I just wish...

I just wish I could both skip ahead in time about 9 months to graduation and go through and enjoy the experiences I'm going to have this last school year at USC. Three weeks into my second-to-last semester, four weeks since coming back to the sport I love (my back is finally letting me row again), three weeks before heading to the Bay Area to schrimmage Cal's varsity boat, three weeks and 2 days from taking the Foreign Service Officers' Test. I have a lot going on, now that I think about it. But I figured it was, again, time for an update:

1) I am no longer working at Bottega Louie. I stopped working there shortly after my Kentucky trip. School was starting soon, and I had my Montreal trip to get ready for. I loved working there and plan on going back many times as a customer.

2) As I said, second-to-last semester at USC. Last semester of student tickets to Trojan football. Last Fall semester of 10k's and 45-minute erg workouts getting ready for NARF and Head of the Harbor. I've still got 9 months, but I'm already wondering if I'm going to miss L.A. Certainly not the traffic. Definitely not the air quality. But when I'm cold I'm sure I'll think back to the sun and blue skies of southern California. This semester, 20 units. So far, not so bad. I've already done one of my two presentations for IR 454. And I have my topics chosen for my research papers. Now I just have to write them. They're interesting classes, too. And the sweetest part of it all is that next semester, I can basically do whichever classes I want. I'll have completed my foreign economics concentration, my regional requirement and my 400-level requirement. I'll be in Russian IV and then three more IR classes (though I may look into finding other classes that can be counted towards my major). It would have been awesome to be able to travel abroad to study, but I figure I'll have plenty of opportunity to live and work abroad. College has been amazing (still is), and I feel I've made it exactly what I wanted.

3) I'm back, baby! My lower back has finally been feeling loose enough to let me row. With that said, I'm terribly out of shape. But it's coming back quite well. I didn't miss the blisters, but I've realized in these last few weeks just how much happier I am when I'm rowing (whether on the erg or in a boat, even riding on the launch). We've gone through novice recruitment, and of course we'd like more numbers. But the guys that we do have, whew... they are going to have a good season. Everyone on the team is impressed with how these guys have picked up the sport so quickly. I'm really excited for this season overall.

Well, I think I'm going to end this post. There's so much that I could go on and on about, but for now, I'll give myself time to organize my thoughts. Even though my cooking has be nearly nil, I'll still sign off with: Happiness begins in the kitchen, be BOLD!

-Peter

Summer is Slipping By

So yeah... it's July 3rd... The last time I posted was May 1st. Shameful, isn't it? But I figure it's time for another update on everything. So here goes:

#1) I still work at Bottega Louie. Still a food runner. Haven't gotten into the kitchen yet, but I've expedited a few times. That is, I called the orders that come in to the linecooks and put the finishing touches on food as they go out. It's hectic but incredibly fun. I think I've got the best schedule, Friday - Monday evenings. The restaurant is getting crazy since it's gotten a few great reviews. The most we've served in one evening to date (at least while I've been working) is just over 850. And we've been doing a steady 500+ on weekend nights. Some notables that have come in to eat: Topher Grace, Emilie de Ravin, Shannen Doherty, Milo Ventimiglia. I'm sure others have come in, but those are the ones I actually remember bringing food to. I'm thinking about talking to Chef Davis about trying my hand in pastry. I really like to bake, and I think I could do the nice presentation of the desserts well. Other than that, work is work. I don't do much on the days I work (or on the days I don't work for that matter).

#2) I'm going to Kentucky in 11 days to visit my Aunt Diana and cousins Shannon and Amanda. There are horses there, which I'm excited about. Also, it'll be the first time I've been to Kentucky, which is always exciting. Next, I'm going to Montreal with my dad in 30 days. That is going to be a lot of fun. First time going to Canada. I've planned out our itinerary, and the days are going to be packed. Still, it should be relaxing. I've just recently purchased a 35mm film camera (Canon Rebel K2) and am looking forward to taking some great pictures with it. Hopefully some slides as well (something I hope comes back as a tradition for the Matarrese family). Those are the two major trips I have planned (also going home for a few days before and after the Montreal trip). I'd like to get down to San Diego for a day or two, take the train down and just bum it on the beach. At some point in the next year I want to go camping, use my backpacking gear some more (and of course take more pictures).

#3) I've started the application process to become a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department. A Consular officer to be specific. Those are the people that you speak to at the visa window. I'm planning on taking the initial test in October. There are many steps to go through to actually become an FSO, but here's the rundown of it: initial FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test), writing a few personal statements, getting through a reviewing board, getting interviewed in D.C. for a final review, getting medical and security clearance. It's a very competitive process, but it should be because FSOs are most of the world's first and only impression of the U.S. It seems like the perfect job for me. Living abroad at embassies and consulates, speaking the native language everyday, and serving my country. What could be better? Not even to mention the free housing, the decent salary, and the job security. It would be the ultimate "change in scenery," every two years or so a new country. I've been assigned a mentor from the State Department, a very nice man serving as a Consular officer in Peru at the moment. He's been a great source of information for me about the Foreign Service. Overall, it seems like a good fit, so I'm going for it. I'll keep y'all updated on it.

#4) Slowly but surely, my back has been getting better. It has not been bothering me at all. That being said, I tried erging a few weeks ago, very low pressure low rating, and I still can't get the proper bodies over position. I'm not 100% sure, but I think my collegiate rowing career is done. It's a real shame, especially as the USC Men's Crew team is just starting its Renaissance with the two new coaches. I am still doing my stretches trying to get better, but without being able to erg, there is no way I can be in competitive shape to earn a spot in the top boat. I plan on staying in contact with the team, in essence being on the team, go to races and such. Perhaps I can be the team photographer. I wouldn't trade my time on the team for anything in the world, and hopefully someday I can get back in a boat, even if it's just for recreational purposes. My love affair with the sport will end when I die.

#5) Next semester is going to be insane. I'm taking 20 units (four classes = 16 units = full load). I have to take 20 units in one of my last two semesters in order to graduate on time. And since I found what sounds like really interesting classes, I figured I'd do my 20 in the fall. My classes are: Russian 3, The Global Economy (IR 213, the last introductory class in the major), Multination Enterprises and World Politics (IR 324, all about international businesses and their political and social influences), Political Economy of Russia and Eurasia (IR 439, combines a few things I like: Russia/Eastern Europe and political economics), and The Political Economy of Development (IR 454, again with the political economics, and development, something I took a really interesting class in this last semester). Two 400-level classes, a 300-level class, a 200-level class, and a third semester language. It's going to kick my ass. Even if I was physically able to row, I don't think I would have the time. That also means I'll have to not be working. Whether I have to quit or just take leave from working at Bottega Louie is yet to be determined. I'm spending the summer trying to get ahead for the classes though. I'm reading the first book for IR 324, thinking of some possible topics for my research paper for IR 439, and trying to increase my Russian vocabulary. Hopefully I will survive (not have I have a choice).

And #6) I have been slacking in my cooking, but I have two things for you: a spice rub of my own creation, and a recipe for Chinese pork buns that I rocked. First the spice rub that I made:

Sweet Mustard Rub

I used this on beef chunks that I pan sauted. I didn't really have a
clear idea what I was creating, and didn't taste it until after the beef was
cooked. Luckily, it turned out well. Try different amounts of the
various ingredients to get different tastes (obviously):

ground mustard
ground nutmeg
caraway seeds
brown sugar
garlic salt

Mix all the ingredients together. Roll the meat in the rub. Pan
saute with a little olive oil until a nice crust forms on the outside.

I suppose if you added lemon juice, you could make a sauce out of it, or you could deglaze the pan as well, since the sugar carmalizes some tasty bits onto it. This on chicken would make so wicked kababs.

The next recipe is for Cha Siu Bau, or pork buns. They are those white doughy buns with the pork inside. They come with the paper stuck on the bottom usually. I found this recipe online. It makes the perfect dough, I think the filling could use some work though. It's tasty, and generically "Chinese," but there could be so much better fillings too. Here's the recipe:

Chinese Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bao)
Category: Pork Entree
Serves/Makes: 24

Ingredients:
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons shortening
1 pound finely chopped pork
1 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons shortening
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Directions:
Dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in 1 3/4 cups warm water, and then add the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until mixture is frothy. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons shortening and the yeast mixture; mix well. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and cover it with a sheet of cling wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it has tripled in bulk.

Cut the pork into 2 inch thick strips. Use fork to prick it all over. Marinate for 5 hours in a mixture made with 1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, and 1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce. Grill the pork until cooked and charred. Cut roasted port into 1/2 inch cubes. Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Mix cornstarch with 2 1/2 tablespoons water; add to the saucepan, and stir until thickened. Mix in 2 tablespoons lard or shortening, sesame oil, and white pepper. Cool, and mix in the roasted pork. Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a long roll, and divide it into 24 pieces. Flatten each piece with the palm of the hand to form a thin circle. The center of the circle should be thicker than the edge. Place one portion of the pork filling in the center of each dough circle. Wrap the dough to enclose the filling. Pinch edges to form the bun. Let the buns stand for 10 minutes. Steam buns for 12 minutes. Serve.

Mine came out, to be quite honest, perfectly. My housemate Kevin Chin (from South Korea originally) said they tasted like "store-bought," which I take as a good thing. I plan to make them again, with some veggies and maybe some with preserved fruit inside. They are really good. I put each bun on a square of wax paper before steaming so they wouldn't stick to the bottom of my steamer and really, they are just like those I've bought in Chinatown. Unfortunately, my friends and I ate them all before I took any pictures, but I'll be sure to snap some when I make them again. Well, that's just about it for me. I'm almost ready for school to start again, just to find stuff to do (not that there's not plenty of stuff to do in LA, or plenty of things I could be doing). Hopefully, I'll get back into the habit of updating this thing (I definitely will after my trips, because I'll have plenty of pictures). Until next time, remember:
Happiness begins in the kitchen, be Bold!

Cheers,
-Peter

It's been a while, old friend...

Happy May, everyone. The summer weather still hasn't fully taken hold here in L.A. My 21st birthday is in 13 days, my last final of junior year in 11, and my flight home for a week in the Bay Area in 14. My last post was over 2 weeks ago, and so I should have a large credit of recipes to make up for the weekends I've missed. It's a good thing, then, that I've added to my collection of culinary resources recently. I now have The Joy of Cooking, The Escoffier Cook Book, The New Food Lover's Companion, and Good Cooking with Herbs and Spices. This last book is somewhat of a gem in my collection. It's another one of Frank Dorn's books (I don't think I mentioned it, but my copy of The Dorn Cookbook is actually a signed copy by Brig. Gen. Frank Dorn himself). My copy of Good Cooking with Herbs and Spices also happens to be a first edition, got off alibris.com. I plowed my way through Kitchen Confidential, which was an interesting read. I took the book with a grain of salt, having read all the reviews to the effect of "the industry has evolved so much since the '70s... the narration is a caricature of how things used to be... etc." But still, it is an interesting read, and kind of makes me want to open my own restaurant eventually. What else? Bottega Louie is doing well to my knowledge. Our triumph to date (at least in my eyes) was our 1000+ cover day about a week ago. Some nights get extremely hectic, but we're falling into a groove I think (not a rut, mind you). I had my last class of junior year yesterday, and now am studying for finals. I actually went to the LA Trade Tech College today and got a registration appointment, so I should be all set to sign up for the very first Orientation I course of their culinary program. That will keep me busy this summer, in addition to working at the restaurant. *doorbell rings* ... Awesome, the mailman just delivered my copy of Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making. I'll have to look at that before I go to work. There are so many things going on, but they're all fun/good. Even once I get on that plane on the 15th to go home, that night I'm bar hopping in Alameda, the next day I'm cooking a pasta dinner with my dad, visiting with family all weekend, hopefully going to SF one of the days (I'm planning on eating at Nopa, the restaurant where Richie the author of linecook415 works). At some point between now and the 14th I will hopefully get my licence renewed (nice and early). I have to register for my culinary class. Sidenote, my schedule for next semester rocks, even though I have 20 units (a full load is 16), of which 2 are 400-level, 1 is 300-level, 1 is 200-level, and then Russian III. But they all sound super interesting (IPE of Eastern Europe, Politics and Economics of Development, Multinational Corporations, and The Global economy). After the end of this semester, it's all IR classes and Russian, all the time. Very interesting stuff, but then again I can't wait to finish. After college, still planning on moving to NYC. Some other possibilities have come to mind as well: move back to the Bay Area and work in the industry somehow (possibly open my own restaurant); stay in L.A. for a time and really work towards getting into the kitchen of Bottega Louie to learn the trade; stay in L.A. and go to culinary school here; see if I can get into the Opreyland Hotel Culinary Program (culinary school while you get paid since you're actually working for a hotel); move to D.C. and work for the government in some aspect; move to Europe and work for an MNC; take a culinary tour of the world (my friend told me I must go to China and see what they're doing over there); do something with the Armed Forces (still an option for me, though not a strong pull). In all, I'm feeling pretty good, though. Not as frantic to know what I'm going to be doing after college. And I'm happy knowing that I'm just doing what I think is best to prepare for whatever I end up doing. Let's see... Oh, I've also been designing/developing my website idea. It will be like a lot of sites that already exist (Chowhound, Foodbeast, Epicurious, etc.) but it will cater to young adults (college age) and culinary minds. I'm keeping the name and design under wraps until I get it near completion. I'm always looking for like-minded people to join the team, or else this is going to be slow goings as I haven't done HTML coding for a long time. Anyway, back to reading some books, and getting ready for work in a bit. After about two weeks, I should be back to more regular posting. Until then (to my handful of readers), remember:
Happiness begins in the kitchen. Be bold!

Cheers,
-Peter

My mistake...

So in my post about the chocolate souffle recipe, I bashed on the suggested cooking time written in the book, saying it was wrong.  Nope... I was wrong.  My assumption was based on the number of containers I used, not the batch size from the recipe.  I made my mixture according to the ingredient list, which yields one batch (they say either one large souffle, or you can divide it into different ramekins).  I opted to divide it in 4.  Then the recipe says to bake it for 15 to 25 minutes per souffle.  This translates into "one batch."  If I doubled the recipe, then I could have cooked it for 50 minutes.  But I didn't.  No wonder they came out drier than those we serve at the restaurant.  Oh well, live and learn.  Just means I'll have to make them again.  I'm thinking peanut butter next time, since Buck doesn't like chocolate, and I feel bad that he didn't get to try one from my last batch.  So the lesson here, pretty much just think things through, and cooking time per *item* is usually according to the serving size in the recipe.  Ok, time for class.

Happiness begins in the kitchen.  Be bold!

Cheers,

-Peter

Part Deux: Back with a vengeance... Weekend Recipe(s) - 4/12/09 (and 4/13/09)

Ok. Back from work, and writing up my second recipe for the weekend. With this one, I should be back on track with one per weekend. This, like I said in my last posting, is one of my own recipes. I used the quickbread recipe as a base, with a little modification. Then I added a pretty basic glaze, and made it my own. I call it the Lemon-Honey Top Quickbread:

Lemon-Honey Top Quickbread
Makes: 1 large pan-sized flatbread
Time: 5-15 minutes prep, up to 40 minutes baking

This recipe would make a good morning pastry. It's not too sweet, and plenty filling

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup warm milk
.33 cup neutral oil (vegetable/grapeseed/canola)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Topping:
3 parts lemon juice
2 parts honey
1-2 parts granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Mix dry bread ingredients in a non-reactive mixing bowl. Pour in the oil and mix. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the warm milk. Mix well (adding flour if necessary) to form a non-sticky but still elastic dough. Lightly grease a 9x13 standard baking sheet and press dough into rectangle. Allow shrinkage, flip the dough over and repress. Heat the honey and lemon juice in a microwave safe container until it is no longer viscous. Stir in sugar until it is dissolved. Heat once more in the microwave to return to a non viscous state. Using a basting brush, spread a layer of the topping on the dough. Bake the dough for 40 minutes, rebasting every 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, cut into squares and serve. May be served hot, warm, or chilled.

Here is the result I got. It's a very dense biscuit-like pastry that's not at all too sweet (you know how some of those "breakfast" things can be like desserts). When it first comes out of the oven, the crust is still soft in the middle, but the bottom is stiff enough for each square to be able to take some sort of additional spread (maybe some cottage cheese, or a fruit flavored cream cheese, or even just plain cream cheese). Once chilled, the crust becomes more compact and flakey, but still extremely tasty. Here are some of the pictures I took after baking this:

This is trying to show how the glaze pools near the edge where the crust dips a little bit. If you choose to roll out the dough with a pin, then the glaze should spread evenly, but you won't get these tasty little wells of goodness.

Here's a picture that I think really shows the beautiful coloring that this dish takes on. The crust gets a really nice golden brown coloring, and the glaze tints it with yellow. You can see in the piece near the bottom that there can be some discoloration due to the sugar, but I think that was because my oven wasn't heated uniformly.

In all, it's just an awesome dish. The color of it is nice, the taste is great for breakfast (or anytime really), the texture is complementary of the taste, and the ease with which you can make this dish makes it accessible to just about everyone. I think this could also be a gread base recipe to build on.

Anyway, so there are the recipes. It took me three days to get through those two posts. That's what I get for starting them pretty much immediately after getting home from a 7 hour shift running food (at 12am or thereabouts no less). It's interesting though; I have absolutely no idea how large my readership is. I know of a few people (my parents for instance, Hi Mom and Dad!), but even then, I'm not sure how often they check it, and I certainly don't know anyone who has tried one of my recipes. I hope someone has at least been inspired to cook more, because everything is better when it's homemade. Well... unless you absolutely have no idea what you're doing and screw it up (that just reminds me of the first time my brothers and I made an omlet at home; we mistook teaspoon for tablespoon in regards to the salt content, and since we were tripling the recipe, we put in 3 tablespoons of it...). Regardless, you will never learn unless you make mistakes. A lot can happen when you say "Hey, so that doesn't work. What can we do instead?" The possibilities are endless. Some side notes:

1) Flippin hilarious how you can hear the cans of beer being opened during Linecook415's podcasts. I think that's funnier than the toilet flushes myself. Next podcast, I'm going to keep a tally.

2) Work is awesome. Plain and simple, it's exciting and super awesome for someone like me who loves food. I just can't wait to get into the kitchen part of it.

3) In addition to the blog, I'm thinking of starting a website geared towards students who appreciate good food in Los Angeles (and whichever city I end up in after college) as well as aspiring chefs and foodies in general. I'm thinking forums, restaurant reviews (both myself in my free time, and from newspapers and such), recipes, basic technique lessons, and interviews with chefs, servers, managers, and owners if I can swing it.

4) I still lament that USC has no cooking classes. We have at least three types of dance classes, lots of PE classes, and countless other Fine Arts classes. So adding to the "list" (you know, the list of stuff to do before you die), "Start an School of Culinary Arts and Restaurant and Hotel Industry at USC." All it takes is some rich donar to agree to put their name on a building. To see what else is on my list, you'll have to ask me yourself.

5) If you are a reader, please respond with your thoughts. I'm interested in knowing what people think about things. Even if you just say, "I like puppies," I'd be completely down for doing a post on the variety of recipes one can use puppies and other domestic animals in... A joke, people. Maybe in bad taste, but that was a joke...

Anyway, I think I've found my "signing off" phrase. Inspired of course from Linecook's podcast, but not nearly as clever (or vulgar).

Happiness begins in the kitchen. Be bold!

Cheers,

-Peter

Back with a vengeance... "Weekend" Recipe(s) - 4/11/09 (and 4/12/09)

So I have two recipes for you, which I will compliment with the stories behind each. The first one comes (of course) from what is becoming my Bible, How to Cook Everything. And it is (dramatic music swell with drumroll) Chocolate Souffle!!! Huzzah! ...O_O... But really, here it is:

Vanilla or Chocolate Souffle
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: About 1 hour, largely unattended

Undercook this souffle slightly so it remains moist in the middle and needs no sauce, then dust with confectioners' sugar. Or cook it until it's dry and serve it with Vanilla Custard Sauce (page 924), Whipped Cream (page 882), fruit puree (see page 923), or any light sauce.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 1 teaspoon for the dish
.5 cup sugar, plus more for the dish
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, or 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, separated
Pinch salt

1) Use 1 teaspoon of the butter to grease a 2-quart souffle dish or other straight-sided deep baking dish. (If you want to make individual souffles, use a little more butter and grease four 1.5 to 2-cup ramekins.) Sprinkle the dish with sugar, invert it, and tap to remove excess sugar. Set aside and heat the oven to 350*F.
2) Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat with the remaining .33 cup sugar. In a second saucepan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. When the foam begins to subside, stir in the flour. Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring almost constantly, until the flour-butter mixture darkens, about 3 minutes.
3) Stir in the milk, a little bit at a time, using a whisk. It will be quite thick; stir in the chocolate if you're using it and remove from the heat. Let cool for 5 minutes. Beat the egg yolks and stir them in. Add the vanilla if you're using it. (At this point, you may cool the mixture, cover it tightly, and refrigerate for a few hours.)
4) Beat the egg whites with the salt until very stiff but still glossy. Stir a good spoonful of them thoroughly into the sauce to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites, using a rubber spatula or your hand. Transfer to the prepared souffle dish(es) and bake until the center barely jiggles and is set, or nearly so, 30 to 40 minutes (15 to 25 minutes for individual souffles). Serve immediately.

Okay... I had heard enough to know that some cooks hate to bake souffles. They are supposed to be extremely fickle and difficult to cook. I had just about no problems when I cooked them a few days ago. The hardest thing for me was beating the egg whites and making the whipped cream with just a wire whisk (no electric mixer for me). I developed my own technique for it (which worked in the end, so know that it's not impossible to do), and learned tonight at work that there is supposedly a much easier way to do it. I can't wait to try out that technique. But anyway, with all I had heard about souffles, I feel that they really shouldn't be intimidating at all. It's one of those things that makes me feel like "Hey, maybe I really can get good at this." Check it out:

Here's one of the four souffles that I made. The taste was spot on, and the texture was what I expected. I'll learn eventually to time it just right so the surface doesn't dry out enough to crack like that. I'll worry about the aesthetics next time.

Here's the whipped cream. Heavy whipping cream, sugar, and cinnamon. Not too sweet, and the cinnamon really adds a great flavor.

So if I can produce a chocolate souffle in my tiny little galley kitchen with the minimalist equipment that I have, then I really just can't wait to see what I might be able to do with good tools and good ingredients in a professional kitchen. I know it's not the tools that make the chef, but I still intend to try end find out what I could do with those professional tools (or even, you know, just some basic kitchen essentials). But hey, maybe it's good for me to learn the basics with really crappy tools, so I'm pleasantly surprised how easy it is later. Random interjection, I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again: Linecook 415 is an awesome blog. I'm currently listening to their most recent Podcast and it's hilarious. I hope they put out a new one soon. Anyway, a note about the actual souffle recipe. I had four Pyrex dessert bowls placed in the middle of the oven inside a 9x13 Pyrex casserole dish for stability. My oven thermometer was reading ever so slightly above 350*F, and I set the kitchen timer for 50 minutes. Three times I opened the oven because there is no internal light (so some heat naturally escaped). At 50 minutes, the tops were drier than the ones we serve at the restaurant and slightly cracked. The interior was just about perfect though. So what the recipe says about 15 to 25 minutes per souffle (which would have put me at an hour 4o) is wrong. If you have a clear oven door window and an internal light, you'll be able to judge for yourself much better when they're done. And a note to those who might be intimidated by certain recipes: Just go for it. Worst case scenario, you really screw the pooch and burn down your house or something. But really, what are the odds? Anyway, this post is kind of all over the place; I started last night after I got off work at 12:30 this morning, and got more distracted continuing it now with the podcast on in the background. So I'll post the second recipe tomorrow with the pictures from the results. So you know, it's one of my own personal recipes (I'm sure the idea has been done before, but I like the way mine tasted so I wrote it down and called it my own). Perfect for breakfast in my opinion. Last words: Happiness begins in the kitchen. Be bold!

Cheers,

-Peter

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

By the bye...

I'm on Twitter now. Figured it was time, but really seems pointless if you're not online 24/7. Anyway, @pmatarrese. Don't really have any profound thoughts yet, but there you are.

Cheers,
-Peter

"Weekend" Recipe 3/30/09 plus notes

First, the recipe:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: About 45 minutes

One of the most popular recipes in the original How to Cook Everything, which I attributed to too many people growing up with what the Canadians call "Kraft dinner." The real thing is rich, filling, delicious, and dead easy. You can change the type of cheese you use: Try blue cheese, goat cheese, smoked Gouda, or even mascarpone. Or mix in some crisp-cooked chunks of thick-cut bacon or pancetta, about .5 cup.

Salt
2.5 cups milk (low-fat is fine)
2 bay leaves
1 pound elbow, shell, ziti, or other cut pasta
4 tablespoons (.5 stick) butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1.5 cups grated cheese, like sharp cheddar or Emmental
.5 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
.5 cup or more bread crumbs, preferably fresh (page 876)

1) Heat the oven to 400*F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.
2) Heat the milk with the bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When small bubbles appear along the sides, about 5 minutes later, turn off the heat and let stand. Cook the pasta in the boiling water to the point where you would still think it needed another minute or two to become tender. Drain it, rinse it quickly to stop the cooking, and put it in a large bowl.
3) In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter; when it is foamy, add the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture browns, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves from the milk and add about .25 cup of the milk to the hot flour mixture, stirring with a wire whisk all the while. As soon as the mixture becomes smooth, add a little more milk, and continue to do so until all the milk is used up and the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the cheddar or Emmental and stir.
4) Pour the sauce over the pasta, toss in the Parmesan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to grease a 9 x 13-inch or like-size baking pan and turn the pasta mixture into it. (You can make the dish to this point, cover, and refrigerate for up to a day; return to room temperature before proceeding.) Top liberally with bread crumbs and bake until bubbling and the crumbs turn brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve piping hot.

Now, a few things:
The recipe tasted good. Make sure you use the right amounts of the ingredients. I know that I skimped on the cheese (using Monterey Jack cheese, which seems somewhere between soft and semi-hard, not like sharp cheddar), and completely removed the Parmesan (didn't have any). Next time, I'll make the trip to the store. Mine came out kind of dry. As I was making the sauce, it looked good, but I could tell as I was pouring it that it needed more cheese. Oh well, there's always next time. Also, the timing for this must be an approximation for someone who knows the recipe. So prepare yourself whenever you're trying something new.

Next:
linecook415.blogspot.com is a very interesting blog. I heard about it from one of the chefs at work. It's a good blog, I wonder if she has other recommendations. Currently listening to his Podcast about culinary school. A lot of very good information. I am going to do more research about which culinary school I want to go to. It's like applying to college all over again. Still, I have a year and a half to change my mind with plenty of factors to influence me. Random best quote from the Podcast (be warned, I am not censoring the expletives: "That's fucked up... being bored in a kitchen. A restaurant kitchen. How does that happen? You have knives and fire! How the fuck are you bored?!" A brilliant and well-phrased thought.

Finally:
Where has this semester gone? This isn't food related, but rather life related. I have something like 5 and a half weeks of classes left. Then I'm a senior. In my senior year of college... that's surprising. I guess after 20 years of life (almost 21! A month and a half), one more 5 month period (one semester) doesn't seem like all that much. I wonder if this feeling gets exponentially stronger. I guess I'll find out when I'm older.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. FYI, I hope at least one person has attempted or at least intends to try some of the recipes that I post. I haven't posted one yet that hasn't turned out extremely tasty. The "Olive Oil Salt Bread" which I simply call quickbread is painfully simple, quick, and delicious. Take the extra hour (should be even less time) before you eat dinner to prep and bake some fresh rolls (just divide the dough in balls and put them on a baking sheet). You will not regret it.

Cheers,
-Peter

P.S. Of course, I need to say...

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

Weekend Recipe 3/29/09

So amid my schoolwork I still like to find time to cook. The quick recipes that I have provide nice little study breaks or a good way to relax after a long day at the library. This recipe for Popovers comes from How To Cook Everything, and is extremely easy. I've made it twice so far, the second batch turning out much better than the first. Let me just say... GREASE THE PAN!!! If you don't, you'll end up crushing the popovers as you attempt to pull them out of the muffin tin. Greasing it well allows you to simply run a butter knife around the sides to make sure they are loose and pop them right out, maintaining the desired air pocket. Beyond being extremely easy to make, the taste and texture are incredible. Think of the texture of a crispy eclair on the outside and a light bread pudding on the inside. The taste is clean enough, and the mix receptive enough, that you can make these savory or sweet. My last batch had cinnamon folded into it, which made it more of a breakfast companion. An idea that my housemate Kevin brought up that I'm very interested to try is this: Filling the air pockets. The possibilities are endless! They could be homemade cream puffs, or muffin shaped eclairs. But why stop there? Make a homemade headcheese of sorts (just use any cut of meat precooked and minced small, add veggies and spices to unflavored gelatin and chill into a loaf to yield something slicable), and allow it to set within the air pockets. It's like a "soup" sandwich (assuming the gelatin takes to the flavors of the meat, veggies, and spices, I imagine it would taste something like a solidified stock). Hmmmm, I may just have to see if this works for myself. The textures of the final product I'm sure would weird out a lot of people, but then again, it could be the next big thing. "Don't knock it 'til you try it" is my food philosophy (that's how I came to like sea urchin sushi). After a looooong digression here is the recipe:

Popovers
Makes: 12 popovers
Time: About 45 minutes

Popovers are best made at the last minute, but they're good left over as well. I think they go incredibly well with scrambled eggs, though the classic accompaniment is Prime Rib Roast (page 734).

1 tablespoon melted butter or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus some for the muffin tin
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
.5 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

1) Heat the oven to 425*F. [N.B. from me - Get an oven thermometer if your oven does not have a digital read; my first batch cooked way too hot when I trusted the temperatures on the dial] Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or a popover tin and put it in the oven while you make the batter.
2) Beat together the eggs, milk, butter or oil, sugar, and salt. Beat in the flour a little bit at a time; the mixture should be smooth. Fill the muffin tins at least halfway (if your tin is large, this might make fewer than 12 popovers). Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350*F and continue baking for 15 minutes more, or until the popovers are puffed and browned (do not check the popovers until they have baked for a total of 30 minutes [N.B. from me - depending on the hotspots in your oven, or the fickleness of it, you'll be able to see if they are ready before 30 minutes]). Remove from the pan immediately and serve hot.

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

Food Day!

So today at job training, all of the front-of-the-house employees were given a lecture of sorts on every item on our lunch and dinner menu. It was a lecture in the sense that it was very informative, but also so much more than a lecture in the sense that we got to taste a LOT of the food. Everything from the salads to the fish to the meats, and especially the pizzas, has a story. There are between 60-70 dishes on the menu, but one has to realize that within these dishes are literally hundreds of recipes. Where the master recipe for a soup might call for a chicken broth, the kitchen team at Bottega Louie has a specific recipe for making that broth. Within that broth, a very specific type of chicken is used (the Jidori varietal, look it up), which is raised locally (that is to say, within 100 miles). But even a good recipe can be ruined by poor quality ingredients. Not at Bottega Louie. Who else has fishmongers in Italy with the ability to get us the catch off of day boats within 48 hours? Who else has access to the artisan-grown vegetables from the McGrath Farm in Valencia, CA which produces only one acre of a certain product (note* "any one of its products;" they grow many types of vegetables on their 40 acres, but reserve only 1 acre per varietal)? Hearing about all the recipes and the ingredients that go into those recipes today makes me appreciate that this whole operation has really been in development for three years. That time has not been wasted either. The close relationships our upper management team have developed with the various growers, vendors, mongers, etc. is a testament to the company's motto: The fanatical pursuit of excellence. Everything, I mean EVERYthing that I tasted today is as close to perfection in the various types of dishes that I've had. The pizza, the pasta, the vegetables, the bread, everything reflects the care and expertise that has gone into trimming 40 types of mozzarella down to the one we use for the pizza (which is different from the one we use on the caprese salad), or the over 2,000 wines down to the 50 that are on our list. Some might believe that it's a waste to spend so much time and money on this sort of development, but I see it differently. Everyone will be able to appreciate just how amazing the food tastes on their very first time in the restaurant. I believe the sheer quality of the food is enough to bring people back a second and third time. It is those subsequent visits when they will begin to grasp just how vast the scope of our restaurant is (when they find out that we only use USDA Natural Prime beef, the top 3% of all beef raised in America). That realization when coupled with the revolutionary service we have been trained in is what will turn a casual diner into a full subscriber to the brand that is Bottega Louie. Not to sound too much like an ad for my employer (too late), but I would not have posted this if I didn't truly believe it. We're doing something different here. Something that I've never experience myself in any restaurant that I've been to. And if I, someone interested in food but just barely beginning to peek into the world of the professional food industry, can appreciate the path B.L. is looking to forge, I'm excited to see the reception and perception of Bottega Louie by the food connoisseurs from Los Angeles and elsewhere. Anyway, time for dinner. I think I'll eat some more watermelon soup.
Cheers,
-Peter

Weekend Recipe 3/22/09 Take 2

I believe I missed last weekend, so here's another one that I actually just made today (turned out brilliantly, even though I didn't have some of the ingredients). It comes from The Dorn Cookbook, and has an interesting story before the actual recipe:

Watermelon Soup (Chinese)

The summer of 1942 in Chungking was one of stifling heat and extreme humidity. For over seven weeks the temperature never dropped lower than 100 degrees day or night. Add to the heat the depression from defeat after defeat in the Phillippines, the Pacific, and in Burma - from which latter place the Japanese had just run us out; and the crazy-quilt construction and fire-bombed areas of China's wartime capital on its rocky precipices - and you find a distinct lack of the pleasures which usually go with an ideal summer. One night John Davies, who had been born in China, took a few of us to a courtyard restaurant, its grape trellis limp with heat, it's mosquitoes too enervated to attack, and its patrons trying to act out a brave front. John ordered. After tea and melon seeds came our one dish of the evening - watermelon soup - and quite enough. What inspired genius of past centuries dreamed up this concoction no one will ever know. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but it combines a subtlety of flavors unlike any other dish I know. In the drabness of wartime Chungking it came as a novelty and a surprise. It takes time to prepare, but your efforts will be well rewarded.

1 watermelon about 20 to 24 inches long
Cut an oval of the rind about 10 to 12 inches long from one side.
Gouge out the meat just past the line of seeds.
.5 lb. diced pork
.5 lb. diced lean lamb, or spring mutton
Meat from 1 stewing chicken removed from bones
.5 lb. diced ham
Meat from 1 small duck removed from bones
1 pint diced abalone (Clams can be substituted)
1 cup diced fresh mushrooms
1 cup dried mushrooms
Meat from 2 small lobsters
1.5 cups bamboo shoots (or bean sprouts)
8 stalks celery, cut into 1 inch lengths
8 stalks Chinese cabbage, cut into 1 inch lengths
.5 bunch water cress
2 tbsps. dry mustard
1 tbsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste (use sparingly)
2 tbsps. soy sauce
3 onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp. caraway seed
1 quart chicken broth, from which the fat has been skimmed

Boil pork for about 1 hour. Remove the pork meat. Mix all ingredients except water cress, and including pork meat, in a large soup pot. Cover and boil slowly for 1.5 hours. Add water from time to time if too much broth evaporates. Cool enough to skim off fat. Place the watermelon in a bake pan with about 2 inches of water in the pan. Pan should be of a shape which will hold the watermelon upright. Pour all of the ingredients from the soup pot into the hollow of the melon. Place in a 450 degree oven and boil for 45 minutes. Just before serving, add broken up water cress. Serve soup in the hollowed watermelon, decorated with flowers. When serving individual portions, scoop off part of the melon meat with each serving. CAUTION: Melon should be firm. Do not use a fully ripe melon.

Serves 10 to 12

This recipe from The Dorn Cookbook is copywrited in 1953 by The Henry Regnery Company in Chicago. This reproduction of the text is intended for educational use only.

Weekend Recipe 3/22/09

So I'm right in the middle of my job training for Bottega Louie (one week down, one to go). It's been an experience for sure. The restaurant is slated to open April 6th, and is going to be absolutely amazing. But anyway, here's another recipe from How to Cook Everything that I made a few nights ago. It's for Rice Pudding. Who knew homemade pudding could take so long? But it's well worth it:

Rice Pudding
Makes: At least 4 servings
Time: About 2 hours, largely unattended
This simple no-egg rice pudding is sweet and easy. Use coconut, hazelnut, or almond milk instead of cow's milk for a nice twist. Top with Whipped Cream, flavored with vanilla or rose water if you like (page 882).

.25 to .33 cup rice
.5 cup sugar
Small pinch salt
1 quart milk
Pinch saffron threads (optional)
Cinnamon stick or other flavoring (optional)

1) Heat the oven to 300*F. Combine all the ingredients in a 3- or 4-quart casserole (an ovenproof saucepan will do), stir a couple of times, and place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, then stir. Cook for 30 minutes longer, then stir; at this point the milk will have developed a bubbly tan surface (you will stir this back into the liquid), and the rice will have begun to swell.
2) Cook for 30 more minutes. The surface will have redeveloped, darker this time, and the grains of rice will begin to predominate in the mixture; the pudding is almost done. Return the mixture to the oven and check every 10 minutes, stirring gently each time you check.
3) The pudding may be done 10, 20, or 30 minutes later. Invariably, it is done before you believe so. You must make a leap of faith and remove the custard from the oven when the rice kernels are very swollen and the mixture is thick but still quite fluid. As it cools, it will thicken considerably. (If you overcook, the pudding will become fairly hard, though it's still quite good to eat.) Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

Finally...

Here are some pictures that I've taken with my phone camera (poor quality, I know) of various things I've cooked/baked:

A classic braid design with a great quickbread recipe (non-rising).

The two blobs are filled swirl rolls (think cinnamon rolls on their sides); one is garlic filled, and the other is cinnamon and brown sugar.

My lemon-pepper panfried chicken fingers in okra, bean, and rice "gumbo" (don't let the name fool you, it was just me throwing ingredients in the pot until it looked right; tasted ok too).

My first attempt at carving a chicken. Hey, at least I got most of the meat off...

My first attempt at a roast chicken before the destruction (came out juicy, which is good I think).

Update time...

So I figure I should let y'all know what's going on in my life right now. As mentioned before (and as can be seen from my picture), I'm on the USC Men's Crew team. I rowed in high school for the Oakland Strokes, then did cross country and track (mostly field events) to get my letterman. When I got to USC I picked rowing back up. Looking back, I would not have it any other way. Living in the dorms gave me the classic college experience, but I was slightly different from the guys on my floor. You see, men's crew at USC is not a varsity sport. We don't have NCAA status, don't get any school funding, and of course we rowers don't get priority registration (get to sign up early for class to make sure we schedule them around the practice times). So the only time we could get everyone down to San Pedro together to row is early in the morning. This means getting up early. Now, I'm an early rising in general, and have always been a morning person. I'm not saying that there weren't times, though, where i would have preferred to just turn over and go back to sleep. But in all, I do not regret that for much of my college career, I have gotten up before the sun. In fact, I consider that a testiment to my character. I remember passing people just getting back from parties in the stairwells as I was leaving for practice. Again, I don't regret this. I'm not much one for parties where I only know a few people. For me, the only real partying I need is Crewapalooza, a party us rowers throw once a semester. We make sure to do it right, and never charge people for booze. We just want to have fun, and the parties always end up being epic. But anyway, rowing has been a major part of my life, and I hope it remains so forever. Yet, this semester has been different for me than any before. Beginning last semester, I developed back problems that didn't really impact me until I came back from winter break. We all came back a week early to do an intensive winter camp, and at the end of the week, I knew I needed to see a doctor. So I went to the Health Center, and got referred to physical therapy, which I have been going to since then. Apparently my hamstrings pulled on my back muscles so hard that they began compressing my spine. Physical therapy has been helping a lot, but I haven't been able to row since January. Just last week, I had a relapse that was bad enough for my mom to fly down from the Bay Area to take care of me. In addition to all my back issues, I had the flu for long time, with a solid week and a half of laying in bed with a fever over 100 degrees. Since then, it's been catch-up time with schoolwork (which is thankfully interesting now that I'm in IR rather than engineering). So right now, I've almost caught up with all the schoolwork (I've taken all the tests I'd missed; the teachers all were very kind in rescheduling). Next week is Spring Break. This is big for me because this is the first year I will not be with the team doing two-a-days. Also different is that this year the eat is going to practice in Newport, which is still in the greater Los Angeles Area. We usually travel to northern California, and row in the Lexington reservoir near Los Altos. However, new coaches, new plan. Even though I'm injured, I would be going with the team. But I finally got a call back from that restaurant that gave me a job. I'm going in to sign paperwork tomorrow, then next Monday, I start my training. I am super excited about this, because it's a chance for me to see what the professional food industry is like. I am sad, however, that I won't be with the guys. I hope one of the days to get down there somehow and cook a good meal for the team, which is the best way I feel I can contribute. I try not to feel bitter about my injury, or let it get me down too much, feeling so removed from the team. After all, I still hang out with the guys (and girls). I just need to find some way to occupy my time, which the job will help with. Also next week, I have to get out to the Health Sciences campus and speak with a spine specialist that I got referred to after my last relapse. While competing this season is out for me, I still find myself enjoying my college experience, and am still happier than ever with my new major. It's also nice to have a plan (moving to NYC is still looking good to me) and having this blog to use as an outlet. Anyway, I'm looking forward to planning dinner for the team and my training next week. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Cheers,
-Peter

"Weekend" Recipe 3/9/09

So I missed my own deadline of two recipes in one weekend. But since this is my blog, I can do whatever I want. So here's the second recipe, again from How to Cook Everything:

Olive Oil Salt Bread
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: About 45 minutes, largely unattended

This is hands down the fastest way to get fresh warm bread on the table (the variation is actually a little faster). Rich and flaky with olive oil, this biscuitlike dough is easy to handle and takes to all sorts of additions, like cheese (especially Parmesan), chopped olives, or seasonings (see the list on page 846). Just knead them in with your hands after processing. Like most unyeasted breads, it is best eaten still warm from the oven.

.33 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt, preferably coarse or sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup warm water

1) Heat the oven to 375*F. Grease an 8-inch ovenproof skillet or square baking pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and turn the machine on. Pour first the .33 cup olive oil, then most of the water, through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds; then remove the cover. The dough should be in a well-defined, barely sticky, easy-to-handle ball. If it is too dry, add the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time and process for 5 to 10 seconds after each addition. If it is too wet, which is unlikely, add a tablespoon or two of flour and process briefly.

2) Put the dough into the prepared pan and press until it fits to the edges. Flip it over and press again. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes; then remove the foil, sprinkle the top with a little coarse salt, and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is golden and springs back when touched gently. Cool in the pan a bit, then cut into wedges or squares and serve or store for up to a day.

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

Weekend Recipe 3/7/09

Well now, I seemed to have missed a weekend, so today and tomorrow I will provide a recipe. This first recipe tonight is one from a new book I recently bought. It's called How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. At over 1,000 pages, and 2,000 recipes, variations, and techniques (many with handy illustrations), it is extremely useful. I would highly recommend picking up a copy to anyone who views cooking as more than just a means to feed oneself. If you have a passion for food, like I do, look it up the next time you're in a book store. The recipe is "Stir-Fried Spicy Beef with Basil." I haven't tried it out yet, having picked up the book yesterday, but I certainly intend to shortly:

Stir-Fried Spicy Beef with Basil
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: 15 minutes, plus time to freeze or marinate the meat

Once you get this Thai-style dish set up, it's faster than cooking the rice that goes alongside it. You can use round or chuck meat here, but the best cuts are flank or sirloin, which are more tender and equally tasty. Thai basil is nice here if you can find it, but any fresh basil is fine. Other cuts and meats you can use: pork, preferably from the shoulder or leg (fresh ham); lamb, preferably from the shoulder or leg; boneless chicken.

1.5 pounds flank or sirloin steak
.5 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon peanut oil, plus 1 teaspoon for marinating
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
.25 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon soy sauce or nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
Juice of half a lime

1) Slice the beef across the grain as thinly as you can; it's easier if you freeze it for 15 to 30 minutes first. Cut the slices into bite-sized pieces.

2) Wash and dry the basil; if the leaves are large, chop them coarsely. If time permits, mix the beef, basil, and the teaspoon of peanut oil in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for an hour or so (this helps the flavor of the basil permeate the meat).

3) When you're ready to cook, have all the ingredients ready (including a serving dish and rice, if you're making any). If you have not yet done so, mix together the beef and basil. Heat a large skillet over high heat until it smokes, 3 or 4 minutes.

4) Lower the heat to medium and add the tablespoon of peanut oil. Swirl it around and add the garlic. Stir once or twice. As soon as the garlic begins to color - after about 15 seconds - return the heat to high and add the beef-basil mixture. Stir quickly and add the red pepper. Stir frequently (but not constantly), just until the meat loses its red color, and minute or two longer. Add the soy sauce and lime
juice, stir, turn off the heat and serve immediately, over rice if you wish.

How to Cook Everything was copywrited in 2008 by Doubly B Publishing Inc., and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. This representation of the text is intended for educational use only.

Weekend Recipe 2/21/09

So after I got home from my interview at Bottega Louie downtown, I wanted to take a shower and go to class. But while I was in my shower, I started feeling sick. Like, reallllly sick. I then spent all day in bed, and suffered through incredibly high fevers that night. I went to the health center the next morning, and it turns out I have the flu. It hit me like a ton of bricks on Wednesday, and I've been pretty much bedridden and miserable since then. I keep on pushing fluids, resting, taking Advil, and I'm getting slightly better, but I'm still pretty horribly sick. Anyway, this weekend recipe is one that I just found, and modified. It was from a Washington Post article originally, but I doubt mine still has much resemblance to it:

2 cups water
ground ginger (pretty liberal amount)
brown sugar (3-4 teaspoons)
sea salt (2-3 pinches)
honey (1-2 teaspoons)

Microwave for about 1 minute. Enjoy. Honestly it tastes like sugar water, but you still get a very cleansing aftertaste of ginger that you can feel in the throat and nose. I'm sure you can tone down the sugar, and maybe use fresh ginger, boil the stuff, do all kinds of things to it. But for now, it tastes good and makes me feel better. Hope it can do the same thing for you.
Cheers,
*cough*
-Peter

A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step...

So I may have a job. This morning I went downtown to respond to an ad I saw on Craigslist. I brought my resume, dressed business casual, and kept an open mind and an optimistic attitude. I get to the restaurant (not quite finished yet, but it's Bottega Louie on 7th and Grand) and head upstairs. Turns out they were doing interviews, so I just waited for my turn trying to think of interesting things to say. It ended up great. The two managers, Mike and Eric, kept the conversation flowing like it would with friends. I just smiled, kept eye contact, and told my story. They ended up asking me to wait around for the president of the company, who has the final say in the hiring process. There were a lot of people coming in and out for interviews, and right before they broke for lunch, Mr. Flores comes by. Out of all those people, about five or six of us went in to talk to Mr. Flores, and two minutes into talking to him, he said, "Well, you have me convinced." So now all there is left is to wait for a call, and keep searching for leads. I'll try not to get too excited in case this doesn't work out, but I am certainly heartened by one of my first attempts at blind interviewing. Oh, forgot. The position that I'd have is a food runner (running dishes from the kitchen to the customer). Both managers also mentioned the possibility of being able to shadow a chef in the actual kitchen, which would be absolutely amazing. So far, it's a pretty awesome day. Hope you all are doing well (assuming I have readers at all hahaha).
Cheers,
-Peter

Weekend Recipe 2/15/09

It's another weekend. We had Valentine's Day yesterday, and President's Day tomorrow. This weekend I decided that I was going to attempt something I've never done before: roast a chicken. So my first attempt ever is in the oven at 350 F. You'd think my weekend recipe is going to have to do with chicken or roasting of some sort. Well you'd be wrong. This recipe comes from one of my dear friends from Georgia, Chelsea. It's got to be one of the best and cheapest breakfast ideas out there. We've all had cereal, oatmeal, porrage, and various other items that combine "eating and drinking with one hand without looking." (That's a Seinfeld bit, by the bye) Anyway, Chelsea told me of a rice and milk sort of "cereal" that she had often had growing up. It really couldn't be a simpler recipe:

cooked rice
milk
sugar (may be brown sugar)
butter
cinnamon

I didn't put quantities because it's best to experiment and find what amounts work for you. The way I do it is this: heat up the rice, butter, sugar and cinnamon in the microwave, just until the butter is melted. Take out and stir to make sure there are no clumps of rice (they usually form when you refrigerate the rice from the night before). Once done, you can pop it back in the nuking box if you want it a bit hotter, or just add the milk. I like it when the rice is plenty hot enough to warm the milk. It's like a rice pudding with cinnamon, but healthier (depending on how much butter and sugar you put in). You can also add raisins or apple chunks. Maybe dried cranberries. It's a great jumping off platform, and very wallet friendly, which I'm sure we can all appreciate in these times. Anyway, time to baste the chicken.
Cheers,
-Peter

Ambition...

I am determined to move to NYC. All over the internet there are blogs about people's stories about moving to New York, and people's advice about moving to New York, and people saying "Don't move to New York!" Having read quite a few, though only a small percentage I'm sure, I feel heartened. This could very well be possible. But I think I have definitely been going about it backwards. I've been looking quite a bit at housing and such, mainly to get a feel for the costs. And because I've concentrated on that, I've been preoccupied with thinking of ways to reduce the cost. Instead, I should be concentrating on raising capital to get there/survive in the first place. I have just over a year before I need to start a serious job/apartment search from across the country. Between now and then, I need to have a list of goals:

-Get a job: I don't care what it is, I just need to fill my schedule. Without rowing, my evenings have really opened up, so hopefully I'll be able to get some sort of job downtown. Not having a car really hinders what I can do.

-Finish my degree strong: Anything to revitalize my GPA after the crash that was engineering. Good thing I'm actually enjoying my classes now.

-Save as much money as I can: There seems to be a trend here...

-Tap all of my resources: Find all my friends from New York, ask them about the city and such. Go to student services and see what members of the Trojan Family are living in NYC currently. See what online communities exist that I can gain contacts from.

Any input on what else I should do would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
-Peter

Weekend Recipe 2/7/09

Since this is a blog about my road to culinary school, I figure I should share some recipes that I've come across. This first one comes from one of my old cookbooks, The Dorn Cookbook. This is a very interesting read, in addition to having great (and sometimes unusual) recipes. With some of the recipes, the author provides the story that leads to his first encounter with the dish. Brigadier General Frank Dorn (1901-1982) was in the Army and served in the China-Burma-India Theatre in WWII. He has written a fair number of books (http://www.librarything.com/author/dornfrank), some of which have to do with cooking. In The Dorn Cookbook, he has stories and recipes from his various assignments in China, from the cooks and helpers from the bases in the US, and from friends in numerous countries. If you have the means and interest to impress with exotic dishes, I highly recommend picking up a copy. Also, just a tip that I have, use old cookbooks as much as possible. The recipes you find there will most likely have evolved to something that many people know about today. But using those original base recipes, you can blaze a completely unique path and make a dish that is entirely your own. Anyway, I digress. The recipe that I want to share today is the first one that I tried from The Dorn Cookbook, for "Cream of Peanut Butter Soup." The name may put you off, but trust me, this is a great warm dish that is perfect for rainy days and cold weather (not much use in sunny southern California, but certainly will come in handy when I get to NYC and experience my first real winter). Enjoy:

2 stalks of celery, chopped small
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. flour
1 qt. chicken stock/broth
11 tbsp. peanut butter (do NOT go overboard on this or it will dominate the dish)
1/2 pt. cream
Salt to taste
1 cup sour cream

In a skillet over a low flame cook the chopped celery and onion with the butter until the onion becomes transparent. Add the flour, stir thoroughly, and cook until the mixture is blended. Place the above mixture in a saucepan or pot. Add the chicken stock, and stir constantly as the contents come to a boil. Add the peanut butter, and stir constantly until contents again come to a boil. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cream, adding salt to taste. Place in large soup bowls, floating a big gob of sour cream on top of each (this is a fairly thick soup). Serve with tostados or Melba bread.

This recipe from The Dorn Cookbook is copywrited in 1953 by The Henry Regnery Company in Chicago. This reproduction of the text is intended for educational use only.

Which road?

So there's a lot to do before even thinking that this monumental change is possible.  But, many times I tend to start at the end.  That is to say, I've been checking prices for rent in NYC, looking at the Metro costs, and figuring out to to get to New York to begin with.  That being said, I've mapped out a few road trip routes that I could take.  The first one is my southern dream road trip, going to a lot of natural sights, along with some cities that I would love to see:

#1) Go to Google Maps, and put in the following as destinations in order:

San Francisco, CA

Monterey, CA

Sequoia National Park

Pahrump, NV

Bryce Canyon, UT

Grand Canyon (choose A)

Meteor Crater, AZ (choose A)

Carlsbad Caverns, NM (choose B)

New Orleans

Pensacola, FL

Savannah, GA

Myrtle Beach, SC

Virginia Beach

Salisbury, MD

Washington DC

New York, NY

The second and third options are minimalist road trips, starting in San Francisco, and Los Angeles:

#2) Go to Google Maps, and put in the destinations:

San Francisco, CA

New York, NY

#3) Go to Google Maps, and put in the destinations:

Los Angeles, CA

New York, NY

I'm still trying to devise a route along the northern part of the country.  Any suggestions for landmark would be appreciated.

Cheers,

-Peter

It all comes back to money...

The FCI (French Culinary Institute), in NYC, which I would love to attend still costs about $35k. This would be a problem for me. I'm getting the same deal that my brothers got from my parents, 3 months of rent post graduation, then that's it. Of course, being a student isn't condusive to earning lots of money. I currently don't even have a part time job (though I am searching). Like I mentioned earlier, I've estimated (generously) about $17k for me to get to New York and have 3 months to find a job (most likely plural). The plan was to save up enough money and then go to the FCI. Assuming I need $1000/mo for rent and utilities for a room in an apartment, and $200/mo for food, I would need to get two jobs at $7.50/hr for 60 hours/week to barely squeak by. That means no saving up for FCI. And supposing I somehow managed to get the money for the tuition, the 9 month course takes 3 days a week, during which time I wouldn't be able to work enough to make rent. So basically, I've got to find some way to save up a LOT of money between now and New York, and finish my degree with good grades at the same time. But, I did manage to go through miles of red tape (from the government, no less) in two weeks to go to Field Training last summer. If I really want to do it, I'm going to find a way. I'm going to find a way...

A Brief History... Part 1

So I've done a lot of things in life (I'm sure I'll look back at that statement and laugh hysterically, but for now...). All through high school, I was gonna be a doctor. And honestly, I still might if I could swing another acceptance to the University of Poznan some time later in life. Well, the time to choose a college came and went. I ended up at USC, turning down a half tuition scholarship and guaranteed fellowship at UCR. According to my mom, eight days after school started, I called and told her I was switching majors to Linguistics and Music Theory. After a talk, I ended up choosing mechanical engineering. That ended up not working (took me a year and a half to figure it out). So in the spring of 2008, my parents came down to L.A. for the weekend, and I explained that I'm not happy with ME, and need to change. We had a long talk, and looked at the Course Catalogue. Now I'm in International Relations and happy. I'm actually enjoying my classes, which means I'm actually going to classes and studying (a far cry from my engineering days). So academically, I'm very much into international conflict and diplomacy, as well as foreign economics. Going back in time to the change from Pre-Med to ME, that winter I also joined the Air Force ROTC program at USC. That was fun. ROTC for me was an escape from ME classes, which I hated. I gained most of my friends from that program, along with my rowing friends. I even went to Field Training (the ROTC version of boot camp) in Alabama last summer. That was a memorable experience. I looked terrible in the last few pictures from those six weeks. But I wouldn't trade that time for the world. I don't feel I wasted any time in ME or in ROTC. I think it's pretty obvious that I love learning in all forms, and travel because I'm interested in other languages and cultures. Going even further into the past, I was taught to cook at a very young age. I remember watching how much my dad enjoyed spicing a meal just right and how satisfied he was with a great meal (which it always was). I guess I get my love of cooking from him. Talk about brief... I'll continue my personal history later.

Every road has a beginning...

...And this is mine:

Hey All,
I'm Peter, a student at the University of Southern California. I'm in my junior year studying International Relations (after a long mire of finding what I wanted to study, but more on that later). Without too much personal history, there are certain things in life that I want to do, with everything else being means to doing them: travel, learn, teach, cook, write (music, books, scripts, etc.), have a family, live life. I always like having a plan, which until last semester was set for me for at least four years after college (I was previously in Air Force ROTC). Since I left that program, I have been feeling a growing anxiety about what I want to do with my life. I've been told that I need to not worry about it, and enjoy being in college. But I know that I want to minimize the time between graduation and starting life. And to avoid taking a few months to decide what to do, I wanted to have a plan, which I have:

I am going to move to New York City after graduation and pursue a culinary education.

I need to get off the West Coast for a while (I've never had a chance to miss it). I need to do something to be self sufficient. I have a tentative plan (which will undoubtably change) with what I believe to be a solid first step. After some research and some overbudgeting, I've estimated that to start a life in NYC, I need some $17,000 dollars. Later, I'll clue you in to how I came up with this ridiculous amount. But for now, I've got to make a sandwich and head over to Open Mic Night at Ground Zero Cafe. I hope you enjoy my chronicling of my quest to start my life, and maybe participate in some of the discussions that are sure to ensue.
Cheers,

-Peter