Basking in the glow of Mario’s orange clogs

A fresh leg of Iberico ham being trimmed

After Katsuya’s Pop Up, I watched the last few minutes of Jordan Khan decorating a tree limb with food elements on the main stage while being accompanied by a five string ensemble.  Very bizarre and yet totally mesmerizing. 

Savoring a Pop Up Izakaya performance by Katsuya Fukushima

Mushimono: Bacon Chawanmushi with sweet corn

Today’s Pop Up was with Katsuya Fukushima.  I was especially interested in this Pop Up as we are both Academie de Cuisine graduates.  I chatted a bit with him before going into the dining tent and it turns out that we also shared the Jeff Buben experience as our first chef to work for coming out of Culinary School. 

Starchefs ICC 2012 – Jordan Khan Pop Up

First course

New to the ICC line up this year were pop ups and food carts.  I signed up for two pop ups and the first one featured Jordan Khan. Jordan made quite an impression on the audience the first time he came to the ICC two years ago. 

Hot pork puns, Hot pork buns

Hot pork buns from the Momofuku Book

I could go full hog on this post and turn a sows ear into a purse but I am too busy bringing home the bacon to feast on the trough of puns available to me.  Just the mention of pork belly makes most women recoil with fear as they visualize themselves in their summer bikinis. 

Putting some Chang Shui in my cooking and other strange Kombu-nations

I recently borrowed this book from work and have been enjoying it completely.  First of all it is a very fun read. I especially like the part where he talks about how he came up with the name of his restaurant “It is no accident that Momofuku sounds like motherfucker” he states.

Dog and Pony show

More summer bounty from the garden

The past week has been filled with activity.  The garden is pumping out beautiful produce and we have been of course feasting on the bounty.  Just finished cooking a Greek casserole called Pastitsio (dubbed Greek lasagna by Saveur) using mostly what I had in the garden.

Last night I decided to finally attempt to grill pizza and top it with the tomatoes pictured above.

Treasures from the Garden

This past weekend we had 21 close friends and family over for lunch at our house.  This time of year the garden is beaming with produce and begging for simple dishes that exploit the flavors of the summer sun.  I made an awesome Asian slaw and used Vietnamese cilantro from the garden (very unique flavor) to give it that je ne sais quoi (most didn’t know quoi) to the salad.  I roasted a 15lb. beef strip loin from my friend Mike Callicrate on the grill and I served the Caprese salad pictured above made with tomatoes and basil from my garden.  I drizzled some Domaine les Bastidettes Extra Virgin olive oil from les Baux de Provence, spinkled some fleur de sel and drizzled some amazing  Campari aged Balsamic vinegar.  The salad zinged with flavor and bold colors.

We feasted and enjoyed the heat of the day and great company.

Red hot tamale

Grilled vegetable tamale with poblano crema

If there is one project I have been fairly consistent about, it is the monthly entry for Deep Plate blog.  The above picture I sneaked in after teaching a class on Vegetarian cuisine, Flavors of the Southwest: Tamales.  It is the Deep Plate entry for August.

Some of you that know me well might be asking what are you doing teaching a vegetarian class, much less one based on tamales.  Well my new position as General Manager at The Kitchen Table means, that if no one else is available to teach a class, I teach it.

This was a full day class (we have been trying to get our day classes rolling) with only one self admitted vegetarian. 

You put the mango in the coconut

July Deep plate exercise. Coconut sticky rice spring roll on Bauscher plate

One of the really exciting aspects of my new job as GM and Exec chef at the Kitchen Table is I get to research and teach classes on world cuisines that are out of my comfort zone.  In my past two jobs my main focus was on French and Italian cuisines. Now I could be writing a recipes for a Thai class, or Peruvian, Moroccan, Spanish etc.

The “Couples” class has traditionally been taught by a husband and wife team that work at the school. 

The new reality

May Deep Plate entry: Pan fried chili rubbed shrimp on top of a quinoa and avocado salad with orange supremes

OK so I have been remiss in writing recently.  I don’t really have an excuse but certainly there has been a lot of change in my life recently and it seems time is slipping away from me at a faster pace than usual.

My new job at the Kitchen Table has been a departure from my past positions at Cook Street and Culinary School of the Rockies.  I’m still involved in cooking education but I am also involved in all the other facets of this enterprise.  From our web presence, to course descriptions & scheduling, to employee schedules, retail sales, wine purchases, formatting of recipe packs, research of course ideas, catering work, team building cooking sessions, to listening to CDs of potential bands and the list seems to go on.  Ah the joys of running a small business.