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

Factoids/cooking tips/fancy terms:

- A perfect sausage ratio is 60/40; that is 60% meat, 40% fat.  That also happens to be the flesh to fat ratio on a whole pig.  Pretty neat, huh?

- Vegetable blanching: green vegetables are always greener after blanching (as long as it’s not overdone).  And I have to correct the chef here, who said, “the oxygen inside the vegetable goes to the surface making it more green”.  What actually happens is (according to some research I did, thanks Hank from Cuisinology), the green chlorophyll of the veggie is surrounded by microscopic air pockets (i’m picturing bubble wrap used for shipping things) and when it’s heated, the pockets basically “pop” revealing the…tada!  greener broccoli, green beans etc.  Of course, too much and you go completely to the other side of nasty looking mushy vegetables.

- Roasting beets – add water.  Beets come out super juicy and easy to peel when you fill 1/3 of a roasting pan with water along with rosemary, drizzled olive oil, salt and cover with aluminum foil.  Luscious!

There are a lot of fancy words that kitchen use that I had to learn:

1) garde manger - the no-cook cold station chef (and probably the lowest of the totem pole in the kitchen making salads and cold appetizers) has literal French translation of “to guard/watch food” loosely translating to a cool well-ventilated pantry area or refrigerator.  Basically, a chef that doesn’t really cook with heat.  Almost everyone starts here and pays their dues.

2) amuse bouche – my fav, literal translation, to amuse/tease the mouth.  A (usually) complimentary little taste of something at chef’s selection brought to your table.  A “here’s a little something from the chef”…changes almost every day.

3) quenelle – refers to an oval football shape, usually serving ice cream, mousse etc at a restaurant.  Apparently takes a lot of practice with one hand quenelle-ing being the most impressive.  The pastry chef Amy said, “someone decided that the shape was a lot more palatable than, say, a round ice cream scoop” so everyone does it now.  I’m indifferent.  I guess it’s more special as not everyone can “quenelle”.

4) can you “brunois” this onion?  um…what?  ”bru-nuah”?  yes – that would be one of the basic knife skills where the thing is first julienned, turned a quarter and then diced so that each cube is 3mm or less (that would be 1/8 of an inch), one of the smallest cuts creating a “pleasant presentation”.  For my duties, it was used to make pate and sausage.  I ended up making the smallest cuts as possible but it was not a cube 3mm x 3mm.

I understand fancy food but outside of all that – know that food.  should.  taste.  good.

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?

Perhaps it’s the midwest, perhaps because Wisconsin is the “cheesehead” country or maybe it’s because it gets so freakin’ cold that folks have invented fatty goodness to keep you warm through the winter but man, I’ve been missing out on these little critters called cheese curds!  Fried golden brown with dozen different dipping sauces from smoked paprika to Tiger Blue dip – they are warm, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and oh-so-addictive as you pop them down with a flight of beer:)

But the reason why I haven’t been exposed to them is that they are a by-product of cheese making and since they must be eaten fresh with a very short shelf-life, they’re only available where there’s a lot of cheese being made~ ah!  I feel better now…

Good thing we don’t have them readily available nearby.  Otherwise – I’d be stuffing myself with cheese curds all the time and given the shape some of the folks were in (ah-hmm), I think I’ll leave it to the occasional cheese curd/beer binge.  Cheddar cheese and apple pie?  really?  not-so-much.  Must be an acquired taste… And poutine?  fries, cheese curds and gravy?  Wow – but at least once, right?

And how about those off-the-menu Animal fries from In-N-Out?  I’ll stick with just the double double and regular fries please…

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

Caprese on a bamboo stick was a good way to start the evening, complete with fresh basil pesto, heavy on fresh garlic of course;)  Then things got a little more interesting, serving roasted tofu lollipops with korean ponzu, cherry bacon bits and toasted quinoa.  I even converted tofu haters to think twice about tofu!  The secret is in roasting it with olive oil and turmeric for ~1 hr – it gets it crispy and chewy making you almost not miss meat.

But then of course, you have to have some savory meat.  After all, it’s cocktails and apps~

After soaking chicken in buttermilk all night, I quickly tossed little chicken bites in japanese panko and flour and deep fried them until golden and crispy.  Wrapped in strips of korean perilla leaves (aka korean basil or “kkaennip” – see?  Isn’t “korean basil” easier?) and drizzled with korean red pepper sauce to give it a kick and a sweet/sour tang.  It was a crowd pleaser.  But then again – who doesn’t like fried chicken?  Isn’t it…

Golden?

Followed by what’s becoming my signature coffee and star anise rubbed pork belly served with pickled daikon – a fav among many.

The night was complete with warm, comforting, chocolate coconut scones freshly baked with gooey chocolate chips.  Comfort food CAN be good for you – well – somewhat;)

made with 2 tbsp of love; love for food, love for life.

-ck

Satisfying and beautiful – looks like you slaved over a stove for HOURS!  but NOT.  Take advantage of sun-kissed juicy tomatoes now available at your local farmers market.  You can get them at a grocery store but they seem lifeless and so sterile.  No umami tomato taste and that’s what you want.

It’s great as a meal in itself or makes for a wonderful side dish.  Mine came out tasting bit like Spanish rice – so I guess you could use it instead of that too.  Certainly easier, I think…

Like two peas-in-a-pod – I only needed to make two of them for me and honey.  Yes – I was doubtful but one per person will get you full.

Ingredients:

Whole tomatoes

Arborio Rice (~ 1/2 cup)

Parsley, Basil

Salt/Pepper

Olive Oil

Onion

It goes like this.

1) Take a juicy ripe tomato and cut the stem top and set aside.  This will be your “cap” that you will put back unto the stuffed tomato later.  Scrape out all the “inner tomato” leaving the tomato “shell”, reserving the juice and the tomato “meat”.

2) Sautee 1/2 of a minced onion with olive oil until slightly brown and translucent.  You could also add & sautee some shiitaki mushrooms for extra flavor and texture.

3) In a bowl, mix arborio rice that’s been rinsed twice (to minimize the extra gluten, great for risotto, less so for stuffed tomato rice, I think) with the sauteed onion, minced fresh garlic, olive oil, chopped parsley/basil, salt and pepper to taste.  I happen to have some extra tomato juice from a canned tomato which I added to make the rice bit more flavorful and moist.

4) Stuff the rice mixture into the tomato, drizzle some olive oil on top and cap it with the tomato stem.

5) Roast at 375 (convection) for ~50 min.  Cool for ~20 min before diving in.  You can also bake any extra in a casserole next to the stuffed tomatoes like I did which cooks up nicely and crusty (for those of you who like the crispy rice at the bottom of dolsot bibimbap or paella with socarrat.

two tablespoons of love; one for food, one for life.  bon appetit!

Adopted and inspired by a recipe for Caramel-Lacquered Pork Belly with Quick-Pickled Honeydew in a Food & Wine magazine, I bought my first pork belly at Whole Foods since what seems like over a decade ago.  The trick is to season it close to 24 hours and to roast lo and slow~~  and my proud, awesome secret?  Fresh ground coffee & star anise rub – yup.  That was Me.  KICKS!  AZZ!  It was so tender and succulent that I almost cried… and so did my hubby ^ ^

Coffee & Star-Anise Rubbed Pork Belly (with Roasted Khulrabi)

Ingredients (serves 4):

Belly:

- 1 lb pork belly

- 2 tbsp sea salt, fresh ground black pepper to season

- 1 tbsp evap cane juice/sugar (tenderizes, seasons and browns the meat)

- 2 tbsp fresh ground coffee & 1 whole star anise (ground)

Sauce:

- 1/2 cup evap cane juice/sugar

- 1 tbsp tamarind paste (optional – most difficult to find even at Asian grocery stores.  Look for it in a compacted block form, sorta like whole bunch of dried plums smashed into a 6×6 cube)

- 1 tbsp asian fish sauce

- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice

- 1 small Thai chile (minced)

((You can prep it the night before (~8-9pm), tuck it away in the fridge, sprinkle coffee bean/star anise mixture the morning of, season it for another ~6 hrs and then braise it for dinner))

1) Mix salt, sugar and black pepper in a bowl.  Sprinkle over pork belly, wrap twice tightly in plastic wrap and store in fridge.

2) After ~12 hours of marinating, unwrap the belly, sprinkle and rub the coffee bean/star anise mixture, wrap it again and marinate it for another ~6 hrs.  Rinse belly and rub dry.

3) In a pre-heated 375 oven, set pork on a shallow baking/casserole dish with 1/4 cup of water at the bottom, fat side up.  Roast for 35-40 min.  Reduce temperature to 300 and roast for 1 hr.  Turn off oven and leave for 30-40 min to cool.

4)  Making caramel sauce:  Melt 1/4 cup evap cane juice in medium heat sauce pan until melts and starts caramelizing (stir occassionally).  Add another 1/4 cup evap cane juice to melt until it becomes a rich brown caramel.  Add 1/3 cup water to dilute and stir until caramel is smooth.  Cool for 1 minute, add fish sauce, tamarind paste, ginger, chile, and lime juice.  Turn off heat.

5) Cut the cooled pork belly into 2.5 x 2.5 squares and scrape the fat skin lightly (should fall right off).  Sear (no oil needed) on a cast iron pan until brown (about 3 min).

6) Drizzle caramel sauce and serve with your favorite sides.  Vegetable menu for the night – roasted kohlrabi tossed with olive oil, salt/pepper and drizzled lemon juice.  Roasted at the same time as the second 1/2 time of the pork belly.

made with 2 tbsp of love; love for food, love for life.

–ck

in fact – the last time i was there, i got there early and asked if i could look around at the restaurant and take some pictures for my blog.  everyone was such the hostess from the GM to PR to executive chef.  i got the peeks into the kitchen, saw the team doing their tasting for some new creations to come out, all while enjoying a very original rhubarb cucumber martini.

using highest quality local ingredients, the restaurant pays homage to wholesome comfort food at its best; not the usual steak and potatoes kind of a way but at a level little higher, little more complicated that have you scratching your head going – “how did they do that?”  ”what’s in that”?

blue duck certainly is among the last meals i’d like to have before i die – here’s to the courses for the nite.  my only regret?  i didn’t even make a dint on those duck fat fries…still haunting me…to start:

crispy pork terrine sunny up egg, elixir vinegar

according to the executive chef, this dish is one of his favorite and one that literally takes two days to make including making a head cheese, doing magic to it to get it all tender and gooey and then deep frying it til it gets nice and crunchy outside and complex and velvety inside.  and the egg!  served with a little arugula salad to cut the richness.  need i say more?

to entree:

venison loin, kumquat preserve and torpedo shallot

sous vide to utter tenderness – with acidity from kumquats

served with famous duck fat fries & white asparagus compliments from the kitchen.  (i still long for their mac-n-cheese though…with duck confit, of course.  oh-blue-duck – please bring the macncheese back!)

stuffed – i felt like i’ve died and gone to heaven:)  See my first review here on Yelp – see?  It’s good enough to be the last meal.