Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
I’ve had a few weeks to reflect and enjoy the memories and events that took place during our Beautiful Bountiful Body Retreat from Judgement at Lido Palms in Desert Hot Springs. This week has been such a busy week of staying in the moment, …
My dad shares his birthday, August 29th, with Michael Jackson, just in case you didn’t know. He always reminds me, so I thought I’d remind you too. LOL. My dad is so special to me and I’m so glad I could cook for him …
A first birthday in my family is nothing to be trifled with. For Amaya’s big day, we had to do something that would keep everyone relatively cool, since August in the San Fernando Valley can get up to 100 degrees or higher. My family has …
It’s September. I can hardly believe it. August was so amazingly wonderful, full of gratitude, celebration, family and friends—I miss it already. I was able to go on eight weeks of outdoor hikes with my dad, a family vacation to Mammoth Lakes and …
A couple of weeks ago, Brandon and I cooked for his dad’s going away party. He’ll be out of state for work for some time so we decided it would be nice to get his friends together and enjoy company while he was still in town. Being in the military is a difficult profession and I can’t imagine what our country would be without the help of so many men and women all over the world who sacrifice so much for our safety.
So for this event we had two chefs and one kitchen. Brandon and I have worked together in some kitchen during various times for the last 7 years professionally, at home, or at someone else’s home/event. You can currently visit Brandon at Blush Restaurant and/or Blind Tiger in Santa Barbara, where he is the Executive Chef.
Though most of my time is spent cooking for my family and teaching yoga, it’s nice to prepare a large meal for wonderful people. We decided to have a massive taco fiesta. Our first go with the barbeque ended up not too successful because the grill wasn’t in working order, so we went for the simple charcoal grill that I’m used to and I grilled the food while Brandon cooked inside. I think overall it was a great team effort. Safe travels, Andy!
Menu
Carne Asada
Grilled Chicken
Chopped Seasoned Pork
Grilled Portobello Mushrooms and Zucchini
Spanish Bay Shrimp
Mixed Vegetable Sofritas
Chorizo Bean Dip
Guacamole
Salsa with Green Chiles and Garlic
Tortillas and Toppings
Dessert
Coconut Cream Pie with Bananas and Fresh Peaches
Grilled Cinnamon Peaches and Pineapple
Rocky Road Pudding Pie
Rocky Road Pudding Pie Recipe
Layered dark chocolate and white chocolate pudding in Oreo crust with marshmallows and chocolate dusted roasted almonds
1 Oreo Crust
½ cup cocoa dusted roasted almonds
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Place cold heavy whipping cream in a small bowl. Whip with a hand mixer till thick whipped cream forms, no powdered sugar necessary. About 3-5 minutes on medium speed.
1 small box Hersheys white chocolate pudding
1 ¾ cup whole milk
Make pudding according to the box directions for pie.
1 small box Hersheys dark chocolate pudding
1 ¾ cup whole milk
Make pudding according to the box directions for pie.
Pour 1/2 of the white chocolate pudding into the bottom of the Oreo crust. Top with ½ cup of marshmallows and pour ½ the dark chocolate pudding on top. Mix the remaining pudding together and fold in the whipped cream till smooth. Top pie with the mixture and smooth into a mound. Top with the remaining marshmallows and cocoa dusted almonds. Refrigerate for one hour or more.
Unrivaledkitch
April flew by (actually, May is flying by too…the whole year). I can’t believe it, but it was a really great month full of really fun and exciting happenings for our family. Maleeya turned 3 on April 8th and we had a really fun …
On an evening after a great Core Strength Vinyasa Class with my good friend Thea, we decided to venture out to have a delicious dinner after all that core-tastic action and catch up before her adventures in New York City, where she’s attending the yoga …
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you enjoyed some time for reflection, tradition, family and friends during the holidays and carry that hopeful good cheer throughout the year. The first of the year is a special time for my family. We share in the traditions of Japanese New Year or Oshogatsu and since I’ve been little, we’ve had a family gathering eating traditional and some non-traditional foods together as we celebrate the New Year, over food, fun and togetherness.
These traditions are very important to me. They remind me of my childhood, especially of the times when I used to stay with my Bachan from Christmas until New Year’s. Bachan would spend days preparing different dishes, allowing things to simmer and pickle, while cutting vegetables into different shapes and making food I’d only see on New Year’s Day. Though some of the dishes on the table today are not the same as the ones we had when I was little, I try to incorporate some of those traditional dishes into the Jūbako Japanese stackable decorative dishes and we have a large spread of food and invite friends and family over.
Here are my last three years of Osechi-Ryori: 2011, 2012, 2013, and my 2014 addition.
Menu
Beef and Chicken Teriyaki with homemade teriyaki sauce
Chicken Yakitori with peanut sauce
Char Siu-Style Sliced Pork
Sweet Asian Fried Chicken Wings (mom’s contribution)
Pork & Shrimp Wontons (mom & dad’s contribution)
Bachan Jello (mom’s contribution)
Inari
Grilled Salmon
Grilled Sake and Mirin Shrimp
Kinpira (sato shoyu gobo and carrots)
Tazukri (candied, dried sardines)
Kamaboko (pink and white Japanese pressed fish cake)
Namasu (pickled carrots and daikon)
5-Sided Carrot, 5-Sided Daikon, Kombu (rolled seaweed), Shiitake Mushrooms, Satoimo(taro root), Renkon (lotus root), Takenoko (bamboo shoots)
Ozoni (New Year Japanese soup) (Konbu, Carrot, Kamaboko, Shiitake Mushroom, Imo [taro root], Renkon [lotus root], and Mochi in Seasoned Homemade Dashi)
Twice cooked Artichokes with soysauce mayo
I hope each of you had a blessed and beautiful holiday season and have a peaceful, joyful and thankful new year!
cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
After a week of working hard, teaching yoga and witnessing the effects of the holidays on children in my classes, it was really interesting to see the shift in their attention and mood, as well as in their parents’ or caretaker’s moods. When the …