Top Chef Masters....Wylie Dufresne

Photo from LA Times website

Are you following Top Chef Masters? It's the one with the "who is this Korean woman" host, where the elite chefs compete in a bracket/tournament style competition to get to the championship round. Last night was the 2nd episode and had the well known, molecular gastromony god chef Wylie Dufresne. He choked big time! Such a shame because I'm such a fan of his. I was looking forward to more innovative, creative dishes from him. Oh well...his WD-50 restaurant is on my list next time I got to NYC. Read story...

Creme Caramel

This is another favorite food/dessert of mine. To me, it's called..."Creahmmmmmmm Caaaraahmel".

The first time I ever tasted this dish was at the now gone Fremont Pizzaria (oh how much I miss this place. Another place that got bought by a new owner then closed because the soul of the place left with the first owner).

Back to the food...Will Harvey, our good friend, Carolyn's husband made this very one pictured here some time ago.

When I open a place, this will go on the menu. I promise!

My Favorite Indian Restaurant

Photo from Roti website.

is...ROTI in lower Queen Anne.

Roti is the name of the whole wheat nan, tortilla like, flat breadish. I remember when I used to go to India for work, we would get invited to these homes for dinners and they would serve fresh roti and it was buttery, flaky, and savory that it compared to eating great freshly toasted bread.

This place has the best Indian food hands down. They serve the same kind of food you see in most Indian restaurants but has another level of flavor and savoriness that can't be compared. It is what differentiates good food from great food.

My favorite thing to eat from this place is Aloo Gohbi. It's is sauteed cauliflower and potatoes in ginger and spices. I don't know if it's the oil, but there is a toasty nutty flavor to the sauce that makes this dish so good. I've tried this dish at other restaurants but no comparison. Where as most places, has a flat flavor profile, ROTI's dish is multi layers of flavors, the spice, nutty, toasty, and the subtle zing of ginger.

We met our 2 Indian friends there for dinner and they too agree the food was great. They ordered Malai Kofta which is described as "mixed vegetable balls in creamy gravy" and Paneer Tikka Marsala. Again, great multi layer flavor profiles, good heat, and just plain yum! The vegetable balls were different, almost like a nutty falafael but not quite. My sister just like to says she like to eat "balls". :) K, maybe not. For vegetarians, this is heaven!

There is so much to try! Will have to remember to go again soon.

Mr. President A Foodie?

There is an interesting article about Mr. Obama and his food choices.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_foodie_in_the_house

Maple Bacon Doughnut

I don't eat real bacon but this combo sounds so good! Voodoo Doughnut is a place in Portland OR that don't take itself too seriously but serious enough to make great doughnut flavors. Check out their link. I did try it with veggie bacon and it was pretty good. Next time I am in Portland, I'll be checking it out.

What a cooking day!

What a day it was....I started with June homeless cooking in the morning then worked for St. Cloud for catering a bar mitvah.

Homeless Cooking

Made a great marinade for Salmon and we grilled.  The other was a apple lemon cake.

At St. Cloud, it was back breaking work but loved every minute of it. It's been a long time since I've catered with St. Cloud almost 6 months, am so glad to be back, had a lot of fun.  I started with cutting fruit for the chocolate fountain, assembled the smoked trout on toasted brioche, then made these mini caprese sandwiches wiht heirloom tomatoes, then plated this aisan broth soup with crab and black cod.  

Forgot to take my camera so don't have any pic.  I do the same thing next week so will have more content and pics!

May Brunch

I had a small gathering for brunch in May. I love to cook brunch! It is one of my favorite things to do.

Perhaps it is has to do with my days at the cafe a few years ago. Waking up at the crack of dawn (4am) and baking all these pastries and prep work for breakfast. It was like I was there before the world woke up and got all this food ready and then the world woke up and came for breakfast.

Here was the menu:

• Sticky Bun
• Savory Scones
• Blueberry Coffee Cake
• Roasted Potatoes
• Simple Green Salad
• Fresh Fruit Salad
• Sweet Peppery Bacon
• Sausage
• Veggie Sausage
• Mimosa

I can't wait to host another brunch!

April Homeless Cooking

April's Neighborhood Cooking Foundation

Here is a pic from cookout for April. I recall it was still a bit cold and we had Easter theme. We made chicken pot pie, coconut cupcake and lot of other things.

I didn't go in May due to busy schedule. I will be there for June which starts this weekend and will get good pics and better food list.

Marisela's Taco Night

Marisela hosted a Taco Night a couple of months ago. She is Mexican and made these ancient Mexican recipes from scratch. :) No really, everything was freshly made and amazing.

She also served these Lindsay Olives which are just green olives that are canned with some water and salt. Amazing! It's salty when you first take a bite but then a nice savory buttery flavor comes out. I can eat the whole can by myself without anything else. Actually I have. :)

Back to Marisela's food... She made the taco and all the trimming. There were some homemade beans in a clay pot that was great, fresh salad with a dressing she made, oh the salsa, and fresh guacomole.

The highlight for me was the dessert because I am a dessert person. :) She made these 2 desserts pictured here. This mexican chocolate cake and flan. I'll let the pic do the talking.

Cafe Nola in Bainbridge

Cafe Nola is a cozy little restaurant on Bainbride Island. It's famous for Giada De Laurentiis visit during her weekend getway show.

We went there to celebrate my birthday last March with a small group of friends for brunch.

Food was good and place had a nice charm. Environment was like going to a friend's house for brunch. Great service. It helped the weather was beautiful. Here are some pics of food we had.

I had their famous CARAMEL PECAN FRENCH TOAST: challah bread - smoked bacon - orange bourbon butter - fresh fruit - pure maple syrup. Again, it was good but not sure great. I still favor the Fancy French Toast: vanilla custard dipped Columbia bread griddled and topped with espresso-mascarpone & sugared hazelnuts from Hi-Life in Ballard.

One of the hit items was the BAKED EGGSbaked spinach - hickory smoked bacon - grilled breads - roma tomato - potato.

Soung seemed to like their EGGS BENEDICTbreakfast potato - fresh fruit - lemon hollandaise. It comes with dungeness crab but Soung got the veggie version. I'll talk more about her quest for the perfect eggs benedict another time.

So do you make a trip out for the food, um...maybe not. Do you make a trip for a nice day trip on a ferry to enjoy the town and have brunch? Absolutely.