Cookie Order #1 – YAY!

I have to make about 150 of these:

Suffice it to say, I’m not going to earn oodles, but it’s a start. 🙂  And I’m testing this weekend, shortbread cookies. Mandy gave me a recipe i’m going to try. Yay! for chefy friends! 🙂

On top chef Season 3, Hung on Hung.

I don’t think he’s arrogant. He just knows that he’s good.

I wish I had knife skills half as good as his. I only learned to peel about 2 years ago. Actually, I just learned to cook 2 years ago. And yeah, I’m going to get there, eventually. 😛

I can also relate to Hung because as much as he won stuff, he lost a lot as well. Haha, my culinary school journey was like an unending rollercoaster. Ahaha, much like my life actually

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I can also relate to the fact that people hate him for being arrogant. People have hated me for being arrogant. What can I say? It’s not really arrogance. I swear, half the time, I don’t really feel/see half the people around me. I have my own little world. [My sister calls it selective hearing/sight.] I basically like to exist in my world and in my world, I am queen. So maybe I’m arrogant in my world, and maybe it rubs people the wrong way, but I don’t get off trying to foist my superiority over anyone. [I really don’t, unless extremely provoked.]

Dude, I know who I am, what i’ve done and what I can do. If being sure about that means you’re arrogant. Then I am.

I am living and have lived a very cool life. It’s not been as easy as you think, but it’s been good. And I have no apologies for being myself. I just am.

So basically this post is all about me, and not about Hung.

Just kidding.

More than anything else. Hung is my own personal proof/hero that even when people hate you and wish for your downfall ,staying true to yourself, changing for the better and being absolutely sure about what you want will make you a winner in the end.

Fearless baby! Be Fearless.

This just in. I am in tremendous crush with Rocco Dispirito, almost made me want to be an intern IF he had a restaurant. Which he doesn’t. Which means the universe doesn’t want me to be an intern. Ahaha.

Getting out of that cable car, was like.. jeeeeezzus, he’s hot!

Enter Avril Lavigne’s song in my head : You make me so hot!

Seriously, Bobby Flay used to be my culinary crush, seriously, rocco.. i drool. ahaha.

and consequently, I own about 2 cookbooks of his, and I haven’t read them yet. Hmm. maybe i’ll just stare at the pictures. “P

Korean fusion/confusion?: Tofu, Tuna and Kimchi Soup

I purposedly didn’t eat lunch at my house today. I wanted to passby Sta. Rosa and eat at Kanin Club, because the last time I was there people were all-a-linin’-up, and I wanted to find out why. 🙂

Enihoodles, I was very unfortunate in finding out that restaurants in Paseo De Sta. Rosa usually close during the afternoon. So I was left either to eat in Jollibee, brave Tasty Kreme, or eat in Brothers Burgers. So I walked around and I found a place that was labeled : KOREAN FUSION FOOD, the name of the restaurant escapes me right now, which is weird, as I should have really thought about it.

Of course, they told me I should try bulgogi, but c’mon, I wanted to be adventurous so I went with a Tofu and Kimchi Soup.

[edit: I would just like to say that this is very brave for me, because the last time I ate kimchi, my stomach developed a gastrointestinal flu of epic proportions during one of the most crucial times of my culinary school life, during our batch’s legacy buffet. We’re talking on the eve of the buffet, I had to get myself to the hospital because I was in so much pain. We’re talking.. I had to take like 4 tablets of antacids. Ok..it was either the kimchi or the nerves… I go with the kimchi. ahehe]

Suffice it to say, I got a conconction of Kimchi with spring onions, Tofu (not silken), Tuna (which parang canned siya, in fairness), green chillies, prolly with some gochujang (which I haven’t tasted forever), stock, garlic, sotanghon, sesame oil. Served in a piping hot bowl with a cup of rice, and cold kimchi with metal chopsticks.

METAL CHOPSTICKS! suffice it to say were torture. I don’t do chopsticks, weh, but i’m learning? Well, i don’t really get how the soup is a fusion of anything, maybe because of the sotanghon or siguro the tofu? Ngek, maybe it was fusion when they added unsilken tofu, hay…

 I’d prolly get the same taste if I sauteed ligo sardines with onions, chives, gochujang and unsilken tofu and then with sotanghon. Same color too!*

So I finished it because it cost me about P180 for the whole meal, and drank it down with warm ginseng tea. (yay! healthy!) Asked for the menu, so I could have dessert ( I know i’m dieting, but yeah, kimchi in the mouth!) they told me there was nada dessert and I should just go to the korean grocery to get me sweets!

Yay for korean grocery about 10 steps away! There were super dami selection of Korean ice creams/sorbets. [edit: My family’s company has an office based in the korean center of makati.. i am very familiar with korean ice cream! love them] Was looking very hard for something I haven’t tried before, and I ended up with a banana popsicle/suck them up a tube thing. Well, when I bought it, I thought it was an ice cream stick, but it turned out to be one of those things inside the plastic tubes that you have to suck out of.

And the result was me walking in Sta. Rosa sucking a banana. Hilarious, if I might say. So this was what I ate today and yeah Paseo de Sta. Rosa is a nice place to be. 🙂
Well, here’s me enjoying and wow! the popsicle really does look like a banana!

     

*Here’s a link to a Kimchi Soup with Tuna otherwise called Kimchi Chamchi Chigae. http://www.geocities.com/ypmljulia/images/Soup(Chigae)/kimchi_soup.htm.

Siguro nga it’s the sotanghon and the tofu that made it fusion? Wish I had Korean friends so I could try to make them my version of this and they’d tell me if I did crap. Do I have any friends who like kimchi? hmmmm.

Enjoy the banana pics! ahaha.

Childhood Happy things: Kamias & Salt

I like sour foods. My friends usually look at me quizically when I start dumping vinegar/calamansi juice on everything from picadillo, menudo to monggo. What can I say? “Sour” things in salty things make it more palatable to me. Not saying that all my food is “maasim” or sour per se, my tongue can balance like a high-rope artist baby!- but yeah, my personal preference is very sour tastes.

So today, as a happy snack because we cut down the kamias tree of our neighbor (just the branches reaching our property), we go oodles and oodles of KAMIAS! Yummy!

close up of the kamias, ang asim!

Accdg to http://www.filipinoherbshealingwonders.com, KAMIAS’ scientific name is

Hedychium coronarium

that said, Kamias besides from being my favorite pansigang with shrimp has many healing uses. I would encourage you to visit the site to know more about it! Even I was pleasantly surpised.

English name is GINGER LILY, which I dunno about you, but it sounds very cute to me. Remind me of the name when I finally decide to open up a restaurant, the name is nice, it has the potential of you know being cute and everything.

Enihodles, I’m like a kamias naman, sour but oh so many uses. Ahehehe. So pwede.

Now back to food, our maid already made buro out of some. Burobasically means to ferment or to preserve either with alcohol, salt or vinegar. In this case, they’re using salt. So they’re going to keep in a salt-water or brine solution for at least a week, then afterwards use it as a snack, when I taste it I hope I can find some other use for it though. 🙂

The other kamias were cut into 4 lengthwise to be dried and used as paasim in sinigang. I can tell you I haven’t had sinigang that was soured by dried kamias, so I’m looking forward to it.

So, I stole about half a cup of the sliced kamias and am now snacking on it, dipping it in rocksalt. Yummy! Reminds me of some childhood memories of stealing the kamias to be used for sinigang to snack it down. I also remember eating fresh tamarind dipped in salt.

Yum! Hopefully this doesn’t ruin my appetite tonight. Well, since I’m dieting, maybe it should. But either ways, I’m enjoying my snack. So here’s what I’m eating today:

KAMIAS & SALT

Book Covers: Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets

Here’s something I bought yesterday. Pinikit ko na lang ang presyo, the clincher was that CAFE YSABEL was featured. I saw the SOLE ROULADE and the braised veal shank featured. Ahaha, I served those dishes. So nice, I swear, made me think if I should work in some of the restaurants that were there. Just to see that food served.

 

So talked to my mom and guess what? We’re going to two restaurants in the book every month! Even those that we’ve been to dati. Ahehe, this rocks! and i won’t have to pay for it! ahehe. 🙂

Buy the book! Even I was suprised in some of the choices, places that I didn’t know. It’s great! Let’s all be fearless and try new things this year!

Moving. Moving… HERE!

I’m here from moving from two other blogs. Gah, where am I going? The same place baby!

The kitchen in my head still is beating to the drum of weird. But jeez, I’m not weird, I’m gifted.

And suffice it to say in this blog, I WILL SHARE RECIPES. Ahaha, last blog was very much a picture blog. But yeah, this is a blog about my culinary journey. Suffice it to say, you all gotta know that I am an Undercover Chef. Below all this family drama, corporate slutdom, family biz COO mentality, and all that entrepreneurial drama is A CHEF.

Finding how to get to the point of becoming an EMPRESS, a HAPPY GIRL and A CHEF, is all in the works. Gawd, I wonder if my food will taste better if i’m in love.. hooha! ahahaha.

Well, 2008 is about a lot of things. But mostly it’s about being FEARLESS and growing up. and ENJOYING. Taking risks are always scary for me. I am not a brave girl. Ahaha. Joking.

I am the scariest shitface you would wish to see. People either love me or hate me, I don’t give a shit about who you are, or what you do. If I want to know you, I will know you. If I don’t, it’s not because I don’t. I just get caught up in this little bubble of happy. And believe me, people around me are happy when I’m happy.

I’m generous to a fault, and sometimes really really cranky. Okay BITCHY.

I am the undercover chef and i’m owning that. Booyah world! gar..

 Will someone tell chef heny to hire me? please??????