Irene Tan-Gurango

The Artist Chef business continuously clicks because of the article in Clickthecity.com and I owe Nadia Upton for that. Surprisingly another clickthecity contributor writer dined at my place recently. The girl that rocks my crib, Irene Tan-Gurango! The lady rocker surprised her husband for his birthday with a special dinner. They were a bit late because Irene had a hard time persuading his husband to move out from another party and fly to Makati.

I'm glad that they enjoyed the dinner and found the food I served unique and interesting. Specially my Strawberry Lassi which has a bit of cane vinegar in it. It's really cool to meet couples who are adventurous and experimental with the food they eat.

Tatoo Art. To my surprise, I found a great one on Irene's leg. She sings for a band and his husband is the bassist of MOJO FLY.

Oh I didn't know that the guy dining at my place was Ricky Gurango! I usually associate Mojo Fly with Ali Alejandro, not knowing that this man is the founder.

This man used to be with "HUNGRY YOUNG POETS" together with Barbie Almalbis. When they disbanded Rick formed MOJO FLY.

They are blessed with one kid and still have quality time together.

Another sweet moment that I will remember in my ARTIST CHEF history: the night that Irene left this box of chocolate cake with the guard after having dinner at my place. The guard told me that my visitors came back after they left my place and drop-off the cake. Irene texted and said that it was her token of gratitude because they really enjoyed the dinner. Thanks again Rick and Irene!

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Graffiti Down Under (AUS post2)

As I promised, I will share with you snippets of my adventure in Australia. So let me begin by telling you guys that I am an observer of graffiti art way back caliph8 days. I find British graffiti outstanding. But the Aussies' aren't far behind. As a staring point I'll show you how graffiti became part of my journey down under...

On my first day at Liverpool in Sydney, my boyfriend and I walked along the streets near Goulburn where we are stayed for a month. We suddenly found this huge graffiti wall that matched my jacket. Oh yeah!

On our second week we explored the Bondi Beach area. There are many vulgar graffiti painted on the walls but I this one quickly grabbed my attention. Maybe that's the same reason why my boyfriend posed like this.

Another pic from Bondi graffiti area where I'm wearing this huge North Face jacket that made me look like a hip-hop gurl.

Same week as Bondi, we had our train ride and stopped in the quiet suburb of Newtown. While walking on the street we saw another colorful grafitti wall. As we continued walking, it was pretty clear that this was a place for art enthusiasts and vintage fanatics. There are lots of vintage and cool shops around the area. They sell mostly bags, shirts and small stuff for collectors. It's like the "VINTAGE POP SHOP" in Cubao but with more choices. There are also nice restaurants for the experimental foodies. Most of the restos are Asian and to be specific–Vietnamese. The simplicity and laid-back appeal of this suburb made it a perfect venue for radical artsy people. To balance the contrast, I guess. And I love it the way it is!

See this dirty wall with vandalisms and old posters? You won't find it everywhere, only here in Newtown.

Some posters ain't dirty at all. Plugs! plugs! plugs!

Mingling with a dirty aboriginal artist and some barefoot locals. This artist was asking me if he could paint my sandals with aboriginal art in exchange for some australian dollars. I sadly refused. I just can't with my nike sandals. People in Newtown are flamboyant and weird, but it didn't surprise me. I get to meet a lot of the same kind even here in Manila. So for now I have to say : 'Til my next train stop to the city I fell in love with, Sydney!

Slash the chicken to show the monkey*

November 27

Tales of my Thanksgiving weekend adventures and the Turkish food that followed will have to wait until I finish writing the feature I’m working on for our December 10 issue, but I did want to comment on Chris Cheung’s new job. The bright kids at Eater reported that he’s the new chef at Monkey Bar, and Chris just confirmed that to me (in fact, he's been there for six or seven weeks).
I wrote a profile of Chris, a protégé of Ed Brown and then of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, way back in 2000, when he was working on opening his first restaurant, Tiger Blossom, in the East Village. It failed to thrive and closed shortly after 9/11. So it goes. He resurfaced some time later at Little Bistro in Brooklyn, and then turned some heads as chef of Almond Flower Bistro, on the edge of Chinatown.
Now here’s the interesting thing: Patricia Yeo, the chef Chris is replacing at Monkey Bar, left, if I recall correctly, following bad reviews and a sense that the food she wanted to cook was a bit more radical than the Glaziers, who own Monkey Bar, wanted it to be, and perhaps more radical than their guests wanted to eat. That happens; sometimes a great chef is not a great fit with a particular restaurant. Chris knows that: He left Almond Flower over a disagreement with the owners there over his menu, which they deemed to be more radical than they wanted.
Obviously I wish all parties involved much good fortune and success.
Here’s another funny thing. When I interviewed Chris for that profile back in 2000, I did it over lunch at AZ, the restaurant where Patricia first was put on the map in New York (AZ has since closed; it was where BLT Fish is now).

*This is a term used in both Chinese and Thai cultures. It refers to when you punish one creature to frighten another one — to make an example of someone.

YUMMY COOK-OFF

The prize of success!

This is the first ever Yummy Magazine's YUMMY COOK-OFF held last September 30, 2007 at Shangri-La Plaza Mall Activity area. The event was graced by guests and spectators from the mall.

The event was hosted by Ruby Rodriguez and Chef Jun Jun De Guzman. The Yummy Cook-Off was divided into 3 Categories. Mom vs. Mom, Blogger vs. Blogger and Chef vs. Chef. The one-on-one competition per category took place on stage with kitchen facilities. The contestants cooked their yummiest dishes in front of a huge crowd. A lot of pressure!

I was invited to compete by Melanie Montemayor of SUMMIT Media. I gladly joined the Blogger vs. Blogger category. Jun of Dalanghita.com was my opponent.

I helped my opponent to pre-cut his ingredients before going on stage so that it wouldn't consume his time. Mine was pre-cut already so I think it would have been unfair if his ingredients were not pre-cut because we only had 30 minutes to cook everything onstage.

I cooked my specialties like Chicken Kebabs with Capsicum and Garlic Yoghurt Sauce, Wine Scampi Linguine, Lettuce-Grape-Calamari Salad and my version of Piña Colada.

I won the blogger category and took home the trophy, tons of gift packs, gift certificates and cash. More than those things, I am glad to receive recognition from the judges. Thank you to Melanie Montemayor, Maan Pe and Sharlene Tan and all the Yummy staff.