss forwarded me an email from Checkers promoting FOUR: a special happy hour event which occurs every Thursday where the kitchen creates 4 small dishes for $4 each and 4 mixed cocktails, also for $4 from 4-8p. This week featured champagne, foie gras and caviar—an irresistible combination—so right after work, we make a trek to Grand and 6th street.

Housed in the subdued gray Hilton Hotel in downtown, Checkers is a elegant dining room with a long and narrow layout, reminiscent of spaces in Manhattan. Shortly after finding seats, our server presented us with the FOUR menu. Since we were there for the whole experience—no dish were to be left behind.

We first started out with a champagne each, mine being the Axle Kiss—a Spanish Cava blended with Disaronno and creme de cassis. My boss went the classic route and ordered the Fellini: a sparkling wine paired with a trio of citrus from Limoncello, orange liqueur and Mandarin orange juice. Both were delicious.

1. Kurobuta Pork Belly with white bean cassoulet

The first dish, although a solid preparation of the classical French dish, was a bit disjointed. It was a bit like witnessing a couple on their first date. Upon the first taste, it appeared the pork was grilled and roasted on its own while the beans were stewed separately. The two parties seemed hesitant on mingling as they are just starting to get to know each other. It would be highly beneficial to the overall dish if the two components were cooked together for a little while—let them get comfortable so to say... maybe with a glass of bubbly?

2. Monkfish with roasted brussel sprouts and caviar buerre blanc

The monkfish on the other hand was like a power couple—truly a thing to behold. Crab-like in taste, the monkfish fillet was expertly cooked to perfection and drizzled with a luscious buerre blanc that suspended small briny beads of caviar. The slightly bitter roasted brussels sprouts were key in keeping the dish from getting too heavy and made it interesting. I went through two orders of this as it was just so good.

3. Foie gras "snow" with lychee and champagne gelee and pine nut brittle

I cringed immediately upon reading this on the menu as it was copied word-by-word from David Chang's signature dish at Momofuku Ko with the exception of the use of champagne instead of riesling in the gelee. (Yes, being the food nerd that I am, I have his cookbook and had read it from cover to cover.)

Still, I was curious so I placed an order and inquired if Chef Todd Allison had worked with Chang. Within minutes, the chef came out and introduced himself. Turns out the culprit was his sous chef as Allison had no idea of who Chang was. We had a pleasant conversation about comfort food (his was roasted chicken—brined of course) and I realized the dish was nothing to get worked up about. After all, this was an opportunity to try Chang's dish without flying cross country. And for only $4 no less.

The dish was a wonder to taste. The foie melted immediately upon making contact with my tongue, very much like actual snow flakes, albeit much more opulent. The brittle provided an unique counterbalance in sweetness and crunch—although the pieces could be much smaller. The gelee, with a strong presence of champagne vinegar was instrumental in keeping the dish from being too rich. This aptly-made copy fueled my curiosity of Ko... looks like a trip to New York is in order!

4. Pudding Chomeur: maple caramel bread pudding

Described as the "unemployed man's pudding," it was anything but poor. A generous layer of teeth-sticking maple caramel was soaked in a bread pudding that tasted as if it was made of muffins. Tasty, but oh so rich—a dish that is best shared.

Even with the designer knock-off foie, all the dishes tonight were solid and the drinks quite enjoyable. Added to the New York atmosphere and unbelievable prices, you can be sure I'll be back for more.

Checkers Downtown

535 S. Grand Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90071

213.624.0000

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: James Bond Meets the Toaster Oven

2010-02-28T23:09:00.000-08:00

I love dinner parties... that is, I immensely enjoy attending them, but not hosting them. Throwing a party is a whole different ball game. With all planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning and of course, stressing that is inevitably involved, a simple dinner party can quickly turn into a scene from Dante's Inferno.

Yet, the problem solver inside me is determined to tackle this problem so when my good friend Laura moved into her first apartment (with no roommates—a true grown up apartment!), I started brainstorming for a less stress-filled housewarming party. After an intense session of research (aka surfing the web), the solution appeared, in the form of a toaster oven. Yes. A toaster oven.

It's all thanks to Eric Ripert, the legendary chef behind NY's celebrated Le Bernardin. Some of you may know he starred in a PBS show called "Avec Eric," where he travels to the source of his culinary inspirations to showcase where great ingredients comes from, but few know of his brief online series called "Get Toasted." With a handful of fresh ingredients, a single toaster oven and a few minutes, Eric produces simple, fast meals—it is pure brilliance... like MacGyver or Q of cooking!

Suddenly, it just all flowed, with the toaster oven as a Q invention, why not make it a James Bond theme affair? A night with James Bond (not Roger Moore, but more of the Daniel Craig variety) and a few close allies, we would channel the high stakes poker game by screening "Casino Royale," shaking up expertly crafted martinis (Vesper) and cooking up sophisticated finger foods while sporting spy-chic wear. Thanks to the good people at Foodbuzz, we were invited to participate in their 24,24,24 event this month, which showcases posts from 24 Foodbuzz Featured Publisher bloggers, highlighting 24 unique meals occurring around the globe during a 24-hour period. Yes!

So in true espionage fashion, here is the debriefing.

The mission:

To create a sharp 6-course menu from Ripert's repertoire that requires little time or clean-up, but of a 4-star caliber quality. Test and rate Ripert's recipes according to taste and ease of preparation. Extra credit given to introduce our hands-off friends to take a more active role in cooking by having them help out with the preparation.

The Menu:

1. Mission figs wrapped in bacon

2. Quail eggs and smoked salmon toasts

3. Tomatoes Provencal

4. Zucchini Carpaccio with Parmesan and Balsamic

5. Roasted Butterflied Garlic Shrimp

6. Mango foster with rum and vanilla ice cream

Special Gadgetry:

• 2 toaster ovens

• point-and-shoot camera with holster

The drink: Vesper martini

"3 measures of Gordon's (we used Tanqueray), one of vodka (Stoli), half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well unitl it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel." —James Bond

Speaking as a non-martini drinker, I find the drink quite enjoyable with its initial dryness which ends with a slight floral note. Careful though as it packs a punch.

Course 1: Mission Figs wrapped in bacon

The first snafu happened early on in the mission. Unbeknownst to us, figs were not in season (they start coming in at the end of March). When one of our agents called back after scouring several grocery stores with no avail, Plan B was needed.

We quickly swapped out figs with plump Medjool dates, added parmesan cheese to create AOC's inspired bacon wrapped dates. With the savory bacon crisped by the toaster, contrasted by the sticky, sweet dates and nutty cheese center, course 1 became a major success.

Bacon wrapped Medjool dates and parmesan (adapted from Ripert's Mission Figs Wrapped in Bacon)

Serves 4

12 Medjool dates, seeded

6 slices bacon, cut in half

12 tiny batons of parmesan

freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat toaster oven to Broil.

2. Stuff each date with a baton of cheese, then wrap them with strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

3. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the figs are tender.

4. Season with black pepper and serve immediately.

Taste: Can't stop at one!

Prep: Requires many trips to the sink for hand washing after deseeding the dates and wrapping the bacon.

Course 2: Quail Egg and Smoked Salmon Toasts

A double whammy obstacle here. Trader Joe's ran out of brioche and we couldn't find quail eggs anywhere in town—it seemed like we couldn't catch a break! A easy fix was at hand however—we replaced the quail eggs with medium eggs (smaller you can find, the better) and the brioche with a medium crumb filone bread. End product? Delicious and no one knew the better.

Quail Egg and Smoked Salmon Toasts

Serves 4

8 quail eggs (or medium eggs)

8 1/4-inch thick slices brioche (or filone), cut into small rectangles

4 ounces smoked salmon, cut into 8 pieces

1/2 teaspoon cut chives (optional)

Special Equipment: 1-inch cookie cutter, paring knife

1. Preheat toaster oven to 450°F.

2. Make holes in the brioche slices with a small cookie cutter or using a small knife. Place on a foil-lined and greased toaster oven tray.

3. Carefully pierce one end of the quail egg with a sharp paring knife and gently peel away the top. Separate the yolk from the white and place the yolk in the hole of the brioche. Repeat with the remaining quail eggs. *When using normal eggs, just crack and separate*

4. Bake for 3 minutes until the brioche is lightly toasted but the yolks should still be runny.

5. Top each toast with a slice of rolled salmon and garnish with chives.

Taste: Very nice, benefited greatly with freshly cracked pepper and a sprinkling of sea salt

Prep: Easy, yet looks impressive.

Course 3: Tomatoes Provencal

This went through without a hitch. A simple preparation of roasted tomatoes elevated by the subtle lavender fragrance by herbs de Provence and an extra bite with the garlic. The fresh basil chiffonade brought a nice freshness to the entire dish. My friend, who normally abhors cooking said upon tasting she would be willing to recreate this dish at home—a major win for team Toaster!

Tomatoes Provencal

Serves 2

2 tomatoes, sliced into thirds

1 1/2 teaspoons herbes de Provence

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small clove garlic, sliced thin

fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

fresh basil

1. Heat toaster oven to broil.

2. Arrange the sliced tomatoes on a toaster oven tray, season with herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, and olive oil and garlic

3. Broil for about 4-5 minutes until the tomatoes are tender and a little caramelized.

4. Serve with fresh basil, making sure to pour the excess oil from the tray over the top.

Taste: Tangy and herby. Would go great on top of mixed greens and homemade garlic croutons for a quick lunch.

Prep: So simple anyone can recreate this... with their eyes closed. Ok, maybe not for the slicing part though.

Course 4: Parmesan Zucchini with Balsamic

This dish was a surprising crowd favorite, which is surprising when we had some major carnivores attending. The genius of this dish is the crystal clear flavors coming from the zucchini. Usually, zucchini's natural taste is covered in dishes as it's usually a accompaniment to a main dish or filler for breads. Yet, when it's simply roasted in good olive oil and paired with a sprinkling of parmesan, you get its true taste, which is light, yet comforting. We made 4 trays since we couldn't get enough of it.

Parmesan Zucchini with Balsamic

Serves 2

1 large zucchini

1/4 cup olive oil

fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan

aged balsamic vinegar

1. Heat the toaster oven to Broil.

2. Line the toaster oven tray with foil and brush with olive oil.

3. Peel a few slices of the zucchini skin off, trim the ends and slice crosswise into very thin slices.

4. Arrange the zucchini slices on the tray, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil.

5. Bake for 3-4 minutes until just tender.

6. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

7. Arrange roasted zucchini on a platter. Sprinkle parsley and more parmesan on top and drizzle with a little aged balsamic vinegar.

Taste: The perfect warm spring salad.

Prep: A bit time consuming having to arrange the zucchini slices in a perfect spiral, yet the final presentation paid off at the end, don't you think?

Course 5: Butterflied Garlic Shrimp

My poor fingers and Laura's dining table... the scalding hot (albeit delicious) butter sauce nearly did me in. The prep was benigh enough as we peeled and deveined the shrimps and made the wonderful compound butter with no incident. After they were finished baking though, I nudged the tray and golden magma made contact with my skin. My immediate response was to let go of the tray, which caused the tray of shrimp and its garlicy sauce to Laura's floral table cloth.

We were able extricate all of the tasty morsels, yet the table cloth was a goner and so were the dish's rich sauce. Fortunately, we had a spare 2nd tray to which we used up all the leftover bread to sop up every last drop of the butter sauce.

Butterflied Garlic Shrimp

Serves 1

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/2 small shallot, minced

1/2 tablespoon parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons butter, softened

6 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 lemon

1. Heat toaster oven to broil. Line the toaster oven tray with foil.

2. Stir together the garlic, shallot, parsley, soft butter, salt, pepper and lemon juice.

3. Lay shrimp on the foil line tray and generously brush each side with garlic butter.

4. Bake for 3-4 minutes, depending on size until the shrimp just turns opaque.

5. Finish with additional fresh squeezed lemon juice. (optional)

Taste: Shrimp scampi taken to new heights.

Prep: The most involved out of all the dishes, yet worth all the extra steps. Beware of the butter magma.

Course 6: Caramelized Mango with Rum

We ended the night with bang with the caramelized mango with rum. I've always loved desserts with temperature differences and this did not disappoint. The sweet mango gets a turbo boost, not unlike Bond's Aston Martin, with the deep flavors of rum, and a caramelized sugar crust. My accomplices and I actually let it go for an extra minute too long because of a fierce photoshoot. The end product was a bit more caramelized from Ripert's recipe, but the burnt top added a favorable coffee undertone.

Caramelized Mango with Rum

Serves 2

1 mango

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 cup dark rum

Vanilla ice cream (or a flavor of your choice)

1. Peel the mango and cut into ¾ inch thick slices.

2. Heat toaster oven to broil. Line the toaster oven tray with foil.

3. Lay mango slices on the tray and brush soft butter evenly over the mango.

4. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and broil for about 5 minutes or until soft.

5. To serve, place mango slices in shallow bowl, drizzle with rum and top with a scoop of ice cream (to avoid flare up, do not put rum in the toaster oven)

Taste: Wonderful. The simple recipe got me thinking of all the different variations possible... such as figs, peaches, bananas, apple. Might have to bust out the toaster oven soon!

Prep: Can't get simpler than this. The hardest part for us was scooping the ice cream.

Mission Accomplished. Thanks for reading!

Caramelized Soy and Garlic Shrimp

2010-02-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

I intensely dislike getting my hands dirty.

Food that are meant to be eaten with hands, such as fried chicken, burgers, pizzas, etc., I eat with a knife and fork. In fact, while I suffered through 2 years of braces (a modern day torture device), I secretly relished the excuse it gave me to eat sans bare hands. I would say, "oh, I would eat this sandwich with my hands if I could... but you know, I gotta be careful with these braces. Yeah, dentist orders... so lame." Even now, although I've been braces-free for years, I still tell my dining companions I've been "conditioned" by braces to justify my eccentric eating habits.

My strong preference against eating with hands started early. It was Play-doh that did me in. After a particularly robust arts and crafts session, I looked down at my fingers and saw the bits of doh stuck underneath my nails... And then there was that lingering noxious smell... Cringing just thinking about it.

It affected me so much I remember skipping out on a fun class project in 4th grade. It was near Thanksgiving and my teacher surprised us with a recipe for Indian fried bread (not sure how authentic it is). I had no problem measuring out the precise amounts of flour, water and salt, but once we got to the mixing portion part of the program, I promptly batted my lashes at a nearby boy and asked him sweetly to help me out.

Since then, I'm able to mix my own dough on my own, thank you very much. But, I jump at the chance whenever I could use a wooden spoon or another heaven-sent mixing instrument. During meals, I use my fork and knife whenever possible and I'm also particularly apt in using chopsticks to cut food down to size.

Yet, there is one dish I'm willing to get my hands dirty for. Literally. Loosely translated to "Soy Sauce Shrimp Emperor," it's a homely Cantonese dish that is essentially plump shrimp, saute in their shells and glazed with a soy-garlic sauce (not unlike Kyo-chon's). My parents would make it whenever they saw a particularly fresh catch at the street market... which was quite often since we lived in Hong Kong.

Since my parents were immune to my charm, they would set the plate piled high with glazed shrimp and start making their way through it—forcing me to fend for myself. Fearing the sauce would stain my fingers, I avoided the dish and opting to eat my rice plain instead. But the dish's fragrant garlic scent lured me in and I gingerly reached for one and I haven't looked back since. Yes, it's messy, but oh so finger-lickingly good. Salty, garlicky and with a just a hint of caramel, it is a fitting match for the free-swimming crustacean.

Provided, the dish didn't cure me of my "condition," but I'd always make an exception to use my hands for the glazed shrimp. The best part is that it's incredibly easy to make. All you need is a few minutes, fresh shrimp, some light soy, black pepper, sugar and garlic. And if you like it tangy, a lemon. That's it.

Just remember to wash your hands afterwards.

Caramelized Soy and Garlic Shrimp

1 pound shrimp (heads and shells intact)

2 tablespoon canola oil

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup light soy

1 teaspoon sugar

Black Pepper

1 lemon

1 stalk of green onion

1. Go out and buy a pound of the freshest shrimp you can find with their heads and shell intact. I get mine from the neighborhood Hong Kong Supermarket. Soak them in cool salted water for 30 mins or so to let them clean themselves out since we won't be deveining them. Drain and dry them thoroughly.

2. Heat a wok or a skillet over high heat till it's smoking hot. Then, add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil with a high smoking point (this is not the time for EVOO)—canola or vegetable oil work great.

3. When you see the oil ripple, you're ready to add the shrimp. *Note, make sure the shrimp are dry, unless you enjoy 3rd degree burns. Spread them in a even layer and let them brown on one side, around 2 mins.

4. In the meanwhile, grate 3 big cloves of garlic over the shrimp. I prefer grating over to chopping them since it saves time, plus it really crushes the garlic's membranes which in turn releases more flavor. Lift one shrimp and check for color, when it's golden brown, flip them all over.

5. Once they're all flipped, add a 1/4 cup of light soy. My go-to is Lee Kum Kee's "Seasoned Soy Sauce for Seafood" as it's is more delicate and nuanced than regular soy. Lately, I've also been experimenting with Kikkoman's "Ponzu Lime" after receiving a bottle through Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. It's got a zesty flavor that goes particularly well with seafood.

6. Next, add a teaspoon of sugar and start stirring. With the high heat and the addition of sugar, the soy will take on a nutty, caramelized taste that is unparalleled and thicken to a glaze that will coat the shrimp.

7. When the shrimp are cooked and glazed, turn off the heat and add a fresh grinding of black pepper to taste (I like it with a kick). Next, zest half of the lemon over and combine well.

8. Serve with a wedge of lemon, a sprinkling of sliced green onions and enjoy!

At the Martha Stewart Show...

2010-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Can't believe it, but here I am, seated in the 3rd row at the Martha Stewart Studios!

Coral Tree Cafe's Panini-Off: My Debut On the Morning News

2010-01-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

It all started with a food coma following a particularly filling Christmas dinner. In attempts to get over the monumental hump, I started browsing food blogs while licking the corners of my lips for any last remaining traces of pineapple ham glaze.

As I was living vicariously through a few jetsetters' reviews of exotic restaurants (Luxeat and KevinEats are some of the best in the biz), I came across a post by FoodGPS . As it turns out, Josh will be judging a Panini-Off hosted by Coral Tree Cafe. Interesting...

Better yet, the contest was still open, score! Because the deadline were mere days away, I hastily scribbled down what I considered to be the perfect sandwich—an easy task as I was recovering from one of the best meals to date.

I started out with a nice rustic bread (buttered of course). Then I added a earthly saute of crimini mushrooms scented with garlic. Next came the black forrest ham and a sprinkle of rosemary needles from my parent's herb garden (you won't find them buying overpriced herbs at the local grocery store). Then a "glaze" sauce (secret recipe, shh) to simulate the complex, crackly sugar jacket worn by our family's holiday ham. Lastly, some mild swiss to hold all the components together.

Not thinking much about it, I submitted my recipe and promptly forgot about the contest. That is, until I got an unknown call from the friendly people representing Coral Tree. He congratulated me on making to the finals and asked if I wanted to make a panini—on the KTLA Morning Show as a promo for the real competition on the 19th.

How do you say no to that?

And so, I woke up at an ungodly hour, 5:30a last Thursday and drove over to Hollywood for my close up. Two other finalists arrived shortly after and we met the judges of the day: Los Angeles Fire Chief and several other fire fighters. Before long, the cameras came and we had a little KTLA Panini-Off.

The experience went by in a blur, but I did get to see the behind-the-scenes and learned a few lessons along the way. Number one is to never trim your own bangs the night before the show. I made the mistake and had to go bang-less for the day. Next, is to ham it up for the camera (no pun intended). Finally, it's all about the garnishes as observed from the day's winner and veteran of cooking competitions, Cecelia.

With these lessons in my pocket, I am ready for the real deal. So, if you are in need of dinner plans on January 19th, swing by Coral Tree Cafe up in Brentwood and let me and the other finalists feed you!

More information from FoodGPS . And here's the clip from my debut on TV :)

Hope to see you next week!

The Elusive Burrata Spotted at Trader Joe's

2010-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

My parents, like most of the previous generation, are very frugal.

They save plastic bags from grocery trips to be later reuse as trash bags. When they visit fast food eateries, which are occurrences rarer than meteor showers, they would come back with a month's supply of napkins. My mom even repurposes used Fedex boxes into magazine holders—it's quite ingenious actually.

Sometimes, I can't help but cringe when shopping with my mom and she busts out her coupon file at checkout. Yet, I see their underlying value in cutting down on expenses whenever possible and the importance of saving for a rainy day. Especially this past year, when it seemed to be "rainy" for the majority of the year.

To a certain extent, I've appropriated their thinking in the way I dine out. My personal rule is to never order any item on the menu that I can create easily at home, cause chances are, I can do it much cheaper since I don't have a big overhead.

So, pastas are out, as are risottos. Pan roasted fish? Out. Steak? Double out. Fyi: The secret to a great steak is a cast iron pan heated till it's smoking hot, a high quality rib-eye, a sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. That's it.

What I do like to order are: duck confit, gnocchi, pastries and other labor intensive dishes. Or, dishes with ingredients that are near impossible to find for the home cook such as quality foie gras, truffles or burrata cheese... wait, scratch the latter.

Burrata used to be a delicacy as I could only find it in Osteria Mozza. A creamy and delicate cheese with an immensely short shelf-life, it had to be shipped weekly from Italy to the restaurant, where they charge a premium for the convenience.

Although Mozza did a stellar job serving the burrata on toast with bacon, caramelized shallots and escarole, it's still tough to justify spending $15 for the privilege of those two tiny crostinis. So, imagine my surprise when I spied the elusive burrata in the cheese section of Trader Joe's. The accompanying price tag was even more astonishing: $5 for 2 weighty spheres of the delicate cheese. I hurried home with my acquisition and had one of most scrumptious appetizers to date. Note, TJ's burrata is and will never be as good of a quality than the ones found in Mozza, but even so, it's still pretty luscious.

Burrata with Lemon, Garlic, Lardons, and Basil

Serves 4

1 container of Trader Joe's burrata cheese

4 slices thick cut bacon

2 cloves garlic

1 lemon

2 sprigs of fresh basil

Pepper and sea salt to taste

Fruitiest olive oil you can find

Rustic country loaf

First, set out the container of burrata to rest in room temperature. Render 4 slices of thick-cut bacon in a skillet over medium heat. When the slices are thoroughly crispy, drain them briefly on paper towels. Grated one clove of garlic and spoon over a good teaspoon full of the scalding bacon grease to cook them slightly.

Next, pour out the flavorful fat till there was only a tablespoon left and turn the heat back on. When the oil is at the right temperature, lay down 2 slices of good Tuscan bread to grill on both sides. After they're golden brown, rub a split clove of garlic and repeat with 4 more slices.

For the final assembly, simply place a ball of burrata on a big plate. Zest a lemon over the cheese to your liking, then sprinkle on the crumbled bacon (2 slices per plate). Spoon some grated garlic over each portion and finish with a grinding of pepper, a sprinkling of fleur de sel (or any type of sea salt—I prefer sel gris), a drizzle of olive oil and a few basil leaves.

Serve with garlic crostinis and enjoy responsibly.

Ludo Bites: Do Not Try This at Home

2009-12-25T00:21:00.000-08:00

I've been consumed with reading "Never Eat Alone" lately. It's an amazing book that breaks down how to form, maintain and develop new connections—which can be applied to business and personal life. Granted, some tips provided are elementary, but Ferrazzi gives many more that are great and really hits it out of the ball park with his personal story and case studies.

Excited to apply Ferrazzi's wisdom to my life, I decided to test out his rule of reading up on inspiring professionals before meeting them. The first opportunity happened to be Ludo Bites. Unable to visit its earlier incarnation at Breadbar, I had to live vicariously through other blog reviews so I had a good idea about the concept as well as Chef Ludo, but just to be safe, I made good use of google. Armed with my newly found information, my friends and I went made our way to Royal/T.

As we walked past the scandalously named art exhibit, "In Bed Together" to the dining area, we were greeted warmly by Krissy, Chef Ludo's wife and right-hand (wo)man.

Without thinking, I quickly blurted out "how is service tonight?" You see, I had read in a blog that their sous chef had walked out a few days earlier. Krissy was taken aback and with good reason. After explaining that I had some insider information, she gave us the update (Everything's a-ok now) and ushered us to our table and gave us the menu.

The menu was concise, with a handful of firsts and mains, as well as two desserts. I scanned the menu for LFC, aka duck fat fried chicken, unfortunately though, it wasn't on that night. However, pork belly and the foie gras beignets were, so I was a happy camper.

After ordering, my friends and I walked around the space to check out the exhibit, which turned out to be less risque than its name suggested, but worthy to see the sweet cassette tape sculpture.

A light box was also ingeniously set up in one of the art rooms for bloggers to photograph their plates. Clever, but I only got to use it once because we were too hungry to refrain from eating to walk it across the room once a plate was set in front of us.

Imagine my surprise when I came back to my seat to find this beauty—LFC! My friends and I all looked at each other, not daring to make a move until Krissy explained that this was an off-the menu item and the kitchen had bestow the last one to our party. It was as if the stars aligned at that moment. We split up the dish as best we could into 8 portions and reveled in the salty, crispy goodness. The boneless dark meat was deftly fried with a magnificent crust but was too well-seasoned to be eaten by itself. However, when paired with mashed potatoes and grill baby corn (how cute is that?), it was just right—a filling amuse bouche and exciting start.

Next a barrage of plates arrived: Celery root soup, Sauteed Monterey wild squid, and the confit of pork belly. We were all a bit dismayed as we had hoped to savor each dish slowly, yet the thought of letting the other dishes cool was unthinkable. I ended up initially jumping from one dish to another, which on one hand solved the temperature problem, but did not fare too well in the flavor department, so I chose to focus on my perceived favorite dish and make my way across the others.

The first was the crispy confit pork belly with a burnt eggplant puree, plantain, and coconut Thai chili emulsion. The fatty pork was wonderfully prepared with its fat literally melting upon mastication. The coconut foam (couldn't quite taste the chili) provided a sweet balance. The other elements unfortunately didn't pull their weight with the plantain being dry and flavorless and the puree tasting like the insides of a communal ashtray at the local dive bar.

By the time I moved on to the celery root soup, it was already at room temperature, but even so, it was my favorite of the night. With a viscosity like gravy, the creamy soup was richly favored with black truffles and had a delicate vanilla taste. It felt like being wrapped in a warm, fluffy blanket.

As for the Monterey squid, our table was pleasantly surprised how good it was. While we were intrigued about its components—chorizo oil, kimchi puree, black olive—we didn't want to take a big risk so we only ordered one plate, to which we regretted. It was an galvanizing match between the delicate squid, the saltiness of the crumbled olive, tart kimchee and robust oil. May I say black olive is the new salt and chorizo oil the new brown butter?

I was happy to try out the light box when the beignets came since we ordered 4, enough to be share with just one other person (it was much easier to get permission from than the entire table). It's a weighty dish, with substantial foie gras chunks covered with crispy dough and paired with a jammy dried apricot sauce. A dish meant to be shared.

Ironically, the most anticipated dish from the night was also the biggest disappointment. We all read such wonderful reviews of the braised veal udon, with its broth being a labor of love. Yet, upon tasting, the broth was overly salty, as if someone accidentally knocked over a bottle of soy sauce in a pot of French onion soup. It overwhelm the otherwise lovely shredded veal, the noodles and the mushrooms. On top of that, the sesame miso had a funky, musky aftertaste.

Fortunately, the subsequent cod dish made up for it. The luscious, flaky cod fillet was lacquered with a thick Terkiyaki sauce—like a souped up unagi. The mashed potato puree at the base was a smooth buttery heaven.

We ended the night with the beef tenderloin, nicely grilled with lard chips (I could eat those with the celery root soup any day) and roasted veggies. The pungent accompanying mustard sauce masked the beef's flavor, so I ended up eating my portion sans sauce.

Just as our meal was winding down, Chef Ludo stopped by our table and kindly asked us if we had enjoyed the meal. This, I thought, was my moment to shine. Had it all planned out too: I'd suavely compliment the kitchen and sprinkle in some facts I've recently learned that would do Ferrazzi proud.

Truth was, it was a disaster—the kind that is mortifying at the moment, but kinda hilarious once enough time as passed. Just like Krissy, Chef Ludo was taken aback from my statements, but had enough sense of humor to indulge my endless string of questions such as, what was the weirdest thing he has cooked (entire pig's head), what he eats when at home (frozen pizza) and recommendations for bakeries in Paris (Laduree). Thanks for being a good sport!

Sorry Mr. Ferrazzi, I see I still have a long ways to go. Live and learn right?