Sunday, October 23, 2011

Obsession



I dragged my friend, Alejandra, down to the book store at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, on a Friday night, to see Christopher Kimball from America's Test Kitchen. It was pretty awesome to see him in person. He had a cute yellow bow tie on. He answered questions for half an hour and when asked about the ties, he estimated that he owned seventy of them. People asked all kinds of questions. About organic food, which to sum up, he said, doesn't really have any regulations in the states, and that a producer can essentially use the title without really providing an "organic" product.

I don't remember everything that was said however, someone inquired how it was that he got into food. The story is this: When he was about seven he made a chocolate cake for his family that wasn't good, and the frosting came out looking like snot. But, when he served it to the family, everyone remarked how good it was. It was because of that feeling, of making something and then having people appreciate it, that made him gravitate to food.



I even asked him a question. Here's the background: When I make their desserts at home, they'll usually call for a one to two hour cooling time. I can never wait that long to get my hot little hands on the goods, so I, from time to time... okay, I admit it, more often than not, will, take a little bite off the corner immediately after it has emerged from the oven. This mostly pertains to desserts like lemon bars, or brownies, but isn't limited to these by any means.

The question: Do you sneak bites of the desserts before they've cooled, or do you wait the recommended cooling time? My answer: Because we're filming, and we don't want the the whole film crew to wait for hours for the dessert to be ready, we have a backup waiting that is ready to taste.

Ah yes. I always think it's so cute, when on the show, he says he's going to talk to Adam Reid in the equipment corner, or Jack Bishop in the tasting lab, while he's waiting for his dessert to cool. Damn you magic box for fooling me... I shake my fist at the heavens!

He even signed my book. Me and my new BFF Chris!


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Me Want Cookbook Club

When I see things like this...



How to start a cookbook club from Tea and Cookies, it makes me long to live in Portland. My friends and family near Portland appreciate food. Appreciate eating and making food, and enjoying these things with friends and family. That's why we started this frickin' blog. I told, Monico, that I thought it'd be awesome to start a cookbook club, as suggested in the blog. They all cook from the same cookbook, each selecting different recipes, and get together about every two months. Basically, me want cookbook club!

What he said to this, matter-of-factly, was that no one here (in SF) would want to do that with me. He's probably right, whether it be the small kitchens, or busy lives, or simply the excuse that people don't know how to cook; it just may be difficult to get people interested, but damn it, I'm going to give it a try. Even if it only happens once, I'd be satisfied. I always say, you don't need to know how to cook, as long you've got a good recipe to follow!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Hardly Strictly Dumplings

Beer and snacks in tow, Moni, Tara and I, headed to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival yesterday in Golden Gate Park.







The corn was roasted in their husks, and if you wanted butter, and of course, we wanted butter, they dipped it in it, and handed it over. Tara tried to avoid loosing all the skin on her hand, while seasoning her corn with lemon pepper, garlic salt, chili powder. Everything.

And even though we had snacked all day, I suggested we head over to Shanghai Dumpling King. We've been wanting to check it out, since it's rumored to be one of the best dumpling restaurants in San Francisco. Moni said no, but me and Tara wanted to eat dumps...Two against one, we win!





In a delicious broth, these suckers were my favorite...




Yum Yum, delicious! We also got green beans with onion, which were heavily salted, but perfect. However, it's all about the dumplings here, and I'm glad we went. It was a great food day for sure.