Rhubarb Dressing

Before I was wondering for answers about these questions I have in mind... Is rhubarb a vegetable? Or a fruit? Or a plant? The answers to my questions: It’s a vegetable that is usually eaten like a fruit. It’s perennial in many areas. Rhubarb is a cool season crop that is grown for its fibrous leaf stalks. Its latin name is Rheum rhabarbarum and commonly called as Rhubarb. It can grow in climates with mild winters up to 2-3 feet wide and tall, depending on variety. To attain its full color, full exposure to the sun is needed. Otherwise we won't be able to obtain the red and yellow varieties. It will take you two years to have your first small harvest of rhubarb because in nature perennial crops are like that. Hmmm... interesting, isn't it? Now with those information, I understand my now favorite jam & dressing–rhubarb.

Surprisingly this hard to find vegetable or season crop can be found in the soil of La Trinidad, Benguet. All the while I thought I can only see rhubarb in Jamie Oliver's Garden. (Btw, He's my all-time favorite chef that's why I bought his book entitled "JAMIE at HOME" and it's basically about his garden)

So I prepared a mixture of tropical fruits and veggies like mangoes, grapes, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce–a perfect salad for the rhubarb dressing!

Rhubarb is also famous with jams like: Strawberry + Rhubarb and Rhubarb + Ginger and all the endless possibilities that any cook or chef could explore. As for me, I did the Strawberry + Rhubarb but not as a jam but as a salad dressing!

So healthy yet so yummy...My comfort food!

Stop the presses! Chef goes on vacation

January 28

I called Bún restaurant in SoHo today to see who their new chef is.
“New chef?” the person on the phone asked.
Yes, I said, because the whole New York food blog world is all in a tizzy that Michael Bao Huynh has left Bún, perhaps to open a noodle shop.
“Where did you read that?”
I told him.
“First I’ve heard of it. He is on vacation in Vietnam, though.”
Now, it’s possible that there has been a kerfuffle in upper management at Bún that hasn’t been communicated to the staff. That happens, but the blogosphere also says that Mr. Huynh is gone from Mai House, the restaurant he runs in partnership with Myriad Restaurant Group. I e-mailed them to ask what was up and got a call from Myriad chief Drew Nieporent. No, he said, he and Michael are still partners in the restaurant, they get along fine, no problems.
Well, I’ve been lied to before, plenty (though not, to my knowledge, by Drew, who can be as tight-lipped as any businessman, but he's no liar). But I still take people at their word until I can’t anymore.
So, as far as I can tell, Michael Bao Huynh is on vacation but still involved in Bún. Running the kitchen at Mai House on a day to day basis, as they have been doing all along, are Spike (not Mike) Mendelsohn and Sean Scotese. (Spike also is a contestant on the next Top Chef, so congratulations to him).
People in the restaurant industry will in no way be surprised that the executive chef isn’t working on the line every day. If someone’s chef at more than one restaurant he (or occasionally she) obviously isn’t cooking at each one every night. That’s why one develops management skills and a good staff.

Tahu Isi

Bahan - Bahan :

• 10 buah tahu kulit

Isian :

• wortel diiris2 tipis
• kol diiris tipis
• 2 siung bawang putih haluskan
• 3 siung bawang merah haluskan
• Udang buang kulitnya dan cincang halus (optional)
• 1 sdtminyak wijen
• 3 sdm saos tiram
• lada secukupnya
• 1 sdm tepung maizena dilarutkan dlm 3 sdm air putih

Kulit Tepung :

• 300 gr tepung bumbu
• 100 gr tepung beras
• 1 buah kara ukuran kecil
• air secukupnya

Cooking directions :

1. Panaskan wajan, beri minyak goreng dan minyak wijen lalu tumis bumbu halus
2. Masukkan udang beri saos tiram, masak hingga kekuningan
3. Masukkan sayuran dan tumis hingga matang beri lada
4. Masukkan larutan tepung maizena, aduk hingga agak mengental
5. Campurkan semua bahan untuk kulit tepung hingga menjadi adonan yg kental
6. Ambil tahu kulit, iris tengahnya, masukkan isian lalu celupkan dlm adonan kulit tepung
7. Lalu goreng hingga kering dan renyah
8. Sajikan

Home, in bed

January 25

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't try to go to three parties in different parts of Manhattan in one night, because now I'm sick. I don't think it's anything serious -- just a bad cold that started with sinus congestion and then settled into my chest.
For almost as long as I can remember my coughs have sounded much worse than they are. I project, from the diaphragm, with great rumbling noises coming out of my lungs. It's the same cough I get any time I have a cold, and it always causes great concern among friends and colleagues.
"You sound like Hellacious," my colleague Elissa Elan said to me the other day, eliciting a confused look from Paul Frumkin. I think he was wondering who Hellacious was.
"She meant, you sound, comma, like, comma, hellacious," I explained.
That must have been on Wednesday the 23rd, because I've been at home in bed ever since. I'm well on the mend, but my cough will still likely scare people.
And my voice is hoarse -- hoarse enough that when I ordered Chinese food from my regular delivery place, Red Hot, they tossed an orange in gratis. It's nice that they care.
Normally I get shredded beef with fresh hot pepper from Red Hot, but in my weakened state I've been feeling a need for more produce, so I've been ordering vegetarian dishes, along with pork fried rice.
I've been drinking fruit smoothies, too, and they have an emotionally therapeutic effect if nothing else.
Oh, I did eat out once this week, on Tuesday. Birdman and I went to T-Bar, a steakhouse on the Upper East Side. Birdman started with the tuna tartare and I had the chopped caesar salad, and we split the porterhouse for two and a bottle of St. Estephe. Then they buried us in dessert -- strawberry shortcake, cheesecake, and a caramelized banana parfait.

Frandy Susatia

Hello there everyone!

I would just like to share the news that The Artist Chef is now reaching the global market. The first to respond to the FILIPINAS magazine article is Frandy Susatia! He booked months in advance to make sure that he got a slot when he visited Manila in November. He contacted me via text and later on we emailed each other for the details. Frandy is an Indonesian based in North Carolina, USA and practices medicine as a Neurologist. He was in the Philippines four years ago and stayed as a resident doctor in Santo Tomas University Hospital (UST) for two years. There he met his fiancee Berna who is also a Doctor of Internal Medicine. No wonder he is very attached to our island.

They talk...

we talk...

A very unforgettable conversation.

The joy in me despite the very tiring preparation for The Artist Chef dinner.

Frandy and Berna are getting married soon.

After the pictorial Frandy gave me a gift and asked me to open it immediately. He said it was his token of thanks for accommodating him. I was surprised by the giraffes he bought from Hobbes and Landes (actually one of my favorite shops).

Another addition to the gifts given to me by my customers. I feel so grateful for the blessings that God is giving me--the success story of The Artist Chef.