Rusted Caste Iron Chef

Somehow teh last too days of Asian cookin wur a stunnin, horibl, mess for me. Me needs to tink on it a lot. I hurt my head just tinking on it real gud.

Chef din like anyting I did xcept my plate wuz hot when I had to present my fud. I felled purty yucky.

On the other hand however, I thought it was a good plate and I think "someone" had a grudge against a strong-minded determined lady (who shall remain nameless) wink, wink...

Anyway, I'll never again make Burmese Fusion food. We all had to pick a sheet of paper that had the country on it and the protein we needed to cook with. A fun idea that crashed and burned all the way. What was that? You want to know what Burmese Fusion food is? SO DO I!

It was a futility in cooking Beef Hindu style (a country that don't eat beef). I think the chef picked a name from a pile of us students to pummel and I got the draw. Any normal student would have broke down and melted into the cement floor - but not hardheaded opinionated me. No sirree. I had to rebut his comments and actually explain why I did things my way. He din like dat. Sometimes I wish I could just zip my lip but the darn thing keeps flappin away when it gets all irritated.

So 20 minutes later I threw a twin set of 3 oz of filet mignons topped with a tarragon cayenne herbed butter in the garbage along with the side of mushrooms and onions sauted with a dash of oyster sauce, butter and wine, in addition to layers of sliced red potatoes sauted to a golden brown topped with a dash of sea salt and then a butter lettuce cup with frisee lettuce, blood orange, blanched asparagus and minced shallots covered with a sweet chili sauce mellowed with orange and lime juice. Directly in the Trash, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. The Chef had a monopoly on me. He won all the apartments and houses and my icon was the shoe that got booted. Waa. Whine. I think I'll buy him a little Chef Hat statue with "E Tu Brutal" engraved on it.

But, it is all now over. Next class is only two weeks long and is another computer/math thing called Culinary Management. Math is not my favorite subject so I expect I'll look for Motrin on sale somewhere. After that we have one week of Wine II. I think we learn how to pair wine with cheeses and such. No cooking for another 3 weeks. That means I can grow fingernails again. With so much to look forward to.... kidding.

Smile. Asian Class is Over

One more day of Asian food cooking and I'll be glad of the exit. What? Are you surprised? Yes, you should be and so am I. I loved it right up until we entered the world of Judge Judy with a Tall White Hat.

Something happened to the instructor at the very end when it came to the final days. I think we got on the dark side of the 28 day cycle. Period. (know what I mean? Come On!)

Outside I'm putting on my best faic (face) (not kidding anyone I'm sure since I wear my emotions on my epidermis) but inside I'm borderline serial with clever notions of what to do with a cleaver.

For now, I'll keep my "cat in the bag" until later when I have some time to pull this all together and get the story delivered in a non violent way. Right now, I need to study for my Asian Final tomorrow. Big day. I cannot wait until 12:01 pm tomorrow!!!! Court will be adjorned.

Call the Balif, I may not make it out without making some stupid remark. Geez I hate my big mouth sometimes.

Until the REAL post....I remain as always,

Your Crazy Lady

Yea Chinatown!

Tomorrow our class meets in Historic Chinatown to continue a day class walking around the shops, herbal stores and markets. I'm very pleased with this since our chef is Chinese and will be able to speak and ask our questions for us. Thus eliminating tedious hours spent in front of my computer taking various dialects of Chinese so I can find who has a good Peking Duck.

I'm also working on a school project that is backed by a scholarship, so that's been occupying a bit of my extra time. I'll be turning it in on Wednesday so I'll take some photos of it before delivering it to school officials. It's a a collage that is supposed to depict where we are now in our studies, where we will be soon and finally, our ultimate goals for entering the Academy. Mine is pretty busy, pretty complex. But then, my reasons are similar to them. Its been quite a lot of work and I've been very occupied with it but regardless of winning or losing, I've enjoyed doing it. It really has helped to get the mind focused. I haven't done such a creative project in a loooong long time.

This week is our last week of Asian Cuisine and the end of the week will be our "Iron Chef" cookoff as individuals. We pick lots to find out what proteins we get for that day and then we cook. Lots of student chefs, not enough burners or woks. Should be fun. NOT. Lol. I really think it will be interesting, so why not show up?!

Yeah. Anyway, gotta dash. Time for me to contemplate Chinatown. Ciao.

Yawn, Another Birthday Flies By

This year was a bust for the birthday. Had a head cold, didn't feel spunky, and really getting tired of these B-Days. Way too many of them now!

I'm hoping this head stuffage issue clears up soon as it is affecting my sense of humor gene. How funny is it to blow epidermis layers off the schnoze all day while trying to cook! Yeeeuuuck! Oh, and I just love the hacking attack during the Chef's lectures. I have to leave the room to spare my classmates and the Chef from my congested wheezing. Gettin' to be an ol' geezer like this.

I want it to go away so I can act silly and immature again. No one believes you when you've got a cold. You just can't be silly or immature with pockets full of kleenex and a hang dog look. Poo. Darn. Rats. I'll post when I'm more fun. Later.

Summer Breakage

I was off for summer break from school from my last post till Monday the 7th. I'll recap briefly.

Friday the 27th my friend Dee and her grandson Brennon (13) came to my school to take a tour since Brennon is VERY interested in becoming a chef. He's worked in several high end restaurants in Austin, TX, Newport Beach, CA and Santa Monica already! He's helped on events of 3,000 people too. He's amazing. Anyway, they came to tour and then inivited me to dinner that night. I had made reservations ONE MONTH ahead at this restaurant called Chez Panisse which is famous for their Chef Alice Waters and their farm fresh food delived daily. It was a real dining experience. Fresh figs on the salad with almonds and tomato toasts, ever so tender squid in a Romesco Sauce with grilled scallions, delictable rack and loin of lamb with wonderfully roasted potatoes, wild fennel and green beans and an apricot puff pastry tartin with a side of roasted cherries. A total Yum experience.

Tuesday July 1st I left for New York. I had two tickets to see the taping of the Iron Chef America!! Can you believe that?! I was pretty excited to say the least. My brother Randy lives there so I stayed with him and we had a good time getting around. We ate dinner in Little Italy on Mulberry Street (sooo Italian) Wednesday night and went to a well known place for drinks called The Modern. That was nice but lottsa walking.

Thursday was the taping so we headed back into Manhattan to the Food Network which is inside this huge building that houses a full on fresh fish market, an incredible vegetable market, lots of specialized markets where you can buy italian salamis, cheeses, sauces, etc. and just a jumble of other stores. I was blown away and could not leave unless I bought foods! I cooked dinner that night for Rand and a couple of his friends. It was fun. I made Chilean Sea Bass with a fresh fruit salsa and a nice salad with heirloom tomatoes, orange segments, avocados, jicicam and diced apple with an orange/lime dressing. It was so hot in NY that I wanted to keep it simple and not over taxing. I also made some brown rice. It was the perfect dinner.

Friday it rained so the Fireworks were a bust and Saturday I was headed back to San Fran. Our plane got diverted to Pittsburg PA when we had a medical emergency on board and had to make an unscheduled stop. That was interesting. Young guy too. Me thinks it was too much partying the night before. Ya know. I was just wondering if he would be geting a bill from United for the stop and extra gas. Whoo. I wouldn't want to see that tab! Plus, he'll get one from the ambulance in Pittsburg and maybe even the airport fire truck and ambulance. Gads. I hope his party was worth it.

So basically, I came home with a miserable head cold which still has me deep in kleenex. Its been a difficult one to get over. We started the Principals of Asian Cuisine Monday but I wasn't able to get near food for a few days and even still I can't taste anything. Bummer. Looks good though. I like the class. We have a Chinese Chef which makes decipering his words a bit challenging. I finally figured out that he says "presslice" which means priceless. Our syllabus is called syllabice. There's more, just to keep us paying attention. But that's for another blog posting.

For now, just wanted to catch you all up.