Za Recipes

Showing posts with label hello. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Hello World! It’s me Chef John…the man behind the hands

I knew this day would eventually come. I realized I couldn’t hide behind George Clooney’s photoshop’d photo forever. When I first start filming and posting cooking videos on the internet about a year ago, I made the decision to never appear on camera. I wanted to be the anti-Food Network Chef, which seemed to be more and more about the Chef, and less and less about the food and the cooking. I also found that most of the amateur cooking videos people were posting looked like audition reels for Hell’s Kitchen. So, since I wasn’t going to appear in the videos, I decided I would just remain completely anonymous. I liked that people would email asking for pictures of me. I liked being mysterious (I had never been mysterious before).

So, why show myself now? I have too. I have recently been contracted to do some “professional” cooking videos for several online outlets (to be named later), and as part of the production I must be seen introducing the recipes. Since I knew it would only be a matter of time before one of my blog visitors saw me on one of these other sites and recognized my sultry voice and nimble fingers, I decided to out myself today.

By the way, just because I’m now using my real photo on the blog, the video recipes will not change. I will still never appear in the recipes, mugging for the camera nor doing puppet shows with an oven mitt. I will not deviate from my original vision of what these videos should be about…the food.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Bye Bye North Carolina and Hello Minessota

Hello friends, i had a great Bday blast.

Thanks a lot for the bday wishes. I was overwhelmed with all your wishes, thank you for making this day very special to me.

Time for a short break.

Right now im on my vacation to Florida.

Once back, we are moving from North Carolina to our new home at Minnesota.

Im so eager to explore my new home and neighborhood, hope to get settled soon without much hassle.

Bye Bye to my North Carolina buddies and Hello to my new buddies at Minnesota.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Hello from New Orleans! Home of Americas Safest Seafood

Just wanted to say a quick hello from New Orleans. So far everythings been really delicious (like this wonderful gumbo and etouffee trio I enjoyed at M Bistro), and the chefs Ive chatted with report no problems keeping up with their customers Gulf seafood cravings.

Catches are being tracked using GPS to ensure theyre coming from unaffected areas, and in addition, random samples are being taken twice a day to add another level of protection. As M Bistros Chef Matt Murphy said, "We want people to know its never been safer to eat seafood in New Orleans, than it is right now."

So, ironically, due to the post-spill scrutiny, visitors to New Orleans may actually be enjoying some of the safest seafood in the country. Stay tuned for more information about the trip when I return. Now, its time to go do some more "investigating."

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Hello Cupcakes Cupcake Decorating Class

You know those Dyson commercials with that guy and his gentle British accent, talking about innovations in vacuums and what-have-you? Cmon, sure you do.

"I was picking up lint with my fingers from my carpet and I thought there has to be a better way!"

The point is, the dudes whole shtick is about taking something ordinary and innovating upon it.Though cupcakes are nowhere NEAR "ordinary", itd be fair to say theyre prevalent. And in the world of cupcakes, Hello Cupcake is the real innovator. Theyve been churning out delicious varieties of cupcakes in their Dupont Circle location for a year and a half now, and in addition to extending their store hours to 7 days a week, theyve also started cupcake decorating classes!!!

Owner Penny discusses whats on the menu

Saturday mornings cupcake case

Cookies n Cream is their newest flavor

I brought along my friend Anna and my two haute cupcake aprons for the class:

I had some difficulties at first

Once we got our surgical gloves on, we were ready to operate. Our first victim was fondant. Fondant is rolled icing, generally used on wedding cakes. Its like play-dough, except even MORE edible!! You gotta roll it out and cut shapes out of it.

If youre Anna, you accidentally shape it into a one-piece. And then you cut shapes in inappropriate places.

So after cutting out some hearts and "Is" and "Us", we then got to frosting. First we practiced on the table, then they handed us naked cupcakes and let us at it!

When we heard the promise of sprinkles, we demanded every kind they had!!! Who cares if this is a Valentines cupcake class?! I WANT THE YELLOW SANDING SUGAR RIGHT NOW OR I WILL FREAK OUTTTTT!!!

When it was all said and done, we ended up with 9 of our own hand-decorated cuppies. But since they dont make a 9-holed cupcake box, we also got to pick three from their bakery case.

I decorated the top two rows and the strawberry-topped cupcake.

The 2-hour class was $50, which is a pretty good deal when you think about it. A dozen cupcakes is $36, so what that means is the class itself is $14. Looks like theyre upping the price to $70 from here-on-out, though; not too bad, especially if youre one of those people who just slathers icing on with a butter knife and could really use the help, PK!!!

Theyre planning more classes throughout the spring, including St. Pattys Day and Cherry Blossom themed cupcakes.

My only real advice--make plans the weekend you do this. Otherwise, youll find yourself trying to scarf down your 8th cupcake in the span of 16 hours. Did I do that? Look, Id rather not talk specifics, but I will say this is one case where you truly can judge a book by its cover. And its delicious.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Hello from the 2010 Food Wine Classic in Aspen

Ive just picked-up my press pass here at the St. Regis, ground zero for this weekends festivities. Todays itinerary includes an interview with PlumTV, the Opening Reception featuring Bravos Top Chefs, and then the much anticipated Wines from Spain BBQ, starring the one and only Jose Andres.

Not sure exactly when and what Ill be posting, so youll just have to stay tuned. If youre not already, be sure to head over to Twitter and follow @Foodwishes to get updates (and lots of them). Enjoy!