After several long deep breaths, I realize that you just have to make time for the things that are important, to you, and take what you can and know that while you can’t have it all, you can kick and scream and kick ass as much as you sanely and happily can, to soak it all in, whatever that keeps you going or makes you happy.  And catch the unexpected, as in these beautiful trees in late winter Chicago.

I’ve missed my time away writing away about food.  It’s not that I don’t cook, just “been busy” as everyone else is.  Some memorable foods as of late are; White Bear dumplings in Flushing, NY – with props to LauHound who seem quite the dumpling connoisseur (a total hole in the wall place with handmade dumplings with skins that flutter like delicate rose petals), baby butter lettuce I found at local Nijiya Market that Mike describes as butterfly wings drizzled with smoked olive oil, lemon juice and coarse sea salt, sous vide filet mignon, sous vide eggs – both made by me:) – and all the beautiful new spring vegetables popping up in the market.  Bright red ripe strawberries with its perfume, sugary snap peas, fresh rhubarbs and the incredible kumquats that keeps pumping out strands of orange jewels that we’ve adding to our backyard.

Kumquats will eventually mean…kumquat preserves/jam with goat cheese, sliced thinly over a fatty salad, as a marinade on pork or chicken, maybe even as a sorbet or ice cream?  That would be like creamsicle, hmmm?  And what about kumquat infused vodka?  I think I may be unto something here…

And along with new fruit trees planted (pomegrante, avocado, lemon, lime, orange and nectarines), hunting down the very special Pink Cloud Sakura/Cherry Tree has been incredible!  We named him Linus (van Pelt a la Snoopy) and he stands tall and beautiful right in the smack middle of our backyard.  Can’t wait for him to grow old with us…

For all the lovely things in your life that makes you happy…happy living~

-ck

I can’t say with whom I’ve been staging for fear of not being able to stage anymore, or being questioned by my daytime job/career for my dedication other than to say that I’ve been hanging out in this 4-star restaurant’s professional kitchen for about a month now.  After bugging the cool, collected and oh-so-damn-wise renown chef for ~6 months, I was finally able to gain his acceptance by what food knowledge I had and of course, my beaming smile and charming personality;)

Chef asked me my first day – what do you want to get out of your stage?  The dorky voice that sing-songs from what I realize is me says, “I just want to be immersed in and be exposed to all-things-food” – and so, here I am.

Lessons from stage #1:

1) A professional kitchen is like High School all over again.

Where else in a grown-up work environment do you spend the next 6-8, sometimes 12 hours with your co-workers in a confined space under massive heat, perspiration and all the yelling back and forth, each in their designated stations where naturally you can’t help but form special bonds and “cliques”?  Working as a team to bring together all the components into a single dish but always competing against each other, as each strives to move up, from garde manger to chefs that make sides and sauces to those making core proteins, sous chefs before leaving to become your own executive chef.

- You feel as though you don’t belong there.  You feel a bit like “Black Swan”.  You must prove yourself before you’re the new kid on the block.  Will you take orders but also have a brain to think on your own?  Are you cool enough to be hanging out with the rest of the kitchen team?  Maybe it takes three whole containers of peeling roasted beets before breaking you down.  Maybe you just keeping looking at them and thinking, how beautiful they are.  Doesn’t matter that you’re there just for the night and that you’re working for free.  You still are a “Black Swan”.

2) Whoa.  There’s a lot that happens that goes on before it gets to your plate. Every garnish, every side dishes and proteins that must be prepared, cooked, heated and just so not to mention sauces for each side and protein, seared perfectly, garnished with utmost precision – it brings a new appreciation for how a plate comes to land on your table.

3) I’d love me some backup cleaning crew: Prep person who comes during early morning breaks down all the raw ingredients washing them, cutting them and prepping them so that you’re ready to rock and roll, dishwashing crew that magically appears and takes away all your dirty pots/pans so that you can focus on cooking.  That ain’t happening in our house…ever.

4) The highs of immaculate plating for $300/person special wine dinner times 60 is unforgettable.  Each dish going out must be hot, spotless and on time.  Seeing chef doling out perfectly measured amuse bouche of soup with flick of his hand while others are wiping, moving them into a line, servers whisking them away to patrons anxiously waiting to have that first bite, it’s like symphony.

5) When in doubt – make more than you think you’ll need. Serving 60 – running out of Wagyu beef and then suggesting to take few pieces from other plates to make additional plates just isn’t going to cut it.  You’ll be in the shithouse and the customers will wait but your plate will be hot, spotless and perfect.

6) You only have one chance to make an impression. Famous food writers, reporters and executives will “drop by” ready to pounce with their criticism and hopefully praise.  You’ll even have a Stevie Nicks who supposed stopped by but then changed her mind.

7) Just cuz you work at a restaurant doesn’t mean you eat well. In fact, I didn’t get to eat at all that night, came home hungry and ate some toast before going to bed.  But there are some nights when Chef uses his creativity to conjure up perfectly toasted paninis with leftover rolls and those one or two pieces of wagyu, sweet bread or macaroons sampled that seem to taste so much sweeter than if you were handed a plate.

Will have to tell you all about its features after I brew my first cup tomorrow~

Isn’t she a BEAUTY?  sexy, huh?

Left to right…

Duck Fat fries from Blue Duck – DC

Apple tarte in Paris

Duck confit in Paris

Steak frite at Les Halles – NYC

Little summer refresher at the Parker – Palm Springs

Pork belly buns at (David Chang’s) Ssam Bar – NYC

Soup dumplings – Beijing

Little dumpling stall – Beijing

Peking duck place – Beijing

Spanning through three separate halls at the McCormick Place in Chicago – it’s anything and everything to do with all-things-home, which naturally fits my love of kitchen gadgets and doo-dads  NY Times quotes that it’s 13 miles of aisles.  Good thing I had my convention shoes on (as I snickered away at those convention first-timers who’s struttin’ down in heels only to realize that it’s hell by hour 3).

Little did I realize that in addition to all the cool new products ( I think I need that mortar & pestle, that pressure cooker, that dehydrator, ooooh, the new microplanes…) – I would be shoulder to shoulder with my fav celebrity chefs including sassy Chef Cat Cora, Chef Morimoto, Chef Michael Symon and even Guy Fieri~  Emeril looked too stuffy and business-like as he stood talking business with the Viking appliances folks, Rick Bayless just seemed too geeky/creepy that I lost interest watching his cooking demo after the first few minutes, and in squeezing in work, I missed some others like Chef Ming Tsai who I was told is very very nice – next time, Ming!

Guy Fieri & Michael Symon Reunion - - Guy jumped out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of Michael Symon and then it was the nicest reunion that I had to snap a video.

But the best part was Morimoto’s impromptu singing of a traditional Japanese song – how appropriate~  He’s such a happy guy – I’ve never seen an adult so silly and kid-like before.  And his knife skills (as he’s cutting thru the huge slab of tuna) – AMAZING!

Chef Morimoto singing a traditional Japanese song

I’m still star-struck by how real they all are, how in real life, they truly seem just like you and me.  And talent coupled with hard work and luck – they’ve become huge.  And to stay at a place that reminded me to create myself, not find myself…Thanks, W.

And locally, the place to get it is Din Tai Fung (pronounced “din_ty_fung”) dumpling house in Arcadia, CA.  Actually – I must say that I REALLY <3 Din Tai Fung Beijing and Hong Kong where I first fell in love with the beautiful, utter perfection of the xiao long bao (juicy pork soup dumplings pronounced “zao-long-bao”).  Each made by hand by “dumpling artisans” as I’ll call them – they fold each xiao long bao into precise 18 folds.  Place gently on a soup spoon, poke lightly with your chopstick until the warm, savory umami broth spills out, place soy-sauce soaked slivered ginger, slip the broth/dumpling into your mouth and experience the addictive, luscious unctuousness.  See how the bottoms of the dumplings sag a bit?  That’s the soup ready to jump out and into your mouth.

It seems to be the craze now with mentions of soup dumplings in NYT, Joe’s Shanghai in Flushing, NY and even a Din Tai Fung that just opened in Seattle.  And a recent visit to the Arcadia location revealed not one but TWO locations in the same shopping center (recently visited by Erika from Erika’s Kitchen) where she tried to get the hang of eating the soup dumplings.  Both of the locations last Saturday had a 30-45 min wait – each location working independently – so get a number for a table at one location & get wait time…walk all the way around to the other location and get their wait time and see which one’s shorter.

(Pork and shrimp dumplings from Din Tai Fung while tasty has a thicker skin which is great pan-fried as leftovers but the soup dumplings win over hands down).

The secret is the gelatinous cubes of cured or frozen concentrated broth as beautifully illustrated by blogger Jaden of Steamy Kitchen.  I usually get this gelatinous action going on when I put leftover chicken soup or oxtail soup in the fridge.  It jiggles in its glorious unctousness and melts beautifully when you heat it up, which is what happens when you steam the dumplings.

One of these days, I’ll attempt making it from scratch at home but I don’t think I’ll have the patience for the 18 folds for each dumpling.  I’ll stick with my dumplings a la store-bought wonton skins and rather drive an hour and wait for 30-45 min for my soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung, thank you very much.

I’ll be back, very soon, DTF.

my brush with fame, the hot and happening Chef Ludo Lefebvre of LudoBites in celebrating bulthaup Los Angeles’s new showroom.  Ludo’s the real deal – not just someone who looks like a rock star but has awesome talent not to mention being super nice~

Not only was the new showroom gorgeous with beautiful design and functionality (hello?  solid stainless island, I’m in love!) – but I’ve been dying to check out LudoBites and was never able to get in.  But tonite – I not only got a pic with Ludo but also experienced his creative and beautiful culinary bites that almost had me becoming a stalking fan/groupie. What a coincidence.  Me – a small aspiring chef with bold but healthy flavors of “perfect umami bites” and Ludo – LudoBites:)  I’ll save my soap box and dive right into the menu.I had to be one of those crazy, star-struck fans who took pictures of everything, checking out his knives, kitchen gadgets…isn’t his cutting board cool?  Where can I buy one of those??

1. fois gras gougere or cream puff with red port.  light yet decadent, the cream puff was a little dry but the whole experience was pretty cool.  luscious cream that almost disappears once you’ve eaten it, making you want to pop in another one.  It was pretty funny though as it was NOT a one-biter for me and in the midst of me trying to look cool while holding my champagne in the other hand, the fois gras oozed all over my fingers as I looked to my husband – “Help!  I’m looking like a slob and need napkins please!”

2. Ludo’s version of caprese with heirloom tomato, oatmeal parmesan, purple basil and mozzarella ice cream.  Heaven! Just the right juxtaposition of umami, sweet, salty, creamy and crunchy.  How did he do that mozzarella ice cream?  I give you props Chef Ludo – that was pretty original.

3. The star of the night – the hanger steak with smoked eggplant puree and pickled vegetables.  The hanger steak?  I had to ask Ludo – how did you marinate it?  It’s freakin’ awesome! He says (in his leeetle french accent) – “I poot a leetle soy sauce, geenger, zum sugar, you know, a KOREAN marinade but weeth zum other stuff” – his secret ingredient, I’m sure.  It was so tender and perfectly seared, not too salty and plenty of flavors that went beautifully with the pickled radish and cauliflowers – which were sliced so thinly that it took you a while to figure out it was cauliflower.  I could eat that by the jar.  The fatty umami meat cut with the crunch and the acid of the pickled veggies and balanced by the bitter eggplant.  Beau-ti-ful.  (No pix:(  None to show you cuz we ate them all – but promise they were supreme).

4. Perfect comfort food and apparently a “very old french kooking” – salted cod with luxurious velvety mousseline or I’ll just call it salted cod and mashed potatoes drizzled with olive oil and some chili flakes.  I think I had at least two of these.  Few bites of this and you just want to get in your pajamas and snuggle up.  Pure comfort food, like mac-n-cheese:)

5. Creme fraiche panna cotta with caramel and CAVIAR.  Who would have thunk it?  and I don’t even like caviar (I may be the first to admit it but there. I said it).  But t’nite makes me wonder if I’ve just had bad caviar as the combination of the firm, sweet panna cotta with the salty/sweet/smokey caramel teased or cut with the salty caviar – that was simply brilliant.  In retrospect – I think it could have used some crunchy texture but it was a pretty beautiful cloud nine.

I hear he’s going to host Elton John’s Oscar party next weekend so I feel very lucky to have experienced tonite.  And he said something about a TV show he’s going to be in soon – so that he won’t have the next Ludobites until July or so.  I’ll watch out for you on TV, Ludo:)

You’ve made me a fan, Ludo – and can’t wait to taste your new culinary creations at the next Ludobites~  Thanks for the inspirations and much thanks to bulthaup for making it a wonderful nite.

Many thanks to David Westover (the ceo of bulthaup) – who inspired me tonite to “follow my heart” – with two tablespoons of love – nite nite~

Japanese-themed party with 20+ ten year old girls screaming and running around!  What energy they have~  One of the activities was a lesson in sushi making and of course, I got volunteered to teach.  With 5-6 girls on a round table, each Harajuku cutie was set with a bamboo mat to make their own sushi to their liking.  Few had yet developed their taste buds and preferred a bland “cucumber or carrot only”, while others ventured out to make something crazy, like spicy tuna + california + sprouts.  Some of the rolls were ultra skinny, like cigars almost, while others were bustin’ out like burritos.  All had a great time making sushi rolls with their little hands.  Much shout-out to Philip Press (THE platinumsmith in LA) & Linda Press (of CorpCommunicators and THE boutique PR Firm in LA) for hosting the fun party~!

1) Eggs-n-Things: One of the few non-chain breakfast eatery in the heart of Waikiki serving pancakes with heaping whipped cream and crushed macadamia nuts & a unique “flattened” perfectly golden brown omelettes.  Get there early if you can and be prepared to wait ~20-30 min even on a weekday.  And don’t be surprised to see the place full of Japanese tourists…seriously – how do they know all these hole-in-the-wall places?

fruit sushi, catering-style~

Lesson learned today.  Don’t underestimate how much more energy and prep it takes cooking for more than 4-6 people, even if it’s not “true cooking”.