I really and truly love cooking. When I was just a young kitten I had all kinds of trials and tribulations in the kitchen. I will never forget washing the Christmas Turkey with Sunlight Dish Soap, making cookies with a whack of Salt instead of Sugar, metal induced light shows inside the microwave, and exploding glass bowls when used directly on the burner. I am sure that most of you can relate with similar experiences from back in the day or even yesterday! Despite it all, I still really enjoy entering the kitchen with or without a clue as to what I am going to make or how to make it.
During High School, I briefly considered enrolling in classes to become a Red Seal Chef. As I continued to work in the service industry, the less inspired I became to devote my life to the industry...especially a life working in the back of the house. I could not picture myself putting up with the hours and the abuse in an industry kitchen. l witnessed many a kitchen horror..... all from the safety of the front line.
Throughout University, I worked odd jobs in all kinds of restaurants and bars. Always keeping my distance from direct work in the kitchen (unless I was forced to). I stayed up front and center. Mixin’ the drinks, servin‘ the food, and minglin‘ with the customers. I craved the rush of a busy night out front, ensuring that my guests received quality, timely food and drinks and most importantly were kept entertained and happy.
After I graduated from University and I did not have a clue what direction to take in life. I started working at a small locally run restaurant. I worked out front (as usual) and as I began to move towards a higher position, my job description changed. Management type staff needed to have current knowledge of ALL areas of the restaurant....including the kitchen and how to run it. Thus, I began my short, eventful, mind opening stint as a professional chef. Although I do not have a lot of theoretical cooking knowledge, I do have a common sense that developed during my trials and tribulations as a child in the kitchen; an eye for superb food presentation and creation from the many years serving and eating at restaurants; and I know the differences between acceptable, unacceptable, and amazing. I was not willing to prepare anything that was less than amazing.
I started out by learning how to turn the kitchen appliances on and off....this may sound easy but IT WAS NOT! Some faulty wiring often made for a combustible eyebrow singing start in the kitchen. I learned how to cook the lunch menu fairly quickly and soon after became the one chef wonder at lunch. Just to let you know, I am a pretty OCD kind of person. Especially when it comes to order, organization, and cleanliness. I started devoting all of my OCD power into that kitchen. Slowly taking over the reigns as I mastered the grill, saute, pasta bath, fryer, stock, inventory, and my favourite....the FRIDGE! I could spend hours in the fridge organizing, ordering, sniffing out things that did not belong. Before I knew it, I was working full time in the BACK of the HOUSE! I was also putting out excellent, quality, beautiful food masterpieces.
Cooking professionally was an experience I will never forget. I made some awesome food, was way overworked, and injured myself more than I can count on both hands. I have permanent tendon damage on my left thumb from an oyster shucking incident, burnt the skin off of both palms, chopped off a few fingernails (but luckily no fingers!), and singed my eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair many a time. I take all of the good, the bad, the worse and squish it all together into an experience that showed me and taught me so much about cooking, living, and hard work. I am grateful for that time in my life and am now able to appreciate the Joy of Cooking for friends and family. I take great pride in the food I make and love a new cooking challenge.
(a firey storm)
This long rambling post was an introduction to this blog acting (at times) as a super awesome fooood blog! I intend to post up recipes and pictures of food I make and also of food that I eat! Living in Japan there are all kinds of interesting food things to post about!
Marinated Tuna Steak
Click on the link above for the recipe that I loosely followed.
I bought a beautiful fillet of Tuna (まぐろ) for an insanely good price. I whipped up a small batch of the marinade and let it hang out with the fish in a plastic bag for about 30 min. I love to use ziplock bags when marinading! So easy and clean!
While the Tuna is doing it's thang, I got to work on my uber yummy Wasabi Mashed Potatoes. Mash up some potatoes as per usual and add a squinch of wasabi paste into them. You do not want an overpowering wasabi taste. Just enough to give the potatoes a fragrant wasabi-ness.
I love my greens. So I made some Spicy Garlic Bok Choy to go along side. Bok Choy is so easy and very delicious. It has such a clean taste to it. Chop the stems off and throw them in a HOT skillet with minced garlic (about a squadge full) and sesame oil. Flash fry the stems for about 1 min. Until slightly tender. Chop the leaves in half once and throw them in with the stems. Add some salt and pepper, a bit of chicken stock and your favourite spicy paste like "Tuong Ot Toi Vietnam Chili Carlic Sauce". Cook for about a minute or two. Don't over-cook the greens or they will turn soggy and mushy and black.
When the Tuna is done marinading. Cook it in a dry skillet (there is already oil in the marinade) for about about 2 minutes per side.....depending upon the thickness of the steaks. DO NOT OVER COOOOOOK ! I cannot stress that enough! Over cooked tuna is one of the worst things to do. BUT rare or medium rare tuna is MELT in your mouth deliciousness. Squirt a little bit of citrus over the top. I like to use shiquasa while I am in Okinawa. And voila! It is time to Itadakimasu!
Enjoy your weekend!
Love JKitty!
