no spatulas allowed

I can’t believe it is already November. The past few months have been a whirlwind. I’ve been busy at work, out of town almost every weekend, busy blogging and trying to learn as much as possible in culinary school. This past week, I was given a wonderful opportunity to be the sous chef for a private chef in Fort Worth- I could not be happier. Although extremely excited and happy, I’m very nervous too…our first event is an engagement party for 50 this Saturday! More details after the event…

Along with my exciting news, this past week has been one of fun, new restaurants, inventive recipes and a weekend in Arkansas to see the boy. Last Tuesday afternoon on my day off, I discovered a really delicious Vietnamese restaurant off Belknap and Race here in Fort Worth. The restaurant is a definite dive in between a doughnut shop and an Ace Cash Express…a little daunting at first. Despite the first impression, the dishes were fresh, tasty and uniquely Vietnamese.

I started with the egg rolls…golden-fried filled with pork, cabbage and a mild ponzu-type dipping sauce. I then went for the flash-cooked beef and vegetables over crispy vermicelli. The sauce was mild and subtle with a beautiful bunch of bright green, spicy cilantro- perfect lunch for less than 10 bucks.

My afternoon continued with a hot-rock pedicure (my monthly guilty pleasure) and an election watching party at Wine Styles on Camp Bowie. Amongst bottles of buttery Merlot, we noshed on gourmet meatball pizza and enjoyed the friendly, political banter of the evening.

Wednesday night, my girlfriend made dinner at her place. The menu was a pea soup with cayenne, grilled chicken stuffed with pureed olives and capers in a mustard marinade and a red apple couscous with smoked paprika. It was the perfect pantry and freezer meal to make in a flash!

Friday afternoon, I packed my car, grabbed a café au lait and headed to Little Rock for a relaxing weekend with the boyfriend. Unlike our last trip of gourmet finds, we were completely content with a pizza delivery, wine and movies on USA. For our Sunday lunch, we did discover a quaint, Irish Pub in North Little Rock with really delicious and authentic fish and chips. The batter of the cod has a subtle beer aftertaste and was perfect with the creamy tartar sauce, slaw and malt vinegar.

I arrived Sunday night with a delicious dinner simmering away on the oven. Megan was making a chicken stew with onions, potatoes, tomatoes, lemongrass, coconut milk, turmeric, ground clove and cilantro. It was light and hearty at the same time with the wonderfully fragrant and spicy aroma of the lemongrass.

Tonight was culinary school week 11- egg cookery! It was actually one my my favorite classes we've had second to veggie cookery. At the beginning of class, we started on the line with two pans each and had to make made-to-order omelets, eggs sunny-side up, over medium, over easy, etc. The trick was, we weren't allowed to use spatulas- it was really fun and easier than I expected.

Next, we split into groups and were required to make:

Zabaglione sauce made with Champagne and Marsala

Shirred (another word for baked) eggs with ham and Swiss cheese

Scotch eggs (a disgusting concoction of hard-cooked eggs blanketed in ground sausage, dredged and then deep fried....hello, heart attack!)

Cheddar and grit soufflé

Orange chocolate soufflé

I was in charge of the orange chocolate soufflé and I was excited because I love to entertain and wanted to master the technique. The recipe called for orange juice, bittersweet chocolate and Grand Marnier for the overall flavor. I added coffee and cinnamon to give the chocolate a richer taste...unfortunately, I went a little overboard with the cinnamon.

But, the good news is my soufflé rose perfectly and was the right consistency. My soufflés are to the right...at this stage, they needed about four more minutes to be cooked through and get the perfect height.

Egg cookery was so much fun and next week we learn the art of soup making!

braised thighs and an Arkansas weekend

This past weekend was spent in Little Rock for a weekend with the boy. The 5 hour drive was actually quite serene and downtown Little Rock reminded me a bit like Austin.


Saturday night was spent at Loca Luna the self-proclaimed "bold, Arkansas bisto" that has received numerous awards and appeared on Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels..(and of course I remember that episode). Although a bit pricey for its final result, it was pretty good.


We started off with a shrimp and brie quesadilla with a pineapple mango pico. I would have preferred four times the pico but it had good flavor. The drinks of the night were a dirty Ketel One and top shelf margarita on the rocks- good, strong drinks. I ordered the bacon-wrapped aged filet with parsley-shallot butter, garlic mashed potatoes and steamed sugar snap peas. I was cursing myself afterward for ordering it medium because it was definitely over-cooked...should have gone for the medium-rare. The veggies and potatoes were tasty though. My handsome date ordered the pork Osso Bucco and it was just delicious. It was falling off the bone with the most delicious Pinot Noir Demi-Glace...it definitely made up for my filet.

Dessert was the standard crème brûlée...I've had better. Criticism aside, Loca Luna is a funky place with fun, inventive food if anyone is ever in the area.


Last night was week three of culinary school-basic cooking techniques I. In a swift five hours we managed to "master" all of the techniques. We sautéed diced onions, peppers and sliced mushrooms, shallow-poached orange roughy, deep-poached eggs, simmered pasta and rice, steamed julienned carrots and shrimp, pan-seared pork shops, grilled zucchini (we went for those beautiful hatch marks), deep fried batonnet-sliced potatoes (a fancy name for french fries), pan-fried panko breaded chicken tenders, braised chicken thighs with rosemary and white wine and roasted chicken legs with cayenne and paprika and carrots with dill.


Whew..yes, I was exhausted. The only technique that I had trouble with was the pan-sear on the pork chops..note to all learners...don't mess with a pan sear. Put it down in a screaming hot pan with cool oil and walk away...this is when that bottle of wine comes into place!


Dinner last night was Central Market salad bar (romaine, cabbage, broccoli, green peas, edamame, blanched almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries with their celery Greek dressing) and their vegetarian lentil soup. Another really good vegetarian soup is their asparagus basil soup when they have it! Also, you can't get CM soup without a sunflower roll!