Day 6, 7, 8

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

Day Six
1.) Dad
2.) Mom
3.) Bro
4.) Sis
5.) Friends

Day Seven
1.) Sensitivity. If he's more sensitive than I am, get out.
2.) Lack of determination. If he's not going to do anything with his life, he needs to go home.
3.) Creepiness. Enough said.
4.) Stupidity. If his ability to survive in the world is questionable, then...no, just no.

Day Eight
1.) Sane, but weird
2.) Great sense of humor
3.) Matching my idealistic standards

Day Five

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

#1.) I wish I'd never eaten like an morbidly obese person my first year of college. It shot my metabolism like no other.

#2.) I wish I didn't slack off during undergrad. I would be a way more appealing candidate for grad school.

#3.) I wish I had never got addicted facebook and other time wasters.

#4.) I wish I had never developed an introverted personality.

#5.) I wish I had not slacked off while studying for the gre.

#6.) I wish I didnt waste time with these questions I had a hard time answering, especially since it will not be interesting to read for other people.

Day Four

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

1.) I wonder what's going to happen when the big one hits. I think about this a lot when I'm in a parking structure, under those underpass thingies when I'm driving, or when I'm in a huge building.

2.) How much will I change 5 years from now? 10 years from now?

3.) I wonder what's for snack, breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

4.) When am I going to finally have a six pack? hmm....

5.) Why am I cursed? So much stupid around me, I can't stand it.

6.) I am SOOO screwed for the GRE. dang.

7.) Dang it. I'm on facebook again. It's so stupid. Can't stop.

Day 3

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

1.) Can eat a grip-load of food, but is able to manage a good physique somehow.

2.) Have a great sense of humor. As long as I'm laughing, it's a thumbs up.

3.) Can't be easy to read. Subtle nuances that show me you care is good enough.

4.) Killer eyes, smile, hair, physique, and a height of over 6 feet.

5.) I'm not a gold digger but financial security is important. By that I don't mean I want an incredibly lavish lifestyle. No, I don't need that. I know that financial burdens can be incredibly stressful on a DAILY basis. I don't want that for me or my family. I want to be able to not only support my family but also support my mom and dad.

6.) Ability to deal with my disgusting sleep habits.

7.) I like weirdos, just as long as they don't border creepy.

8.) What's the point of winning my heart of he's not loyal? If you're going to cheat, you're going down so hard and so fast.

Day Two

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

#1.) I am not easily angered, but very easily annoyed.

#2.) I am the perfect person to get into a fight with. I can get over things in 10 seconds. We can fight, we'll part ways, I'll walk back into the room and act like nothing ever happened. For the more serious things I'll get over it by the next day.

#3.) I'm pretty shallow, but then again, people who say they aren't shallow are lying. We judge looks first, personality second (except if you're blind, of course.)

#4.) I wish I could dance. Too bad my arms are too long and my body is way too awkward to make any type of dance look graceful and appealing. That's why I support the World Cup of Ugly Dance. (<= this is totally real, guys. It's not made up.) That is my type of dance.

#5.) I used to think I had no best physical feature. Now I have come to a conclusion that my best physical feature are my arms. Arms of steel, mang.

#6.) Eating is my favorite hobby. Laughing is another favorite hobby of mine. Getting fat is not my favorite hobby. Conflict of interest!

#7.) I think animal have a part in their brain that is dedicated to cuteness. This part of their brain determines the cutest things the animal can possibly do in order to make the human heart melt and die upon seeing this act.

#8.) I love to write as a release. It's an art.

#9.) I think facebook is so stupid! Too bad I'm addicted to it.

Day One

I stole this from my sister, who stole it from her friend. Rather than using the word "stole," I'll just say "borrow." =] It's a very interesting concept. Not to mention, it's a great way to waste time I should spend studying.

DAY 1:

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

#1.) I love you. You get me. You're my superman. You are the strongest person I will ever know. You are my hero.

#2.) Got yo back. I still want to kill him, but for your sake I will refrain.

#3.) You are the definition of everything beautiful. Thank you for being the sexiest man alive.

#4.) Thanks for the fun times, laughter, and all that jazz. I love talking with you! Thanks for your enthusiasm.

#5.) Even though I make murderous threats against you, you know I still love you.

#6.) I love you solely for the fact that you said you would pay half of my future macbook pro. I kid.

#7.) I want to hate you sometimes. You ignore me. You never want to talk to me. But when I look at you I just love you so much. You're so cute to me. I could never hate you. Even though we aren't very close, I love you.

#8.) I have no idea if you're actually out there. I have no idea who you are or what you look like. I don't know your characteristics nor do I know your name. I have no idea if we'll ever meet, if you even exist that is. If you do exist, and if we happen to meet, I just want you to know that I will love you.

#9.) I like your hair. Don't cut it. The only time you should cut it is when you start looking like a homeless person.

#10.) I hate you! Jake Gyllenhaal? Really? What a waste.

I am tired.

I'm tired. I hate you, Mondays. They ruin my week. I hate 6:30 am class times. I am tired. I dropped my 16 week Gardemanger 2 class (cold foods) 7 weeks in because #1. I am tired and #2. I need time to study my GREs. I felt so badly because the chef for the class is incredibly nice. I planned on getting to class early so that I could talk to him in person about dropping the class in order to explain the basis on why I decided to take this route. Plan FAIL. I overslept in my car. Got to class more than an hour late just to explain I had decided on dropping his class. His face did the classic =( that I expected, but he was really nice about it and said he understood where I'm coming from. Now I am at home attempting to study and cram, but because I am so tired from waking up early, my brain refuses to function. So I decided to make use of my time by writing a new entry on this blog. FML.

I cant wait until Friday because I will be going to Spago with my sister to take full advantage of DineLA. Woot woot! Last week we had lunch at Lucques. Picture will be posted soon. When I'm not busy studying for the GRE.

I had my practical for one of my classes last week. I finished on time. 30 minutes early, in fact. I made 12 items. When I checked my score for how I did, I was kind of flabbergasted. Definitely way lower than expected and I got more than a hundred points taken off. I dont know why. And I'm pretty mad about it considering the chef told me, "You did good." If "good" means "you sucked a lot." Then fine, but I highly doubt it. I'm tired. Just give me an A, dang it! So I can focus on more important things here.

Sporadic thoughts due to tiredness for today: DONE.
On my way to try to force 70 new words into my cranium.

Rantings of an Exhausted Mind

Life is wonderful when you feel pressed for time when it comes to studying for the GRE and figuring out exactly where I want to apply for grad school. It becomes even more wonderful when you feel pressed for time in the application as well. Life explodes with happiness and possiblities when I need 3 academic letters of rec from teachers who don't even know or recall who I am because I was the student who never went to office hours during under grad. Life sure feels great when you feel like you feel pretty screwed. I have a little over a month to study for the GRE, which I will be taking once. Considering that my first SAT score was a 1650/2400, I'm not to keen on standardized testing and I really DO need to take these dang things more than once. If there's one thing I learned from psychology it's that people do better on the second time, not because they got better, but more likely because the score is deviating towards the mean. I need to deviate towards the mean on my first try (or going above it doesnt hurt at all). Speaking of which, who knew taking the GRE costs 160. What a load of donkey crap! ETS or whoever is making money at my expense. Fantastic. I'm only willing to pay that much if I'm guaranteed a fantastic score.

I think life is pretty interesting. It's crazy to me how much people can change in even a course of 2 years, while some people dont change at all. It could very much be a good thing, but it can also be a little ________ (couldnt remember the word. I'm tired, remember?) when I miss who the person was 2 years ago...just kidding, 3.

My mom is relentless. She's scared that I'm not going to get married. I'm only 22. I dont want to get married. I'm only 22! Enough Said.

I have increased my vocabulary word bank in my brain by 10-15 words. I feel smart! But then too bad I feel stupid when I do practice problems. I did this online quiz thing for verbal. I got 35% correct. HAHAHA! oh man.

Alright my brain is about to die. I am tired. Thank you. My rant ends here.

Griddle Cafe

So on Saturday, my sister and I went to Griddle Cafe to meet up with a cousin who is in LA for the time being interning for a film company. Because he lives in Texas we don't interact with each other very often. Anyway, we decided meet up at Griddle Cafe. I looked up the ratings on Yelp, which were pretty good. I also have a slight inkling that Sabina, my old roommate and great friend, had mentioned the place to me before. I saw pictures of the pancakes and french toast. The size of these things is incredible. I salivated just looking at the pictures. I was ready to kill.


9am. Saturday, Sep 25, 2010. We arrived. The place was packed. It was quite a sight. I ordered a Black Magic (an oreo pancake) and my cousin a red velvet pancake. It was monstrous! The first bite of the black magic was like magic, black magic! It was heavenly, definitely endorphine and dopamine inducing. So good! The only downfall is that it's so large, you get sick of it quickly. But it was delicious none the less. I shared with my sister, and we were only able to get through half of it (albeit, I pretty much finished the rest at home). Saturday was just not my morning, because when I woke up that morning, my stomach was not happy with me. After consuming this giant type 2 diabetes pancake my stomach revolted against me. The ride home was the most painful ride I ever. I had the perfect, most legitimate and truthful excuse for the police if he was going to pull me over for speeding.

Anyway, the point is I think I like giant pancakes from Griddle, but only if four people come along to help me destroy the beast. It also didnt hurt that the server was incredibly cute. He really was.

I should be studying for my stupid class right now, but I decided to do this instead. Also, I just realized my pictures are really bad. The lighting was dim, and the flash on my computer just made things worse. Note the juxtaposition of my sister's hand next to the pancake. It really was as big as you think it was. 3 layers of pancake filled with oreos topped with some amazing whipped cream or butter or whatever it was.

New Direction (Ranting Included)

As some of you know, I am attending LATTC, a community college, for Culinary Arts. My school schedule wears me down from Monday to Thursday. I have to wake up at 5am and get to school by 6:30. On Monday and Wednesdays I am at school until 7:40 PM. Absolute torture, considering I am not a morning person in every means. I wake up feeling exhausted and I continue to feel exhausted throughout the entire week, even throughout the weekend. I dread going to school and I look forward to Thursday. I feel like I am not learning anything. I am essentially free labor for the school. Cafeteria workers? Oh, no such thing. Here, the students make and serve the food on the cafeteria line as well as for any special event. Each week students are on a station and follow the recipes listed on a packet. Screw that. Screw it all. Anyone can follow a recipe. If this is what school is about then screw it! I can follow recipes at home. I don't need to wake up 6:30am in the morning, feeling like absolute crap on a daily basis, to follow recipes and not learn anything. The point is I hate school with a fiery passion right now. It is currently the bane of my existence. I am struggling with the thought of quitting everyday, especially since I do not think Culinary Arts is what I truly want to pursue.

WHAT? After the fast day of school in this semester, I decided that Culinary Arts is not for me. I love food, dont get me wrong. I love to cook too, but I realized I dont want to do it professionally. I rather just cook for my family and friends. I dont want the business side of things. I dont want to be yelled at and belittled while making minimum wage. I dont want to feel exhausted every day, causing me to snap at my mom over petty things. I've decided I am going to go to graduate school to earn my PsyD degree (a doctorate in psychology). I've always wanted to help people in my career path. This doesn't mean I abandon cooking. Not at all. Even whilst pursuing psych, I can still cook and eat, which is the beauty of all things. And I will still be updating my blog on food stuff. Heck yes I will.

But the dilemma still remains: to quit school or not to quit school? I'm heavily leaning towards quitting.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Tradition in my household has been for me to cook during special occasions, such as birthdays. Today, being my mom's __th birthday, of course, I naturally decided to bake a cake and make dinner. My sister and I decided on a red velvet cake, a daunting but delicious task indeed. I decided to make bolognese with fresh pasta using ground turkey. I wanted to make a beautiful, absolutely flawless cake. Long story short, that didn't happen. It came it quite unappealing to the eye. I'm not good at making things look pretty. The taste was pretty good, as my dad said, and I quote, "It's good than it look." My parents were beyond perplexed why anybody in their right mind would make a red cake. I licked up so much of the batter and frosting, pre-assemble, I'm pretty sure I came dangerously close to developing type II diabetes right here on the spot.

(I , being the genius that I am, wore white pants.)

They will no longer be perfect white, ever.

Post-Bake

The cake was a little lopsided and I did my best to capture a nice angle for the cake to look good. It was a near impossible task. I ground up some of the cake into crumbs for and put sprinkled them onto the sides of the cream cheese frosting that I had made. Spreading the frosting was so hard! That's the part that threw me off. Later, I took on a "Screw It" attitude and grabbed handfuls of crumbs and just roughly put them on there. Then with a finishing, artistic touch, I prettifully (probably not a real word) sprinkled it on the top.

Cake DONE!

Dinner Time!

Roll out! Pain#1.

Cutting is a pain #2! Sometimes I wish i had a pasta roller.

All cut up and ready to go into the boiling water of doom.

Guess Who???

Wrong! It's Angie-Pretending to be cooking. She was just

helping me stir the noodles into the sauce.

Finished. So full. So fat.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Updates

I've been lazy all summer. So lazy. TOO lazy.
I still feel lazy.
Here are some thoughts that popped up in my lazy mind.

Tomorrow i have to wake up at 5am and get to class by 6:30am. GREAT! I'm finished with class at 7:40 pm. a whole day of school. I know in theory I should love that idea, but i dont.

My blog looks so ugly. It needs a dire makeover. Maybe I'll change it up so it wont be solely based on food. (even though i love food with all my heart.)

I dont like thinking about the future. Me, future, and success just doesnt seem plausible at the moment. Sad, yes. True, maybe.

I really dont want to wake up at 5am. I am going to be a grouch and disoriented.

I should bake cookies. Should. Doesn't mean I will, but i will try.

OH, how I love my life. Peace. I will update better later, once I break out of my laziness. I promise you, it will be soon. Xs and Os.

Korean Food

Grandparents from Korea are staying for a week. Let the week of learning how to make some legit Korean food begin! (I will be sure to update my blog.)

Oh, Baby!

This is a song is dedicated to my first! Play first, then read while music is playing. (Only because I need this type of epic-ness in my life.)This song should play every time I walk into a room--in slow motion.


Now, let me get to what I was meaning to write about. People have asked me in the past after learning that I was into cooking, "What is your favorite thing to cook?" I have a hard to answering that question because I personally think I know absolutely NOTHING when it comes to cooking any dish. I cannot cook a single dish to perfection every single time. Justly so, I do not feel confident cooking anything really. But after yesterday and tonight passed me by I have come to announce that my favorite food to make or bake is a SOUFFLE!

(photo credits to Erica Ko, 2010.)


Ah yes, the souffle. Let me tell you about the essence that makes a souffle.
Even when the souffle falls and is a failure in every way, the process is incredibly exhilarating. Watching the oven has never been so exciting! When a souffle starts to rise, it is like watching a child's chest rising and falling ever so gently after taking in his precious first breaths from the world he just has emerged. A little over the top? Maybe just a smidge.



Eating the souffle is equally enjoyable. Breaking the top shell into the molten, goodness in the middle--heavenly and divine. The end.

Making souffles are surprisingly easy and versatile. The most important ingredient is the whipped egg whites. It gives the souffle structure. It gives the souffle its rise. You can make a chocolate souffle by adding melted chocolate into the egg whites. You can make a berry souffle by adding some sort of berry sauce or whatever concoction you create and add it to the egg whites. You can make a cheese souffle by adding cheese to egg whites. It's that easy! I don't measure the ingredients, which gives me a sense of freedom from the traditional baking, where you have to measure baking ingredients perfectly. It's fun! It's easy! It's delicious! It's sexy! It's everything you could ever ask for and MORE! Try it. You'll be hooked. I already am.

Potential Opportunities Come With Increased Anxiety

So! I am keeping my fingers crossed over and over and over again for this single opportunity. What is this opportunity you speak of, Jean? Well, let me jolly well tell you! I MIGHT get an internship at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Yes! It is exciting news and I am so greatful for even having the chance at it. The only difficult thing is no matter how hard I try to stay positive my insecurities have been taking over a lot of my thought processes lately, especially because this is something i deeply care about. I am afraid I am going to disappoint those I am working under. I am afraid to make a mistake. I am afraid of failure. I know, we learn through our failures, but failure is one thing I just cannot stand! It haunts me like an overbearing stalker that refuses to disappear even with a restraining order. I am so disturbed to the point that I question if every little action I do will disappoint or offend my potential boss. It is actually become quite stressful as it is silly. I need to man up and take the God forsake bull by his horns and tame the beast like a domestic puppy dog. Please wish me luck!

On the more amusing side of things, I noticed that it was just my luck in which I sent an email to the chef and spelled his name incorrectly. I butchered the man's name with confidence. FML! Good thing he was a good sport about it.

Quote of the day @ school.
Chef: Can someone man this? (referring to stirring a pot of heavy cream that is being heated)
Brit: or WOMAN it.

Thank You. I love you!

I love it when people read my blog. I feel so grateful, even giddy at times. It really means a lot to me. When people tell me they read my blog, I reply with a bashful smile when i really want to give you a hug and a huge, sloppy kiss. I feel like my blog has a long way to go in terms of story telling, pictures, entertainment, engaging readers, and being worthwhile. So thank you to all who take time out of the busy schedules to give this blog the light of day. I have a good story to tell (maybe it will be more a crazy rant or babble) but I dont have a picture. I'm waiting on it. Exxes and Ohs.

Happy Mother's Day

I love my momma and that is why I decided to feed her.
#1.) French Onion Soup


#2.) Caesar Salad
What a complete failure. For some unknown reason, I confidently thought Caesar Salad consisted of these four ingredients: egg, garlic, anchovy, and oil. I was off by like 6 other ingredients.


#3.) Chicken Cordon Bleu
Failure number 2. I thought for sure we had 4 chicken breasts available. Turns out we only had two. I also had a hard time stuffing the chicken breast, I almost turned into hulk mode in the midst of making the chicken.


#4.) Chocolate Souffle.
I made this actually a day before Mother's Day. It was my first time making it and my first time eating one as well. So I really had no idea if it was actually successful or not. It rose...so I deemed it successful. It really is a sexy dessert, but when it started getting messy I started getting a little green (reference to hulk). I even yelled at my sister like a meany. Oh well, I made up for it with the souffle. Good times.
fresh out of the oven

Finished product

Reality Check

As I learn to make new dishes I find myself thinking that all of this is pretty easy.
Then I watch a video of an successful, expert, master chef create the exact same dish, explaining the process with such depth that parallels the complexities of equations attempting to demonstrate the processes of the universe. The finished product is sexy in it's purest form. That is when I realize that I am way behind, and this is beyond easy. It will take years to create a simple dish to be that desirable. It's a sinking feeling. It's almost quite overwhelming at times. It almost seems like a goal far beyond my reach. But with the prospect that I will only be taking forward steps, no matter how small, I learn to love it.

Fatty Life

Sorry for my lack of updating you on what I have been cooking up and learning. I've been busy for the most part. Busy is good, but it really does wear me down by the end of the day, which makes waking up extremely difficult. Hey, I'm doing what I love so I am going to try not to complain about the chef with ADD and having to get to school an hour early so that I can find parking. No, I'm not going to do that. Instead, I am going to post up pictures of food because that makes everything better, doesn't it?
BISCUITS

And yes, those are butter pats melting on top of freshly made and perfectly flaky biscuits. Delicious biscuits makes all things better.

POTATOES DUCHESSE (sp)

I am too lazy at the moment to look up the correct spelling for this little piece of heaven. Boil some russets in water until fork tender. Mash or put through a mill. We don't want any clumps of potato in there. Season. Add 1 egg and egg yolks until the potatoes have a desirable yellow color to them. Put in a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe. (I suck at piping. =() Coat with melted butter on top of the potatoes. Bake until golden brown. Sweet Jesus, I swear to you these potatoes are absolutely fantastic with a crust holding a cloud-like perfection together. Try it! it's easy!

RISOTTO

Risottos are sexy. Enough said.
Use arborio rice like the Italians do it. Start off by sweating onions in some butter until translucent. Then add the rice, making sure each grain is coated with the fat. Add chicken stock one ladle at a time allowing the liquid to reduce between the ladling in more chicken stock. Make sure to keep stirring and most importantly be patient. Keep adding until rice is tender to taste. Then add Parmesan cheese liberally. After having a good risotto, you can die happy.


GENOISE (or Sponge Cake)


This cake is simply some flour, eggs, sugar, butter. Our cake wasn't perfect but it was still tasty. The only issue was that the eggs act as a leavener rather than using baking powder to help the cake rise. So, you need a good amount of eggs. With that, you risk having an eggy taste in the finished produce. Chef told us we could make a syrup for the cake to soak up for a moister texture. We made a kiwi syrup and whipped up some cream. slathered that on the genoise sheet cake and rolled it up to make a roll cake. After putting it in the blast chiller for a bit this was yummy to the tummy indeed.

I love food.
Good day.

Breaking the Curse

I have this curse. The curse of wearing glasses. Don't get my wrong, glasses aren't that horrible. But they seem to have a horrible effect on me, they make me feel incredibly tired ALL DAY LONG by making my eyelids feel heavy and my eyes feel weary. The strange thing is once I put in my contacts or remove my glasses I immediately feel free and my eyes feel as if they can breath. My glasses are a chamber, a barrier, stifling my eyes, my body, and my mind from being awake. My body moves at a slower pace and I swear I feel as if I am induced some kind of drug when my glasses are on. This is why I dread wearing glasses. However, after using up my last pair of contacts I must now weight for the new arrivals and for the mean time I must wear my glasses. I hate doing activity while wearing glasses because I feel like I am unable to do any sort of activity, including cooking.
Good thing cooking totally woke me up. I forgot about my glasses, except when steam fogged it and when my glasses started sliding down my nose. Ugh, annoying. I was sweating so much! It was so hot! I later saw that my face was as red as a ripened tomato. I couldn't stop sweating, because I had been slaving over the stove for OVER 2 hours! But let me tell you, this is when you know you love to cook. Despite feeling dehydrated, sweaty, disgusting, I loved it! Especially since all that work came out to be successful, which makes EVERYTHING completely worth it!
Go for your passion! It will be worth all the trouble and all the hardships you deal with in order to get to where you want to be. Because when you get there, you will feel pretty good.


Today I made French Onion Soup! Holler! And this time I didn't fail! So I felt very good about myself today. I was sweating up a storm, standing in front of the stove for over 2 hours watching my onions caramelize at a snail-like pace as those around me seemed to finish in no time. But the waiting paid off! Chef said the flavor, the color, and everything was there! Success! It's actually pretty easy to make. I worked on this while my other group members maid some kind of caramel custard, which I failed to produce a picture of because I ate it all beforehand...not surprising, I know, in addition to some Parmesan Rosemary Dinner Rolls, which were fantastic by the way. But since I made the French Onion Soup, might as well share the wealth of knowledge. ( I didnt measure anything out, I just used my best judgment. Measuring is such a pain!)

FRENCH ONION SOUP (Jean's atypical recipe guide)

1. Onion, thinly sliced (Remember it cooks down a lot. I used 3 onions for about 4-5 small servings)
2. Put the onion in a pot with enough butter to coat all the onions. Put the pot on the stove over low heat.
3. Add a little bit of thyme and a bay leaf if you have one at hand.
   
4. Stir occasionally. It takes FOREVER for the onions to cook down and then to actually start caramelizing. Patience is key here, which I really lack!
5. As the onions start to cook down you will notice the product start to look a little oily (from the fat of the butter or whatever you used as the fat portion). Fear not! Once the onions start to caramelize and brown, and you still notice there is excess fat, add a little flour to absorb the fat.
6. Add some beef broth to deglaze the pot, reduce to au sec (almost dry.)
7. Continue adding beef broth a little by little and reduce. This enhances the flavor and also gives it a nice brown color.
8. Add your seasonings (S&P, Thyme). Add some sherry, a splash or two or three (depending on how much of an alcoholic you are). Then add some chicken broth (almost equaling the amount of the beef broth you have put in total.)
9. Bring to a simmer, until it is the right consistency, taste, etc.
10. If you notice that you have too little onions in proportion to the liquids, then don't put so much liquid into the pot.
    
11. Now you think you're done? Wrong. Put the soup into a bowl (oven proof preferrably. Or try risking it with a regular bowl. It's good to be dangerous). Cut a piece of a bread so that it fits on the top of the bowl, sitting on the soup. Toast it before you set it on top of the soup/soup bowl. Then top the bread with gruyere cheese. If gruyere isn't available substitute equal parts monterey jack and parmesan.
    
12. BROIL IT just enough so the cheese is nicely browned.
    
13. Smell it! Love it! Lust after it! THEN DESTROY IT!

Fulfilling Hunger Cravings

You know, you have those moments where even a intricately composed culinary dish would not be enough to cure a craving for some good, REGULAR food. Well, maybe you don't, but for me this craving was a grilled cheese sandwich. Ah, yes. Melted cheese and whatever other concoctions of my desire pressed between two perfectly toasted toasts, toasty in the outside and soft in the inside. (From here on forward I will try my best to refrain from using the word "toast".)I developed a craving for a nice grilled cheese sandwich when I saw a picture of one online. I have the tendency to look at pictures of food when I'm really hungry. It's like torture, but really, really good torture. I don't really think there's really much of a right way to make a grilled cheese. I say, you use whatever cheese you have in hand and add whatever additional ingredients you want between two slices of bread. Put that bad boy on a oiled pan on low heat and golden both sides ( I like goldening better than browning). Sometimes you'll have to keep the pan covered to make sure the cheese completely melts. The result is absolutely heavenly, even if you screw up. Oh God, this is not a good time to be talking about food. I'm so hungry right now! Good day to you.

PS I broke hollandaise sauce. I suck. Oh well. Too bad so sad.

Yesterday: Fail. Today: Fail. I wonder what tomorrow holds?

My cooking spree is starting to turn into a cooking fail.
I feel like the ultimate noob of cooking. It's discouraging, but on a more optimistic note it drives me to become better (or that's what I tell myself to make myself feel better.)

Fail Day 1
Yesterday I was the assigned snack person for my church. Determined not to spend my hard-earned money on petty supermarket snacks, I decided to bake my own snacks and share them. I made banana bread (it's vegan!) and snickerdoodles. The banana bread is really easy to make, but somehow it didn't taste as good as I remembered. It was moist, yes, but taste-wise it was a little bland. It might have been because I only added 1/4 cups of sugar for the sake of health, but that had never been an issue in the past. Gasp...I'm losing my touch!! The snickerdoodles were worse. Because I was out of butter, I substituted margarine. Bad news. My dough was an utter disaster. Rather than being stiff as it should have been, it was pasty and difficult to mold. In the end the textures of the cookies came out okay, but the taste was a little off. I was not happy. People said they enjoyed it, but to me, it was an utter fail. I'm losing my touch. Is it possible that I am getting worse at cooking the more I do it?
On a brighter note, that night I made a chicken pasta casserole-esque dish. It was pretty delicious. Or so I thought. My sister loves this stuff, but she wasn't home by the time I was done with it. I saved her a serving and she ate it the next day, only to report that it was bland and not my best work. My mom made me feel better by saying that the reheated pasta was not as good as the fresh one. I suppose she's right. My sister missed out.

Fail Day 2.
Today was my dad's birthday. I think he is 53 now. Anyway, after coming home from school at 2, where my day started at 5:30 am. I had tutoring from 4-6. I went to the store to buy groceries for my dad's birthday dinner. And cooked from 7-9-30. Wow. I was tired. I tried to make chicken duxelles with supreme sauce (a dish that was demonstrated to me in class the previous week) and tried to make some hodduk (the korean snack with the cinnamon sugar and peanut feeling). I misread the recipe for the hodduk. To make a long story short, after 2 hours I came to realize that my hodduk dough was crap and could not be utilized. Sadness. I labored over the chicken to redeem myself for the failure in making the hodduk for my dad. I made the filling for the chicken. Pretty damn good. I made the sauce, consistency was nice. Just when things start to look good, failure stabs me from behind, then takes a cheap shot by kicking me in the stomach while I'm down. I seasoned the sauce when it was the consistency of motor oil and left it on low heat to keep it warm. I guess warm is too high, my sauce continued to reduce and it was kind of salty. I put the chicken with the stuffing in the oven. My dad came home in a bad mood (it's a long story). Feeling the pressure, I took the chicken out of the oven. It looked kind of done from the outside, but my instinct said it should stay in the oven longer. Again, Long story short...I didn't follow my instincts and the chicken was OF COURSE undercooked. I mean, it tasted good in the long run, aside from the slightly salty sauce. However, I'm exhausted, I'm not feeling very proud of myself, and I suck.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
Maybe.

Good thing I watched this video. It really made me feel better. NO joke. Watch it!

Buttery, Saucy Goodness

Today, I made steak, potatoes, and green beans with Chausseur Sauce, which is a type of white wine brown sauce. The steps are simply butter, shallots, quartered mushrooms, tomato concassee, thyme and basil (oregano is optional), white wine (reduced til au sec, meaning nearly dry), demiglace, simmer until it is the right consistency, season if necessary, garnish with parsley, monter au beurre (adding butter), plate, eat, then get fat. Simple as that. Simply delicious.
Our critique from Chef was that the sauce was good, the potatoes had good color on them, but the green beans could have been blanched for a while longer for better color. I was so proud of myself today, but then I remembered I used demiglace (which goes into the Chausseur Sauce) that Chef had made during his demonstration. Maybe that might have contributed to the sauce being good...oh well! It was yummy and I destroyed the plate in a blink. I had an incident, which happens more than I'd like, where I am eating so quickly that the food actually misses my mouth. There were two people who witnessed my lack of coordination and they looks on their faces said it all: Did that really just happen?
What a LOSER!

I burned my finger trying to get the pan out of the oven. I was cursing up a storm and it still stings. At least I got a good meal out of it.

PS picture quality sucks because it was taken with my cell phone (and as a side note, my cell phone REALLY sucks.)

Bringing in True Yellow into White America

Just recently i started to think about Asian cuisine, specifically Korean cuisine. If you know me, as full-blooded Korean I may be, I am not very Korean-ized. For the majority of my life, I never really enjoyed Korean food, but only with very few exceptions: specifically Korean bbq, and even more specifically marinated short ribs. I was almost a full-fledged carnivore at the time. Thank goodness my taste buds have changed over the years (tremendously, I might add) because now I think cuisine from any culture is something to be cherished, savoured, and eaten many, many times.
I started reflecting on fine dining. French, Italian, New American cuisine are served in fine dining restaurants, many of which are awarded michelin stars and mobile stars. What about Asian food? If I am correct, there are no restaurants serving Asian cuisine that have achieved such heights. In America, Asian food is a quick outing for good food, nothing too fancy, or a hole in the wall. Westerners even put their own spin on Asian food and still label it Asian food. Don't forget the orange chicken. It's not really Chinese. There is an under appreciation and a lack of value for Asian cuisines. We have become short sighted to the various types of Asian cuisines we have yet to try. If someone mentions Chinese we automatically think orange chicken, chow mein, etc. Vietnamese: Pho, Vietnamese Sandwiches. Japanese: sushi. Korean: Korean bbq. Stop right there! Ah, Korean bbq. Cooking mountains and mountains of meat, given the opportunity to be a tyrannosaurus rex for a day, is the epitome of Korean BBQ. I love it, too. But, really, there is more to Korean cuisine than just Korean BBQ. The only "gourmet" Korean restaurants in Los Angeles (Korea Town included) were Korean BBQ joints. That's fantastic, but also kind of lame.
That's why I have grown a new desire to learn to cook as many Korean dishes as I can. This task is a bit difficult for me because I dont really have anybody to learn from. I found my mom's old Korean cookbooks in the garage. They are all in Korean, so reading them is going to be a pain, but a good, good pain. After I hone my skills, I am sharing the art of Korean food to family, friends, and strangers.

IN THE MEANTIME
I've been cooking again!
#1.) CARROT SOUP

So easy to make! Cook some diced carrots and onions in a pot with some olive oil. When they start getting transluscent add water and bring to simmer. Simmer for 20-25 mins. Put in a blender. Puree. Put back in pot. Season to taste. Garnish with whatever you want. I did some parmesan cheese and sesame oil. I over salted it, but other than that little mishap, it would have been a pretty sexy soup.
#2.) BAO!

I really like Chinese Dumplings. I craved so I made. 80% of them, due to my inexperience, turned out deformed (but still tasty). I definitely need to learn how to master this from somebody. This was one of the 2 that came out without much a battle scar.

I'm thinking about making lemon bars tomorrow. I crave sweets as always.

Cinnamon Rolls! Holllerrr!

I made cinnamon rolls today. They were successful. I ate 3 of them. I was going to stop at 2, but in the midst of being frustrated by my mom I ate a third, and now I'm feeling pretty sick. Almost the story of my life.

Here are pictures as I have promised. Enjoy!
I didn't take into account how cinnamon rolls can puff up in the baking process, so my pan got a little overcrowded. Also, while i was squeezing out some cream cheese frosting onto the cinnamon rolls to make it pretty, the ziploc bag i was using exploded. So I was left to slather the sugary, cheesy goodness all over the top.

Week 3

This week consisted of a lot of cooking. Rather than complaining and becoming an annoyance like that of the previous post, I am just going to update you on what happened this week.

Monday.
Nutrition class. 7am-2:30pm. I woke up at 5:30 and left at 6:30 because I thought it was important for me to eat breakfast. I was tardy to class. Oh well, that isn't too bad, right? Wrong! So incredibly wrong. 2 tardies=1 absence. 2 absences= F. You do the math. We went over 4 chapters from the book. I was dying during that part. Next, we actually cooked. We were separated into groups and were assigned different things to create. Sorbet, pizza, pilaf, etc. We were assigned the pilaf. It wasn't that great. The only delicious item was the buttermilk sorbet. It was smooth, it was creamy, and it was absolutely fantastic. Later on, I got a huge stomachache. I dont think that's particularly a good thing.

Wednesday
I made some Korean braised short ribs. Those were actually pretty delicious and almost fall-off-the-bone tender! I also made another spicy rice cake dish. I kind of added too much pepper, but then again I like black pepper. So those who liked Black Pepper, really liked that dish. Those who didn't, I dont really care about what they thought. Sorry, no pictures!

Tuesday & Thursday
Who knew making stock was such hard work? I thought you just threw everything in the pot, bring it to a boil, and let simmer until all the flavors release. Apparently that is not the case.
Let me fill you in if you're interested on how to make beef stock CORRECTLY. First, you get some beef bones and you roast them. Yes, you roast them bones. You roast them until they look completely tan (like the color of cinnamon sticks). In the meantime, make a sachet, which is a bag you make out of cheesecloth filled with some peppercorns, parsley stems, bay leaf, and thyme. Then, you are going to collect some fat given out from the bones and slather the bones with some tomato paste. Sound weird, but just do it. And you continue roasting until the tomato paste turns black, NOT burnt, just black. WTF, right? I asked Chef what the difference was between black and burnt, and he said you can smell it. And if it's burnt it was still chipping off. So, it's all in your best judgment I suppose, as long as you don't burn the product. Burning it will make your stock taste burnt. After than you need 2 parts onion and 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. Roughly chop them into large pieces because you are going to be simmering for over 6 hours. Now, with the fat that you've collected you are going to put that into a hot pan and sautee the veg until they are nicely browned. Now you're going to throw the bones into a pot and fill it with COLD water until it just covers the bones. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. The 3rd hour in throw in your veg and sachet. Total cooking time should be 8-12 hours for best result. And then you're going to cool it down in a water bath if you're going to be storing it. (throwing it in the fridge afterwards is going to solidify the fat, making it easier to remove the fat.) The funniest dialogue of the night:
Chef: So, what do we do with the fat?
(People are yelling out different WRONG answers, but one in particular struck me as hilarious)
Anonymous: (with confidence) You put it on a hamburger, Chef!
Chef: (Wtf-ed) A HAMBURGER????

We used the stock to make an espagnole sauce (A brown mother sauce using the brown stock we made above) for the steak we were given. Chef said ours wasn't quite there yet, but to me it tasted pretty, darn awesome. It was velvety, flavorful, and SEXY! If you want, I can let you know how to make it! Just let me know! So delicious with some beef.

That night, I went home and decided to make a Korean Snack. It's like a bread with cinnamon sugar and peanut filling. When it's nice and hot, it's pretty divine. For these, I DO have pictures! Hoorah!





I took a bite out of the one on top (or 2 bites) after eating four myself. I made more than ten, but when it comes to eating my family can be a BEAST! So these were completely gone by the end of the night. I made these at night, by the way. Now, I'm going into the kitchen to make some cinnamon rolls. If it is successful I will be sure to post pictures up of my creation.

Chopped and SCREWED. T Pain of having sucky knives.

UPDATE
title change was inspired by Sabina. (do you get what i added there, sabina? i know. I'm a Jeanius. What? I just did it again!)
After i sent a delightful email of complaint to the company that sent me the knives, they responded speedily. I might have received the demo, thus explaining the craptastic nature of the knife set. They claimed they had never received a complaint on this product and that the knives should come sharp. I returned the product and they should be sending me NEW knives (which it better be or i am going to blow a fuse. a huge fuse). Meanwhile, i bought a knife sharpener from IKEA. YEAYUH! (i <3 ikea) it's for insurance just in case the new knives suck and i dont want to deal with the whole returning and complaining ordeal again. I felt better the next day after i sent the email btw. I dont stay upset for long. =] Thank you all for listening to me rant!

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Today was the first day in the kitchen.
My hands reek of onions.
We chopped, diced, julienned. It was fun. Hooray, right? No, because I sucked and my chef's knife sucked even more. Even if i tried to suck as much as my knife did I couldn't. It would be an impossible task. So, currently I am frustrated and angry. The chef's knife (which is the most important knife) that I purchased that came in a set was complete CRAP. The blade is far from straight. It is crooked, dull, and everything lame and stupid! I was trying to saw through an onion and it couldn't even do that! Yes, "saw" because it wouldn't even chop through the onion if i tried. frustrating! Some of the knives have handles with scratches and knicks on them. WTF! This was my first time using them. I called the site where I ordered the knives. It was passed business hours so I got the answering machine and of course I left a message. I checked the website and I'm supposed to report any damages 2 days after deliver. I received it on Tuesday, but I wasnt home when it was delivered. So as of my 2 days are over! FML! FML!FML! The "sucky" knife at home is like the best knife ever compared to this crap chef's knife. I've never been so irritated in my life. This also came with a vegetable peeler, which doesn't peel but butcher everything. So technically it's a vegetable killer. what a piece of crap!

Moral: They say money doesn't buy happiness. Well, let me assess this statement. If I had more money I would have been able to buy a knife of fantastic quality, where even the slight motion of the knife can cut through 10 bricks. Thus as a result I would have been happy. In other words, Money would have bought be happiness. The lack thereof bought me anger, frustration, murderous thoughts, hatred, and a bad mood.

Abestkitchen.com, this is for you. I HATE YOU.

Food Porn: Explicit Material

To all you perverts who thought this would be regarding sexually explicit acts with food you need to get your head out of the gutter in addition to getting some psychiatric help. And for those of you who are still wondering, what the heck is food porn??? Let me tell you. Food porn consists of pictures of food that make you drool and lust after the opportunity for a taste, but alas you cannot. It's a tease! But a beautiful, probably delicious tease. I made a collage of dishes that I had made in the past. I haven't taken pictures of food in general for a while now, but now I feel the need to pick up the hobby again. Actually, now that I think about it, picture taking was never really a hobby of mine. Nevertheless, I have decided that now it should be. What do you think?


If you've created some good eats of your own share your food porn with me! Let me have a look so we can both marvel and bask each other's drool-inducing art and talent. But beware, when you are viewing food porn on an empty stomach this behavior can be hazardous, dwindling on the fringe of self-torture. I am telling you this out of experience my dears.

The Perfect Egg.

I know, but don't say it. I'm not addicted to blogging just yet. I just felt like sharing. I watched a movie called TAMPOPO after coming home from Spago. It centers on food. Great movie! For all you Foodies it's a must watch.
After watching this scene from Tampopo I realized that it takes great skill to perfect the egg. Yes, the egg. To cook it so that it remains golden, fluffy, and mouth watering. I want to perfect the egg. After watching this clip, I've been trying, but failing. Can you prepare the perfect egg? Have you ever tasted one? (If so, SHARE THE GOODS! WHERE? WHEN? WHAT WAS IT LIKE?)Okay, I just made myself incredibly hungry.

First Fine Dining Experience: Spago.

Thank you, Dine LA! Thanks to you, I had a three course lunch at Spago in Beverly Hills for 28 bucks! What a bargain! And let me tell you, it was one of the happiest days of my life. I think I'm hooked on fine dining. It's too bad I can't afford to enjoy it on a regular basis. Maybe I should start looking into getting a rich boyfriend. Before I forget I just have to mention that the hostess at Spago was 10 ft tall because it amazed me in so many levels. Anyway let's focus on the bigger picture here and get straight to the point. My meal consisted of the following:

Bread and Butter
There is nothing better than starting off a meal with some quality bread and butter. The bread was amazing. The butter was not room temp so it was difficult to spread. I used the wrong knife to spread the butter. The fact that I was a noob to fine dining was pretty apparent, I'm sure. I wasn't too fond of the fact that the butter was whatevers. Thank God the bread made up for it.

Appetizer
Roasted Kabocha Squash and Pumpkin Soup
winter fruit compote, cardamom crème fraîche and cranberry coulis


THE SOUP WAS A WORK OF ART! There it sat before me. It had a golden orange backdrop contained in a vast white soup bowl, swirled with a radiant red and a glorious white ribbon sitting quaintly on top as the fruit compote rested gently in the middle. A work of art I tell you! Upon looking at it for the first time, I almost got teary-eyed. True Story. It was that beautiful. The soup spoon was awkward and breaking the surface of the soup was heartbreaking and exciting all the same. I LOVE THIS SOUP! With each sip I could taste the squash shining through along with an explosion of various other flavors lingering on my tongue. Each new sip was a new tasting experience. My tongue was going on a date with several different flavors with this one soup dish. It was magic. The soup went down my throat like velvet. To make my life changing story short, I became full. It was gone in a flash It was love at first sight, at first taste, and at the last desperate attempts to get every drop on my tongue.

Main Course
Grilled ‘Tandoori’ Loch Duart Salmon
with marinated cucumbers, cilantro-mint Raita and tomato-tamarind chutney



Who knew that warm marinated cucumbers in cilantro-mint Raita (I dont even know what it is) could be so perfect with Salmon? I think from now I think I will eat cucumbers warm as long as it is accompanied by the flawless raita. It was perfection. The salmon rested on a bed of marinated cucumbers and the Raita. The salmon was topped with magnificent full bodied tomato-tamarind chutney, which had a very rustic flavor to it. The chutney was then topped with what I will guess to be alfalfa sprouts. DELCIOUS! The Salmon was cooked to perfection, crusty on the outside, flaky in the inside. It was kind of hard to eat because we wanted to eat like fine diners, neatly and with sophistication. Needless to say it was difficult and I'm pretty sure I failed! We had to ask the waiter how we were supposed to eat the fish. Who knew? You eat it "normally." And that I can do. DELICIOUS! The fish looked small. But boy, was it filling! I tried to to eat a little slower this time. I will discuss how that went because it was nearly impossible.

Dessert
Chocolate Bread Pudding
salted butter pecan gelato


I've made bread pudding in the past once. I thought it was delicious. Compared to the one I had here...I now realize my bread pudding was a complete failure. The chocolate bread pudding at Spago was so rich! It came to us on an exquisite silver colored platter looking like a simple three layer chocolate cake drenched in chocolate sauce (which I am certain was made from actual melted chocolate). Now my description will start to be a little vague. Next to the bread pudding was a quenelle (after searching on google countless times I finally found out how it was spelled) of butter pecan gelato (TO DIE FOR) sitting on top of some white tasty thing. The white tasty thing was like...a marshmallow but with a different texture. I know, I am not helping. And there was a curvy black thing stuck in the ice cream. It was decorative, but edible, delicious, delicate, crunchy, and beautiful. The bread pudding melted in my mouth. The warm bread pudding contrasted perfectly with the gelato. PERFECTION. The only downfall was that I was so full that it was a struggle to finish. I tried to savor the dessert, but nevertheless finished it fairly quickly. How could I not? Happiness is not a warm gun. It's a delicious meal and a full stomach.

End Notes
I felt like I was going to explode at this point. I'm almost a compulsive eater, and being a fine dining restaurant the waiters never wait until your cup is empty. My cup kept on being refilled and thus I kept on drinking (Water, guys, water.) Our waiter, Bernard, was fantastic. He was outgoing, attentive, and fun. Thanks, Bernard.

OH YES! and the best part of the day. I SAW WOLFGANG PUCK. Yes, I spazzed out in excitement exclaiming, "OMG! THERE HE IS! THERE HE IS!" with my friend staring at me like I was a crazy fool. I shook his hand!!!! I told him I was starstruck and he was modest. SO CUTE! He said "By me? No no no." and patted me on the back. The people behind us hogged him! Roar. I wanted to get a picture with him but some man in a suit that worked at the restaurant stole him before I got a chance to ask him for a picture. I was only able to feebly bleet, "Mr. Puck..." (Question for all: Am i supposed to call him Chef Puck? Chef Wolfgang Puck? Mr. Wolfgang Puck?) I guess it was urgent. He went away and i was sad. But i'm still happy because I met him. I consider him a celebrity. So today consisted of my first fine dining experience and my first celebrity citing! I love food. Thanks be to food. Thank you Spago. Thank you Dine La Restaurant Week (best idea ever known to man). Thanks for this:


Photo Credits: Yuri Oh. Thank you. My camera was unavailable at the time.

PS Thursday I am going out on another outing for dinner. You see why I keep on Dine La, because it's another 3 course meal. HOLLERRRR!!!