The CIA of Napa

FYI, CIA stands for Culinary Institute of America. The main school is in Hyde Park, NY and about 10 years ago, they opened a facility in Napa and more recently San Antonio. Yep, am pretty darn lucky being able to take yet another cooking class that work has sent me to. The trip and class was more like a vacation and boy was I excited to get out of the hustle and bustle of L.A.! I chose to take a classed called, Healthy Flavors of Latin America, Asia and the Mediterranean which lasted 5 days. The class was right up my alley; lectures by a trained PHD of Nutrition , demos from a CIA chef instructor, and hands-on in the kitchen preparing a variety of recipes from the above cuisines. The class consisted of a few restaurant chefs, private chefs, food scientists, and even a foodie who just wanted to learn. The CIA kitchen; filled with French bonnet ovens, vast selections of spices, herbs, produce, meats, pretty much any ingredient, not to mention other equipment like vita-mixers, robocoups, blochett ovens, and automatic pasta makers! YIKES! Nothing like my old alma mater back in Philly where were scrapping for anything and everything.

I am now fascinated by the flavors of Morocco, India, Mexico and the Mediterranean in general. Each day had a differen theme/cuisine. New dishes I made were buckwheat pasta, Bengal fish curry, Roasted tomato chipotle shredded chicken salad. I added to my repertoire of grains, beans (Rancho Gordo) and cooked them in water with flavors like lemongrass, and root vegetables. It's amazing what a little nob of ginger can do onced cooked in rice pilaf or stewed beans! On the last day, we shopped at the local farmer’s market in downtown St Helena and created our own ‘healthy’ dishes.

The perks of taking class at CIA is unimaginable; breakfast, lunch, free wine tastings at local vineyards, discounts at the school store (awesome knives and such), and wonderful hospitality at the hotel and restaurants, Napa loves chefs! All and all, it was a fun week as I had many visitors and headed into SF a few times too. See one of my favorites dishes of the class.

Bengal Fragrant Fish Curry

Haddock, Salmon or Grouper, 3 oz pieces 1 1/2 lbs

Mustard powder 1 tsp

Cumin, ground 1 tsp

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Red pepper, ground 1/2 tsp

Vegetable oil 2 T

Onions, thin sliced 1 cup

Garlic, sliced 1 T

Serrano chiles, thin sliced 1 T

Tomatoes, peeled and chopped 2 cups

Lemon juice 1/2 each

Cilantro, fresh, chopped 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

1. Please the fish on plate and rub with all spices, set aside for about a half any hour. Heat oil on high and saute fish, unseared, 1 minute on each side. Transfer to plate.

2. Heat same pan on medium, add oil, onion, garlic, and chiles. Cook until onions brown, then tomatoes and salt. Cook until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.

3. Add fish, and cook until it is done throughout, about 4 minutes.

4. Plate and serve, sprinkle with lemon juice and cilantro.

Adapted from CIA Greystone, Classic Indian Vegetarian by Julie Sahni.

Tough life

Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile, after I turned 30, it went down hill from there! Nah...I have been further occupied playing with my toys from the birthday! The I-Touch is awesome, I can download podcasts which include cooking videos, plus check email and surf the web. And check out the Bose system Cousin Tina gave to me, sound is outrageous!

There were be tons of good posts to come like my Cinco de Mayo themed dinner and also, I'm in Napa all week...! Taking a cooking class for work....ahhh, life is hard. The class in on Healthy Flavors of Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. I just ironed my chef's jacket and am ready to roll at the CIA in Greystone tomorrow, 7 AM! Wish me luck.

The 30 Club

Yes, 3-0. Many bloggers don’t share their age but me, nah, I’m cool with it. It wasn’t until the actual birth-date I felt utter relief and happiness. Most of my readers are probably the same age even older, you know all those older ‘sophisticates’ who actually care about my life and cooking! Anyways, when one gets to this age, they ponder, ‘WHAT IS GOING ON?” The initial thought that crossed the mind was WHERE DID 30 YEARS GO? I’m half way there..halfway through life, with modern medicine of course, add on another decade or two, right?

To calm nerves and prevention of a crisis, I listed the top 5 achievements thus far, next listing the top 5 ‘to do’ before 40 which is shared at the end of this post. I realize that am the luckiest person at 30. Just 2 weeks before, I spent a splendid weekend in Paso Robles. The weekend of my birthday, Mom made the trek from Virginia. We sight-seed the hot spots of LA, dined with good friends and danced the ‘twist’. She also gave me words of wisdom for the present and the future. I love you Mom and thank you for visiting. Also to my best friend for sharing her birthday with me too (she's 10 HOURS younger!), thanks Carly for the fun filled day bowling and gathering of friends, we really did kick it up another notch!

'Bucket List' before 40

1. Eat Pho in Vietnam.

2. Design and build my own kitchen.

3. Rent a villa in Spain for awhile, eat, drink, and cook.

4. Catch the fish, grow the vegetables, cook it all in one night.

5. Volunteer abroad.

I have been really bad about posting lately. Something is kind of screwy with my ‘template', I need to further investigate with other blogger experts! Between finding things to blog about, taking pictures, writing the post, who has time to maintain the site!!!

Last week was Fashion week in Los Angeles. I’ve been never been to a show myself, but hear and see that it is star studded and who’s who event. My friend, Carly is apart of this GenArt association and gets tickets to movie premieres, art , and fashion shows. I was intrigued by her invitation and was excited about the evening. To make a long story short and without offending anyone, we had a blast people watching, of course putting our two cents in (a.k.a. talking crap about everyone, hey, I'm only human)! The show was at the Park Plaza Hotel in Koreantown. It was a huge and gorgeous venue and was divided in 3 rooms where fashionistas could roam and admire each designers' work. The whole scene was out of a movie! Afterwards, we had dinner with the great Nancy Silverton at Osteria Mozza (co-owner is Mario Batali). Actually, she was plating behind the Mozzarella cheese bar where we sat! All and all, fun fashion and food, not necessarily a common LA affair ...but in my case, a perfect combination!

Homage to Butter

My mother always gauges the quality of food at a restaurant on their butter. If they don’t have good butter and bread, it will be a bad omen for the rest of the meal. One of my grandfather favorite snacks was french bread and Blue cheese topped off with butter. As for myself, I grew up eating pate with butter on bread. In fact, just the other week, I was thinking how my last meal on earth would probably be as simple as butter on a steamin’ hot baguette.

Finally a tribute to butter in the latest issue of Saveur! The article even goes as far as giving their choices of top 30 butters. You can’t beat that, I highly suggest reading it if you are a butter lover. I never understood why butter gets such a bad wrap. Apparently in the 1860s when there was a plague which lead to a butter shortage, Emperor Louis Napoleon held a contest to see who could come up with the best substitute, hence margarine was born, boo-hiss-hiss-boo! Saveur gives their favorite pairings with butter one of them as simple as Saltine crackers, again, I thought my family were the only wierdos who did that!

I love making compound butters, which is just the mixing of butter with various ingredients such as herbs, spices, or even vegetables. Here’s a version were topping off a piece of a good piece of steak would do me fine! Try Trader Joe’s who sells nice pieces of Flat Iron Steak.



Roasted Red Pepper Compound butter

1 lb Butter (Challenge, unsalted)
1 Red pepper (roasted in oven or jarred), diced
4 oz Parsley

Let better soften at room temperature, then blend in stand up mixer or electric beaters. Add red peppers and parsley and mix until well incorporated. Dump butter onto parchment paper. Roll into a log like shape. Tie or twist tightly on both ends like a tootsie roll. Store in fridge or freezer.