Food Central

A productive day - in every sense, every aspect!

It is rare that I have a whole day off from Indochine.  I felt the 'urge' to create something since yesterday (which was Sunday, which I spent all day at the Denver Mart talking to various product producers).  I got to meet some very inspiring entrepreneurs - one being Theresa from Kitchen TLC in Montanna.  Theresa and I have become good friends - not because we love each other's products - but because we can talk business and feel that the other person understands.  As I got to meet all these amazing people; I got the will, the urge to do something for Meals In A Minute's product lineup. 

So, I got up this morning and while Jeff is at the other end of the kitchen's counter; I brought out - what seemed like hundreds of dried herbs, spices....and started to create.  I mixed something together in hope of getting to an Asian-inspired dip but sadly, I did not like any of them.  So, dips to the side....I moved on to make some dried rubs.  Now, rubs and dips should not be that difficult given the kind of sauces we have been producing.  Boy, I am used to deal with wonderfully fresh ingredients that having to work with dry ingredients throw me on a curve.  I cannot seem to get it together.  Until I thought of a way to 'fool' myself.  I imagine the 'wet' rubs I want to make and just do them using dry ingredients.  I have used about 6 chicken thighs so far to test all these rubs.  I am hoping I will have a winner today - after 10 hours of mixing, eating and numerous mixes and plenty of sneezes.  Between 'creating'; I worked on the marketing email to be sent out to Indochine customers tomorrow; updating the Product Strategy list, blogging (ha! I was able to do two posts today...), and quoting for a big catering on Wednesday morning (225+ people).  I feel good to be able to do that much...but I feel a bit guilty of leaving my team at Indochine by themselves today.  I am certain they don't mind and probably wish that I should take off more often.  I just need to delegate and feel good about it. 

But the best thing for me and Jeff today was to be able to drive the girls to school, pick them up and at home when they get home.  I don't remember when the last time we were able to do that.  This is something I need to do more often before the girls all move out to college. 

Now I am waiting for the chicken to be done grilling.  I cannot wait to taste it....

Tasted them...the aroma is nice but need more seasoning.  They are a no-go for now.  I will adjust the recipe and add more salt before I think they are ready for prime-time.  Until Thursday, these rubs will have to wait...I might do wet rubs instead...

Be true to myself...

Has it been three months since my last post?  Boy, I am trying...very hard...and are failing iserably!

I was talking to a friend about all these commitment I am making to myself to get good at this year (blogging for one); and she said something I that so appreciated: "yume, you need to be true to yourself...I know you want to post all the cooking, the recipes each and everyday like all the bloggers you admire...but do they have a restaurant to run, a thriving sauce company that will become a party-plan company, do they have to create 20 new products for the market place in two months, do they have two kids and a full schedule cooking classes and a constant gigs on local TV?  You just need to admit you cannot do it all and drop the stuffs you would like to do but have no time for.  No one will accuse you of not having enough passion for food just because you cannot keep up with the blog.  I don't read them anyway so there...you don't have to do it!."

She is right...I have been stressed about not getting to blog but my head and my body are on the verge of exploding into pieces at the end of each day.  To be truthful, they are on the verge of exploding every minute of the day for the past few months. 

I have been doing so much - doing so many different things.  I spent a couple of days helping my sister Thy and her husband Thi opened Pho 101.  Then off the help our nephew with his new menu at his Viet Pho.  All of these activities made me realized that if someone told me 5 years ago - that I would be such culinary expert; I would laugh.  Now, it is not that hard to open a restaurant, to train a completely new staff in a couple of days.   It does get a bit tiring but when you enjoy it as much as I do, you notice your bones, your joints cracking when you try to sit down:-). 

Let's get back to my previous point...I will not make myself feel guilty when I don't blog often or not at all.  I need to feel that I do accomplish something by working on developing asian-themed rubs, mixes and so on.  The focus should be on Indochine and on the sauce company.  Then, maybe a couple or years from now; I can blog to my hearts contend....but then, I might not have anything to say then....

Hey, Hello...Wow, I have been MIA for 4 months!

Hello again,

Okay....I am not doing well at all with this blogging business.  I guest I can blog and babble about life, business and teenagers every day but you did not get to this blog to read about those things.  I realized combining cooking, recipe and daily blog about them is a huge understaking...More admiration to those who religiously blog about food and thing every day.  Am I being too hard on myself?  Maybe...But I am thinking that since I am surrounding myself with food - at a commercial level - every day of the week, maybe my slacking on blogging about it is understandable. 

So, what has been up with me.  Maybe a quick status is in order before my next blog entry about food:

• Indochine has been doing well - very steady in this economic climate.  Thank you to all of our loyal fans and new guest for that. 
• Asian Meals In Minutes is doing well also.  We are starting our summer markets now so busy with everything.  Definitely want to be in more markets but need more Chefs for sure.
• Cooking Classes - very busy.  Most of them booked before I get the chance to publish the schedule.  June will be brutal as there are about 7 classes I have to do.  Love teaching though.  I can see myself do this after I retire.
• Cook books - very slow progress.  Cannot seem to have the time to put the final touch on them.  Before that, I need to get a new head shot for the cook books as the one I have now is 3 years old.  I need to look my age for the new books (whatever that means).

So, I need to recharge the battery for my camera and will take pics for two recipes for you.  One is salmon sliders with Kaffir Lime sauce.  The other is Chicken Lettuce Wrap with Essential sauce.  The posts will be done by Wednesday June 1st!  Yume

Back from Fancy Food show in San Francisco

Right after the Master Chef audition, I got on the plane the next day for the Fancy Food show.  I was glad I attended the show.  Never seen so much food with terms like: organic, antioxidant, gluten-free, L-Theanine, cancer-prevention, omega-7 and on and on.  All of these medical terms make me think that any future chef or food manufacturer needs to have at least one year in medical school to make sense of these new and 'magical' ingredients.

We got the chance to meet with founders/producers of wonderful products.  It is interesting to hear stories from an IT professional who got tired of the technology world and turned his attention, skills into producing sauce (not me....it is a guy we met who resides in San Diego, CA).  I  met the family of a Vietnamese famliy who produces miso sauce because the father used to work in a Japanese restaurant.  Now, his two sons are working very  hard to push the sauces to market.  Many stories are so inspiring and they make me feel that I am in the right 'company' with our sauces.

Overall, there were some wonderful products and there were some that will need major improvement.  There were more than 2000 exhibitors so you can imagine how much food was there.  On the last day, the vendors practically 'begged' people to take all the food for free so they don't have to ship them back.  That would be something we will do next year....bring a big box to collect all these free food.  Jeff and I are thinking seriously about exhibiting next year and submitting a few of our sauces for the SOFI competition.  But before that, I am going to put some 'refinement touches' to some of the sauces to make me feel that we do have the very best products.

Other highlight of my trip was to see my sister and brother and their families.  We saw each other on Xmas holiday but it was so nice seeing them again - less hectic this time - so it was so nice. 

One of my trip's mission is also to have lunch/dinner at the Slanted Door - my obssessed eating establishment.  I also wanted to check out the sister/brother establishments of Slanted Door called Out of the Door.  Then also wanted to check out Heaven's Dog - the Chinese establishment from the same famed owner of the Slanted Door - Charles Phan.  Why am I so obssessed, you asked.  Well, Mr. Phan was an architect in his previous life and turned into the most successful Vietnamese restaurateur that I know of.  Granted, my knowledge might not be one-and-only but they are very close to reality (as I have done extensive research).  His Slant Door restaurant has one of the highest gross revenue in San Francisco/Bay Area/California...That is impressive given the fact that he was not a trained chef, did not work in the restaurant at the age of 3, did not have much money to start with.  I read so much about him and his establishments (in Food & Wine, Saveur, all restaurant reviews in San Francisco...) that I am obssessed and it was a MUST to eat at Slanted Door.

Okay, it was not as good as I dreamed it.  Besides the sticker-shock (lunch for two without any beverage was $62.70), the food was alright but did not compel me to run into their kitchen and ask if Mr. Phan is around (or his Mom) so that I can kiss their hands out of amazement. We had their famous Shaking Beef and they were okay.  The filet mignon was dried and they could use more seasonings.  Actually there was so little sauce that my sister and I had to scrape the bottom to coat the cubes with.  We also had the cabbage salad with peanut sauce - which gave me the inspiration to use our popular Coconut Peanut sauce for.  We also ordered my favorite Lemon Grass Chicken but neither of us was impressed with the dish.  It was a bit salty for our taste, on the dry side and lack of lemon grass aroma I was anticipating.  We got a complimentary eggplant stir-fry dish.  It was good - a nice balance from other saltier dish that we had.  But not all was lost.  The place is amazing in term of the view.  You got the view of the Bay and the water seem to be just a few feet away.  It is located in the Ferry building right on Embacardero street and the bustling activities inside the Ferry Building at various food stores made you feel like you want to be there - no matter what the cost.  Anyway, the service was great (it was so interesting to see close to 20 servers for lunch).  Would I go back and try more dishes?  Yes, I would and did!  About two hours later, we wondered around Market street and at my insistence (and at  my sister's dismay); we stopped at Out of The Door so I ordered one of my childhood favorite called Daikon Cake - pan fried rice cake (I know, it sounds all carb and carb and might not at all be what Douglas County people would consider good food)...They were good.  Not great but good enough to take me back to the time when I was a young girl in Viet Nam and had these cakes on a daily basis.  That cake spurred another inspiration for me - which is to introduce them to our daughters once I get back. 

So, all and all, it was a wonderful trip.  Mission accomplished! 

Here are a few pictures from SF.

Me - in front of the patio of the Slanted Door

Slanted Door's Shaking Beef (lunch - $28)

 

Lemon grass chicken (Lunch $18)

 

The salad (We love!)

 
The Cheese shop in Ferry Building (feel so Paris to me - which is a good thing...)

At our table...

I have been busy with Indochine and the sauces so I will be posting recipes for Thai Drunken Noodles and Asian Burger as soon as I can go through all the pictures I took of the cooking steps for you.  To those who attended the last Free Cooking Demo using Asian Meals In Minutes sauces; I am glad you came and I hope you saw how simple the dishes were.  I am glad I was able to accomodate additional demo for Prik King and the Ginger Prawn (well, a similar version and not exact to the one at Indochine).  Starting February, the demo classes will have established agenda so you can be sure to come to the classes that will demo your favorite dishes.  Thanks to those who purchased to sauces!  I hope you will put those sauces to the wok, the pan, the pot --- right away!

Instead of wasting your precious time reading the post that promises to post more recipes; I am answering here the #1 frequently-asked questions of me: what do we eat at home?  Well, we eat everything (that are edible).  We love every cuisine and have eaten many food from many countries.  Some are not our favorites - some will remain on the do-not-eat list for me - regardless of how the dish is prepared.  Do you want to know what that is?  Anything to do with lamb.  I dislike the aroma of it just like most people run away from my favorite fruit Durian.  I understand that lamb is more loved by many but there is something in the smell - no matter how much wine, how much mint and how long you soak the lamb in milk to take out the smell.  I can smell it and just cannot eat it.  So, obviously, I rarely prepare lamb at home for Jeff and the girls as I cannot taste the lamb (and tasting the food is a must-do for me).  Besides the lack of lamb in our food repetoire, we cook whatever we feel like eating that week.  Cooking to us is very spontaneous - a complete opposite of Indochine where we have to plan every dish, every day, year-after-year.  When we have Vietnamese food, they are generally very simple with lots of vegetables and something I can find in the fridge.

Last night, we had Vietnamese Spinach (Rau Muong) tossed with garlic, Chinese sausage (Lap Xuong) and a Vietnamese Luffa/Loofah soup.  As expected, we always have rice and a side of fish sauce with chili (nuoc mam).  The best thing was: the girls love these simple dishes and they took me less than 20 minutes to cook everything!  I will post the recipes later for you - just in case you want to try some of these traditional, simple Vietnamese dishes at home.

Here is the picture of what we had:

 

Master Chef Audition in Denver

Okay, I did not want to tell many of you of this 'spur of the moment' activity I decided to do - audition for the Reality show Master Chef America with Chef Gordon Ramsay.  The result is: I went, I auditioned but did not get a second call back for 30-min on camera interview (which I know I will kick some butts in that interview!). 

You know that I take every activity seriously so auditioning for Master Chef is no exception.  I saw the casting call 4 weeks ago and rigth after reading the 'criterias', I did not do anything with it.  Why?  The criterias are: you cannot work in a professional kitchen (I never thought Indochine is a professional place), you cannot earn majority of your income from cooking in a professional environment (canteen, restaurant, commercial kitchen), you cannot publish cook books, teaching cooking classes.  I can hear your questions right at this moment: why did you audition - knowing you are not supposed to!  Well, I sent in an email to ask the casting people and they said to go ahead!  So, I did.  My philosophy is: the worst that would happen to me is that I will not get further than the first audition and I will have some reality TV audition experience to share with my kids and grandchildren some day (Tasha and Clara, no pressure...I only want grand kids 20 years from now!). 

I did not do much to prepare for the audition as you have to prepare one dish to serve the judges and then have a quick talk with the casting agents.  I just did the chilean seabass with pineapple dish that I won for Asian Film Festival Taste Sensation award.  I filled out the long application that took me hours and gave me a migraine at the end.  It is a 'profiling' exercise - which I found interesting and entertaining.  I got all sorts of advice to cry instantly the minute the casting agent comes to the table, to wear high heels and low-cut blouses...I researched and found out that Master Chef already happens in Australia and I read everything there was to read about the winners, what they get and who they are...Pretty normal folks, I would say. 

Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck a few days before Saturday (1/16) but then as cool as a cuccumber Friday night and up until the actual food plating.  Our friends, Jared, Yuwen offered to stand in line for me so Jared was in line at 7am!  There was not that many people in Denver like at other locations.  I would say there was about 100 people.  Jared got us the 4th spot so I got in right away to plate my dish.  I think the judge like my food but as soon as the casting agent asked me: so, you don't have a restaurant anymore, right?  Of course, my answer had to be truthful and then, more questions about what I do for the restaurant...I knew then that my cook book, my 'chef-ing' at Indochine, my cooking classes will 'dis-qualify' me from going further.  A little disappointed but I sort of anticipated it.  Clara kept telling me that she thinks my food activities at the level that I am doing it (cooking, teaching, bottling sauces...) will be the things that they will not want.  She is right....of course, she is ....it stated right on the application form.

Would I do it again?  Yes - if they allow me like me to audition again and take all those restrictions away.  Would I do that chilean seabass dish again?  It was a lot of work for a 60 sec showing so I will do something much simpler like the Fire Cracker Shrimp.  I would not have wasted $40 at Wal-mart for my three Thermos. 

The best thing is: I  met this wonderful Vietnamese girl.  She is a registered nurse but loves to cook - much more so than I do.  You can feel the cooking passion oozing out from her.  She made a wonderful dessert and she got the call back.  She will keep me informed as to how she is doing on her 30-min on-camera interview.  I am so happy for her and do feel that she is a much better contestant since she is doing something totally different now and wanting to be a Chef! 

Here are a few pics of the audition - mostly people waiting in line and when we had to 'act' for TV: yelling with our fits on the air: Master Chef! Hey, this is TV afterall (and they told you that as well!  It is reality TV).

Our friend Jared - stood in line for me at 7am.  Thank you Jared and THANK YOU Yuwen for offering him to do this for me.  You guys are the best!

Here is when the director said for us to yell with enthusiasm: Master Chef!

 
Once I hear from my new friend as to how her interview go, I will post here so we all get to follow along the journey with her.  I am off to San Francisco tomorrow to attend the Fancy Food Show - where I will meet all these companies and vendors with amazing products.  Asian Meals In Minutes might be one of the exhibitors in the Fall at the New York Food Show.  I will keep you all posted.  I know, way too many things going on but I am loving it!  I am glad that I did get my life back after a few days distracting with Master Chef.  But I would do it all over again as it was such a fun experience to have.    

What are good to eat when you first have orthodontic braces?

That is the question Jeff and I are trying to find out...Tasha and Clara got braces put on their lower half yesterday and they cannot seem to eat anything.  Besides the canker sores, they are not used to too much 'metal' in their mouths.  I feel so bad for them.  Cutting food into small pieces still not help much.  Maybe our kids are just spoiled...but they should be!  They are still kids and need to know that we know of their 'pain and suffering'.  Jeff cooked some chicken rice soup tonight.  They each had a little cup.  We got home one of their (and my) fast food's favorite - KFC fried chicken.  Still, cannot eat.  I bought some potato gratin and mash potatoes (in boxes) so they can fix themselves something quickly after school for tomorrow - that seemed to get them a bit excited.  I ended up cooking their favorite beef stragonoff in a 'semi-homemade' way!  I just used a can of Cream of Mushroom, add some onions, fresh mushroom, sour cream and ground beef.  Why ground beef as it is so wrong.  Well, the girls cannot chew much of anything so I was being a very considerate mother and butcher the dish using ground beef.

Here is the picture of the result.  It does snot look very appetizing but it made Tasha and Clara very happy.  AND their happiness is all the matter to me.

Stir-fried Vegetables with Glass Noodles (my style)

I got my first tiny digital camera from my husband and our daughters this past Christmas.  Not having a camera that I can put in my bag and take with me every where was one of the reasons why I could not blog (as I have no picture for any of my recipes).  Who want to read my ramblings about stuffs....

Tonight, I had a night off from Indochine Cuisine to stay home with our girls and to 'focus' on Asian Meals In Minutes, year-end accounting and so on.  I cannot really work for a long stretch of time on just one thing.  So, I bounced between harrassing the girls (actually, making sure they change the litter box for the cats, doing their homeworks...), to putting away the last few pieces of Christmas decoration, doing the books, creating this blog and then cooking this dish that I am showing you .... like, right now!

This is a dish that used to be on Indochine's menu called Stir-fried Bean Thread Noodles.  We took it off the menu because compared to 40+ items on the menu, this dish was not as popular.  As soon as we took it off the menu, our guests started to request for it.  That is just how things go in any restaurant!  This dish is similar to a Vietnamese dish that I love call Mien Xao Cua (Glass Noodles with Crab Meat).  The Vietnamese version does not have all sorts of vegetables as the Indochine's version.  It tends to be drier with LOTS of white peppercorn and cilantro.  The version I did tonight is the same one at Indochine.  I used whatever vegetables I was able to gather in our home refrigerator.  Glass noodles - I always have a few bags in the pantry.  So here you go.  This dish took a total of 15 minutes from prep to cook.  ANd the best is: I used Asian Meals In Minutes's Essential Cooking Sauce for this dish and it came out perfect!  If you don't have a jar of the Essential sauce at home, mixing 2 Tbsp oyster sauce and 2 Tbsp soy sauce should be fine as well.  For those who are Gluten-Free, you can use the GF Essential Cooking Sauce.  If you don't have it, using San-J Tamari Wheat-Free soysauce with a little bit of sugar added would be fine also.

First, I soaked the dried glass noodles in hot water for 10 minutes.

 
While waiting for the noodles to be soaked, I multi-tasked: chopped all the vegetables and the meat as shown below: 

 
Then, I brought out my wonderful and faithful electric wok.  Yes, I cook with them ALL THE TIMES!  Drizzle a little soybean oil, and stir in the crushed garlic to get the fragant going.  I have my wok at 250 to make sure my garlic will not burn.

Then, went in are my pork and cook until almost done (about 2 minutes):

 
... all my vegetables and the wonderful Essential Cooking Sauce

If you are following along --- cooking along with me, we are almost there...Now, put in the soaked noodles (but not the water they are soaked in :-)).  Toss for about 30 seconds, then you are done!

 
Sprinkle some chopped cilantro (if you have them) and black or white peppers before serving.  I normally chop in some fresh chili peppers or reach for everyone's favorite Siracha sauce to give this dish an added kick!  Enjoy!

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

4 small dried bunches of glass noodles (or 4 oz in weigh) - soaked in hot water for 10 minutes. After soaked, you should get about 2 heaping Cups of the soaked noodles.

2 Tbsp cooking oil (Canola)

2 cloves garlic - chopped finely

1/2 red bell peppers - cut into medium-thick slices

1 small crown broccoli - cut into small pieces

1/2 yellow onions - cut into medium-thick slices

1/2 C Dried black mushroom (optional) - wash them well, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes

1/2 lb pork loins (or chicken or 1/2 lb of shrimps) - cut into small strips so they cook faster.

Cilantro - chopped

1/2 tsp ground black or white peppers

Let's get started on a four years-old project!

At the end of 2005, I wanted to have a huge presence on the internet - to document my journey from a nerdy-techno-gal to a food expert.  Heck, I have been following a few food bloggers at that time and said to myself: how hard can that be?  I know how to cook a little and if those bloggers can do it, I can too!  I even have a more compelling 'human interest' story to tell.  I even went as far as purchasing equipments to do podcasting --- it was new then but it is such an old technology now.  Well, as I found out and as everyone knows, food blogging is a serious business.  Actually, any blogging takes dedication, focus and lots of time.  It is a job in itself!  At that time, I was busy with learning how to work in a professional kitchen (although, to this day, I don't think our kitchen that way but if one can produce thousands of meals a month from it, then it is a professional kitchen!).  I was also having way too many things I wanted to do so my 'wondering' mind and intention are perfect example of biting more than one can chew.  So, to motivate myself, I got this Typepad account, upgraded it and paid more than $100 a year to 'make' me blog.  That worked for a few days every few months.  I started a few blogs (not just one, a FEW!) but I never maintained them and had really no interest to doing them.  I continued to follow the progress of all the food bloggers and then some new ones.  Most of them are now well-known on the internet - even got to be judges at Iron Chef on Food Network!   Their dedication resulted in becoming experts in the field that I, Yume, should be an expert in (although, I never even phantom that possibility!).  Their Internet's fames remind me of one simple fact: they start something, stick with it and are successful now.  And yet, I have not done anything from 2006 to 2009 in term of blogging consistently.  Until now.

2010 marks my 5th year in food business.  When I first started with the food business from technology field; I promised myself that in 5 years, I will become something significant in the food field (significant in my mind...not everyone's else).  I was not sure what I meant then.  All I knew then is that my move to food was such a shock to my family that they thought I lost my mind!  and that I needed a goal to work toward so that I can have something to show for...so that my family will not think that I have worked so much with computer in the past 15 years that I have no logic left.  Maybe I did....(nah!).  Anyway, I set myself the goal to reach something 'food-significant' in 5 years to mirror my accomplishment in the technology field.  It took me 5 years in technology field (when I was way younger) to call myself a technology professional, to feel comfortable in it, to feel that I 'am so on my way to make it'.  That is where the 5 years artificial deadline came about.  So, I am at the 5th year and I better get moving!

So, my goals for this year are:

• blog as often and as much as I can --- about food, food and kids, food and love, food and politic (maybe not this one).  Let's see: with working about 30 hours at the restaurant, 15 hours for the sauce company, 40 hours to be a Mom and a wife, I think squeezing in 5 hours to cook, photograph and blog is completely do-able, don't you think so?
• get to know you --- who have purchased some of my sauces and wonder if I am ever going to give you any more recipes than the initial 8 to cook with.
• be useful to you in your journey to Asian cooking (I hope you were not expecting recipes on foie gras or fancy stuffs like those).
• Keep you posted with the sauces (the new ones I am bottling) and how they are doing in the market place.

Come along, push me, test me, challenge me, support me.  I am looking forward to lots of blogging with you in 2001!

Wishing you a great 2010 from me and my family!