Thursday, August 7, 2008

So I am teaching cooking at camp for 3 weeks .

a
"American Breakfast "At the hotel




So I made a lesson Plan on how to make crepes .My co teacher went her own way and bought Korean style pancake mix :(
They also bought peanut butter and jam for filling
but also got some syrup.
The kids liked it and we all had fun .



What’s next for Chris Cheung?

August 7

The legion of people obsessed with the New York restaurant scene already know that Graydon Carter has bought Monkey Bar, where Chris Cheung was the chef.
I called Chris. He was at the restaurant.
“We’re cleaning it up for Mr. Carter,” he said. “Everything has actually been shipped off on the trucks.” The whole place will be vacated in the next day or so.
But Chris is still working for the Glazier Group, which sold the restaurant to Carter. Chris said they’re still trying to decide what to do with him — maybe give him a corporate position, although Chris says he’d ultimately like to be back in a restaurant where he can showcase his food.
“It’s a pretty good time to look at all your options, I guess.”
He said company principal Peter Glazier has kept most of the staff on the payroll and is figuring out what to do with them.

More about Chris Chueng.

Terrible writing, or the worst writing I’ve ever seen?

August 7

Seriously, alliteration is not good writing. In fact, it often makes a perfectly readable sentence hokey.
And big words don’t make you seem smart.
My comments are bracketed below. I added the boldface.

Dear Bret ,

We at
[a consulting company that does not respect the English language] facilitate public relations practitioners [read: help publicists] to reach the right contact and pitch their relevant stories. Most of our persistent PR professionals are continually keen on getting your current details on outlets/publications you are associated with, current job title, the latest topics you cover and essentially your preferred mode of communication. Hence [hence?] I request to [read: please] send the above mentioned information to [e-mail, fax and mailing address withheld for obvious reasons].
If the said information is available on the Web, feel free to simply send us the link.

[I was thinking of suggesting Google].


The message was signed by the senior vice president for projects, and that left me speechless.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Journalists make their living by using words. We get offended when they are used badly.

MASALA CHICKEN CURRY


Ingredients
Chicken............1 kg
Tomatoes........2
Yogurt........2 tbsp
Onions.......3 to 4 large chopped.
Turmeric Powder.......1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder.......1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder.......1 to 1 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves
Curry leaves......a few

For the masala:
Dry coconut.....3/4 bowl
Green Chillies....4 to 5
Cloves......4
Cinnamon....one 1" piece
Ginger......2 tbsp
Garlic........1 pod

Method:
1. Grind the masala ingredients to a fine paste adding water.
2. Heat 4 to 5 tbsp of oil. Add onions and fry till dark brown.
3. Add the chicken.... also add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt. Mix and cook on high flame. When the water of the chicken dries, add tomatoes, curry leaves and yogurt. Mix and cook on slow flame till 3/4th done.
4. Add the ground paste, mix well. Cover and cook on low flame till chicken is cooked.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves.
6.Serve with parathas or steamed rice.

BESAN KI MIRCHI


Ingredients:
Chillies ........ 4-5 large ones
Amchoor powder .... 1 tsp.
Salt .................... to taste
Gram flour ..... 2 tbsps.
Turmeric powder ... 1/8 tsp.
Oil ........ 2 tbsps. ( preferably mustard oil)

Method:
1. Cut 4 large green chillies into small pieces as shown in the picture.





2. Heat a pan. Add 2 tbsp gram flour (besan) and heat it till brown without adding oil. Keep aside.



3. Heat oil. Add the green chillies, salt, little turmeric powder. Cover & cook on low flame till the water of the green chillies dries and they become tender.( sprinkle a little water if you want the chillies to be a little softer)
4. Add the gram flour, sprinkle some dry mango powder (amchur powder). Mix and remove from flame.

Note: These chillies are not very hot. If you like it spicy you may add a little red chilli powder.

Century Eggs - The Epilogue

Two days ago I checked the stats on my blog. I’m used to getting a fairly decent number of hits per day and am generally happy when it hits three figures, usually after I’ve posted a photo on Tastespotting or Foodgawker. So I was a little taken aback to see that I’d had over 2,000 hits over the last 48 hours.

It turns out that the last post I wrote, about century eggs, was picked up by Neatorama and subsequently by a couple of other sites (here, for example). After doing a little happy dance I composed myself and thought about how I could carry on the general run of form.

And then I noticed that it had sparked something of a debate. It seems that century eggs have divided the global food community into two firm camps. I was accused of being ‘INCREDIBLY melodramatic’ (sic.) in my description of this foodstuff. Numerous century egg fans came out in defence of these weird snacks (sick) and then a raft of others backed me in my assessment.

OK, hands up, it’s a fair cop. I’ll admit now that I did exaggerate slightly for comic effect. I am a writer – it’s my job to try and entertain as well as inform. But what I wrote was etched in truth. I have an adventurous palate (these are not the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth, that’s for sure) but these eggs were really not to my taste. And it seems some people agree with me:



However, to all those who doubted me and said I was being ‘melodramatic’, I am willing to be proved wrong. If there is enough demand I solemnly swear that I will go to my nearest Chinese supermarket and purchase a packet of century eggs. I will then post the resultant video of me eating one right here on my blog. As advised I will try it with sugar and hot sauce and congee. And if I am wrong and they don’t taste as bad as I first reported I will eat balut. Deal?

So, to register your interest simply leave a comment below and we’ll take it from there.

www.justcookit.blogspot.com

And the answer is...

Y de lo que hablaba en mi fotolog era de la.... ¡¡Hipocresía, muy bien!!

Podría poner fotos de mucha gente hipócrita, pero para qué.
Podría soltar una bomba, pero para qué... bueno, no puede que la suelte más tarde, me lo voy a pensar.

NORTHERN SKY

Six years ago I bought 2 copies of the Serendipity soundtrack, which includes Northern Sky (my song) basically for my own silly reason and I still have one of the copies. Today I am looking at the possibility of buying 2 copies of the album of my favorite English singer-songwriter Nick Drake. The album is "Way to Blue" which includes Northern Sky. I often ponder why this artist is my all-time favorite and I am forever stuck with his music. He is known for his acoustic and autumnal song that’s why I like him so much. Just the way I like Jamie Oliver. Maybe I love them both. Well Nick's prime instrument was the guitar but aside from that he was also proficient with the clarinet and saxophone. I fell in love with his music because I can see myself with this guy. He was naturally a sad person. All his life he suffered from depression and insomnia. He knows what will make him happy but fate was not good and life wasn't that fair. He died in autumn of 1974 for not waking up because of the antidepressant he took. He had tried to stay in touch with Sophia Ryde, whom he had first met in London in 1968. Ryde has been described by Drake's biographers as "the nearest thing" to a girlfriend in his life, however she now prefers the description 'best (girl) friend'. In a 2005 interview, Ryde revealed that a week before he died, she had sought to end the relationship: "I couldn’t cope with it. I asked him for some time. And I never saw him again". As with Linda Thompson, Drake's relationship with Ryde was never consummated. Nick's sister Gabrielle has said she prefers to think Drake committed suicide, "in the sense that I'd rather he died because he wanted to end it than it to be the result of a tragic mistake. That would seem to me to be terrible..."

So those things about Nick’s life are what I like most about him and I am amazed he was able to put them all into writing. That's why there's the famous PINK MOON used by Volkswagen TV commercial and my song NORTHERN SKY used by the movie Serendipity. I wonder what he was feeling when he wrote Northern Sky song. As for me, I always believe in fortunate accidents and lucky discoveries... I'd like to think that I have to take a look again where my Northern Sky can be found.

According to Kelly Willis, a song is greatly written when a person who will hear it can relate to it every single word. She once told her crowd before performing Nick Drake's "Time Has Told Me" it is the greatest love song every written. I definitely agree. I picked here three of the best written love songs and I can relate to very single word. They're written by my favorite, Nick Drake.