Today was a good day!

An email was sent out to let the students know who got accepted to the Italy and Spain trips. So I am going to Italy in May! May will be a good month! I am very excited! I can picture myself eating gelati everyday more than once a day, and I already have a smile on my face. = ) Oh the pleasures in life! I can't wait to see how people make Balsamic vinegar, maybe I'll buy one that's been aged for years to come home and just dip bread into it... or have a little drip here and there onto my greens.

Anywhos! I have some projects of things that I've made the past few days...

To start off with.

Fishcake salad. The recipe is from a wonderful couple from Church. The hubs is from Burma. This is so yummy if you love FISHCAKE! It's spicy, salty, fishy, oniony and tart all at once. MMMMMMM! It's so light that it's wonderful anytime of the year but AWESOME for the summer.


















1 head of lettuce, shredded
1 pack of fishcake, quartered then sliced thinly
1.75 cup of veg oil + 2 T
1 onion, thinly slice, fried and save the oil to keep the onion with
2 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
lemon juice to taste
fish sauce to taste
red pepper flakes (asian) to taste

*when i say to taste, i just adjust it to how tart, spicy and salty i like it.

1. Fry the sliced onions in 1.75 cup oil, till golden brown or amber. take away from heat, it will continue to brown. Scoop up the onions into a separate container and wait till oil is cooled before putting it togther. (this could be prepared in advance).
2. Pan-Fry sliced fish cake in a 2 T oil, till crispy. Drain oil.
3. Shred the head of lettuce.
4. Mix the vinaigrette with the Tamarind concentrate, fresh lemon juice (I squeezed about 2 lemons), 2 dashes of fish sauce to start. Taste and adjust to your liking.
5. Drizzle the vinaigrette onto the lettuce and put about 2-3 tablespoons of fried onion along with a little bit of the oil, top with fried fish cake and sprinkle red pepper flakes. Toss at the table and serve. = )

Continuing on with today... I made soondooboo jigae and pajeon. I got the soondooboo recipe from http://www.maangchi.com/ and made some adjustments to it. So please go to her site, for the recipe. I tasted the broth after the pepper and fish sauce went in... it still lacked something... some flavor... the broth was still very bland and tasted like vegetable water. Going through my brain... maybe it's not "Korean"like but I didn't want to make it and have it not taste good and be disappointed and unsatisfied with my meal and effort, what should I do? What does it need?! UH HA! Umamaeeeeeeee.... (it's really spelled umami) I added a few splashes of soy sauce, some salt and a tiny bit more fish sauce. It was just as I remember only without the earthenware pot. Having that pot does make a difference I feel. My soup was not hot enough, so it was not as enjoyable, even after I microwaved it for 2 mins. I like it served bubbling hot! I like that burning sensation that comes with the stew in a restaurant. The only way I can have it continuously bubbling hot would be eating it in the kitchen while the pot is still going on the stove. Do I really want to risk looking like a barbarian in front of my residents? They would probably think that their R.A (me) just came out of a cave, who can't even be civilized enough to put it in a bowl and eat at a table? So.. civilized? uncivilized? civilized? uncivilized? Alright! Not today at least, maybe if I am desparate in the near future to make this again. Sure! I'll make sure I have pics to show how unlady like I am. Well... I'll put up the pajeon tomorrow or something. I should probably go do something called homework now.

Let the Countdown Begin!

So I started this blog on February 5th, 2009 to mark the count down to my graduation for the Culinary Institute of America a year from this date, which will be February 5th, 2010, if you haven't figured that one out yet. I've been thinking a lot about what I should do or will do after graduation. With economy this bad it's hard to look for a job even as a chef. You read that restaurants like Le Cirque, Nougatine and all these other places are offering some kind of deal to eat at their restaurant. 21 Club for the first time and the last ones to not require men to wear ties just to draw more business in.

(twirling my thumbs) What to do? What to do? I hope to either be in one of the following categories after graduation: personal chef, working for a magazine (research and development or food writing), behind the scenes of food network, work for Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations, move to Asia and find a job there or work for a catering company. I know this is a random assortment of opportunities and jobs, but I am interested in all. HEY! Who said I can't divide and conquer? Or divide and explore? ; 1 So this blog is going to be for me to practice some food writing... whether it be things that I make/experiment, things that I eat or try or just interesting articles on food and opportunities I will encounter within this next year.

We will see what this year will lead me to as I finish up my bachelors degree here at the Culinary Institute of America. It has taken me more than the average 4 years (let's say 9 years?, better late than never!) to figure out what I want to do and get this Bachelors Degree and even now I still don't exactly have something specific other than dealing with food.

My hopefully soon-to-be adventure (I know people usually say soon-to-be husband or whatever, this is just as importante to me!) would be going to Italy with my school for the Food and Wine Seminar. It is somewhat like a class here, it's very competitive to get in. There is an application process and the committee members review the applications, recommendation, essay, resume and GPA then they decide who is going and who is not! Let's hope that I will be going! I am quite excited!

So until this weekend when I am going to attempt to make some Korean cuisine... this is it for now! Hope you guys will embark on this countdown/journey/culinary adventure with me.... after all if you are my friend (or a random reader), hopefully we must have something in common... A big part of life and this blog is "for the love of food"!