The Kitchen, the house, the guests….

Being a chef that wanders into random people’s homes and cooks 4 to 5 course meals can be quite a crazy. The main challenge is not knowing what ‘tools’ they have, if the oven is calibrated and most importantly if they have appropriate amounts and types of dishware and utensils. At this last dinner party, I was lucky enough to cook for Dylan (a stockbroker/foodie/chef/experimenter extraordinaire). There was nothing to worry about with his kitchen. Highlights include: an industrial stove top and convection oven, a fridge stocked with condiments galore, an ice cream machine (not a suzy homemaker one), professional deep fryer, food mill, and most of all a Vita-blender/mixer!!! Holy smokes! Oh, wait, an Expresso machine too that created the scents and smells of Italy all over.

The scene in the dining room was equisite, out of a movie. Dinner was served in the ‘rotunda’, which was surrounded by stain glass windows, enclosed by a cathedral-esque painted dome and accompanied by a grandeur chandelier hanging from above. Before dinner, Dylan displayed a movie from his projector which set the scene for a laid back, fun evening. Dylan was kind enough to open a French bottle of wine from 1978. It was not the best tasting bottle and tasted a little like the earth, more graphically like soil (Sorry Dylan). However, it was an honor, knowing I was drinking wine from the same year I was born. We opened a few other bottles from Italy and California. There were six guests including myself, Dylan, Caroline, Annabel, Brad, and Nathan our resident bartender. He made us two aromatic and colorful drinks, Vodka with Tangerine (freshly squeezed) and a Cucumber concotion we conjured up over dinner. As far as the food, not my best, but hopefully tasty. We started off with French style Gnocchi, Butternut Squash and Mushrooms, then Red, White, and Blue Winter Salad consisting of red wine poached pears, white truffled fused crabmeat, and Maytag blue cheese over field greens. I experimented with 2 types of fish: Ono and Wahoo Invotini with Tomato Olive Sauce stuffed and rolled with capers, olives, crispy breadcrumbs and a medley of roasted winter vegetables. Dessert made by Dylan, crispy beignets with blueberry compote and ice cream.

It was a fun night with great people who really knew how to enjoy the beauties of life: food, wine, and NEW FRIENDS!

Resolutions

I hope you, yes you are apart of some of my resolutions. A big thanks to all the people who actually read this blog, make comments, and always support everything I do!

1. Learn something new about cooking and food everyday.
2. Meet new friends.
3. Karoke in front of a crowd of 3 or more.
4. Run 5 5K’s and 1 10 K.
5. Go to one yoga class.
6. Visit France, Vietnam, Vancouver, Portland.
7. Be a better friend.
8. Be humble.
9. Be happy.
10. Make everyday count.

Coffee

Most recently, I have deemed myself as a wannabe coffee connoisseur, visiting Coffee Beanery, Peet’s , Starbucks, Seattle's Best, espresso houses in Italy, Blue Bottle in SF (the best Organic I've tasted), and exploring other sorts, like Vietnamese and Cuban coffee. Then there is the option of Milk, Skim, Soy, Heavy Cream which makes all the difference in the world. I highly suggest Heavy Cream once in awhile and foaming it using a mini frother is always a fun time. I was told that the purest coffee comes from measuring out the grains exactly. If you are doing this at home, for a 14 cup maker, measure 71 grams which equates to 2.5 oz or 8 tablespoons of ground beans. This should give you a nice, consistent, round, smooth texture with no bitters. The coffee brand of choice is up to you.

Carly, whose background is Cuban, always make this coffee concoction since I have know her. I never paid attention until last week due to my new obsession. Pretty interesting, she starts off using a stovetop express coffee maker and uses café bustelo beans. She fills the top with ground beans and water and 5 minutes later, it’s done. I am assuming the water filters through extremely quickly. The next part is tricky as she stirs in or what we cooks call creams the sugar into the coffee. The result, very strong coffee, almost espresso tasting and of course, effective. Any others I should try?

FIRST Guest Blog!

The words of an anonymous photographer describe us best: CLOWNS.

Usually wherever Carly, Gerlyn, Tammy, Maria and I happen to be at any given moment turns into a circus ring.

Tammy has asked me to “guest blog.” In my blogging debut on Seeking the Good Life I am going to recap a recent party we so graciously attended. Picture a party in a gorgeous house in the Hollywood Hills, formerly-owned by Virgina Madsen. Visualize a circular foyer (are they always circular? I’m real sophisticated, I should know this), where a pair of beautiful male/female bartenders serve vodka/pomegranate juice. Primordial dwarf Mexican housekeepers scurry around to fetch empty plates of Brie cheese and dried apricots. Cosmopolitan Hollywood-ites chat about Mutual Funds. Now picture 5 girls with fake british accents in the center of it all, immersed in capturing the moment by taking hundreds of digital photographs. There were Model-esqe photos, action photos, gnome kissing photos; still-life photos of earrings, soy nuts and Tammy’s underwear. The background was similar but the facial expressions and poses were not. There were bed-eyes, puckering lips, hugs, Jenna Jameson positions all in the midst of a millionaire’s living room at a well-attended party.

Another energetic photographer fluttering about the party snapping photos for a scrapbook or I’m hoping a magazine happened to compose a picture of us in the act. She brilliantly titled it Tammysfriends_clowns.jpg

1. What do sophisticated clowns do when they get together?
2. Sleep on air mattresses blown up by hair dryers.
3. Go to Ralphs like it’s the new Fred Segal.
4. Get in fights over whether you bake in a stove.
5. Eat delicious breakfasts.

The morning after the Hollywood escapade, Chef Tu served the most delicious breakfast a vegetarian could ask for. FYI, Maria and I are vegetarians, we both have braces and we wear matching outfits. Basically we are brothas from anotha motha. Ger, Maria, Tammy and I dined on French toasts made of French baguettes (it’s so brilliant, who would have thought about using French bread for French toast? That Tammy is going places), toasted fake bacon and cheese sandwiches and a swiss-chard, onion and fake bacon frittata. It was like butter. If I were a millionaire I would hire T Tu to cook all my meals.
-Sarah
xoxoxo

New Year's - Happy to be in 2007

This new year’s I just wanted to share a nice dinner with family and friends. My mom, cousins; Luan and Margaret went to a nice 6 courser at 2941 Restaurant in Virginia. There was great conversation, creative plates that were ate, and 2 fabulous bottles of wine that were drunken, not to mention the cocktails! My mom was the DD so we all felt safe that night. When it struck midnight, I was already sound asleep and completely content.

On New Year’s day, I arrived back in sunny Los Angeles greeted by my family member west side. I was happy and cooked a few appetizers and again we shared stories, food, and bottles of champagne and wine. Props to cousin, Tina, who selected all wines; Joseph Phelps Pinot, Cab Sauvignon from Oregon, Moet, amongst others.

To me, everyone plans for this anticipation/celebration of the upcoming year but it’s not about the evening but the journey getting to and from there. As I begin 2007, I am thankful for all of my family and friends who continue to support my madness and obsession of food, traveling, and just plain being silly and stupid!